Could Angels' Non-Tendered Southpaw Become a Future Brewers Fixture?

Milwaukee has already revived the careers of several declining pitchers. Will he be their next successful reclamation?

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Among several other major roster moves, lefty starter Patrick Sandoval was one of four players non-tendered by the Los Angeles Angels late last week. After he struggled over the past two seasons and received Tommy John surgery in June, it made sense for the team to move on, especially with subsequent acquisitions pointing to a concerted effort to regain respectability in 2025. However, being let go doesn’t mean that he can’t still be a value buy for his next organization.

Since becoming a full-time big-leaguer, Sandoval has adjusted his pitch mix to account for some critical weaknesses in his game. Over the past four years, he has largely depended on his changeup and slider, with his fastball and sinker typically combining for about 36% of his pitches. This partition makes sense, given that his non-fastball pitches are actually quite effective, while the numbers on his fastballs are, as the youth might say, “sus.”

	BA	SLG	Whiff%	K%	BB%
Four-seam Fastball	.342	.514	15.2%	10.9%	14.3%
Sinker	.279	.380	14.3%	9.2%	12.8%
Slider	.230	.315	30.8%	24.4%	7.2%
Changeup	.189	.286	44.6%	36.0%	8.7%

His fastballs sit in the low 90s and have neither good movement nor command, making both of these pitches remarkably uncompetitive for a major-league starter. His slider also leaves something to be desired and has been a big reason for his broader statistical regression after a strong 2022 campaign. Hitters combined for an OPS of .515 against his slider from ‘21-’22, but a .694 OPS from ‘23-’24.

In fact, his only saving grace could be the changeup. It’s a great pitch but the issue with changeups is that in order to be effective (especially for starting pitchers), they must play off of something. Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle can attest that all changeups and no fastballs make Jack an inconsistent presence on the mound.

So we’ve concluded that Patrick Sandoval has never had even a league-average fastball, throws a declining slider, and only excels at one pitch. So why would the Brewers want him, especially after Tommy John would sideline him until late into 2025?

The first reason is that he’ll be cheap. Because he’ll miss so much time from injury, Milwaukee could sign him to a back-loaded two-year deal that would hinge more on his 2026 contributions before he hits free agency in 2027. This, along with a heavier reliance on Robert Gasser, could set up an impending Freddy Peralta trade before his final year of team control in 2026.

Second, Sandoval’s profile actually fits in well with the Brewers' existing staff. Milwaukee has excelled with low-velocity pitchers whose stuff seems average at best. They were able to squeeze a 3.14 ERA over 23 starts out of Wade Miley (who could barely top 90 and similarly depended on a changeup/slider combo to get his whiffs) in 2023. Colin Rea, Aaron Civale, and Bryse Wilson are other examples of pitchers with forgettable velocity who managed to find great success in the organization through the magic of friendship—and, sure, ok, the best pitching development program in baseball.

Furthermore, the one thing that Sandoval has been able to do consistently is generate soft contact. Through all of his struggles in 2024, he still managed an average exit velocity of just 87.9 mph and a barrel rate of just 5%, numbers in line with his career highs. This pitch-to-contact style would sync up well with the Brewers' defensive prowess, which has been best-in-class over the past few years.

Finally, the Brewers could use a left-handed starter. Last year, DL Hall made the most starts of any southpaw on the team with just seven, three more than Dallas Keuchel. The team has performed well without the need of much variety in the handedness department, but with both Cy Young awards being taken home by lefties this year, maybe there’s something to be said about having guys throw from the other end of the rubber.

He’s no 2008 trade deadline CC Sabathia, but Patrick Sandoval could still be a diamond in the rough. It would be surprising if there was a significant market for him, and the Brewers are one of the few teams who could salvage what’s left of his major-league prospects. With valuable arms bound to leave in free agency in the near future, don’t undersell the possibility of him holding down the fort in their absence.

Follow Jason Wang on Twitter: jasonwang7517