Jack Stern

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Statcast unveiled its latest round of bat-tracking metrics last week, opening public access to more information about players' swings than ever before. For a more thorough explanation, Brewer Fanatic's @Jason Wang walked through how to interpret the new data on Tuesday. Because MLB did not upgrade to the Hawk-Eye high-speed camera system that makes bat tracking possible until 2020, the information that's new to fans is also a fresh and ongoing study in front offices. In spring training, Pat Murphy revealed that the Brewers' research and development department was analyzing bat path data to determine which types of swings work best at the big-league level. "We're studying bat angle and bat path in the zone, how it gets to the zone, all different things of it," Murphy said. "How it starts in the zone, how long it's in the zone, what angle it is in the zone, and then what's most effective of that. Contact point. We study all of that. It's fairly new. We don't have all the research on it." Hitting is a complex equation of meeting the ball with enough force, at the right time and on the right plane, and the path to getting there differs for each hitter. Most will tell you that their in-game swings rarely feel fully calibrated, so making their window for productive contact as wide as possible is crucial. Without the fancy numbers and graphics now available to the public, several of baseball's greatest hitting minds have concluded that a more vertical, steeper bat path with a slight arc best meets the plane of the incoming pitch, giving a hitter the most wiggle room for making productive contact, even if their timing is slightly off. Ted Williams was saying it back in the 1970s. Murphy agrees. "I think the more vertical bat produces better results when beat," he said in March, more than two months before bat path metrics went public. When a hitter swings late at a pitch but still makes contact, he's catching it closer to the back of home plate. The bat is sometimes coming down as it meets the ball, instead of as it levels out or comes up. That means that when a steeper swing is late, it's more likely to clip the bottom half of the ball. Murphy says that allows a hitter to stay alive for another pitch or hit a near-automatic single. "A more vertical bat, meaning (steeper), produces a potential foul ball, which lets you live again, if you hit the inside of it the right way," he said. "And, obviously, a chance for a 70-30 – 70 miles an hour, 30 degrees is a hit." League-wide in 2025, balls hit with an exit velocity between 65 and 75 mph and a launch angle between 25 and 35 degrees have a batting average of .783. They're the bloop singles that fall into no-man's land between an infielder and an outfielder. Nobody tries to hit a ball like that, but a single is a solid outcome after getting beaten by a pitch. A flatter, more horizontal swing also has its strengths. When late, it's more likely than a steep swing to meet the ball flush, producing an opposite-field line drive. That's why hitters with such swings—Brice Turang and Sal Frelick, for example—are often more comfortable with letting the ball get deep and slashing it the other way. This Turang single from earlier this month against the Minnesota Twins was a successful horizontal swing against a high fastball. turang_single.mp4 Turang's swing tilt—the angle of his bat path, measured 0.4 seconds before contact—on this hit was 23 degrees, much flatter than the MLB average of 30 degrees. It was level enough to help him turn around a high pitch deep in the hitting zone for a line drive, but not too flat. "There's a lot of horizontal bat that can beat a ball back here (toward the back of home plate) and hit you a laser to (the opposite field), and you're like, 'Wow, vertical bat, that would have been a foul ball,'" Murphy said. "But there's some horizontal bat guys, that's all they hit." More often, a horizontal swing hits the top of the ball at contact and produces a ground ball, like this Turang groundout against a fastball in a similar location to the one on which he singled. turang_groundout.mp4 Turang got too flat on this swing, down to 16 degrees. The result was an easy rollover. "If I'm above (the ball), I'm out, right?" Murphy said. "If I hit a ground ball in today's game, you're probably out." Back in March, Murphy invoked Freddie Freeman as an exemplar of a successful vertical bat hitter. The new data backs it up. Freeman's average swing tilt is 42 degrees, making his bat path the second-steepest among qualified hitters. Many Brewers hitters are on the opposite end of the spectrum. As a team, their average swing tilt is 30 degrees, which ties them for the lowest in baseball. Many of their most prominent hitters have more horizontal bat paths. Player PA Swing Path Tilt Jackson Chourio 247 26° Brice Turang 227 30° Christian Yelich 226 36° William Contreras 220 30° Sal Frelick 204 29° Rhys Hoskins 203 34° Joey Ortiz 187 28° Compare the shape of Freeman's swing to those of several Milwaukee hitters. swing_comparison.mp4 A flat bat path does not automatically preclude a hitter from driving the ball. Chourio, for example, has one of baseball's most horizontal swings, but has still flashed power by meeting the ball in a good spot with his 78th-percentile bat speed. However, the new metrics partially explain why the Brewers again have the game's third-highest ground ball rate, despite players and coaches claiming their goal is to elevate balls in play. Because of their bat paths, when many of their hitters mistime a pitch, they hit it on the ground. It's a predicament the organization created for itself by acquiring and developing so many players with flatter swings. Murphy would like that to change. He doesn't want his horizontal bat hitters to forgo their existing strengths and try to become Freeman, but he thinks adding more vertical variations of their existing swings will help them get to certain pitches better. "It's going to lead to more of a vertical bat," he said earlier this week, predicting the adjustment the metrics will spur. "Because really, the ability to kind of do a little bit of both and not just have one horizontal swing is going to be the difference." It's not a simple fix, though. Murphy noted in spring training that hitters are somewhat bound to their natural movement patterns and can't make their swings steeper with a snap of their fingers, something he reiterated after the numbers came out. "It's not something you can do in a day," he said, later adding that the offseason is the best time for broader swing adjustments. "It's recognition, understanding, awareness. Now, what am I going to do about it? And it's probably going to take some time to understand it, because it's not as easy as that. Freddie Freeman does that real simple. (Christian) Yelich does that real simple, you know? So it's like, it's different." For now, the Brewers are directing hitters to swing as little as possible at pitches their bat paths struggle to hit. For those with horizontal swings, that includes high pitches and low-and-inside ones. "You've got to step back and really analyze it," Murphy said. "Right now, it's, 'I don't swing at that.'" In the long run, he hopes the new data will help hitters formulate plans better suited to their strengths and make their swings more versatile. "That's the mode we're in, now that we're tracking this. It's going to allow players to see, like Brice Turang, like, 'No, you don't do damage. No, you don't hit that ball down-and-in as a horizontal bat guy. So how are you going to adjust?'" View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images To be clear, Pat Murphy's bullpen management is not squarely to blame for the Brewers' losses, neither on Wednesday nor throughout the season as a whole. The primary culprits remain anemic offense and shaky defense, which have placed the manager in tight spots. But, as has sometimes been the case, when faced with a tough situation lacking ideal solutions, Murphy's aggressive maneuvering did more to make it worse than to weather it successfully. In Milwaukee's series finale against the Baltimore Orioles, he and others with decision-making input pushed the pitching staff, which had already been backed into a corner, tight against a wall. During stretches of close games he deems winnable, Murphy has no qualms about leaning heavily on his best relievers. It's been a theme since he took over as manager last year, and while he's shown more restraint at times, the downside to his "Win Tonight" mentality reared its head this week. For the fourth day in a row, the Brewers held a slim lead in the late innings. It was the offense's fault for not adding on early enough to