Jack Stern

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images In the Brewers' first two games without an injured Christian Yelich, Pat Murphy has hit Sal Frelick in the leadoff spot. The change was partially due to a lineup shakeup in Yelich's absence—Brice Turang has moved from leadoff to the 3-hole—but it was also to spark a pressing Frelick's offense. The 25-year-old is hitting just .179/.303/.268 in 67 plate appearances to start the season. "I think what happens is a kid like him that wants it so badly, he gets going, and he's going to try and make it happen right now," Murphy said. "He doesn't look to have a perspective, in a way, of what's going on. That's why I put him leadoff [Tuesday night]." Frelick is much closer to last year's form than his results indicate. After overperforming his peripherals in his breakout season, it's been the opposite to begin his follow-up campaign. His expected production is essentially identical, mainly because he's chasing less and drawing more walks to begin 2026. {C}%3C!%2D%2Dtd%20%7Bborder%3A%201px%20solid%20%23cccccc%3B%7Dbr%20%7Bmso-data-placement%3Asame-cell%3B%7D%2D%2D%3E--> Season wRC+ DRC+ wOBA xwOBA Chase% xwOBAcon 2025 114 101 .332 .299 26.3% .305 2026 71 103 .276 .307 20.9% .290 His abnormally low batting average on balls in play (.209, down from .308 for his career before this) is destined to improve, especially for a hitter like Frelick, who hits plenty of grounders and line drives and can leg out infield hits with his speed. He did see some luck swing his way on Wednesday night as part of the Brewers' comeback win to snap their six-game losing streak. In the eighth inning, Frelick bounced a soft ground ball in front of the plate, where it landed on the dampened dirt from heavy rainfall leaking through American Family Field's roof. He reached when Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela could not pick up the ball cleanly, ultimately coming around to score the winning run. "He's had some unlucky things go wrong when he's hitting the ball well," starter Chad Patrick said after the game. "Sometimes the baseball gods give you rewards." It hasn't all been bad luck, though. Frelick isn't quite himself right now, in a small but meaningful way. His expected wOBA on contact is down 15 points, which means he's hitting fewer balls in ways that typically produce hits. Murphy believes "wanting it so badly" is the cause. "I think he's the first to try to do too much," Murphy said. "He cares so much. He's so passionate about competing and winning. One of the best I've been around. When it's not going your way, it's hard to be relaxed about it for a kid like him, and he's got to learn to just kind of do a little less, be a little more precise." The biggest difference has been that the baseball is getting on Frelick quicker than when he's been at his best. He's consistently late on the ball. On average, he's making contact about three inches deeper into his hitting zone (the purple dot in the graphic below) than last year (the white dot). Because he's late, Frelick is catching more balls as his bat head is still coming down through the zone, producing more ground balls. Compared to last year, his average attack angle (the vertical angle of the bat relative to the ground at point of contact) has decreased from 9° to 5°, and his ground ball rate has increased from 45.4% to 50.1%. It's not necessarily that Frelick is picking up the ball late, Murphy said, but that his load, which begins with a leg kick, has become exaggerated from trying to do too much. That makes it harder for his swing to be on time. "Think about it. The bigger the move, the bigger the get-ready, the less time you have," Murphy said. "So you have to usually time that up way earlier, if you're going to have a bigger move or a bigger get-ready. He's got some things he has to work through." The good news is that, metrically, Frelick's swing path is effectively the same as last year. As is typically the case for most hitters, the wide chasm between success and failure comes down to milliseconds of timing. "The swings don't change that much," Murphy said. "Even [Joey Ortiz], if he gets straightened out, the swing's going to look similar. It's the decision, and it's the timing of it all—because hitting is so much timing—that's going to change. You'll see that, like, 'Wow, he's on it. Wow, he's on time. Wow, he looks like a different hitter.' But when you break down the swing, it won't be that different. There might be a little angular shift, or there might be a little bit of grip difference. There might be a little bit of freedom in the swing that you don't see." He moved Frelick to the top of the order in part to bring him back to his roots. A leadoff man's job is not to produce power or drive in runners, but to get on base. "That little reminder, that's how he works," Murphy said. "When he's batting seventh sometimes, it's kind of, 'Do they want me to get on base?' It's kind of like, what does it call for? For him to know, you have to tell him." Because his quality of contact did not fully support his results last season, it's probably safer to expect Frelick to be closer to a league-average hitter than the well-above-average bat he was a year ago. Coupled with his speed and defense, that's still a very productive player. Murphy expects him to round into form. "One of the greatest attributes of this guy is he's a winning player," he said, "and winning players know what's needed." View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Trevor Megill’s struggles continued on Tuesday night. Tasked with protecting a one-run lead against the Toronto Blue Jays, Megill allowed the first three hitters to reach, ultimately allowing three runs in his inning of work as the Brewers eventually fell in extra innings for their sixth straight loss. In six appearances, he now has two losses and a blown save, while allowing eight runs in five innings. “I’m definitely way better than that,” Megill said. “Pitches can be a lot better. Pitch execution could be a lot better. A lot of things can be better.” Megill’s fastball is the primary culprit. So far this year, it’s averaging 97.4 mph. That’s about where it sat last April before averaging nearly triple digits over the summer, but he’s noticeably failed to reach that high-end velocity since suffering a flexor strain late in the year. “Everybody can hit velo up here,” Megill said. “Throwing 97, 98 is kind of the same velos [for him] from last season at this time. Just not executing and not getting it done right now.” That velocity matters, though. Because he throws a straight four-seamer that does not enter the zone from a deceptive angle, Megill needs that outlier heat to get whiffs or swings underneath the ball. At 97, it’s very hittable. Opponents tagged it for a .459 xwOBA at that speed last April, and they’ve managed a .418 xwOBA and 66.7% hard-hit rate against it so far this year. The only difference was that more of that loud contact was hit at defenders last year, so Megill was able to skate by for a month with an actual wOBA of .371 against his fastball. This year, the results are matching the loud contact. “The fastball didn’t have the same properties to it, for sure,” Pat Murphy said. Murphy affirmed his belief in Megill’s ability after the game, even expressing frustration with fans who booed him during his blown save. However, he also acknowledged that the Brewers must decide whether to keep him in the ninth inning. “We’ll see,” he said. “I don’t know for sure. I like to talk to other people about it. Obviously, you can’t have a guy go out there six times and three times not do the job. I mean, the way he’s throwing the ball now, he doesn’t deserve it, but he can earn it back.” Other pitchers at the back end of the bullpen have also struggled, though, and Murphy noted that the Brewers would have to feel better about a different option to make a closer change. “What are we going to do?” he said. “Who’s throwing the ball good back there that deserves it more? So we’ll figure that out. We won’t make those decisions after a heart-wrenching loss like this.” At this moment, it’s a short list. Should the Brewers make a change, matchups on a given night could determine roles. Right now, these are the leading candidates for saves. Abner Uribe As Megill’s setup man, Uribe would be the most obvious choice to slide into the ninth inning. He’s done it before. Uribe closed last September when Megill was injured and remained in that role into the postseason after he returned. However, Uribe has dealt with his own loss of velocity and movement after shouldering a heavy workload last year. As a result, his whiff and ground ball rates have plummeted in a small sample. He did look more like himself on Sunday, averaging 98.7 mph with his sinker and inducing three whiffs. “He pounded the zone today, and he had his velocity there,” Murphy said. Ángel Zerpa Murphy has shown plenty of trust in Zerpa early, pitching him eight times so far this season, particularly against pockets of left-handed hitters. He also recorded a save in Boston when Megill and Uribe were unavailable. However, as a left-hander, most of Zerpa’s ninth-inning opportunities would likely come based on matchups. A groundball pitcher, his low strikeout rate would make him an unusual fit as a full-time closer, but he could unlock more swing-and-miss by sequencing his slider and four-seamer differently off his power sinker. Grant Anderson Anderson would be a dark-horse choice to close. Unlike Megill, Uribe, and Zerpa, his velocity is below average for a late-inning reliever. He’s also been more prone to walks than one might prefer for a true high-leverage pitcher. However, Anderson’s arsenal makes him a well-rounded reliever, which could serve him well as a closer. His sinker gets ground balls against right-handed hitters, his sweeper induces weak contact, and his upshoot four-seamer produces an elite whiff rate at the top of the zone. Those three pitches have made him rather platoon-neutral since joining the Brewers, and depending on the situation, he can choose between pitching for strikeouts or ground balls, instead of being locked into one or the other. It might be an understatement to say that the best-case scenario for the Brewers involves Megill regaining his form. That possibility feels cruelly remote right now, but it also feels non-negotiable. With Jared Koenig gone from the bullpen picture and the offense diminished, it's simple, even though it's not easy: the Brewers need their erstwhile flamethrower to rediscover his best heat. View full article

