Photo Credit: KIRSTEN SCHMITT
Jhoulys Chacin
The Brewers only won one of three games in Chicago over the weekend, but it wasn’t their pitchers’ fault. All told, Brewers pitchers allowed just five earned runs over 31 1/3 innings (including 14 1/3 on Saturday) against one of the National League’s top offenses, posting a 1.44 ERA in the weekend series. They likely stumbled a bit due to chilly, wet conditions, but even after being slowed down all weekend the Cubs still enter play Monday third in their league in runs scored and second in OPS.
Shutting down an impressive Cubs offense is just the latest in a recent series of accomplishments for a Brewers pitching staff that was much maligned until quite recently. On April 22, the Brewers lost 13-5 to the Cardinals and their team ERA rose to 5.29, the third-worst mark in franchise history after 24 games. They had also set a franchise record by allowing 43 homers in their first 24 games, surpassing the 39 allowed over the same span by the 2016 team.
Not long after, however, the Brewers righted the ship. Over a span of 18 games from April 23 until Sunday, including a pair of long extra inning contests, Brewers pitchers have posted a 3.13 ERA in 172 1/3 innings. They went from giving up a home run once every five innings to averaging one every nine and a half innings during this span. They also maintained a high strikeout rate while noticeably lowering their walks, going from over four per nine innings down to 3.3.
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The Brewers brought Gio Gonzalez back into the fold during this time, and his contributions during their rebound are notable: He posted a 1.69 ERA in the first three starts of his second stint as a Brewer and has done nearly everything the Brewers front office could have hoped he’d do. Jeremy Jeffress, who missed the first few weeks of the season, also came back to his old form during this stretch. He worked in seven of the 17 contests in this window and limited opposing hitters to a .160 batting average, .250 on-base percentage and .280 slugging. Matt Albers pitched in more than half of those 17 contests and had a 2.16 ERA.
Perhaps more notable than the individual contributions, however, has been the depth of contributions. Over the aforementioned span of 17 games, the Brewers have used no less than 21 pitchers. They’ve gotten solid contributions from mainstays like Zach Davies and Jhoulys Chacin but also from relative newcomers like Burch Smith and Jake Petricka and call-ups like Adrian Houser and Taylor Williams. They’ve raided AAA San Antonio for a fresh arm over and over again, and each time they’ve found someone ready to contribute. For many teams, needing to use 21 pitchers to get through 17 games would be a recipe for disaster. The Brewers have found strength in it.
Building and maintaining a pitching staff that can contribute this way required a lot of things to go right and a significant number of people deserve credit for it. Organizational depth does not build itself, and David Stearns and his front office did impressive work to locate many of the arms that have contributed recently. Smith, Gonzalez, Jay Jackson, Alex Wilson, Jake Petricka and Donnie Hart were all recent cast-offs from other clubs that the Brewers have recognized as potential contributors.
Credit is also due to Craig Counsell, Chris Hook and the coaching staff for putting their rotating pitching staff in a position to be successful. It wouldn’t be hard to misuse a staff in this kind of turnover, losing track of workloads or strengths and weaknesses or showing reluctance to rely upon an unfamiliar arm. The Brewers have, largely speaking, pushed all the right buttons despite constant change in their cast of characters.
Finally, the Brewers’ Milwaukee-to-San Antonio shuttle only works if the organizational culture supports it. Over the past few weeks, the Brewers have had multiple occasions where they’ve had to send a pitcher to the minors the day after an extended strong outing, and in all cases the pitcher has gone back to the minors without public complaint. They’ve also had several cases where a pitcher being sent down could’ve opted for free agency and tested the market but has elected to remain with the organization instead. All of this would suggest the Brewers have built an organization these guys want to be a part of, even when there’s not room for them at the MLB level.
In recent weeks, the Brewers have seen their pitching staff go from a liability to a strength, and they’ve gotten there in a noticeably unusual way. It remains to be seen if it’s reasonable to expect this to continue for a full season, but right now significant praise is due to those that have gotten them to this point.