give Murphy and the pitching more breathing room. But instead of taking a big-picture approach with the bullpen plans, he hit the gas pedal again, only for the car to swerve off the road before reaching the intended destination. When the tying run reached second base for Gunnar Henderson with two outs in the fifth inning, Murphy pulled Chad Patrick for Rob Zastryzny, who struck out Henderson to end the threat. Grant Anderson relieved Zastryzny in another jam the following inning, recording the final two outs of the sixth on four pitches. That's when Murphy pushed the envelope, asking Nick Mears to cover the seventh and eighth innings. It was the third appearance in four days for Mears, who was pitching for the 21st time in his 40 days on the active roster and hadn't recorded more than three outs in a game since April 27. Given the suboptimal circumstances–another close game and a taxed group of high-leverage relievers–any decision could have backfired. But by stretching Mears–whose strikeout rate has plummeted in his last 10 games–for two frames, Murphy risked a double whammy: lose the game in front of him, and extend his fireman's unavailability over the weekend in Pittsburgh. That's precisely how it played out. After a spotless seventh, Mears surrendered a run while recording only two outs, and Joel Payamps let an inherited runner score to give Baltimore the lead. Caleb Durbin tied it in the ninth to force extra innings, prompting Murphy to empty his bullpen of available arms. It culminated in a fourth appearance in six days for swingman Tyler Alexander, who threw 33 pitches the night before. The Orioles scored four unanswered runs to win it. While Mears had been busy of late, Anderson had not pitched since Saturday, and the Brewers selected Easton McGee's contract on Sunday to supply a fresh arm for the week. Instead of leaning on those rested relievers for coverage, Murphy used Anderson for two batters and did not throw McGee until the Brewers were trailing in the ninth. "We could have," Murphy said when asked if navigating the game with just one inning from Mears was possible. "But we knew where we were at. Here's McGee making his first appearance in the big leagues in how long, so you don't know what you're going to get." It was an understandable reason to prefer avoiding McGee, who had not pitched in the majors since April 2023 due to Tommy John surgery. Furthermore, the abundance of quality left-handed hitters in Baltimore's lineup created suboptimal matchups for Anderson, whose delivery and stuff profile best against righties. However, there are times to let it ride without the best matchups, and Wednesday was one of them. The Brewers already won the series, and properly pacing relievers should still be an emphasis in late May. Murphy acknowledged that "of course" he must sometimes rely on the 'B' bullpen in high-leverage situations when the 'A' guys are overworked, even if it puts the Brewers in a suboptimal position in that moment. "You've got guys going on fumes," he said earlier in his postgame media session. "You have to have all eight guys in the 'pen helping you. You just do in these situations." Still, his focus remained mainly on the short term, as he reiterated his belief that they could get six outs from Mears, win in regulation without using McGee and Alexander, and determine the weekend pitching situation later. "I felt like we were not going to go (11) innings, and we're going to be okay," he said. "I didn't think we'd go 11 innings. You never plan on that." They did, though, and the damage spilled into Pittsburgh. Carlos Rodriguez was reportedly supposed to start on Thursday, but the sudden need for more innings forced the club to scratch Aaron Civale from his scheduled Wednesday night rehab start and activate him prematurely. The casualties were McGee and Joel Payamps. While the latter was likely to lose his roster spot at some point, the necessity of more rested arms forced the Brewers to cut bait even sooner amid their efforts to get him back on track. Civale did not look the sharpest in his first big-league outing since March 30 but gutted through four innings, and Rodriguez delivered an impressive rain-interrupted long relief outing. Meanwhile, Anderson did not pitch, and Murphy turned to Megill for the fourth time in five days to put out a ninth-inning fire and secure a win. Rob Zastryzny also pitched for a third time in four days before Rodriguez entered. Even amid the ongoing availability crisis, "Win Tonight" won out yet again in the decision-making process. Murphy said throughout the week that a manager must trust every arm in his bullpen to record outs in big spots if the situation comes to that, yet his actions convey that he doesn't. At some point, he must draw a more consistent line for keeping hard-worked relievers off-limits, regardless of the immediate situation in a regular-season game. It's catching up to the Brewers in real time, and if it doesn't change, the consequences could be more severe later in the season. View full article

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images A resurgent Rhys Hoskins has been among the few bright spots in a scuffling Brewers lineup. After struggling to a .214/.303/.419 line and career-worst 100 wRC+ last year, the veteran first baseman enters Wednesday hitting .297/.402/.483 (145 wRC+), his best output since his rookie campaign in 2017. That offense is mostly backed up, too. Beneath Hoskins's .375 wOBA is a .365 xwOBA. Through the season's first couple of weeks, the results were similar to last year. Hoskins entered April 20 slashing .232/.333/.357 with a 97 wRC+. During that time, he started toying in practice settings with ways to improve his timing. "Not great the first couple weeks," he said. "Felt like I was having good at-bats still, but just tried to simplify things." Hoskins brought those adjustments into game action against the Athletics that night. In his second at-bat against Jeffrey Springs, he traded his leg kick for a toe-to-heel move. He barely lifts his foot, brings the front of it down early, and drives the rest into the ground as he swings. hoskins_loads.mp4 While different than the load Hoskins has typically utilized in the big leagues, it's not entirely new to him. "It's how I used to hit," he said. "This is how I used to hit in college." The early returns were as promising as they could be. In his first at-bat with the reincorporated timing mechanism, Hoskins homered. "It was like, 'Alright, I should probably explore this a little bit more,'" he said. "And then later in that game, facing [Noah Murdock]—big sinker, arms flying everywhere, maybe a guy that I would previously have struggled with, with the leg kick and trying to time it up—I ended up getting a base hit to right field. It was like, I pulled a ball in the air with some authority, but also took the base hit when I needed it. It's kind of all you need to see, and just kind of stuck with it from there." Hoskins hasn't looked back since, hitting .337/.463/.562 in 108 plate appearances with the toe-to-heel move. "I just feel like that's given me a better chance to see the ball longer," he said. "I think my head is moving a lot less. There's still maintenance, because there's maintenance with everything, but there's just less maintenance. There's less going into the cage every day and figuring out when I've got to pick my foot up. And then there's going to be the guy that has a slide step or has a double pump. So, yeah, it was just trying to simplify things as much as I could." The modified load works because he has his legs back under him. Hoskins maintains that a healthier lower half is the primary catalyst for his bounceback. "It's huge, man," he said. "I'm not sure I would have been able to do this sort of simple load last year, not having the confidence that I can hit against my front leg. Last year, I feel like I almost had to collide with balls, which is not a great feeling. It's kind of like roulette." Hoskins returned from ACL reconstruction surgery last year and also missed time with a hamstring injury. While on the field, he struggled to transfer weight into his front leg, which impacted his timing and ability to generate power. It robbed him of the rotational explosiveness that helped him spoil or turn around high-velocity pitches, which put him in a worse spot to react to anything soft. "You feel like you've got to almost cheat to the fastball, right?" he said. "You're so much more susceptible to anything offspeed, especially away, because then you end up running out of bat. Front shoulder goes, the front hip maybe goes a little early, just because you feel like, 'Oh, I gotta go in order to get to this heater.'" Fast forward a year, and a healthier Hoskins is back