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images Working long plate appearances, taking extra bases, and playing tight defense have all been attributes of Pat Murphy's successful Brewers teams, but so has relying on the back end of their bullpen. In both 2024 and 2025, Milwaukee relievers logged the fourth-most innings of any bullpen in baseball. In that span, their 18.1 RA9-WAR ranks second to only the Cleveland Guardians' bullpen, at 18.2. Because WAR is not precise enough for a tenth of a win to be a reliable difference, it's reasonable to say Murphy's bullpens have been the most valuable in the sport. It's been a different story to start this season. Through 15 games, Brewers relievers have had results near the middle of the pack, ranking 17th with a 96 ERA- (an ERA 4% lower than the league average, after accounting for the ballparks where they've pitched). The group is coming off an especially tough week, too. Since last Saturday's doubleheader in Kansas City, Milwaukee relievers have allowed the third-most runs in baseball. That's far too small a sample to push the panic button. Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe, and Ángel Zerpa having a combined 7.27 ERA on April 14 is nothing to worry about, on its own. There have been warning signs in their stuff, though. All three have lost velocity on their upper-90s fastballs, lowering the quality of those pitches. Megill and Uribe, in particular, have both lost at least 1.5 mph from last season. The Stuff+ model at FanGraphs, which graded Megill's heater among the best in baseball and Uribe's as above-average, now sees both as underwhelming pitches. {C}%3C!%2D%2Dtd%20%7Bborder%3A%201px%20solid%20%23cccccc%3B%7Dbr%20%7Bmso-data-placement%3Asame-cell%3B%7D%2D%2D%3E--> Pitcher Season Primary FB Velo Primary FB Stuff+ Breaking Stuff+ Overall Stuff+ Trevor Megill 2025 99.2 116 141 125 Trevor Megill 2026 97.4 97 114 103 Abner Uribe 2025 98.7 102 120 115 Abner Uribe 2026 97.3 96 130 106 Angel Zerpa 2025 96.6 128 110 112 Angel Zerpa 2026 95.7 107 116 106 Stuff-wise, Zerpa is the least concerning. His sinker still has excellent depth and is getting ground balls, and he now has a tighter slider that tunnels better off that pitch. Better days could be ahead for him. Sitting around 97 mph isn't unprecedented for Megill, either. He averaged 97.8 mph last April before averaging nearly 100 until a flexor strain sidelined him down the stretch. Upon returning from that injury, though, Megill sat 97.5 in his regular-season return and 98.5 in the postseason. Since those elbow problems cropped up, his triple-digit velocity hasn't been there. Even at 97, Megill's heater is still much firmer than the league average for right-handed pitchers. However, he needs plus velocity to keep that fastball from finding barrels. Megill backspins his fastball from a high slot, so it averages 19.0 inches of induced vertical break and just 4.4 inches of arm-side movement. That's a very straight fastball, so Megill's goal is for hitters to swing late or underneath it. Without touching triple digits, it becomes easier for hitters to time up that fastball and get on top of it, instead of getting underneath well-struck fly balls that fall near the warning track for flyouts. That already became apparent in Megill's second outing of the season against the Tampa Bay Rays, when Nick Fortes drove a high fastball into the right-center gap for what was ultimately a game-winning double. SzRCVmVfWGw0TUFRPT1fRGxRRVhWeFdVbGNBRGxjSFVBQUhBMU5lQUFNQUFGa0FVMXdIVkZJRVVsQUhVUWRS.mp4 At 99-plus, a swing against that fastball is almost certainly a whiff or a flyout popped high into the air. At 96.4 mph, Fortes didn't perfectly barrel it, but he got on top of it enough to hit a high line drive with a 20-degree launch angle that split the gap. If his best fastball doesn't return, Megill faces a tougher path to being an effective late-inning reliever. He may have to lean more on his breaking ball, which he's continued to spin progressively more like a slider each year. So far this year, it's down to just -3.2 inches of induced vertical break, but has the same velocity as last year. Uribe may be the reliever to watch most closely, given his diminished stuff and the circumstances leading up to it. Unlike Megill and Zerpa, his breaking ball has also lost velocity. Whereas Megill has a history of taking time to warm up, Uribe is throwing slower than he ever has in his big-league career—something that started in the postseason last year. "If you remember last year at the end, it wasn't coming out great right at the end in the last two series [in the playoffs]," Murphy said after Uribe surrendered a lead on Sunday against the Washington Nationals. "In the last series, we pitched him at least twice [in the NLCS], maybe three, but it wasn't coming out the same. It got better, and he shows flashes, but it isn't as good." Uribe has still limited hard contact so far, but his whiff rate has cratered from 32.0% last year to 12.5% this season. That's not quite uncharted territory for him in a six-game sample, but when paired with the velocity decrease, it looks more suspicious. "Yeah, I'm sure it is," Murphy said when asked if that lower velocity is leading to fewer whiffs. "Again, you just look at that one number. You've also got to look at the movement and the patterns of it all." Uribe's stuff is moving less, too. His sinker has lost an inch of sink, going from 6.2 inches of induced vertical break last season to 7.3 this year (a lower single-digit number means more depth on pitches like sinkers, sliders, and changeups). It last had that shape in 2024 from a slightly higher arm slot. Opponents slugged .436 against it that year, and that was with Uribe averaging nearly 99 mph. The loss of velocity and movement follows a career-high workload last season. Uribe appeared in 75 regular-season games, tied for the sixth-most among relievers. Of the relievers with at least that many appearances, only Uribe averaged at least one inning per outing. He then pitched six more innings across five postseason appearances. He already looked fatigued by that point, and his stuff has not bounced back since. Uribe hasn't been Murphy's only sudden bullpen workhorse. Jared Koenig (career-high 72 appearances last year before losing velocity this spring and spraining his UCL), Bryan Hudson (60 2/3 innings through August in 2024 before losing velocity), Nick Mears (pitched in 46 of 95 team games between April and July 2025), and Aaron Ashby (50 innings in regular-season team games from July onward last year, a pace of 100 innings per season) all went prolonged stretches with extraordinary workloads during his first two seasons as manager. It's all part of the aggressive "win tonight" approach inspired by Murphy's days as a college head coach. Baseball at that level is chaotic. The season is shorter, and runs score in bunches due to the lower quality of pitching and defense. Having experienced that environment for more than 20 years, whenever Murphy sniffs a win, he puts the pedal down to secure it. That includes leaning on his best relievers. Murphy hasn't just used them to protect tight leads, but also with four- or five-run leads, and sometimes to keep the Brewers in close games when they're trailing. Using those pitchers in those situations isn't always necessary, though. Multi-run comebacks are not actually that common, meaning lower-leverage relievers can usually eat innings that are not save situations without meaningfully altering the outcome of the game. Pitching Jake Woodford in a five-run game, for example, is unlikely to change which team wins, and it keeps the high-leverage guys fresh to be at their best for protecting close leads. To his credit, Murphy never puts relievers at risk of injury with any single appearance. The Brewers' pitching coaches and high-performance team help him determine who is and isn't available every night based on pitch counts, number of appearances that week, and biomechanical data. Still, he's