Brewers Pitcher of the Month: June 2024

We are officially halfway through the season. While the injuries have piled up, the pitching has continued to thrive. In fact, while the club may have a 16-11 record in June, it statistically had the best pitching numbers this month.

The stats can be misleading as they have used the opener strategy four times this month. Bryse Wilson and Colin Rea had solid outings from the pen. But a combined 2.38 ERA and 1.04 WHIP amongst those bullpen arms, including the openers from Jared Koenig and Hoby Milner, is something.

Once again, the starting rotation lost another pitcher for a year, Robert Gasser, resulting in the additions of pitchers such as Elieser Hernandez and Dallas Keuchel. While the numbers don’t look incredible, one starter outshone the rest.

That said, it’s time to crown the Pitcher of the Month. Here are the top-performing pitchers for June 2024.

Honorable Mention: Enoli Paredes
It seems as though the minors translated well for the right-handed pitcher. Although he only recorded four strikeouts in June, Paredes has held it down quite nicely, recording a 1.59 ERA in 11.1 innings. His 1.24 WHIP could use some work, as he just misses out on the top four spots for the month.

4: Trevor Megill – June Stats: 12 G, 0.73 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 9 SV, 12.1 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 12 K
As I said in May, the Brewers needed a pitcher to finish out games with Devin Williams on the shelf. Do you think the search has come to an end with Trevor Megill?

Once the lights go out, fireflies come out like an Uncle Howdy/Bray Wyatt entrance, and Metallica’s “The Four Horsemen” plays loudly, you know the game is ending. He's gone a perfect nine for nine in save opportunities this month and hasn’t allowed a run in his last seven outings.

Teams were hitting a .146/.234/.171 line against Megill last month. That’s right, a .405 OPS. His one earned run he allowed came against the Reds against a Jeimer Candelario double, but even that appearance led to a save.

It is still concerning that his hard-hit percentages (43.9%) and fly ball percentage (36.4%) are higher than average. On the season, he has garnered a 35% chase rate and a 33.8% whiff rate.

It makes you wonder what they could do with him once Williams returns. With 17 saves on the season, the club can keep Megill in the closer role, at least for now, while they ease Williams into reps in the bullpen. We’ll have to see as soon as The Airbender comes back. But for now, the bullpen remains in good hands.

3: Jared Koenig - June Stats: 12 G, 3 GS, 0.66 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 6 H, 5 BB, 17 K
The pitching lab has another successful arm with Jared Koenig. The former Oakland Athletic didn’t make the team this season, even after a non-roster invite. The Brewers gave Koenig a chance as J.B. Bukauskas was added to the 60-day injured list.

The 30-year-old southpaw has become one of the most reliable pitchers out of the pen. He has been used as an opener in three separate games, and each of those starts resulted in zero runs.

He is striking out 8.5 per nine innings this season (11.2 in June), resulting in a 7-1 record. What is more incredible is his improved speed in his pitches. We’ve seen his sinker creeping up to around 96-97 MPH when, at the start of the year, he was regularly touching 94.

Like Megill, his only run from this month came from the Cincinnati Reds, thanks to an Elly De La Cruz home run. But has continued to be effective in many situations this season.

He was recently put on the 15-day injured list for left forearm tendinitis. We are not sure how long the recovery will take. We must see how scans will be on his elbow in the coming days.

He has been the second most reliable lefty out of the pen. Of course, that distinction belongs to our April and May Pitcher of the Month. Speaking of which...

2: June Reliever of the Month - Bryan Hudson –  June Stats: 8 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.25 WHIP, 12.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 14 K
Stop me if you heard this one: Bryan Hudson is great. In 29 games this season, he has only allowed four runs, with three on solo home runs. This month, he hasn’t even given up a run, let alone a home run.

On the year, he has struck out 51 batters over eight walks. That means he strikes out around six batters per walk. Hudson hasn’t allowed a walk in 11 innings. Meanwhile, he hasn’t allowed a run (nor a home run) since May 30^th.

Hudson currently has a 0.82 ERA and a 0.61 WHIP. He doesn’t have a high whiff rate, but his sweeper, with a 38.4% whiff percentage, looks to be his putaway pitch. He has been finding ways to strike out batters, even with a slow-moving fastball.

He has the potential to be an All-Star, but the fact that he’s not a starter or a closer might lower his chances. However, he can keep his success up for the latter half of the season.

In Saturday’s game, Pay Murphy pulled him after one inning, hoping he doesn’t overwork the pitcher. With the southpaw going 44 innings this year already, they might want to ease up on him so as not to fatigue him. Who knows if the Brewers will add an arm at the deadline, either for the pen or the rotation? But as of now, we have a great late-inning guy to go to in high-leverage situations.

Hudson is undoubtedly our Reliever of June, but who dethroned him for this month’s Pitcher of the Month? It’s time we give credit to another rookie who has to start games on a high note.

*WINNER* June Starter of the Month -  Tobias Myers – June Stats: 5 G, 5 GS, 1.44 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 31.1 IP, 20 H, 8 BB, 24 K
I get it, I get it. How can a pitcher who hasn’t given up a single run all month get beat out by Tobias Myers? He did have to be responsible for holding a team to fewer runs in more innings pitched. This month, the rookie had a 4-0 record and four quality starts (going 6+ innings with three or fewer runs allowed).

If that wasn’t good enough, two of the five starts he made didn’t allow a single run. At the start of June, Myers had a 5.40 ERA with a 1.46 WHIP. This has since dropped to a 3.26 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.

With the injury losses of DL Hall, Jakob Junis, and Robert Gasser in the rotation, one player needed to step up and take on a role in the rotation. Myers did that perfectly.

He may not be the guy that gets a ton of strikeouts, but he can at least get a decent bit of groundballs for a strong defense in the infield. He’s kept the batters down to a .185/.248/.259 line with a .125 opponent batting average in high-leverage situations.

If he can continue to be serviceable for the next couple of months while the team gets healthy, Myers will be a key cog in the playoff push down the stretch.

Do you agree with our choice for Pitcher of the Month? Will Tobias Myers keep it up for the second half of the season? What other pitchers have shined in June? Let us know down below.