to driving into his front leg. "Instead of just falling, there's something that I can push up against, which I think gives me a little bit more torque. I don't know exactly what bat speed stuff or anything like that says, but I feel stronger." With his mobility restored and the toe-to-heel load improving his timing, Hoskins is back to producing at a high level. That doesn't mean he's back to his pre-surgery form, though. This is a different version of Hoskins that's achieving results in new ways. Some of his signature strengths have returned. For starters, Hoskins is back to crushing four-seamers and two-seamers. He's also hitting the ball hard more often. His 47.2% hard-hit rate and 46.2% sweet-spot percentage (batted balls with a launch angle between 8° and 32°) are both career bests. Beyond that, Hoskins's profile differs considerably from his last few pre-injury seasons. He is controlling the strike zone as effectively as ever, thanks partly to his simplified load. Since ditching the leg kick, he has drawn walks at a 15.7% clip and chased just 16.8% of pitches outside the strike zone, levels of selectivity he hasn't shown since his first couple of seasons. "It's kind of just a trickle-down effect, right?" he said. "I'm down ready to hit, ready to fire earlier. In my mind, I can see the ball better earlier, which means I have more time to make a decision on swing or no swing, which I think leads to swinging at more strikes and taking more balls." In addition to hitting the ball harder than ever, the trajectory of Hoskins's contact is much different. For most of his career, he was a prototypical low-average power hitter, who racked up home runs by launching fly balls. So far this year, he's been a line-drive machine. "He hit [26] big home runs for us last year, and I remember every one of them," Pat Murphy said. "This year, he's been more of a complete hitter: on base, not chasing, big hit after big hit, like you might expect." These changes have Hoskins hitting for a much higher average than he typically does, but the tradeoff is that his power output has dipped. His home run on Tuesday night was just his sixth of the season, and his .168 isolated power is a career low. That's partially because more of his loudest contact is now on a line, instead of higher in the air. Statcast is stricter with its fly ball classifications than FanGraphs, and it says those balls are not coming off Hoskins's bat with quite the same authority as usual, causing his HR/FB ratio to decrease. Season FB% HR/FB% FB Hard-Hit% FB xwOBA 2017 36.5% 37.0% 54.3% .590 2018 34.4% 21.1% 52.1% .463 2019 33.7% 20.6% 48.5% .427 2020 40.7% 22.7% 52.3% .540 2021 36.7% 24.0% 57.7% .614 2022 33.0% 20.0% 54.3% .499 2024 36.6% 23.2% 58.9% .462 2025 32.1% 17.1% 41.2% .372 It's still early, though. May has historically been Hoskins's least powerful month on a rate basis, and he often heats up in that department as the weather warms. Even if the new iteration hits fewer long balls than in the past, he should still exceed 20 by year's end. Murphy expects to see more slugging as the season progresses. "I do think the home runs will be there," he said. "When the time comes, I think they'll be there because his legs are there." Hoskins knows the importance of keeping those legs healthy, particularly as he deals with changes to his body. Now 32 years old, he is working to keep his lower half in good shape for the long haul. "You just have to stay on top of that," he said. "You have to be proactive about that, I think, especially as you age." "He works very hard at it, and he still trains very hard," Murphy said. "And as you get older, your body doesn't work exactly the same. Even his physique is different than it was five or six years ago, like most of us." Hoskins won't continue hitting at his current rate. Even if his production so far is deserved, few hitters remain this locked in for an entire season. Still, his improvements are legitimate, which is a great development for both the player and the team. View full article

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images When Caleb Durbin lined an RBI single in his first at-bat on Monday night, it snapped an 0-for-24 slump for the rookie infielder. It's been a challenging first month since the Brewers gave Durbin the keys to third base in late April; the 25-year-old has hit just .174/.273/.244 (52 wRC+) in his first 100 plate appearances. When Milwaukee acquired him in December as the long-term half of the return for Devin Williams, Durbin's bat-to-ball skills, plate discipline, and speed were his calling cards. Two of those tools have been on display since his debut. He enters Tuesday with a 7% strikeout rate and 87.5% contact rate, while chasing just 21.1% of pitches outside the strike zone. There's a significant catch: most of that contact has been unproductive. Durbin's .177 BABIP is over 100 points below the league average, and while bad luck has played a role in his struggles, his lack of production is mostly deserved. According to Statcast, his .239 expected wOBA on contact is the lowest among hitters with at least 80 batted balls this year, by a wide margin; Adam Frazier's .263 is the next-lowest. That means Durbin is hitting balls at exit velocities and launch angles that rarely go for hits. Durbin's dearth of hard contact was always the most glaring red flag in his profile, raising questions about whether he would hit for enough power to be a viable big-league bat. Among hitters with at least 250 batted balls in Triple A last year, his 25.4% hard-hit rate was in the 10th percentile. So far in the big leagues, it's 22.2%. He found some power in the minor leagues by pulling the ball. Durbin did not make much loud contact last season, but he lined doubles down the left-field line and tucked handfuls of fly balls around the foul pole for home runs. 2024 MiLB Spray Chart Durbin has tried to take that same approach to the big leagues, but it hasn't worked against higher-caliber pitching. According to FanGraphs, his pull rate has cratered, and he's instead lofting medium-hit flyouts to left-center and center field. Season (Level) Pull% Middle% Oppo% LD% GB% FB% 2024 (AAA) 56.4% 21.8% 21.8% 24.5% 40.7% 34.8% 2025 (MLB) 39.7% 38.5% 21.8% 12.7% 39.2% 48.1% Elevating the baseball is a good thing, if you hit it hard with backspin. For Durbin, who often hits it under 90 mph, those balls hang up in the air for routine outs. "You hit a ball in the air, and if it's not 400 feet, it's getting caught in the big leagues," Pat Murphy said. "And if it's only at 82 miles an hour, it's getting caught." Durbin has trained with Aaron Judge's personal hitting coach and uses a similar swing mechanism. He coils around his back leg during his load, then snaps his barrel toward the ball while tilting his torso. According to Murphy, the timing of that mechanism has been off. Durbin is tilting too early before the snap, directing his swing path under the ball and turning what should be line drives into harmless flyouts. "He's kind of a little bit out of sync, so his bat path and his ball flight are affected," Murphy said. "So he's on time for those pitches, he's just hitting them straight up in the air. You've got to hit those on a line." Murphy met with Durbin to discuss his hitting on Monday afternoon. Hours later, he opened the scoring with a line-drive single to left in his first at-bat. He and the Brewers need much more of that. Durbin's early struggles raise questions about whether the success of his swing and approach is transferable to the big leagues. Hitting batted balls that are near-automatic outs won't get him anywhere. Pitchers have no qualms over going right at him, either, throwing 56.7% of their pitches to Durbin in the strike zone. That's partially due to his placement near the bottom of the batting order, but it also conveys that opponents do not expect him to do damage on hittable pitches. Seeing so many strikes and failing to force pitchers outside the zone has limited Durbin to a 5% walk rate, despite his strong chase rate. Murphy still believes Durbin's game can work, with the right tweaks. "You know, what's funny is he's not—this sounds crazy—he's not far away," he said. That's a more encouraging outlook than the alternative, which is that opposing hurlers already know how to exploit the same technique that brought Durbin success at lower levels. With no alternative behind him on the depth chart at third base, he has plenty of time to reward his manager's faith. View full article