been reluctant to trust pitchers who are less proven or with whom he's less familiar. He'll use his best arms on days they're cleared to pitch, but in situations where they don't have to pitch. "We've been pretty good about limiting pitch counts and limiting days in a row, days per week, altering the early work, altering different things," Murphy said. "We have to be mindful of it. But, I mean, what are the options? Just say, 'Okay, here, kid in Triple-A. Come on up, close tonight.' It's probably not going to lead to a lot of success." As such, while he wants to mitigate health concerns, he often remains as aggressive as those guidelines allow. "How do you protect yourself from it without hurting your team?" he said earlier last weekend about preventing injuries to relievers. "Because you can't afford to just throw other guys in there. So how do you do that?" It's unfair to definitively blame Murphy's aggressive management for the Brewers' current bullpen troubles. At times, it has even facilitated comeback wins. However, from an outside perspective, diminished stuff from overuse—and, as a result, losses like the one they endured on Sunday—always looked like a potential future consequence. At the very least, the club should look back to determine how pitchers like Uribe, Koenig, and Megill ended up in their current states. It's an especially relevant question amid Ashby's current workload. Murphy said before Opening Day that he intended to pitch him at a similar rate to that 100-inning pace from the second half of last year. He's made good on those plans so far, throwing the left-hander a league-leading nine times in 14 games for 12 2/3 innings. That has put Ashby on pace to throw 92 2/3 innings over a full season. Some of those innings have been avoidable. On April 4 in Kansas City, Murphy used Ashby in the sixth and seventh innings with a five-run lead in the first game of that doubleheader. Woodford, acquired by the Brewers as a low-leverage long reliever, had not pitched in five days and ultimately went eight days between appearances. While game situations may force a manager to use some relievers more often than others in a given week, that lack of workload balance is striking. By all accounts, Ashby's body has handled his innings well so far. One of the reasons Murphy feels comfortable using him so often is that he wants to pitch as frequently as possible. The Brewers should monitor him closely, though, with an eye on how that usage might impact his effectiveness in the future. Milwaukee has enough talented arms to have a strong bullpen again this season. Regardless of how they got here, though, the reality is that Murphy's preferred relievers do not look like themselves. As the dust settles in the coming weeks, roles could look much different than they did on Opening Day. Along the way, the Brewers must also ensure that what has happened to Uribe and others is less likely to happen to Ashby and whoever else climbs Murphy's trust tree. Maybe that means setting stricter guidelines for when a reliever is available. If that's not the problem, it could mean a different change. Either way, if these velocity drops are not just a blip on the radar, they must lead to action. View full article

The Brewers adjusted their probable starters for their series against the Washington Nationals twice within 23 hours. Both changes reflected a need to be creative with their starting pitching as they continue to develop young arms in the big leagues, particularly early in the season. Brandon Sproat was scheduled to make his next start on Friday night, but during Thursday’s off day, the club announced that Chad Patrick, Kyle Harrison, and Brandon Woodruff would each move up one day and start on a standard four days of rest. The change came after Sproat allowed 11 earned runs in just 6 2/3 innings over his first two starts, issuing as many walks (seven) as strikeouts and yielding four home runs. Pat Murphy said on Friday afternoon that Sproat was available out of the bullpen that night, but that he has not lost his rotation spot. The off day simply allowed the Brewers to reschedule his next start. “It’s just the way things have worked out,” Murphy said. “Sometimes that happens when you have the extra off days and things like that.” The decision was partially for matchup reasons. The Nationals’ offense entered Friday third in baseball with a 119 wRC+ and has a lineup heavy with left-handed hitters. Sproat has pitches in his arsenal that can retire lefties, but his reliance on his sinker has left him vulnerable to platoon splits. Last season in Triple-A, right-handers managed just a .548 OPS against him, but lefties posted a .743 mark. His next start could instead come against the Toronto Blue Jays next week, who also feature plenty of lefties but have scuffled overall offensively. “I’m pretty confident he’s in a good spot,” Murphy said. “He’s got to get better. He knows that. He’s been out there a couple times. He knows, ‘Hey, I’ve got to trust this and trust that, and I’ve got to be able to execute this.’ He’s learning on the job. When you have these young pitchers, that’s what happens.” The Brewers also tweaked Patrick’s status hours before his scheduled start on Friday, using Aaron Ashby ahead of him as an opener. The fastball-heavy Patrick has also battled platoon splits, and Washington leadoff hitter James Wood has slugged .579 against right-handed fastballs for his career. “You guys obviously know we’re very inexperienced on the hill,” Murphy said. “We’re trying to thread the needle. These are the types of things you do.” The results were mixed. Ashby allowed a leadoff double to Wood in a two-run first inning before settling down to pitch into the third inning. Patrick only went three innings and threw 50 pitches as the bulk pitcher because he pitched into a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, forcing Murphy to turn to Angel Zerpa, who induced an inning-ending double play to protect a one-run lead. “The plan was to try to win the game, and we had the pitching to do that,” Murphy said. “We had a bad matchup for [Patrick] in the bases-loaded situation, and we had the lead, so we went with Zerpa.” Zerpa would allow a game-tying double in the seventh before Washington pulled away with a four-run ninth in which Luis Rengifo and Trevor Megill failed to defend a series of bunts. The loss dealt the Brewers their third straight defeat, an especially tough one to swallow after emptying their A bullpen in the first game of a six-game homestand. “Disappointing,” Murphy said. “That type of loss really hurts.” There’s some inherent chaos to early-season baseball. Roles, player performance, and team identity take time to stabilize. Amid a largely successful start, the Brewers are still working through some of those challenges, particularly with their young arms. View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK and Benny Sieu via Imagn Images At the end of last season, Brandon Lockridge approached Pat Murphy about playing infield to be more valuable to the Brewers. Primarily an outfielder as a professional, Lockridge played second base in college and started four games there for the New York Yankees' Triple-A team in 2024. Murphy liked the idea, but he had a different infield position in mind. "He's like, 'Have you ever played first base?'" Lockridge recalled. "That's probably one of the few positions on the field that I've never touched before in my entire life, but I said I'd be open to trying it." Lockridge incorporated ground ball work as a first baseman into his offseason training, but only with the expectation of being an emergency option at the position. He didn't take any reps there in spring training until the Brewers returned to Milwaukee. Two days before Opening Day, the coaching staff sent him there to receive balls during batting practice. Hours later, he moved to first base for the ninth inning of their exhibition game against the Cincinnati Reds. "It was that day that I played in the game that was my first day receiving balls over there," he said. "And then the ninth inning comes around, they were like, 'Hey, you got your [first base] glove out here?' I was like, 'Yeah, sounds good.'" With Andrew Vaughn sidelined for the next several weeks by a left hamate fracture, Lockridge is one of three students in a sudden first base crash course with third base and infield coach Matt Erickson. Backup catcher Gary Sánchez and utility infielder Luis Rengifo are also working there to fill Vaughn's role as a right-handed-hitting counterpart to Jake Bauers. The first lesson? Receiving. Everything else (fielding ground balls, positioning, and holding runners) is secondary to footwork around the bag and knowing when and how to stretch toward a throw. "Let's face it, you can go to first base and not get a single ground ball, but you're going to have to receive," Erickson said. "And if we can't have somebody finish the play, then everything that happens before that doesn't really matter." Of the three, only Sánchez entered the season with big-league experience at first base, albeit just 16 2/3 career innings. As such, the Brewers felt most comfortable giving him the first crack there and have started him twice at first against left-handed starters. Once Rengifo is familiar with