Can a "Little Refresher" in Triple-A Restore the Brewers' First-Half Bullpen Ace to His Best Self?

The Brewers shook up their bullpen on Tuesday, and optioning Bryan Hudson to Triple-A was the club’s most noteworthy move.

Hudson has been an invaluable multi-inning weapon for Pat Murphy, often functioning as a bridge between short starts and the back end of the bullpen. Of his 43 appearances, 24 have spanned more than one inning, and he owns a 1.73 ERA in 62 ⅓ innings.

However, the Brewers saw signs in recent weeks that Hudson is not as crisp as he was early on, and that he could benefit from some time away.

“We haven’t exactly liked everything we’ve seen about how the ball’s coming out and how he’s responding, that type of thing,” said Pat Murphy, who indicated that Hudson will get time off from throwing in games while in Nashville. “When you just look at the actual stuff that’s going on, we hope that we can get him a little refresher and get him back to where he was earlier in the season.”

Hudson's run prevention has still been solid after the All-Star break, but he has not been nearly the same pitcher he was in his fresher days. His strikeout and whiff rates have plummeted, and he’s issuing more walks. Hudson is neither getting the same kind of takes nor inducing the same kind of swings as he was until mid-July.

Even without scouring all the numbers, watching Hudson pitch in recent weeks was enough to deduce that things were not quite right. The Brewers saw it.

Hudson’s diminished fastball has garnered the most public attention. The pitch’s success stems mainly from the deceptive combination of Hudson’s funky arm slot, elite extension, and ability to locate it up in the zone, so its pure velocity is often misleading. Still, it raised eyebrows when that velocity dipped slightly leading into the break, and continued to fall when the season resumed.

Hudson’s fastball averaged 89.1 mph, and dropped as low as 87.4 mph on Jul. 23 against the Cubs. He hit the injured list four days later with a minor oblique strain. The hope was that a week off would be a blessing in disguise, and Hudson would return good as new.

The immediate returns looked promising, but faded quickly. Hudson’s fastball averaged 91.1 mph in his return outing, but that average dipped below 90 mph in each of the last four outings preceding his reassignment to Triple-A.

Hudon’s fastball is not the primary concern, though. It’s his sweeper. Whereas his fastball has lost a couple of ticks over time, his breaking ball velocity has fallen nearly 5 mph from its peak in June.

Hudson has appeared unable to throw the sweeper with full conviction for months. It was his go-to secondary offering in the first half, and the most lethal weapon in his arsenal. He has since limited his usage of the pitch, and turned to his cutter more often to compensate.

When Hudson does throw his sweeper, it’s not the same pitch it was a few months ago. Its Stuff+ grade (based on physical characteristics that include velocity, movement, release point and spin) was 113 in the first half. It’s 79 in the second half.

The Brewers want to get Hudson closer to his early-season form. Whether that’s genuinely attainable at this stage of the season is uncertain.

While this is Hudson’s first official “refresher” of the year, it’s his third reset period since July. The first two were unsuccessful. Hudson looked worn down when the All-Star break arrived. He continued to look worn down after the break, and after his stint on the injured list.

At this point, it’s fair to wonder how much Hudson has left in the tank for this year. He surpassed his innings total from last season in his most recent outing. His unusual delivery takes a toll on his large frame. Murphy has alluded multiple times to his physical struggles in recovering from appearances.

The hope is that Hudson’s reset attempt in Nashville will restore him, physically, for the final weeks of the regular season and into October. It’s possible that he is past the point of recapturing that status in 2024. The Brewers will soon find out whether that’s the case, and the answer will impact how they construct their playoff bullpen.