Image courtesy of © Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images When Joey Ortiz popped out to first base in the bottom of the fifth inning on Friday night, it was his seventh popout to first this season, tying him for the second-most in baseball by a right-handed hitter. That stat is not necessarily noteworthy on its own, but in Ortiz’s case, it speaks to what’s been a severe issue in his nightmarish sophomore season in Milwaukee: his barrel is coming through the zone late, preventing him from meeting the ball out in front of the plate to hit productive line drives and fly balls. With most of his swings that produce contact, he’s practically plucking the ball out of the catcher’s mitt. Being late has mostly left Ortiz hitting routine flyouts or popouts to the right side. According to Statcast, his pull rate has cratered from a slightly above-average 38.2% in 2024 to 24.4% this year. His percentage of contact pulled in the air (fly balls, line drives, and popups) has fallen from 15% to 6.7%, the 10th-worst rate among qualified hitters. Most of his balls in the air have been to the opposite field. It happened again on last night’s popout. Ortiz failed to get his barrel through the hitting zone quickly enough, and he popped the ball weakly just behind first base. ortiz_pop_out.mp4 Other times, being late has produced harder-hit groundouts. Many batted balls Ortiz has hit at least 95 mph this year fall into that bucket. On these pitches, the ball is often meeting Ortiz’s bat deep in the hitting zone before that bat can get on plane. His barrel is coming down on the ball when he makes contact, so even if it’s near the sweet spot, he pounds it into the dirt, as he did on this 109-mph groundout. ortiz_groundout.mp4 The Brewers made a quick change with Oliver Dunn at third base last month when he did not produce, but Ortiz and his 29 wRC+ have remained the starter at shortstop all year. Whereas Caleb Durbin was waiting in Triple-A as a replacement for Dunn, there was no clear substitute for Ortiz. That may be changing. On May 9, the Brewers designated Vinny Capra for assignment. They recalled Andruw Monasterio, who has played 380 professional games at shortstop, including 21 of his 29 starts in the field at Triple-A this year. Murphy said on Friday afternoon that the club believes Monasterio can effectively replace Ortiz at the position, including if he requires a longer break on the bench or in the minor leagues. “With Mona here now, we feel confident Mona can handle it,” Murphy said. Monasterio’s utilization so far backs it up. Murphy pinch-hit Isaac Collins for Ortiz with runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning last night, and Monasterio finished the game at short. It was his third appearance there in four games, including two starts at short during a three-game series in Cleveland earlier this week. Could he receive more time there moving forward? “Yeah,” Murphy said postgame. “I think until Joey gets more confident.” In the same breath, though, he said he believes Ortiz is trending in the right direction. “He’s struggling offensively, but there are signs that he’s doing really well, so I’m encouraged, believe it or not. I don’t think he’s far away.” Still, there are signs that the Brewers are testing the waters to see if Monasterio can be a stopgap at shortstop. It would be a suboptimal patchwork solution, as the utility man’s defense has received mixed grades at the less demanding positions of second and third base. However, he’d be an improvement over Ortiz’s -1.0 bWAR if he can be a replacement-level shortstop for a few weeks. Were the club to option Ortiz to Triple-A, it would have to promote another infielder. It could recall Dunn, but he has not made nearly enough progress to expect he’ll produce. Catcher and second baseman Anthony Seigler, who owns a 156 wRC+ at Triple-A, made his first career start at third base on Friday but left with an injury. The lack of roster replacements means Ortiz may remain in the big leagues a bit longer. Either way, changes at shortstop could be on the horizon. Ortiz’s leash appears to be getting shorter, and he may no longer be the undisputed everyday starter at the position. View full article

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images An old face returned to the Brewers' clubhouse on Friday. Left-handed reliever Rob Zastryzny is back after Milwaukee acquired him from the New York Yankees in exchange for cash. Elvis Peguero was optioned to Triple-A Nashville in a corresponding move. Zastryzny signed a minor-league contract with the Brewers in December 2023 after the two sides discovered they held a similar vision for the future of his revamped arsenal. It proved to be a productive partnership. The veteran posted a 3.03 ERA, 3.37 FIP, and 32.5% strikeout rate in 29 ⅔ Triple-A innings, earning him a midseason promotion. He pitched to a 1.17 ERA and 2.64 FIP in 7 ⅔ innings before an elbow injury sidelined him until the postseason. Zastryzny missed the team's Wild Card Series roster and was a roster crunch casualty in November, with the Chicago Cubs claiming him off waivers. In 12 innings with New York's Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Zastryzny compiled a 4.50 ERA with a more encouraging 3.68 FIP. Baseball Prospectus' StuffPro model has graded each of his four pitches as above average or better. The acquisition is another move to expedite the revamping of Pat Murphy's left-handed options in the bullpen. Before reuniting with Zastryzny, the Brewers also restructured Aaron Ashby and DL Hall's rehab plans to bring them back quicker as relievers. The decisions have come as Bryan Hudson's velocity and control have remained inconsistent. "With Huddy having some issues with his command, I think we needed an extra lefty here," Pat Murphy said. "Ashby and DL are hopefully not too far behind." Neither Ashby nor Hall has looked the sharpest to begin their stints with Nashville, but the latter's fastball showed encouraging signs in his first outing. Hall's four-seam fastball never resembled the plus pitch it was scouted as last season, averaging 14.3 inches of induced vertical break in the big leagues. In his first two innings on Wednesday, it averaged 16.3 inches and touched 20 inches, a benchmark he never reached last year. "He's been training as a starter, but we might have a bigger need for him as a reliever," Murphy said. "I think that'll tick everything up." With Zastryzny in tow and Ashby and Hall not far behind, Hudson's fall down the bullpen hierarchy continues. He was arguably the team's top reliever in the first half last year, but the Brewers optioned him after his velocity slipped in the second half. It hasn't returned consistently this season. After averaging 91.7 mph through the 2024 All-Star break, Hudson's four-seamer has averaged 90.5 mph this year and ranged anywhere from 86 to 94 mph. His control has also disappeared, as he's walked 22.2% of batters faced in the big leagues this season. Those issues prompted another demotion at the end of April. Hudson returned at the onset of Milwaukee's last road trip but only appeared once, requiring 50 pitches to record five outs in Cleveland on Monday. The Brewers optioned him two days later. It's an unfortunate development for the funky southpaw, who looked at this time last year like the team's next great bullpen breakout story. With others surpassing him on the depth chart and only one option year remaining, he could lose his 40-man roster spot next offseason if he cannot recapture his past form. Zastryzny is out of options, meaning the Brewers see him as more than temporary bullpen help if he performs. That will create a roster crunch if the club wants to add one of Ashby and Hall in a couple of weeks. Swingman Tyler Alexander, who has pitched primarily in short-range relief outings lately with mixed results, could be another candidate to lose his spot as part of a left-handed relief makeover. View full article

