Photo Credit: Kirsten Schmitt/Brewers
After the Milwaukee Brewers took three of four games from the Cardinals in a dramatic fashion over the weekend, it would have been understandable if fans had needed a moment to catch their breath. The Brewers’ bullpen might have needed a moment, too, but they’ll have to wait a bit to get it.
Corbin Burnes electrified the fans at Miller Park on Sunday by striking out 12 batters, including the first nine outs he recorded in his first MLB start, but he was only able to finish five innings before giving way to the bullpen. The story was similar on Saturday, when Brandon Woodruff was lifted after five innings and four relievers finished off a 4-2 victory. Freddy Peralta pitched just three innings before giving way to five relievers on Friday, and Jhoulys Chacin needed 3 2/3 innings of relief (although just two relievers) on Opening Day.
The Brewers broke camp with 13 pitchers and all but Zach Davies (scheduled to start Monday) saw action on Opening Weekend. Six of the Brewers’ eight relievers pitched in multiple games against St. Louis, and two of them (Josh Hader and Matt Albers) have already logged three innings of work. To put that workload into perspective: Six different Brewers are on pace to pitch in 81 games this season, something only two pitchers have done in franchise history. Albers and Hader are also on pace to log over 120 innings.
It’s too early to take “on pace for” projections seriously at this point (Christian Yelich probably won’t hit 162 home runs, either), but this early workload could be seen as confirmation of something that seemed likely coming into the season: With a young starting rotation and the Brewers’ recent tendency to lift starters early, the bullpen is going to be asked to weather a very heavy workload in 2019.
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The Brewers’ decision to lean hard on their relievers isn’t new, of course: They asked non-starters to pitch to 2,570 batters in 2018, the second-most among playoff teams. Only the A’s, who planned for short starts as part of “the opener” strategy, had their relievers face more opposing hitters. The 2018 Brewers, however, weathered that workload by using their depth. No less than 25 players pitched in relief for the Brewers during their division championship season, including many that are no longer within the organization and a couple, Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes, that have since been moved to the starting rotation.
Woodruff and Burnes’ transition back to starting, a fair number of departures from the 2018 roster and spring training injuries, meanwhile, have left the Brewers without a clear path to replicating that depth and the flexibility that came with it in 2019. Bobby Wahl’s knee injury didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but now that it’s been paired with Corey Knebel’s season-ending elbow woes and Jeremy Jeffress’ delayed start to the season, a few of the players the Brewers might have counted on as in-season reinforcements have instead opened the season on the active roster. As of Sunday night, the Brewers had just five healthy pitchers on the 40-man roster who weren’t already in the majors:
- Trey Supak and Marcos Diplan, two prospects who have only pitched partial seasons above A-ball.
- Adrian Houser, who might be the most likely candidate to help in the short term but is being stretched out to start in the minors.
- