Brewers Relief Pitcher of the Month: April 2024

Well, we are on our final major league award of the month of April. A few days ago, we talked about the best hitters last month. Yesterday, we looked at the best starters in the Crews rotation. Today we are looking at the guys that are supposed to finish what the rotation started: the relievers.

No matter what your role is in the bullpen, teams rely on these pitchers for an inning or two to hold down the fort for a short amount of time. For the Brewers, they don’t have a set closer, so they had to work with a total of ten different arms in their bullpen. After crunching the number, three pitchers really stood out with one of them being the clear-cut winner. Stay tuned as we look at the top three performers coming out of the pen.

Honorable Mentions
The Brewers have had a ton of injuries to both the rotation and the bullpen. Trevor Megill was one of those rising start pitchers that had to deal with a scary injury. He had two solid outings prior to his concussion which led to the Brewers calling up JB Bukauskas. Megill has since came back and continued his success ending the month with a 1.35 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP while striking out six batters in 6 2/3 innings.

While Megill was able to return from the injured list in the middle of month, Bukauskas found himself on the injured list after pitching in six separate games. Bukauskas ended up with a 1.50 ERA and a 0.67 WHIP in six innings.

Not too long after the Brewers called up what was eventually the 1,000 player to play for the Milwaukee Brewers in Jared Koenig. He may be bouncing back and forth from the minor leagues, but Koenig still had a decent April throwing a 1.04 ERA in 8 2/3 innings.

Just missing out on our top three was Elvis Peguero who has been heavily relied on all month making 13 separate appearances. While he may have a 3-0 record and a 2.71 FIP, his recent outing against the Yankees inflated his ERA to 4.05 and his WHIP to 1.50.

After his 1 2/3 outing on Tuesday, the ERA has gone down to 3.60, but he did allow an inherited run and his WHIP at 1.53. He’ll remain a key cog in this bullpen so don’t be surprised if we see him in the top three at some point this season.

Third Place: Joel Payamps
Let’s address the elephant in the room, the Devin Williams injury left a huge void in the pen. It left the fan base wondering who was going to close out games. At first we thought Abner Uribe was going to quickly take the reins while Williams was shelved. After a few blown saves and an ERA that has blossomed higher than 6.00, it was clear the team was better off closing games by committee.

One name that stepped up is Joel Payamps who was last year’s eighth inning, set up man for the Airbender. This season he has allowed four runs in 10 2/3 innings and is sporting a 0.75 WHIP. His ERA currently sits at 3.38 but has a decent 2.32 FIP and allows 5 hits per nine innings.

While Payamps may have pitched in different scenarios, he pitched in the ninth in 7 of his 12 appearances this season. He has yet to give up an earned run in the ninth and an opponent slash line of .046/.125/.046. He managed to finish six games this season collecting four saves in six opportunities.

Although he hasn’t pitched the last five days, Pat Murphy will be ready to call Payamps on to finish the game as he’s done all season. Whether it’s a save opportunity or not, he has become a trustworthy name out of the bullpen.

Second Place: Hoby Milner
There was a time where the fan base was concerned if pitchers like Bryse Wilson or Hoby Milner would show signs of regression and putting up numbers similar to their years outside of Milwaukee. If April has told us anything, there won’t be any regressing any time soon.

Miner has been called upon 14 of the 29 games this season. In those games he pitched 12 1/3 innings ending the month with a 2.92 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP, and a .217 opponent batting average. He even recorded his first career save on April 19 against the Cardinals.

He isn’t a flamethrower, so he isn’t going to get a ton of strikeouts (11 in March/April). However, the most effective pitchers with slower pitchers tend to keep the ball on the ground and not in the air.

While Milner may only be touching the high 80s with his four-seam fastball and sinker, he has an impressive 50% ground ball rate according to baseball savant. He hasn’t given up a run in his last seven outings.

Milner is on pace to pitch 78 games this season which is five games more than last season. That season Milner was the Brewers arguably the most reliable left-handed pitcher out of the pen. This season, however, Milner may not be the lone efficient lefty coming out of pen.

April Reliever of the Month: Bryan Hudson
If you didn’t know this name before the start of the season, you might want to start learning it. He was by far the most effective pitcher for the Brewers this month. Let’s face it we all didn’t see it coming as fast as it did.

If earlier this winter you would’ve told me the former left hander from the Dodgers the Crew acquired back in January was going to have a sub 1.00 ERA after more than 10 appearances, I’d probably suggest you to go into stand-up comedy.

Yes, the potential was there, and the Brewers saw a lot of good things in the lefty. However, with Hudson having a 7.27 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP, it could be assumed it would take some time. We all know what happens when we assume and how you should never judge a book by its cover because was by far the best pitcher out of the bullpen this month.

He hasn’t been afraid to go multiple innings as he has pitched in multiple innings in six games this season. In 16 1/3 innings, he has allowed only one run in 11 appearances. What is that one run you ask? You’ll have to go all the way back to April 8 when Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz hit an inside the park home run to centerfield after Sal Frelick misplayed a line drive in the seventh inning.

Because of that, Hudson will have to settle for a 0.55 ERA with a 0.74 WHIP and 17 strikeouts for the month of April. When last year, the Brewers were struggling to find another left hander to come out of the pen, this season the team has two solid, reliable arms that can keep the ball on the ground.

Let’s hope Hudson can keep it up throughout the 2024 season. It doesn’t have to be this incredible so long as he doesn’t allow many runs.

Do you agree with our pick for Reliever of the Month. Did we leave anybody out of the conversation? Who do you think could be the Reliever of the Month in May? Let us know in the comments and check back for our minor league rewards.