Image courtesy of © David Richard-Imagn Images After consecutive shutout losses for the second time in two weeks, Pat Murphy called a closed-door postgame meeting with his team on Tuesday night in Cleveland. It was the second such meeting Murphy initiated in as many road trips. The Brewers congregated under similar circumstances on April 24 in San Francisco, after losing three of four to the Giants. In between, they went 7-10, while continuing to play poor fundamental baseball. During that time, Murphy tried to send more messages with benchings, yanking Sal Frelick and Caleb Durbin for miscues in St. Louis and Tobias Myers after two wild innings in Chicago. None of those efforts inspired improvement. The Brewers enter Friday at 21-23, putting them four games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs and the third NL Wild Card spot. Records and standings are not worth fretting over in mid-May, though. What's alarming is how the Brewers have played: the levers Murphy is pulling repeatedly this early in the season in hopes of righting the ship, and the absence of progress. "We're not playing with a ton of confidence," he said Tuesday night. "We got a bunch of guys just not at their best right now, but you go through that once in a while." Even the best teams hit rough patches, and slow starts can seem worse than they truly are in a small sample. But the harsh reality is that the Brewers have too often looked non-competitive, and it's growing harder to believe this roster will find its footing. In Murphy's first year as manager, the Brewers played clean, balanced baseball and quickly responded to adversity. This year's team has spent the season's first seven weeks chaotically running in place. Many of its 21 wins have resembled those of last year, inspiring hope that a bumpy start may be in the rear-view mirror—only for the same mistakes to return in more frustrating losses. The repeating cycle has left the Brewers unable to climb more than two games over .500. Many losses have been blowouts, starting with two against the Yankees in New York on opening weekend. Milwaukee lost seven of its first 38 games by at least eight runs. Only 10 other teams since 1901 have sustained that many blowouts so early in a season. All of them finished below .500, and eight went on to lose at least 91 games that year. Declaring the Brewers destined for a similar season would still be an overreaction. Thanks to several convincing wins, their expected record based on run differential is 22-22. However, while they haven't looked like an awful team, they haven't looked like a good one, either. They have repeatedly done things that good teams rarely do, even amid the ebbs that every club experiences in a 162-game season. Those red flags do not yet warrant full-blown panic, but they should raise prompt concern. They've already elicited unusual degrees of action. The elite defense that carried last year's team has become inconsistent, despite Willy Adames (a negative-value defender at shortstop) being the only loss in the field. After finishing fourth in Defensive Runs Saved (+64) last season, this year's Brewers have fallen to 13th (+9) and are 24th in fielding percentage (.982). The athleticism and impressive plays are still present, but the mistakes are far too frequent. The pitching has stabilized in recent weeks, and should continue trending in the right direction as more arms return from the injured list. The Brewers' greatest woes are at the plate, where their offense ranks 25th with an 87 wRC+. "[The pitching is] not our issue right now," Murphy said. "We've got to get the heart of our order, for sure, producing." Christian Yelich and William Contreras will heat up, even with the latter playing through a fractured finger. However, that improvement will be offset somewhat by looming regression for Sal Frelick and Jake Bauers. It's also becoming clear that the Brewers do not currently have an MLB-caliber starting third baseman in the organization. This lineup is not as bad talent-wise as the results say, but it's certainly not good. The absence of power is most striking. After losing the perennial 30-homer output of Adames to free agency and doing nothing to replace it externally, Milwaukee ranks 23rd in long balls (37) and 27th in isolated power (.122). The worst fears surrounding the offense going into the season have come to fruition. "There's a study done about the playoffs lately, and the teams that win and go to the World Series hit a bunch of homers," Murphy acknowledged. "That's what's been [the case]. But that's not always possible. You can't just find those guys laying around. And then you pay a lot of money for those guys that are consistent in that department." "I think we're a team that maybe relies a little bit more on some different style of extra-base hits and running the bases aggressively and doing things like that to get it," Jackson Chourio said. "So even if we're not hitting home runs, that doesn't by any means say that we can't play our style of game." "Most teams in the big leagues have two or three other guys that can [hit for power], and we've got some young people playing that we're not expecting to drive the baseball that way," Murphy said. While there are other ways to score besides hitting the ball into the seats, home runs are the most efficient. They can also spark an offense and end a scoring drought with one swing, whereas stringing singles together requires the right sequencing and more production throughout the lineup. The fact is that the Brewers won't go very far if they cannot drive the baseball. Last year's lineup was not filled with sluggers, either, but it finished 16th in homers (177) and 18th in ISO (.155). That was just enough power to complement the scrappier on-base hitters, allowing the offense to post an above-average 104 wRC+. While there were no blowouts on a 2-4 road trip, the other familiar themes were present and glaring in Tampa and Cleveland: pitiful offense, sloppy glovework at the worst moments, and a manager who publicly expressed confidence in his team, but whose aggressive measures on and off the field signaled that something was wrong and that he needed to stop the bleeding. Murphy and others throughout the clubhouse have cited a lack of confidence as one of the culprits behind the latest slide, a stark contrast from the "Undaunted" mantra they championed a year ago. "I think there is some 'afraid to make a mistake' type thing, and that's not a way to go about this game or into any competition," Rhys Hoskins said. "You have to dive right in knowing you've prepared, so when it's time to compete, the talent can come out." That was one of the points addressed in the latest team meeting. The following day, the offense erupted for nine runs to help the Brewers avoid a sweep. "We had over 20 quality at-bats today," Murphy estimated afterward. "That's the type of team we have to be. It's not about talent. It's about that mindset. They decided today that they were going to have those ABs. And whether it's against great pitching, whether it's against back-end pitching, whatever, it doesn't matter. It's the commitment to understand how to get after it, and they're all capable. We look like a different team when we do that." "Sometimes, you kind of need to take it on the chin a little bit," Hoskins said. "I think just talking about it last night as a group put us in a good position to go compete today." There's still plenty of time for the Brewers to turn things around, and perhaps Tuesday night's meeting and the subsequent win were the start. However, positive trends have proven short-lived multiple times this year, and this group has not earned the benefit of the doubt that this time will be different. Murphy and his club are far from out of this. A winning streak would have them right back in the middle of the playoff picture. Getting back on the right track is already an uphill battle, though, and each week without progress as the season continues only digs the Brewers into a deeper hole. View full article

Image courtesy of © Ken Blaze-Imagn Images Just over three weeks after a strong big-league debut, Logan Henderson was similarly effective in his second start. The 23-year-old tossed five innings of two-run ball, helping the Brewers avoid a sweep by the Guardians in Cleveland. “His second start right out of the Triple-A cooler, and he’s going out competing against a really hot team,” Pat Murphy said. “I thought he had a great outing.” “Impressive stuff,” Rhys Hoskins said. “He’s super poised out there, and he’s executed pitches super well.” In his first two outings, Henderson has struck out 40% of his batters faced. He’s doing it with the signature four-seam fastball and changeup combination that carried him through the minor leagues. He generates above-average backspin and carry on his four-seamer from a low three-quarters arm slot, making it challenging for hitters to get on top of. Pairing those heaters at the top of the zone with fading changeups at the bottom creates a difficult spread for opponents. “Those are my bread and butter,” Henderson said, “so definitely feel confident about those.” A whopping 92% of Henderson’s pitches so far have been either four-seamers or changeups. Opponents have whiffed on 28% of swings against the fastball and 35% of swings against the changeup. His first two outings have demonstrated that the righthander can carve through opposing lineups with just those two offerings, particularly when they are unfamiliar with them in their first meetings. The key to sustained success remains the development of a reliable third pitch, with glove-side movement. At some point, it will become necessary to keep guys off his fastball and changeup and give him another option—particularly if either