Brewers Video
Hoby Milner
Following a marquee year where he posted a 1.82 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over 64 ⅓ innings, Milner has struggled to keep up the Hoby heroics. He has regressed meaningfully in ERA (4.91), WHIP (1.25), and H/9 (9.2) since the end of 2023.
On the bright side, it might not even be his fault. A closer look at his quality of contact numbers show that he’s more or less been the same, pitch-to-contact ground-ball god that he was last year. His hard-hit rate has actually decreased slightly from 35.4% to 32.8%, and his barrel rate of 3.1% is in the 97th percentile, so what gives?
To make a long story even longer, Jack Stern did a great job breaking down what has been going on this season but pretty much he’s been on the receiving end of some suspect batted balls. That might explain why his xERA of 3.17 is so much better than his actual ERA. While there are a ton of excellent video examples in the aforementioned article, here’s yet another one of a batted ball with an exit velocity of 72.3 mph and a launch angle of -59 degrees that became a hit.
Freddy Peralta
With Corbin Burnes being sent off to Baltimore and Brandon Woodruff being sent off to Sunshine Day Camp for Tommy John Recipients, 2024 was Peralta’s year to assume the role of team ace. It was an exciting opportunity for a young arm who has spent his entire major league career with the Brewers but things haven’t gone as swimmingly as some might have hoped.
His 4.11 ERA and 1.19 aren’t bad numbers by any means but they are hardly what one would be hoping for out of the top guy in the rotation. Colin Rea and Tobias Myers have arguably outperformed Peralta whose own numbers are closer to that of Bryse Wilson, a long reliever turned emergency starter.
His strikeout and whiff rates are top notch as per usual but he simply gives up too much hard contact at hitter-friendly launch angles, creating a barrel rate of 8.9%. Opposing batters are averaging .238 and slugging .411 against his four-seam fastball which has historically been his best pitch.
When he’s firing on all cylinders, he’s a pleasure to watch and his 11.4 K/9 leads all Brewers pitchers, qualified or not. His overall strikeout rate of 30.1% creates a feast-or-famine pitching style that limited his ability to be great in the first 97 games of the season.
Rhys Hoskins
When Milwaukee first signed Rhys Hoskins, it was assumed that the recurring problems at first base would be alleviated. The Brewers didn’t get a ton of production out of their first basemen in 2023 until they acquired Carlos Santana in the second half, who was about league-average. Hoskins seemed like a plus-bat that would add some much-needed pop and pizzazz to the lineup and so far, it hasn’t really played out that way.
He’s slashing .215/.308/.414 with just nine doubles and 14 home runs over 296 plate appearances. He is fifth on the team in slugging percentage among qualified hitters and has an OPS+ of 100. With negative defensive value, he’s actually slightly below replacement level given the offensive expectations of his position.
Was it unreasonable to assume he was going to return to full strength after missing an entire year due to injury? Probably, but he’s the third-highest paid player on the team this year and is making more than twice the fourth-highest paid player. Surely the frugal front office wouldn’t have invested a minimum of $16 million into a first baseman with average production.
Diagnosing his issues might be worth a deep dive of its own but for now, we as fickle, uncoordinated, unathletic, judgmental baseball fans can comfortably say that Hoskins hasn’t been what we had hoped he would be in a Brewers uniform.
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