DL Hall Showed in Return Outing That He Can Still Help the Brewers

The innings pitched and run columns in DL Hall’s pitching line on Sunday were unassuming: three earned runs in four-and-two-thirds innings.

His first big-league appearance since April 20 featured a handful of positives, though.

“I thought it was really encouraging,” Pat Murphy said. “The best he’s thrown all year that I’ve witnessed, in my opinion.”

Hall racked up a career-high nine strikeouts and induced a season-high 12 whiffs. He missed plenty of bats with an arsenal that looked improved from his initial stint with the Brewers at the start of the season.

When he last started in the big leagues on April 20, Hall’s fastball averaged 91.6 mph and dipped all the way down to 89.6. That was a far cry from its 95.6 average out of the Orioles bullpen last season.

The expectation was that Hall would lose a tick of velocity as he stretched back out into a starter, but not that he would dip into the low 90s. His secondary pitches showed promise, but the loss of velocity and life turned what some outlets pegged as a 70-grade fastball into a batting practice pitch.

After that outing, Hall hit the injured list with a left knee sprain. Lacking full strength in his push-off leg kept him from driving down the mound with full authority and sapped his velocity.

A slew of rehab assignments followed. After a series of freak developments – reaggravating the knee, having starts rained out, and getting hit on the forearm by a comeback line drive – stalled his progress, Hall finally returned to a big-league mound feeling and looking more like the pitcher the Brewers thought they were getting when they traded Corbin Burnes to Baltimore in February.

Hall’s fastball averaged 94.6 mph and never dipped below 92.9. He maintained that velocity throughout the outing, still hitting 95 in his final inning of work in the fifth.

“Pretty big difference,” Hall said of how he felt Sunday compared to his earlier outings. “I think [being healthy] plays a big part in all my pitches, not just the velocity on my fastball, but how everything else plays when the arm speed’s there and when the body is moving how it’s supposed to.”

Hall’s command withered in his final two innings, during which he issued two of his three walks, hit a batter, and allowed a solo home run on a fastball that missed its intended location by the width of the plate. It was strong early, though, particularly on his secondary pitches. Hall’s changeup induced four whiffs, and his slider yielded five. He also recorded six called strikes with his curveball.

Those glimpses were a reminder of why the Brewers believed in Hall as a starter going into the year. He has the arsenal to do it.

“Since he’s been a starting pitcher, I think he’s become more of a complete pitcher,” Murphy said. “That’s kind of cool. He’s really become a pitcher.”

Murphy would not commit to another start for Hall due to the many moving pieces within Milwaukee’s pitching staff, but he said he expects Hall to log more big-league innings moving forward.

He earned another look as a starter with his showing on Sunday. The outing proved he can still help the run-prevention unit down the stretch.

“I thought it was a step in the right direction,” Hall said.