the nuances of the position, he could receive more of that playing time. As an infielder, Erickson believes he has the easiest transition. "When you have a guy like a [Andruw] Monasterio or a Rengifo that's on the dirt already, especially at a corner, the timing of the ground balls is not that big a deal," Erickson said. "They're used to that part of it. What's foreign to them is receiving and holding runners and knowing what kind of picks they're going to get from the pitcher." Lockridge said the Brewers have not indicated that Vaughn's injury will lead to more game reps at first base. That's because he's third on that totem pole, facing a greater learning curve as he moves in from the outfield. "Because [catchers are] used to the speed of every pitch, they're not really wowed by the ball getting to them at 90 feet or 100 feet away," Erickson said. "With an outfielder, you've got to go kind of the opposite, because they're not used to the ball being on them that fast." Outfielders immediately judge every fly ball and start running toward it to make the catch or back up the outfielder making the play. A first baseman must immediately break toward the bag once he knows a ground ball is out of his fielding range. "Ball's put in play, my instinct is to see the play," Lockridge said. "As a first baseman, the second the ball's hit on the infield, you've got to be busting to first base to pick the ball up and position your feet [on the base]. So that's kind of the thing during BP, they're hitting fungoes to the infielders, and I try to play it like a game, run to first base and pick the ball up." Given his brief infield experience, though, he's not starting from square one. He and Sal Frelick are the club's top choices as a fifth infielder should it need one late in a tie game. "If you can pick balls at second, I'd like to think I can pick them at first," Lockridge said. "You don't see it much, an outfielder coming from the grass to the dirt," Erickson said. "You see a lot of infielders go to the grass. But Lockridge is unique because he has some infield time, and he has some experience at second base." Even if Sánchez and Rengifo are the leading candidates for more time at the cold corner, all three will continue prepping for the position. "The work is all applicable when it comes to approaching balls hard in the outfield and trusting your hands," Lockridge said. "So at the end of the day, it makes me a better outfielder, practicing as a first baseman, I'll take that." View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images After reports last week that the Brewers were nearing an eight-year, $50.75 million extension with shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt, the club announced the deal on Friday afternoon. Pratt’s deal also includes club options for the 2034 and 2035 seasons, which could keep the 21-year-old in Milwaukee for up to the next 10 seasons. “There have been so many people that from our perspective have had nothing but positive things to say about Cooper throughout his tenure as a Brewer, and even before he was a Brewer,” president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. “So all of the arrows pointed in the right direction for us to commit to something like this.” “We're super excited to be able to do this with the Brewers and to be able to hopefully be a longtime Brewer, for sure,” said Pratt, who rejoined the Nashville Sounds over the weekend after traveling to Milwaukee to complete his physical and sign the deal. It’s the second investment the Brewers have made in Pratt, who is ranked by Brewer Fanatic as the club’s No. 4 prospect. Milwaukee crafted its draft strategy around him in 2023, saving its bonus pool money in the first few rounds and convincing him to forgo his college commitment with a $1.35 million bonus as its sixth-round pick. This extension reaffirms what was true three seasons ago: the Brewers are high on Pratt’s makeup. Despite his youth, Pratt has a high baseball IQ and feel for the game, which he pairs with well-rounded athleticism, even if none of his tools have developed into standout skills just yet. He’s already a solid defender, baserunner, and contact hitter. With that profile, it’s unsurprising the club sought to extend Pratt through his prime seasons. The timing, however, was unusual. Pratt was in just three games into his first stint at Triple-A, and the Brewers have a full big-league infield in front of him. He didn’t appear especially close to a promotion and did not need to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2027 season. The extension forced the Brewers to select Pratt’s contract and option him to Triple-A. Arnold said the contract will not expedite his timeline to Milwaukee, which means Pratt will burn his first option season and spend most of the deal’s first year in the minor leagues. It’s an unusual upfront concession, but Arnold indicated that the length of the contract and Pratt’s potential make it worthwhile. “I think when you talk about a deal that has a potential to last for 10 years, it’s not just something that we want to think about in the moment,” he said. “Certainly, there’s an opportunity there to bring a guy up if we want to, but we don’t have to force it. He hasn’t been in Triple-A that long. We want to continue to let him develop there at his own pace, but we want to take the long view here with Cooper.” While Pratt’s glove at shortstop gives him a high floor and could make him a capable big-leaguer right now, more time in Triple-A may be best for his offensive development. His strong bat-to-ball skills helped him post a 123 DRC+ with Double-A Biloxi last year, according to Baseball Prospectus, but reducing his chases outside the strike zone and leveraging his 6-foot-4 frame for more power will make the difference between a glove-first infielder and one of the sport’s most well-rounded shortstops. “I think that we believe in the bat,” Arnold said. “We believe in the glove, certainly. And again, this guy is really toolsy, too. He’s very athletic. He’s a big, physical kid, so we think there’s a chance to grow into some power, and he can really run. So when you have that kind of athletic foundation, it’s a really good thing.” “There’s always something that you can get better at," Pratt said. "There’s always room to improve at some position of the game. And if I can improve every year at something, then I’ll be perfectly fine.” It was also an unusual deal for Pratt’s agent Scott Boras. His clients are typically known for avoiding extensions, preferring to enter free agency as scheduled to pursue a market-value contract. Pratt’s extension delays his free agency, but in this early stage of his career, he felt that squaring away the business side of the game for up to the next decade would help his on-field focus and development. “That was one of the biggest reasons why I kind of decided to do this,” he said. “I can just play and not have to worry about other stuff, all of the transactional stuff, and just play. When I do get called up to the show, I can just be ready to play in the show and not worry about any other outside things.” “For Cooper, how and why he played had a lot to do with this decision,” Boras said. “What it meant for him to move ahead and to advance to the big leagues, in his mind, quicker. What it meant for him to approach the game in a way that allowed him to develop appropriately.” Boras believes the stability secured by this contract could better position Pratt for that payday down the line. “We want to optimize Cooper,” Boras said. “And I felt after listening to him and his family that this was a deal that will allow him to be his best. And if we make Cooper his best, contractually, the risk on the back side of this will allow us optimization in the next contract. The risk of seven or eight years of play before [free agency] happens is immense. But I also know that the height of his performance, after listening to Cooper, will be enhanced because he made this decision.” The Brewers want Pratt to be a linchpin in their infield for years to come, and Pratt wants to develop into the best player he can be. Both sides feel his contract accomplishes those goals. “I feel like in my heart I made a good decision,” Pratt said. View full article

