Is 2026 a Make-or-Break Season for Brewers' DL Hall?

Of the 36 players selected in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft, 30 of them have played in the big leagues. Some have done well: Hunter Greene, MacKenzie Gore, Trevor Rogers, and Drew Rasmussen have all appeared in an All-Star Game. Others haven’t done so well. DL Hall is somewhere in the middle.

Dayton Lane Hall was the 21^st overall pick by the Baltimore Orioles that summer, and big things were expected of the southpaw from Valdosta, Georgia. During his first five seasons in the Orioles chain, Hall moved up one level per year, and although he struck out batters at the rate of 32.6% from 2017-2022, he walked hitters at a rate of 13.3%. Quickly, it became clear that health and control would be the limiting factors for him, rather than the magnitude of his talent. He graded out quite well as a prospect, with a plus fastball and above-average secondary offerings in his curve and changeup. His fastball occasionally hit triple digits, but he needed to find consistency in both location and movement.

Hall pitched a combined 29 games in 2022-2023 for the Orioles. He posted an ERA+ of 94 and a FIP of 2.44 in that time span. But when the opportunity for Baltimore to trade for a Cy Young-winning starter came up, Hall and Joey Ortiz were shipped to Milwaukee for Corbin Burnes.

Hall started the 2024 season in the Milwaukee rotation—effectively taking Burnes’s spot—but made only four starts before going on the 15-day injured list due to a sprained left knee suffered while fielding a bunt. He was later transferred to the 60-day IL, after he aggravated the knee issue in a rehab stint. Hall returned to the mound late in the season. He made two starts and six relief outings in September, striking out 22 batters in 22 innings while walking eight. The stuff remained very good.

At the start of the 2025 camp, Hall was battling for the fifth spot in the rotation when he went on the 60-day IL with a left lat strain. He returned in late May, but as a reliever. He served as an opener in three games and relieved in 17 others. Once again, Hall hit the injured list in mid-August with a strained right oblique and missed six weeks, returning in time to make a relief outing in the last game of the year.

Hall is now being considered a reliever, instead of a starter, though he has six pitches in his arsenal: a four-seamer that hits 95, slider, cutter, changeup, curveball, and sinker.

“I’ve found a little bit of a niche in the bullpen. Anytime I go out there, I’ve kind of found a comfort zone," Hall told reporters in August, when asked about his preference for starting or working out of the pen,

Hall has the skills and is learning to pitch all over again, but fighting off injuries will determine if he becomes a high-leverage reliever or if he is just a ‘back of the pen’ guy. At 27, he is in the prime of his pitching career, and the Brewers are waiting to see if his career takes off, but he needs to stay off the injured list. In that sense, unfortunately, this could literally be his make-or-break campaign.

Can DL Hall find his comfort zone in 2026 and show the baseball world the pitcher that the Brewers traded Corbin Burnes for? Feel free to start the conversation in the comments section below.