of those pitches is not sharp on a given day. Finding that third offering can be a challenge for natural pronators like Henderson. So far, his cutter and slider have featured inconsistent movement, and neither has emerged as a reliable pitch. He’s aware of that, and while he will continue pitching to his strengths, he remains focused on rounding out his arsenal. “I know the cutter and slider have a lot of work to do,” he said. “It’s primarily going to be fastball and changeup, but the more I can throw the cutter and slider in there, it’s going to camouflage my other two best pitches.” Henderson flashed both pitches during his second foray through the Cleveland lineup, including three sliders in his final inning. “He brought out a couple sliders and cutters that second and third time through, just to throw a new wrinkle at them,” Hoskins said. “Which is a huge thing for a starter to be able to complete that third time through, or at least that two-and-a-half times through a lineup.” With no need in the starting rotation a few weeks ago, the Brewers optioned Henderson back to Triple-A Nashville after an impressive debut. He has a chance to stick around longer this time. With José Quintana hitting the injured list and an ankle injury pausing Brandon Woodruff’s rehab, Henderson will get a few more starts. “I mean, he’s two-for-two for me,” Murphy said. “That’s a good start. And he’s poised.” View full article

Image courtesy of © David Richard-Imagn Images When Jackson Chourio drew a walk in the third inning on Monday night, it was just his fourth of the season. The 21-year-old’s 2.2% walk rate is the lowest among qualified hitters this year. In 40 games, he’s had two stretches of at least 70 plate appearances without a walk. “We know Chourio is allergic to a walk,” quipped Pat Murphy, who has repeatedly warned that his talented young outfielder must refine his plate discipline to enjoy sustained success against big-league pitching. Chourio will never run a high walk rate in his prime seasons—nor should he. With lightning-quick hands that can get the barrel to nearly any pitch in or near the strike zone, an aggressive approach allows Chourio to shine. He should swing often at strikes, to maximize his electrifying talent. The aggressiveness has gone too far in Chourio’s sophomore season, though, and is restricting his production. After a torrid finish to his debut campaign, he has often looked less polished to begin his follow-up year. The former top prospect’s 103 wRC+ is slightly above average, but it’s a step back from his 117 wRC+ mark as a rookie, and advanced metrics that consider swing decisions and quality of contact over pure results say he’s been a below-average hitter. His .292 xwOBA is in the 17th percentile of hitters, and his 92 DRC+ is underwhelming. Chourio’s 44% chase rate on pitches outside the zone is third among qualified hitters. According to Statcast, he’s one of 16 hitters who do not have a positive run value in the chase zone. These pitches are typically favorable for hitters, because they are most often taken for balls. Chourio has swung at so many of them that his value against them so far has been neutral. Chourio has made 42 outs on out-of-zone pitches this year, the 18th-most in baseball. Murphy believes that his quickness and hand-eye coordination have actually worked against him at times to create some of those outs. “For the normal guy, some of those pitches are fouled off, and they live for another pitch,” he said. “Chourio, his hand-eye’s so good that he puts those balls in play.” Simply telling a hitter to watch more pitches is rarely a productive solution, particularly for one with Chourio’s tools. He shouldn’t take more pitches he can hit for strikes. Rather, it’s up to him to develop an awareness that yields more nuanced swing decisions, without straying from his strengths. He might also need a swing adjustment that leads to less contact; swinging so much and whiffing so rarely is a recipe for a high-wire profile. “Discerning between, ‘This is borderline, I don't need to swing at it early,’ or, ‘This is a ball, but because I have one strike, I'm putting it in play, and I'm good enough, and my hands are fast enough, that I can put it in play,’” Murphy explained. Chourio has also shown that he’s not a finished product in the field. Almost exclusively a center fielder in the minor leagues, he shifted to the outfield corners last year. While his reads were questionable at times (particularly in left field), his athleticism helped him accrue 12 Defensive Runs Saved and 6 Outs Above Average. After injuries to Blake Perkins and Garrett Mitchell, Chourio is back at his natural position, partially due to his comfort level there and the club’s preference to keep Gold Glove winner Sal Frelick in right field. He’s made two run-scoring misplays within the last week: letting a ground ball roll past him against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, and taking a poor route on a fly ball Monday night that turned an inning-ending flyout for Freddy Peralta into a bases-clearing double. “He's going to be a great player, and mistakes like this or plays like this that he doesn't make, he'll learn from,” Murphy said postgame. Chourio has looked capable in center, outside of those two gaffes, and he’s continued to show flashes of the talent that made him a highly-regarded prospect. The development process remains ongoing, though. Chourio demonstrated his adaptability throughout the minors and last season, and he must do so again. “He's in his second year in the big leagues, and he's 21 years old,” Murphy said. “So I think it's going to be a process. But I’ve noticed little changes lately, so that’s good.” View full article

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images Ahead of Friday night's series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Brewers announced an infield shakeup. The club designated Vinny Capra for assignment and recalled Andruw Monasterio from Triple-A Nashville. Bryan Hudson was also recalled to take the spot of Elvin Rodríguez, whom the team optioned after a 74-pitch relief outing on Wednesday. The first two transactions complete a full overhaul of the Brewers' big-league third base mix. Oliver Dunn and Capra opened the year in a platoon at the hot corner, but the duo combined for a .111/.155/.167 slash and -12 wRC+. The latter's output was particularly pitiful: a .074/.121/.130 line (-33 wRC+) that featured an 0-for-36 streak that tied for the third-longest hitless streak in franchise history. The club replaced Dunn with Caleb Durbin in mid-April. Three weeks later, Capra is also on the way out. With Durbin entrenched as the everyday third baseman, Monasterio slides into the infield bench role. The 27-year-old is not an offensive threat, either, owning a career .243/.322/.324 line (82 wRC+). However, that's significantly better production than Capra's. Monasterio has also seen an average of 4.36 pitches per plate appearance and walked at a 9.6% clip in the big leagues, so he at least works counts and reaches base at a passable level. The utility man is also rounding into better form after a rough first week with Nashville. After starting 2-for-27, Monasterio has hit .306/.400/.518 (150 wRC+) since April 8. Hudson returns after control issues loosened his grasp on a bullpen spot. He showed improvement on that front in four Triple-A appearances, issuing zero walks and spending significantly more time in the strike zone. With Nashville, 60.3% of his pitches were in the strike zone, compared to 49.5% at the time of his demotion. However, the southpaw's velocity has remained inconsistent. His four-seam fastball hit 94.2 mph but dipped as low as 86.1. Similarly, his sweeper velocity has ranged from 84.7 mph to 76.2. For now, Hudson figures to occupy a lower-leverage role in the bullpen, but Pat Murphy could also utilize him situationally against certain left-handed hitters. View full article