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images Joey Ortiz’s tenure with the Brewers has been filled with highs and lows, but there has been one constant. When given the opportunity—and, in many cases, on their own—coaches, teammates, and executives have raved about his defense, even as Ortiz’s public-facing fielding metrics have been more mixed in their praise. During the Brewers’ first homestand of the 2026 season, there was one play in particular that jumped out to Pat Murphy. On Saturday, White Sox pinch-hitter Austin Hays pulled a base hit toward the left-field line, away from a shaded Brandon Lockridge. Lockridge initially misplayed the ball before throwing it in to Ortiz, who fired a strike to William Contreras to nail Colson Montgomery at the plate. 9bb46f6e-9915db40-049f4d20-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Less than an hour later, Murphy was gushing over how Ortiz completed the play and his overall defensive prowess. “I don’t remember a dude that played shortstop for us like that, that played so consistently. And his key is the way he can redirect the baseball,” he said. “It’s uncanny. He did it a bunch last year. He did it tonight. It just sticks out. Watch that play on film. Not too many shortstops make that play, and that’s what separates him, I think.” Effectively redirecting the baseball is a product of what the Brewers believe is Ortiz’s standout skill—the one that makes his defense invaluable and explains why they’ve been incredibly patient with his offense: body control. The Brewers say Ortiz has an elite understanding of how his body moves and how to use it. It makes him the most fluid and sure-handed defender in their infield, even if he’s not the quickest or the most explosive. It also enables him to complete acrobatic plays that take him into unnatural fielding positions—plays that might not stand out to some range-focused algorithms, but are highly challenging to execute in reality. “Joey Ortiz has elite body control,” said third base and infield coach Matt Erickson, who has been integral to Ortiz’s development as a big-league shortstop. “You can argue the fact that he's probably average when it comes to just raw foot speed and quickness, but when it comes to body control and anticipation, he's as good as it gets.” Ortiz's coordination is excellent. He can speed himself up and slow himself down with precision, allowing him to adjust to a ground ball that takes a bad hop or changes direction due to funky spin. His quick hands transfer the ball swiftly out of his glove, and he can make accurate throws from awkward throwing positions. “He understands his legs in his throw,” Murphy said. “He understands space and timing. It's like a good shooter in basketball. It's more than just technique; it's the skill and the touch and the feel and the timing. He has it.” During spring training in 2024, when Ortiz was new to the team, Murphy had an even more succinct (if somewhat more opaque) way of communicating the same thing. He immediately saw and praised the fact that Ortiz "is comfortable when the ball gets close to him." That body control helps Ortiz effectively relay a throw from the outfield to the plate, but it shows up more obviously on plays like the one he made the following afternoon. Ortiz made a sliding stop on a grounder in the hole between shortstop and third base. With his body still moving toward third, he quickly transferred the ball to his throwing hand and made a strong throw from his knees to Brice Turang, who completed an impressive double play. fe69f051-b9a7-43f5-8816-2a09afc83e18.mp4 “That play is never practiced,” Erickson said. “That's a gift that he has, and he made it look incredibly easy.” The Brewers’ strength and conditioning team helps players understand the aptitudes and weaknesses of their body type and runs them through workouts designed to improve their mobility. Body control can only be improved to a certain extent through coaching, though. Natural ability is a huge piece of the equation, and much of the development must come from the player himself learning through experience and awareness. “They're teaching you things, but I think it happens within you when you have that ability,” Murphy said. “I don't think it's innate, but I think it's an ability that's acquired and developed to be able to realize that I can do this quicker, or I can do this smoother and not lose any speed, or actually gain speed by doing it smoothly with my body in the right position. So it's kind of a combination of all that. [Ortiz is] special, the way he does it.” As the Brewers discussed their infield arrangement last spring after the departure of Willy Adames, shoulder soreness ultimately locked Turang into second base to start the regular season. Ortiz’s body control was also a significant factor in the conversation, though, and is the reason he has since remained at short. “There's no doubt in my mind that Brice could be a really good shortstop and Joey can be a really good second baseman,” Erickson said. “But because of their skill set, because of Joey's glove confidence and body control, and his ability to catch the ball clean over and over in different fielding positions—it’s better than Brice’s, in my opinion.” The more explosive and rangier infielder might often be viewed as the better overall defender and the best fit to play shortstop. Erickson sees it differently. “Brice’s lateral range and quickness is much better than Joey’s,” he said, “and I believe that lateral range is important at second in today's game, because of the shifting rules, and when you're holding a runner [with a right-handed batter hitting], you need a guy that can really cover ground. We have that guy, arguably the best in the game.” The fluidity and hand-eye coordination from Ortiz’s body control, meanwhile, make a greater impact at shortstop. He may not cover as much ground as Turang, but he gloves the ball more consistently, transfers it faster, has a stronger throwing arm, and can react to the nuances of trickier plays at the position. “You have to catch the ball clean at shortstop, or you don't have a play,” Erickson said. “You don't necessarily have to do that at second or at third all the time, and you can still get an out. At shortstop, you've got to have a clean catch. And I think Joey's really good, definitely the best on our roster, at that.” The Brewers believe he’s still getting better at it, too. After another offseason of work, Erickson sees Ortiz using his body more efficiently than last year. “Out of spring training last year, there were certain things in the weight room that we thought he could improve on,” Erickson said. “There was a maintenance to it last year during the season, and then there was a focus to it this offseason. And I really like where he came in in spring training, because you can noticeably see he’s even better in some of those areas.” The Brewers’ infield could soon find itself in transition, particularly with the news of shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt’s extension and the ascension of Jesus Made and Andrew Fischer through the farm system. For now, though, Ortiz remains a valued linchpin of their infield defense. “The team believes in this dude,” Murphy said. “They believe in him.” View full article

Image courtesy of © Curt Hogg / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Kyle Harrison learned in unexciting fashion that he would start the Brewers' fourth game of the regular season. "Nothing, really," the left-hander said with a laugh last week, when asked if he received a personal heads-up before the club announced its rotation. "Just saw that I'm pitching Monday." The question was not whether Harrison had earned a spot in the Opening Day rotation, but whether he'd be ready to pitch after developing a blister on his left index finger, which stemmed from the new kick-changeup grip he brought into spring training. When his fingernail started cutting his thumb as he made a circle along the inside of the baseball, Harrison trimmed the nail, but it caused the finger to blister. "That started to build a little blister on the finger just because I cut the nail too short," he said. "So now I know I need to have a longer nail, drink my collagen, get the nail stronger, and let it grow. Just kind of an annoying thing to deal with, but I'm glad that I got to stop it early." Harrison is a full go for his official Brewers debut on Monday night, after extensive work with pitching coaches Chris Hook, Jim Henderson, and Juan Sandoval in spring training. Much of that work was geared toward maximizing his strengths, which is the club's framework for developing all of its pitchers. "That's what I really love about it here," Harrison said. "It's been like you're running the show, basically. What you want to do, you go out and do it. They're going to be supportive, and they're going to give their input, and we're going to settle on something that's just going to be best for me." For Harrison, that means working off his signature four-seam fastball. While his new changeup's outlier depth captured headlines during camp, his heater remains his best pitch. He's thrown it roughly 60% of the time in each of his three big-league seasons so far. "I love my fastball," he said. "I've always loved my fastball. That's something I want to throw, but throw it in the right counts and throw it in the right locations." The Brewers like Harrison's fastball, too, and for good reason. With a -0.6 StuffPro (meaning that it decreases expected run production by 0.6 runs for every 100 he throws), it graded out as one of the better four-seamers among starting pitchers based on its velocity, movement, and where he releases it from his low arm slot. It induced whiffs on 26.2% of swings last season, while holding opponents to a .281 xwOBA. "There's an instance I remember from San Francisco when he was pitching against us, I thought to myself, 'Oh, fastball must play up a little bit,' because he got swing and miss with the fastball," manager Pat Murphy said. Harrison's hand stays behind the baseball exceptionally well at release, which gives it true backspin from his 27-degree arm angle. According to Statcast, 98% of the spin on his four-seamer contributed to its movement last year. With an average of 12.4 inches of induced vertical break and 14.3 inches