Who Will Ride the Brewers' Bullpen Shuttle in 2027?

As part of some 40-man roster housekeeping after the World Series, the Brewers outrighted relievers Bryse Wilson and Jared Koenig, both of whom elected free agency. Milwaukee needed spots to protect one or two eligible prospects from the Rule 5 Draft (even if the pending lockout will probably cancel it), and neither Wilson nor Koenig would have fit on the 2027 roster. Wilson is out of minor-league options, and while Koenig has one option year left, he's reached the point in his career where it no longer makes sense for the player or the team to keep him in limbo.

To get through a 162-game season while starter workloads keep shrinking, the Brewers need a fresh reliever whenever possible. That means rotating pitchers through the last bullpen spot or two by shuttling them between Triple-A and the big leagues. If the new collective bargaining agreement places further restrictions on how often teams can option and recall a player throughout the season, they’ll need even more of those optionable relievers.

Coleman Crow and Brandon Sproat have fallen down the rotation depth chart and have options remaining, so they could serve as shuttle relievers. The Brewers may prefer to keep them stretched out on starters’ schedules, though, which leaves the relief corps thin on readily available reinforcements. By cutting Wilson and Koenig, the Brewers made space to replace them with better shuttle arms, either by adding minor-leaguers to the 40-man roster or by acquiring optionable guys through trades or signings. For now, here are a few Triple-A relievers who could get more looks in Milwaukee throughout next season:

Garrett Stallings

Stallings already filled a shuttle role in the second half this year, tossing 14 scoreless innings across five different stints with the Brewers after they selected his contract at the end of June. A longtime minor-league swingman, the 29-year-old sits in the low 90s with underwhelming fastball shapes, but he mixes six different pitches.

His slow changeup did most of the heavy lifting. It was Stallings’ most-used pitch to both lefties and righties, and it induced a 37.7% chase rate and a 75% whiff rate on those chases. It might not play as effectively once hitters grow more familiar with him, though. Stallings drops his arm angle by 14 degrees from his fastball to create more depth with his changeup, which means he can’t sell it as the sinkers or four-seamers he throws from an over-the-top slot. When a changeup looks different out of a pitcher’s hand, hitters learn to recognize it and stop chasing.

He could be a roster casualty later in the winter, but Stallings has two optionable seasons left and impressed Pat Murphy and other members of the Brewers’ coaching staff this year. If he sticks through the winter, he could get plenty of low-leverage work early next season.

Colton Gordon

The other current 40-man member, Gordon joined the Brewers with Lance McCullers Jr. in a minor summer trade but didn’t debut until a bulk relief appearance on September 22, the night Milwaukee clinched a first-round playoff bye. As a funky low-slot lefty, he’s best served by pitching east-west, which the Brewers leaned into with a couple of changes. First, they slid him toward the first-base side of the rubber to add a bit more deception to his ride-run fastballs.

Second, they shifted Gordon from a four-seamer to a two-seamer as his primary fastball. When he debuted for the Brewers, William Contreras called almost exclusively two-seamers and sweepers.

It’s the right call for Gordon’s pitch mix. He throws both fastballs with pure backspin but low spin rates. That makes them similarly bad heaters; his four-seamer doesn’t have much carry, and his two-seamer doesn’t sink.

Without enough carry, Gordon’s four-seamer runs directly into barrels for hard fly balls. For his career, it’s already yielded 16 home runs and a .583 xSLG. While his two-seamer is similarly flat, it averages about four more inches of arm-side run. That’s made it a ground-ball pitch, holding opponents to one home run and a .319 xSLG. The two-seamer doesn’t sink to get swings over the ball, but the extra run jams lefties and tails off the end of right-handed bats for grounders.

Gordon’s ceiling is still limited, but as a strike-thrower who can miss enough barrels, he’ll help them in long relief throughout the year.

Cameron Wagoner

Wagoner is not on the 40-man roster but is a dark horse to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft in a few days. After missing two-plus seasons with a litany of elbow injuries, he returned as a full-time reliever and carved through the two highest levels of the minors. Between Double-A Biloxi and Triple-A Nashville, the 25-year-old authored a 28.6% strikeout-minus-walk rate. He finished the year allowing just one earned run and posting a 1.93 FIP in 16 Triple-A innings.

Pitching in shorter stints boosted Wagoner’s velocity and let him simplify his arsenal. From a low arm slot, his upshoot four-seamer and sinker averaged north of 96 mph, and his tight slider induced whiffs on 50% of swings in Triple-A.

Brett Wichrowski

Unlike Wagoner, Wichrowski hasn’t put himself on the verge of a call-up. He’s also Rule 5-eligible, but the Brewers might feel comfortable leaving him unprotected after he limped to an ERA north of 6.00 at two levels this year. However, Wichrowski suffered from an unsustainably high 42.9% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio in Biloxi as the Southern League homer rate exploded, and the Brewers liked enough of what they saw under the hood to promote him to Nashville.

After the promotion, the Brewers shifted Wichrowski to the bullpen, where his high-octane stuff can play up without great command. As a reliever, he leaned more heavily on his sinker and high-spin curveball, which generated a 50% whiff rate from Triple-A hitters. A lot has to go right for Wichrowski to see him in 2027, but a hot start could earn him a midseason promotion as a shuttle arm.

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