'He's Under Construction': Latest Adjustments Have Taken Brewers Starter Colin Rea to a New Level

It’s no longer accurate to call Colin Rea an unsung hero. Having posted a 3.38 ERA in 122 ⅓ innings this year, Rea has deservedly garnered recognition as the Brewers’ most reliable starting pitcher as the team has navigated a sea of injuries and inconsistency. He is, as strange as it feels, the co-ace of a surefire division winner.

For most of the year, Rea looked like a capable back-of-the-rotation innings-eater who was maxing out his results in front of an elite defense. He notched a tidy 3.62 ERA in his first 15 outings, but his 4.82 FIP, 4.90 SIERA, and 15.6% strikeout rate were far less inspiring.

Not all that overperformance was sheer luck; Rea deliberately filled the strike zone with his diverse pitch mix to put his defense to work. He was executing the game plan more often than not, and it was working.

That’s changed over the last six weeks. Rea has found another gear in his last seven outings, pitching to a 2.90 ERA, 3.13 FIP, and 3.28 SIERA. His strikeout rate has jumped to 28% against a 6.2% walk rate.

Those results have followed a mechanical change. Rea worked with pitching coach Chris Hook on staying closed longer in his delivery. Notice where his arm and torso are when his front foot lands in a start against the Yankees on Apr. 26.

Here’s where they are in his last home start, against the Braves on Jul. 29.

In April, Rea was already opening up when his front foot landed. Now, his entire body is making a straight line to the plate when he lands.

The tweak has not only improved his command, but it’s also added more deception to his pitches. Being synced up means he’s throwing with more conviction. It also creates a tougher look for the hitter. In the July start, Rea’s hand is still fully behind his head when he lands. He’s no longer giving hitters an early peek at the ball.

“If I can keep my hand behind my head when my front foot lands and my front shoulder closed, then I can put more pressure into my front foot,” he explained, “which is going to give me a little bit more life to the ball. It’s going to give the hitter a shorter time to pick up the baseball.”

Rea’s overall whiff rate has climbed from 16.8% over his first 15 appearances to 24.7% over his last seven. Every pitch in his arsenal is generating more swings and misses.

“You see some more swing and miss,” Hook said. “The stuff is the same, but I think there’s just a touch of deception there. He’s getting into his front foot, he’s creating a little bit better leg block, and then he’s staying behind the baseball a little bit more. You can go watch it. There is some deception there. You don’t see the ball until really late, which helps his fastball play up even more.”

“Even the takes I get now are different,” Rea said.

Perhaps the greatest difference-maker for Rea has been eliminating his platoon weakness. He was effective against right-handed hitters even before this stretch, holding them to a .623 OPS from the start of 2023 through those first 15 outings of this year. Left-handed hitters, meanwhile, tagged him for an .816 OPS.

Rea hasn’t just quelled his platoon split since then. He’s been even more effective against lefties (.516 OPS) than righties (.674).

He’s done it by changing how he attacks lefties. Rea has thrown his secondary pitches away from lefties all season, but he’s now doing the same with his sinker. He’s upped its usage in such matchups from 21.5% to 29%, and instead of trying to front-door it inside, he’s mostly relegating it to the outside corner.

When Rea focused more heavily on the comeback sinker, lefties were doing damage because the pitch often played into their swing.

“They say those sinkers and two-seamers kind of lead right into the lefty’s bat path, if they have a little launch to their swing,” he said.

Keeping it away has helped him avoid running into the barrel of a left-handed bat. It also sets up a back-door cutter or sweeper.

“We’ve been using our misses,” Rea said. “I’m going to dot this two-seam down and away, and it’s going to run off or sink off the plate where we’re not going to get hurt. If that’s the case and they take it, then I know I’ve got a back-door slider.”

“We were giving up damage, and we had to change something,” said Hook. “The idea is, ‘I know I can get in, and I can get in with the cutter, I can get in with the [four-seamer] any time I want here. What can I do to best set that up? I’m safe out here [with the sinker].’”

Back-dooring his cutter and sweeper to lefties has been a consistent card in Rea’s deck, but tunneling those pitches with the sinker on the outside corner has made them even more effective.  Lefties slugged .436 on cutters and sweepers within the outer half of the zone from the start of 2023 through Rea's first 15 appearances of this year. They have not recorded a hit against such pitches since.

Due to his mechanical tweaks, the sweeper has superseded the cutter as Rea's preferred pitch with glove-side movement. He’s thrown it just as frequently or more than the cutter in each of his last three starts.

“I think the sweeper overall has just been feeling much better now that I’m staying closed longer,” he said. “It’s much more repeatable.”

“If you’re leaking early, that kind of puts you in a better position to throw the cutter, actually,” Hook elaborated. “Now [he’s] staying on the ball longer, and that’s a little bit [of a] different spot for [him]. So I think it’s just another step he has to make.”

Changing things and taking steps forward is nothing new for Rea. He’s tinkered with everything over the years. Examples include ditching his windup to pitch exclusively out of the stretch, developing his sweeper during the 2022 offseason between big-league stints, and experimenting with various grips for his splitter and changeup.

“He’s under construction,” Pat Murphy said. “He’s always trying to get better.”

As part of that process, Rea is constantly consuming information and trying new things. He brings an open mind to his craft every day.

“That’s just the way I’ve always been,” he said. “It’s just who I am, I guess, like fear of missing out on something.

“There’s always something to learn in this game. No one’s got it all figured out.”

That willingness to learn and constant tinkering is why he’s having a career year in his age-33 season, after a winding road through four MLB organizations and two stints pitching in Japan.

"It’s not really a secret sauce," Murphy said. "It’s his diligence. He’s just relentless on [wanting] to be really good. He’s super level-headed."

“The ones that have excelled while I’ve been here, they always have that, ‘I want to get better today,’" said Hook. "You know? It never stops.”

Stopping, Rea believes, is one of the worst things a pitcher can do.

“The minute you stay stagnant, the minute you turn it off, that’s when things start to go sideways."

Some pitchers wear down during the late summer, as their innings load accumulates. Rea keeps getting better, and it’s all due to his adaptability. He's been a source of steadiness in the Brewers rotation for nearly two seasons, but he's now blossomed into a legitimately strong starting pitcher with staying power for a playoff contender.

Hook has had a front-row seat in watching that evolution.

“I’m super proud of him, and I think there’s a lot more in there as well.”