of arm-side break, it has a ride-run shape that is less common than the typical movement of the modern four-seamer. "It's unique," Hook said, before comparing Harrison's heater to one of the most effective fastballs in franchise history. "Josh [Hader's] obviously had a little bit more vert, but similar slot things. Obviously, it's just a touch different, but I think he can get the same kind of angle at times." Plenty of pitchers throw with true spin on their fastballs, but most who do so have much higher arm slots, which carries other implications for their secondary pitches. Compare Harrison's active spin profile (the percentage of the spin on each of his pitch types that contributes to movement) to those of Hader and Jacob Misiorowski, and the differences jump out. Misiorowski, who throws from a similar angle to both Harrison and Hader, is more typical of pitchers in that slot, with lower-than-average spin efficiency on his fastball but higher-than-average efficiency on his breaking balls. Harrison and Hader are the opposite, which makes their fastballs more natural cousins to high-slot guys like Jeff Hoffman, Casey Mize, or Jack Dreyer. The expectation is that Harrison will get plenty of mileage out of that fastball, but part of his remaining development will be finding the best way to supplement it. After a midseason trade to the Boston Red Sox last year, their pitching coaches encouraged him to add a two-seamer and cutter and replace his existing changeup with the kick-change. The Brewers felt that trying to refine all of those pitches at once was hurting his development. Moreover, with limited time in spring training to improve Harrison's breaking ball, clean up his delivery, and tweak his routine between starts, they wouldn't be able to perfect every pitch by Opening Day. "I think it's very difficult when you're working on four ******* pitches and trying to be on time and trying to stay through it, and you're like, 'Okay, this is new, and this is new,'" Hook said. "When I get into crunch time, all of this is new to me. It's too much." To simplify things, they scrapped the cutter, which graded out as his worst pitch in 2025. Harrison's low slot and natural tendency to stay behind the ball—the same traits that make his fastball so effective—make it challenging to throw a true cutter. He was either releasing it too early (causing it to back up), or releasing it too late, causing it to spin like a slider instead of a cut fastball. In both cases, it led to poor location of what was supposed to be an in-zone pitch that bridged his fastball and slider. "The struggle that I had with it was maintaining the vertical break," Harrison said. "I'd throw one good one at eight [inches of] vert, kind of trying to get similar [carry] to your heater, and I had some where I'd stay on it a little too long. I'm a low-slot guy, so I stay on the heater, and then it just ends up getting like 2 vert. So that's something I wouldn't really want to throw at the top of the zone." The Brewers frequently target pitchers who throw cutters and often encourage those who don't to add one to their arsenal. They rank third in cutter usage since 2024. Harrison, though, is different than many of their recent starters, who throw from a more traditional slot and slightly cut their normal fastballs. The plan is to reintroduce a cutter in the future, but only after he makes the improvements necessary for throwing an effective one from his unique release point and angle. "If you're not effectively rotating, if you're not getting through the baseball the correct way, the cutter could be a detriment," Hook said. "It's going to be big. It's going to be early. So I want to make sure he's getting through the ball properly first, before it's potentially added here in a little bit." For now, Harrison and the Brewers are riding with his four best pitches: fastball, slider, changeup, and the occasional two-seamer to use inside to left-handed batters. In their eyes, he's far from a finished product, but they're optimistic about his ceiling. He already has uncommon stuff from the left side, and their internal testing shows that he's gotten stronger since joining the club, which they believe will lead to a velocity bump. "There's a lot of upside there," Hook said. "Left-handers with that unique slot and that velo and that makeup don't come around that often. To me, the combination of all those things makes a pitching coach super excited." "I've liked him a lot," Murphy said. "He seems like really the right guy. He'll figure it out at some point." View full article

Image courtesy of © Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images It was easy to view David Hamilton as a lesser piece in last month’s deal with the Boston Red Sox, which also brought pitchers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan to Milwaukee. The Brewers never saw it that way. Hamilton’s career numbers at age 28—a .222/.283/.359 slash line and a 77 wRC+—don't look like those of a dangerous player, but Milwaukee’s brain trust projects him as a difference-maker in their infield mix. Acquiring Hamilton was a key reason why they were comfortable sending incumbent third basemen Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler to Boston. “Hats off to [Matt] Arnold and his crew for making sure he was included in that deal,” Pat Murphy said on Thursday. “We lost a great one in Durbin. He was on-brand for us, and then to get [Harrison and Drohan], and then to get a kid like Hamilton, we’re really fortunate.” It didn’t take long for him to declare Hamilton his annual breakout pick in spring training, but Murphy, who speaks regularly about needing the right "who" on his roster for performance to match potential, was not convinced at first. “I joke with him a lot that early on, I easily could say that I just couldn’t see it in this kid,” he said during the Brewers’ exhibition series with the Cincinnati Reds leading up to Opening Day. “I just couldn’t see it. And I didn't know if it would translate. I didn’t know how he would accept an identity conversation, talking about what type of player you have been and what you could be.” Hamilton’s greatest tools are those that the Brewers value highly, particularly during Murphy’s tenure as manager. His average sprint speed of 29.3 feet per second ranked in the 95th percentile of players last season. That quickness makes him a valuable baserunner (+7 career baserunning runs, according to Baseball Savant) and gives him the potential to be an excellent defender at multiple positions. He also makes solid swing decisions, being selective in the zone and chasing at a lower rate (25.1% for his career) than the average hitter. To turn those skills into more consistent results, the Brewers told Hamilton to focus on hitting line drives, particularly to the opposite field. He posted a decent 94 wRC+ as a rookie in 2024, largely by hitting an excellent 38.3% of his batted balls within the launch angle sweet spot range of 8 and 32 degrees. Last year, his sweet spot rate fell to 30.8%, and his line drive rate from 28.0% to 21.8%. “A kid with that skill set that's a .290 lifetime on base, that's got to change,” Murphy said. “You've got to get to first. Part of offense is touching first safely. And he does have a good ball-strike, so it doesn't always translate [to reaching base]. So now it's how is your flight plan? How are you putting the ball in play? I think that's what we're excited about, to see him make that adjustment and work for it.” Fortunately for the Brewers, that vision aligned with Hamilton’s goals and the brand of baseball he prefers to play. “This is kind of right up my alley,” Hamilton said. “Playing the game hard, running the bases hard, stealing, grindy at bats. So I’m definitely loving it here so far.” “He's just taken everything in,” Murphy said. “And I hope it translates throughout all six months, because he can be a force.” While Jake Bauers and Brandon Lockridge received the most public attention for their Cactus League performances, Hamilton was also a spring training standout, hitting .333/.393/.510 (133 wRC+). Most notably, he hit 30.4% of his batted balls to the opposite field, after being a pull-happy hitter in his first three big-league seasons. Hamilton is not the starter at any position, but by pairing him with Luis Rengifo at third base and Joey Ortiz at shortstop, the Brewers intend to give him plenty of at-bats against right-handed pitching. He drew the Opening Day start at third against a right-hander, playing precisely the kind of baseball he and the Brewers want to see. In five plate appearances, Hamilton reached base four times, starting with a catcher’s interference on a late, compact swing to foul off a 1-2 fastball on the outside corner. In his next turn, he showed bunt before hitting an infield single off the second base bag and later stole third base. He also drew two walks and made a slick barehanded play at the hot corner. 