Image courtesy of © Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images Jared Koenig was a breakout contributor in last year's Brewers bullpen, authoring a 2.47 ERA, 3.28 FIP, and 88 DRA- in 62 innings, while ascending to a high-leverage role by season's end. It was fair to wonder, though, whether that success would carry into his second full big-league season. Relief pitcher is the most volatile position in baseball, and one year's surprising success story can fizzle out just as abruptly. At first glance, Koenig profiled as such an arm. He came out of nowhere last year at age 30, and his raw stuff is more solid than elite. Instead of regressing, however, the left-hander has improved across the board to begin his follow-up campaign. He leads Brewers relievers with 17 appearances this year, posting a 2.25 ERA, 2.31 FIP, and 77 DRA-. "It feels like every game for me," Pat Murphy said. "It's nice having him down there. I have a ton of confidence in him." Pitching is all about keeping hitters off-balance, but the path to that destination differs for every pitcher. While Koenig will sometimes mix speeds and locations, his method of attack is more straightforward than most, to the point that it might look unsustainable. He comes right at hitters with a relentless onslaught of fastballs over the plate. According to Statcast, among 283 relievers who have thrown at least 30 innings since the start of the 2024 season, Koenig's 58% zone rate ranks 12th. A staggering 50% of his total pitches have been fastballs in the strike zone, the fourth-highest rate among the same number of relievers to throw at least 500 pitches in that span. Overall, 83% of his pitches have been heaters. "Even before I started throwing harder, I was always a heavy fastball thrower," Koenig said, adding that he already understood how he wanted to attack hitters before joining the Brewers. Koenig's velocity has climbed since his conversion to a full-time reliever. He's gone from averaging 89 mph with his primary fastball in 2022 to 93 in 2023 and 95 in each of his two seasons in the Milwaukee bullpen. With that extra heat, he's taken his approach to even greater extremes. "Now I throw harder, so my chance to miss in the zone helps," he said. "I don't have to worry about spotting it as much. I think it frees me up a little more." On its face, it doesn't seem like an approach that would yield such a high level of success, but it keeps working. Last season, hitters posted a modest .314 wOBA when they put Koenig's fastballs in play. This year, that figure is down to .258. His 27.5% hard-hit rate and 2.5% Barrel rate both put him in the best 4% of all pitchers in the league in terms of minimizing damage. Koenig keeps throwing sinkers and cutters over the heart of the plate, and opponents keep struggling to barrel them up. Why can't they do anything with pitches that appear so hittable to anyone watching the game? "I think it's just the knack of how I throw, and then my movement profile is not necessarily a normal movement profile," he said. The raw movement of Koenig's sinker is not all that impressive. It averages 11.2 inches of induced vertical break, meaning it neither sinks nor has much carry. At 15.1 inches of arm-side run, it tails slightly less than the average left-handed sinker However, that movement plays up because it's unexpected. Based on the direction Koenig spins his sinker, a hitter's eyes do not expect it to tail at all. "People call it the seam-shift stuff, or whatever," he said. "It's how I've always thrown my two-seam fastball." Seam-shifted wake is a phenomenon that creates late and unexpected horizontal movement on a pitch when a pitcher orients the baseball's seams a certain way. The seams produce an uneven airflow around the sides of the ball, creating a force that imparts lateral break. If that brief definition is difficult to comprehend, the image below provides a visual demonstration. The graphic on the left depicts the direction in which Koenig spins his pitches. The one on the right shows the direction in which his pitches actually move. Koenig's breaking ball occupies similar positions on the clock in both visuals. That means when hitters see the ball spinning like a curveball, it moves in the direction they expect from that spin. His fastballs are different. Hitters read the spin of Koenig's sinker from his crossfire delivery and expect a ball that moves like a traditional backspin four-seamer or has slight glove-side cut. Instead, the ball tails, after they've already made a swing decision. "Especially inside to righties, it looks like a ball and then it comes back, because it looks like it's cutting," Koenig said. "Plus, with how I throw, it already looks like, when I'm throwing that way, it's coming across before it sinks back." Adding to Koenig's deception is that his sinker and cutter often spin in the same direction, but break differently. It's hard for hitters to take a comfortable swing when they cannot trust their eyes to tell them which direction the ball will move. Koenig's sinker did enough heavy lifting in his pitch mix last year, when he threw it 57% of the time. This year, he's upped his sinker usage to 66%, and opponents have hit just .194 with a .259 wOBA against it. Still, he mixes in just enough cutters for different movement from the same initial look. "That's when the back-door cutters come into play," he said, referring to at-bats in which right-handed batters start to get used to the sinker's surprise movement away from them. "I got Elly (De La Cruz) looking on a back-door cutter." While Koenig says he takes outs any way he can get them, as a high-leverage reliever, he looks for strikeouts whenever possible. His high sinker usage means he must take an unconventional route to get them. Koenig's whiff per swing rate this year ranks in the 36th percentile, and his chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone ranks in the 15th percentile. However, he uses his breaking ball strategically when he needs a whiff outside the zone, and his sinker and cutter pairing generate plenty of called strikes. "I'm not getting chase, I'm getting quality looking strikes," he said. "So it's like, take one or the other. I'd rather have them not swing the bat, because it's a lesser chance of them hitting the baseball. It's a zero chance." Last year, opponents swung at 63% of Koenig's pitches in the zone, which trailed the MLB average of 66%. This year, they're swinging at just 51% of such pitches. Since the start of last year, Koenig's 26 called strikeouts are 19th among all relievers. It is an atypical form of dominance, but Koenig has proven that it's legitimate. Hitters know they're getting something hard over the plate. They just can't track it, producing uncomfortable takes and weak contact on pitches that might typically be in their hot zones. "I'm funky," he said. "I'm heavy cross-body. Everything is different. I'm not like a normal, standard pitcher, I guess. Everyone's got to be different and find their own niche. I think that's my niche." View full article

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images Less than two weeks after a highly anticipated big-league debut, Craig Yoho is returning to Nashville. The Brewers optioned the changeup specialist to Triple-A on Saturday and recalled right-hander Elvin Rodríguez. It was a shorter first stay than anyone hoped. The Brewers needed a fresh arm, and Yoho was the optionable reliever with the heaviest recent workload. However, he likely would have stayed, were it not for an inconsistent inaugural stint capped by a five-run outing against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday. Spotty command was the only legitimate knock against Yoho's dominant minor-league performance, and he issued four walks in that fateful appearance. Unsurprisingly, Pat Murphy said the Brewers seek improvement on that front. "You can't just rely on a changeup for a strike," Murphy said. "He's got to do more than that. So he's got to locate the heater better, and it's got to be money. He's got to be a strike-throwing machine. Then the changeup comes into play a lot better." There is a give-and-take for pitchers like Yoho, who creates extreme movement with his secondary pitches. His stuff can be nearly impossible to hit when he's on, but it's also difficult to keep it in the strike zone. Like Devin Williams, who also throws a screwball-like changeup, Yoho will always have to work around free passes, even after the Brewers nudged him toward the middle of the rubber this spring to get him in the zone more. "Knowing where your hand is when you throw," Murphy said. "That sounds remedial, but actually feeling where it is every time, that's going to lead to better command. And the way he throws and kind of comes off it, he kind of loses where that is sometimes. So yeah, he might be a guy that always deals with this type of thing." When Yoho was in the strike zone, his stuff played as expected. According to Statcast, big-league opponents posted an in-zone contact rate of 81.6% against Yoho, a similar rate to Triple-A hitters. Only 35.3% of batted balls hit against him were hard-hit (95 mph or faster off the bat), and 52.9% were ground balls. The Miguel Vargas home run against his changeup was a 94.6-mph fly ball with an expected batting average of .110. The difference was that Yoho stopped inducing poor swings on pitches outside the zone. His Triple-A chase rate was 31.6%, but that figure fell to 20.5% after his promotion. That was mainly due to so many misses well off the plate, but