Milwaukee Brewers 2024 Spring Training Position Battles: Fifth Starter

Even without Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, the Brewers have managed to build a relatively veteran, relatively solid front half for their starting staff entering 2024. Behind newly lonely ace Freddy Peralta stand three well-traveled hurlers without elite stuff, but with good recent results in the big leagues and plenty of poise.

Few fans have treated the rotation spots of both Jakob Junis and Colin Rea as solidly spoken-for, but that's how I perceive the situation as camp opens. Junis, by all accounts, signed on with the understanding that he would be a starter, and there's room for him in the group. Rea, who (like Miley) reupped after an encouraging 2023, seems deserving of the same kind of clear shot, at least to begin the campaign.

That only leaves one spot in a five-man rotation truly up for grabs, and the Brewers have four interesting, qualified, disparate candidates to consider for it.

Robert Gasser
Though the only player in this mix not already on the 40-man roster, Gasser also feels like the one with the fairest claim to a shot at this. He's thrown a full season's worth of innings at the Triple-A level, and he's worked relentlessly to fine-tune a strange combination of release point and stuff profile into something that will work against big-league hitters, multiple times through the order.

As I've attested, though, it might make equally good sense for Gasser to begin in long relief, learning the difference between Triple A and the majors firsthand, through hard experience. Eventually, he could move back to the rotation, but it needn't be right away in early 2024.

DL Hall
Gasser is a lefty, and it limits him as a starter, because he also throws in the low 90s. Hall is a lefty whose velocity only contributes to the unhittable nature of his stuff. Throwing strikes has been a colossal challenge, though, and if he can't come to camp and quickly show improved control, it might be time to just shift him into relief and never look back. If there's a version of Hall that is the heir apparent to Devin Williams as the Crew's relief ace, unlocking him now makes sense. First, they'll try him as a starter once more, after whatever changes the pitching infrastructure group wants to make. By Opening Day, we should have more than an inkling about where things stand. Hall's walk rate this spring will be about as important a single statistical category as the Cactus League can give you. 

Aaron Ashby
Let's finish the lefties off. While Ashby is undoubtedly a candidate for the rotation, it's going to be hard for Pat Murphy to come out of camp feeling confident that Ashby can give him the innings to be a traditional starter. The injury that cost him all of 2023 at the big-league level is not of the kind that usually benefits from a transition to the pen, but the Brewers can't afford to make their decisions based purely on Ashby. They're pursuing a second straight NL Central championship, and while Ashby's upside is as high as any of these options, Murphy's first concern has to be certitude for the fifth spot in the rotation. 

Joe Ross
Early this winter, Matt Arnold and company made a few acquisitions that just felt like adding carpeting. They didn't move the needle for the team, but they were there to provide a softer landing if the team ended up really emptying things out and doing a one- or two-year rebuild. That's not quite how the offseason has actually played out, so Ross feels almost redundant--and certainly unexciting.

On the other hand, he's the kind of veteran arm from whom the Brewers have gotten surprisingly good things the last few years. Letting him start 15 games for the Crew is no more daunting than letting Rea do so would have seemed a year ago, and that worked out fine. 

The Most Likely Resolution
Since Gasser can still be stashed safely in Triple A, the smart money says he'll be there--barring an injury in camp. Ross and Ashby will be on the roster, but either or both could work out of relief. At this moment, having seen no game action yet this spring, Hall feels like the favorite to win the job. Since he was half the return for Burnes, and given the grades national prospect crews have put on his fastball, Hall feels like the one the organization can most easily turn into a fifth starter who helps them in the short term and guides them one step closer to a thrilling future.