258d77fb-3e840ab4-b70064b7-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 “It’s what we've been seeing all spring,” Murphy said. “He's in a good spot in his game and his career. He's in a good spot, and hopefully he realizes he can make a difference for us.” Hamilton will get plenty of opportunities throughout the season to make that impact. Time will tell whether he blossoms into the player the Brewers believe he can be, but he showed how that might look in their first regular-season game. View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images The final days of spring training include plenty of roster movement across baseball, as non-roster invitees exercise the opt-out and upward mobility clauses in their minor-league contracts. The Brewers are not strangers to adding some of those newly available players to their roster shortly before Opening Day. They did it again on Tuesday afternoon, acquiring right-hander Jake Woodford from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for minor-league pitcher K.C. Hunt and cash considerations. Woodford, 29, has pitched in parts of six big-league seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Arizona Diamondbacks. He spent the spring in Rays camp, where he recently exercised his upward mobility clause after they reassigned him to minor-league camp. He'll get a big-league opportunity in Milwaukee, which added him to its 40-man roster while placing outfielder Akil Baddoo on the 60-day injured list with a left quad strain. Woodford, who has primarily started in the minor leagues but has made 86 of his 111 big-league appearances out of the bullpen, is expected to fill a multi-inning relief role. "I think he's built up to 40-plus pitches," manager Pat Murphy said. "He definitely has a history, and obviously, we're excited about acquiring him." "We have some history with him," president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said, referring to Woodford's time in St. Louis. "He's an interesting arm that can play a valuable role in a number of different spots in our bullpen, or potentially even at the front of games." A former first-round pick by the Cardinals in the 2015 draft, Woodford showed flashes of his potential during his first few big-league seasons, but he has since struggled while working as a low-leverage innings eater. In 256 career innings, he's pitched to a 5.10 ERA, 4.84 FIP, and 111 DRA-, according to Baseball Prospectus. Woodford has reinvented himself over the last couple of years, lowering his arm slot and modifying his arsenal. Now working from a low-three-quarters delivery, his sinker has more depth, and his four-seamer plays better at the top of the zone as a flat, upshoot fastball. A few years ago, he replaced his slider with a cutter and ditched his curveball, and he developed what appears to be a kick changeup last season. Finally, Woodford averaged a career-best 93.2 mph with his sinker and four-seamer in 2025. After those changes, Woodford profiles as a platoon-neutral reliever whose stuff may be closer to clicking than last year's 6.44 ERA suggests. The Brewers seem to believe he'll be more than a temporary mop-up reliever, as they parted with Hunt—who had an unremarkable showing in Double-A last year but was the organization's co-Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2024—to acquire him. "We like the platoon flexibility there," Arnold said. "Obviously, being right-handed, with us having a few more lefties, makes some sense. And his ability to be built up and pitch multiple innings is also something we value." The Brewers do not make sweeping changes to a pitcher's arsenal or identity during the season, and that need not be the case for Woodford. All that's left for his development is plugging him into the right run-prevention unit and finding the best way to sequence his pitches. The Rays already had him on the right track this spring. Woodford excelled at missing barrels last year, allowing just a 6.9% barrel rate, 33.6% hard-hit rate, and an average exit velocity of 86.1 mph. His .365 expected wOBA on contact was slightly lower than the league average of .369. His sinker flashed potential to eat up right-handed hitters, yielding an average launch angle of -3 degrees and inducing plenty of chases inside. The issue was that Woodford allowed too much contact, in front of a Diamondbacks defense that ranked 23rd in baseball with -4 Defensive Runs Saved and posted -2 Outs Above Average while he was on the mound. His stuff was difficult to square up, but it wasn't deceptive. Except for those inside sinkers to righties, none of his other pitches to other locations generated truly uncomfortable swings. Woodford's 16.4% whiff rate ranked in the 2nd percentile among all pitchers, and his 24.4% chase rate ranked in the 12th percentile. Throwing more cutters could help alleviate that problem. It produced a decent 24.0% whiff rate last season, held hitters to a .276 xwOBA, and was one of the two pitches in Woodford's arsenal with a positive run value. Baseball Prospectus's pitch tunneling metrics estimated that hitters only had a 48.1% chance of recognizing it as a cutter by the time they had to decide whether to swing, meaning it was also his most difficult pitch to identify. That was because it spun very similarly to his other fastballs before separating from them with slight glove-side movement. The cutter was Woodford's least-used pitch last year, but throwing it more could make pitch recognition tougher for hitters, potentially leading to fewer comfortable swings and more chases against his other pitches. Woodford doubled his cutter usage with the Rays this spring, even making it his primary pitch against left-handed hitters. Peripherals from small spring training samples are hardly a reliable measure of improvement, but there are signs that throwing more cutters is making Woodford more effective. His chase rate jumped to an above-average 31.6% in his 7 1/3 Grapefruit League innings. To account somewhat for facing lower-level hitters in exhibition games, it was still a better mark than his 27.5% chase rate in Triple-A last season. The Brewers could still make a few more tweaks after Woodford arrives in Milwaukee, including throwing more high four-seamers to introduce more swing-and-miss into his game. Knowing how they usually operate, though, they'll likely lean into his sinker and cutter to induce batted balls that their defense can turn into outs. Because he is out of options, Woodford will join the big-league roster, but he may not be active on Opening Day. Traded players get a 72-hour grace period to travel to their new club. "It's a possibility," Arnold said of Woodford being active by Thursday afternoon. "The logistics around getting him here are something we're still working through." If he doesn't arrive in time, it seems the Brewers will begin the year with the current group of 26 players they have left on the active roster, with Easton McGee occupying the final spot in the bullpen. McGee looks like the obvious candidate to be optioned to Triple-A once Woodford joins the team, but with Arnold emphasizing adding a right-hander to balance a lefty-heavy relief corps, the club could feasibly option DL Hall instead. Either way, the front office still has a few moving parts to navigate with the start of the regular season one day away. View full article

Image courtesy of © Curt Hogg / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The Brewers already revealed that Jacob Misiorowski would start on Opening Day. Now, they've confirmed the rest of their starters behind him, announcing the probable pitchers for the first regular-season turn through the rotation: Chad Patrick, Brandon Sproat, Kyle Harrison, and Brandon Woodruff. The last two names are the most notable. Harrison left his last spring training start with a blister on his left index finger, but the Brewers downplayed concerns about his status for Opening Day. Woodruff was building up slower than many of the other starters in camp, and his status for the start of the season was a storyline for the last month and a half. He and the club ultimately deemed him ready. "I think it's an encouraging sign," Pat Murphy said. "We weren't thinking that he was going to be on the team early with the way it was going, and it went so well, in terms of he feels great, and he feels like he's ready." "My pitch count is probably a little less than some of the guys coming out of camp, but I felt like I was recovering [properly]," Woodruff said. "I felt like the stuff was there and coming along, and I didn't feel like I necessarily wanted to go pitch in minor-league games." Those positive comments come after Woodruff's velocity, which declined a few ticks in his return from shoulder surgery last year, was down further in his two spring training outings. His four-seamer and sinker averaged a combined 93 mph in 2025, but they sat at 91.9 mph in Cactus League play. In his final inning on Thursday, his four-seamer dipped to 88.6 mph. How he felt physically was the bigger focus for Woodruff and the Brewers, and he firmly believes he's checked that box after suffering a season-ending lat injury last September. "I came into camp in a good spot," he said. "That was another thing—I'm not hurt. I didn't want that to be the story coming out of spring, having that lat [injury] attached to me, because I feel good. So that was important to me. But yeah, I'm in a good spot, and I feel like it was a good time for me to just come into the season fresh and try to get a full year." By including Woodruff on their Opening Day roster, the Brewers are trusting his evaluation of his health. "You've