could also point to tunneling and sequencing issues. His outing in Chicago was not only Yoho's first blow-up inning in the big leagues, but the first time he struggled that badly in a professional game. He posted a 1.16 ERA in the minors, where he never allowed more than three earned runs in an appearance. Thursday raised personally unprecedented adversity for the righthander, a fact that is not lost on Murphy. "The first question I asked him (Friday night) was, 'Has that changeup ever been hit for a home run?' And he went, 'No, I don't think so,'" Murphy said. "So think about it. What a great experience for the kid. You hate to have it, but a great experience. He's the type of kid I really think will respond. I think he's just really locked in." For now, the Brewers believe that Yoho's ability to respond is best tested back in Triple A. "You can't risk it in a situation we're in," Murphy said, alluding to his club's need to get going after an inconsistent first month. "We're just trying to, right now, just bob and weave and survive and not lose too many rounds—and then be in position to win a decision." Yoho remains very much a part of the big-league bullpen picture. He's closer to helping than his surface-level numbers suggest, which means he could return soon if the Brewers see progress. "Yoho is a big part of our future," Murphy said. "I really think so. I think we have something there that's pretty special. He's an incredible kid." View full article

Image courtesy of © Jeff Curry-Imagn Images As a slew of early injuries hit the Brewers' pitching staff in spring training, Pat Murphy compiled a list of the next 13 arms he expected to lean on in the regular season. Grant Anderson didn't make the cut. "I didn't have him on any piece of paper I was writing on out of spring training," Murphy admitted on the club's last homestand. Despite his omission from the manager's list and the Opening Day roster, Anderson quickly emerged as Murphy's most prominent middle reliever. In a team-leading 17 relief innings, the sidewinding right-hander has pitched to a 3.18 ERA and 3.26 FIP. "I was wrong," Murphy said. "And I love being wrong in these situations." Most of Anderson's success is thanks to a sweeping slider he developed under the instruction of his new pitching coaches. Opponents are hitting .115 with a 35.1% whiff rate against the sweeper, which has already been worth four runs on its own. It's not an entirely new pitch. Anderson said he once had a bigger slider, but lost the feel for it in the upper minors before his MLB debut. "In (2022), before I got up (to the big leagues), I had a pretty decent-sized sweeper," he recalled. "I just kind of lost it after that. I couldn't really figure out how to get it back to breaking where I wanted to, and then I was kind of searching for it the last couple years, but just couldn't really figure it out." Anderson wanted a breaking ball with more lateral movement. So did the Brewers, who acquired him from the Texas Rangers in January. They felt his existing slider, which often behaved more like a cutter, did not properly complement his heavy sinker. "It was just too lifty," said pitching coach Chris Hook. "It didn't make any sense with where the arsenal was." The chart below is Anderson's 2024 pitch movement plot. Note how the slider cluster is well above the zero line, while the sinker cluster is slightly below it. That means the slider lacked the same depth as the sinker, and was not approaching the hitter on the same plane—making it easier for opponents to identify it out of his hand. The new sweeper's movement comes much closer to mirroring that of the sinker, both vertically and horizontally. That makes for a tougher identification and gives hitters more break to cover in opposing directions. "Off the bat, they just wanted something to kind of go equal with the sinker," Anderson said. "Kind of make it more of a 50-50 decision from a hitter standpoint, making it harder to check one or the other off." Sidearm pitchers like Anderson are often best served by maximizing horizontal movement across their repertoire. Compared to a traditional over-the-top or three-quarters arm slot, their hands are better positioned to throw the ball with the sidespin that makes a sweeping slider break. Anderson was struggling to tap into that ability. "It was kind of weird that he wasn't getting there," Hook said. Seeing an opportunity to add more movement, assistant pitching and strategy coach Jim Henderson spearheaded the sweeper's development early in spring training. "It's kind of like when I saw [Joel Payamps] a couple years ago in the first live BPs out of spring," Henderson said. "It was just one of those things where I saw Grant coming in, and I just thought there was a lot more potential there for how it was moving." Henderson and Anderson spent over a week working daily on a new grip to unlock the movement both parties desired. "His hand's already in the right position," Henderson said. "His slot's in the right position. He can work underneath the baseball if he needs to and lift the sweeper. He was already there, so it made it an easy transition for him." "The right wordage was kind of what helped me figure it out, so that was obviously very beneficial and much-needed," Anderson said. It helped that the Brewers could draw from a past success story. When discussing Anderson's development, both coaches quickly evoked Hoby Milner, who preceded him as the team's most versatile and durable middle reliever. Due to his arm slot and pitch shapes, Anderson profiled as a mirror of Milner, albeit with more velocity. Those similarities were, indeed, part of the thinking when he became the club's latest pitching development project. "It was like, we already have the blueprint in Hoby Milner and how he used all his stuff, and now we can use this with Grant," Henderson said. "That's kind of how our minds are shaped with this, is that Hoby kind of led the way with it." Fast-forward a few months, and Anderson is now recording outs with a game plan similar to Milner's: working both sides of the plate with sweepers, sinkers, and changeups, and elevating an upshoot four-seamer for whiffs at the top of the zone. Achieving the desired break on the sweeper also required cleaning up Anderson's noisy mechanics. With the Rangers, he came set with his hands in his lap and his back to the hitter, before beginning his motion with a dramatic twist and arm swing. anderson_2024.mp4 All of that movement made it challenging for Anderson to repeat his delivery. The Brewers saw it as unnecessary. "He's already deceptive," said Henderson. "He doesn't really need to do anything else that's deceptive." "Every pitcher has to deal with timing," Hook elaborated. "And when that timing's so inconsistent that you're dealing with just your hand getting on time well enough, that's very difficult, and you can't get the consistent movement that we need. For him, he's coming in and facing right-handed batters a lot. (With the sweeper), you've got to be on time to get in front of it and spin it the right way." With guidance from Hook and Henderson, Anderson cut the superfluous movement from his delivery. His front foot remains turned away from the hitter, but his hips now start in a straighter line toward home plate. He also comes set with his hands near his head. anderson_2025.mp4 "It was just a little much," Anderson said of his previous mechanics. "Being more direct to the plate with the lower half, and then the hands just going straight down to the plate, makes it a lot easier to be on time and be more consistent with the release point for all four of my pitches." "He's rooted in the ground now with his back leg, and he's working around his back leg, as opposed to just trying to find whatever on the way up and hoping that he gets on time on the way down," Hook said. Learning to control a bigger breaking ball with retooled mechanics was a bumpy ordeal. Anderson walked 20% of the hitters he faced in spring training, leading to his omission from Murphy's list. "He got beat up a little bit with it in spring, but that's a great opportunity to use it and work at stuff in spring training, even though he was fighting for a job," Henderson said. "So credit to him for sticking with it." Anderson is still walking too many, issuing free passes at a 10.7% clip in the regular season. Still, he's off to a productive start as another potential success story for Milwaukee's pitching development team, which has helped another hurler maximize his natural abilities. "This is what the organization does," Murphy said. "It goes out and gets these people, and you might not see it right away, but here you've got a guy that I trust and will put in there at any time." View full article