got to trust the player," Murphy said. "This is our decision, ultimately [president of baseball operations Matt Arnold's] decision, but we're all involved in it. But we've got to trust the player, and we do trust him." Woodruff will pitch a simulated outing at American Family Field on Wednesday as a final tune-up before starting on March 31 against the Tampa Bay Rays. It remains to be seen how the Brewers will handle his workload throughout the regular season, but Murphy downplayed the possibility of applying notable restrictions. "He can go out there and be ready as any other starter is ready," Murphy said. "This guy knows how to prepare. This guy knows how to navigate. I think he's in a better state than any of our other really young, really inexperienced guys, who may go out there and after the first inning be gassed because of adrenaline." "I try not to think about that," Woodruff said. "I try to go out and do my job and kind of leave that in the hands of the pitching coaches and Murph, when to make that decision, if they need to take me out or whatever it is. But I'm focused on building the endurance in the load right now, which I've done a good job of." For the first time since the 2023 season, Woodruff will open the year in a big-league starting rotation. Next week will mark an opportunity to prove he's as ready as he asserts, and to make a more immediate impact on the field than he has in the past few years. "I feel good," he said. "Now it's just go pitch." View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images For three straight years, the Brewers intended to start the regular season with Garrett Mitchell as their starting center fielder. Mitchell started up the middle on Opening Day in 2023 and 2025, and he would have in 2024, had he not broken his hand in the final days of spring training. It became apparent that they wanted Mitchell to return to that spot for the 2026 opener. They've certainly given him every opportunity to claim the position. While Jackson Chourio, Blake Perkins, and Brandon Lockridge have all gotten starts in the outfield corners this spring, all eight of Mitchell's Cactus League appearances have come in center field. The club has taken things slowly with the injury-prone Mitchell, though, and has only recently ramped up his playing time. Pat Murphy rehashed those durability concerns to reporters in Arizona earlier this week, officially raising the possibility that the 27-year-old might not make the Opening Day roster if the Brewers believed he was not ready for regular playing time. Ultimately, though, the Brewers did not reach that point. By optioning Perkins to Triple-A Nashville on Thursday, the club effectively locked Mitchell and Lockridge into its Opening Day outfield mix. While Mitchell could still receive frequent days off to manage his health, he'll presumably take most of the playing time up the middle to open the year. The choice apparently came down to Lockridge vs. Perkins, but it arguably could have been Mitchell on the outside looking in. There are still concerns about how productive he'll be when healthy, given the flaws in his profile—concerns that have only been exacerbated by his frequent and extended absences and unsuccessful attempts to close those holes. Because his playing time has been so disjointed due to injury, it's been impossible to determine whether Mitchell is actually a viable big-league hitter. His elite bat speed and swing decisions give him one of the highest offensive ceilings in the organization, but the holes in his swing have produced a bloated 33.9% strikeout rate in 443 career plate appearances. Mitchell has hit .254/.333/.433 (114 wRC+) in the big leagues, but with a far less inspiring deserved line of .208/.289/.355 (80 DRC+), according to Baseball Prospectus. Mitchell can hit fastballs at or below the belt, and he has destroyed hanging breaking balls, but he's been a near-automatic out against anything elevated. For his career, he has whiffed on a whopping 52.1% of swings on fastballs within the top third of the strike zone or higher. He'll never need to crush those pitches to succeed, and with a 39.1% swing rate against them (including just a 14.4% swing rate against fastballs above the zone), Mitchell has done a decent job of forcing pitchers back into his hot zones. However, he must prove he can make some contact with elevated velocity. He's made it a focus, but his efforts have not yielded much improvement. Earlier this spring, Mitchell experimented with raising his hands in his stance before switching back to his usual setup. He's since looked caught in-between in many of his Cactus League plate appearances: gearing up for the fastball, but still missing it, while being ahead of softer stuff. The sample is still very small, but Mitchell has whiffed on 37.5% of swings against fastballs this spring, including a 52.6% whiff rate against high heaters. For his career, Mitchell has posted a capable 79.6% contact rate against in-zone breaking balls, with most of his whiffs coming on pitches below the zone. In Arizona, he's whiffed on 53.8% of in-zone breaking balls. Most alarmingly, Mitchell has been hopelessly in front of slower pitches moving away from him, whiffing on 71.4% of swings against offspeed pitches. In 30 Cactus League plate appearances, Mitchell entered Thursday hitting just .080/.233/.240 (24 wRC+) with a 50% strikeout rate. He's still flashed his upside when putting the ball in play, launching a 462-foot home run earlier this month for one of his two hits, but after sporadic time on the field last year, his bat does not look big-league ready with Opening Day approaching. Meanwhile, Lockridge has showcased tangible improvements at the plate. Clearly, Mitchell can make an impact for the Brewers at some point in 2026, but between his uneven production, injury history, and how his bat currently looks, they should be prepared for other options to take a healthy share of reps in center field. For now, though, Mitchell has the opportunity to dial himself in by Opening Day and establish himself up the middle. View full article

Image courtesy of © Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Before the start of the 2023 season, Statcast introduced the sweeper as a new label for certain breaking pitches, separating them from tighter, harder sliders. Since then, the term has found a strong foothold in the modern pitching vernacular. Sweeping sliders themselves aren’t new, but the classification came about as more pitchers and coaches learned to generate the sidespin that creates more extreme lateral break than gyro sliders have, without much depth. That means more pitchers throw it now, including some who throw both sweepers and gyro-spin sliders. Once several pitchers threw both, it became especially useful to have distinct labels for the two different offerings. But as the percentage of pitches tagged as sweepers has steadily increased over the last few seasons, the Brewers have lagged behind. In fact, they cut their sweeper usage last year. Pitching coach Chris Hook and the rest of Milwaukee’s pitching development team have nothing against sweepers, but they generally prefer shorter pitches that spend time in the strike zone, particularly for multi-inning pitchers. They often encourage bulk pitchers to throw more cutters and sinkers, instead of a bigger breaking pitch. Veteran starters Aaron Civale and Tyler Alexander threw fewer sweepers and more fastballs after joining the Brewers, even though those breaking pitches were previously among their most effective. Brandon Woodruff developed a sweeper while rehabbing from shoulder surgery, but he quickly realized he had a better feel for pairing a new cutter with his two existing fastballs. Prospect Coleman Crow, whose signature pitch is a big, high-spin curveball, has thrown his cutter more than any other pitch in big-league camp this year, after it was just a supporting pitch in the minor leagues last season. Sammy Peralta featured the sweeper last season; the team's first recommendation after claiming him last fall was to add a cutter. All indications have been that the Brewers are keeping that emphasis on in-zone pitches at the heart of their pitching philosophy, but sweepers could complement that approach more than in recent seasons. Crow and DL Hall have added sweepers to their arsenal. Brandon Sproat, who could crack the Opening Day rotation, has continued throwing his sweeper 14.3% of the time in Cactus League outings since coming over via trade. Sweeper specialist Robert Gasser is also set for a fully healthy season after spending much of 2025 rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. And they did claim Peralta, after all, which shows a certain openness to acquiring guys for whom the sweeper is important and not a candidate to be scrapped or neglected. The Brewers may apply elements of a larger philosophy to most of their pitchers, but above all else, they try to avoid putting them into a box. This year’s staff will still live mostly off fastballs, but it may be better equipped to sprinkle in more sweeping breaking balls than last year's version was. Whether that was a conscious change of course or just a product of organic efforts to improve the team one move and one player at a time, they're evolving. View full article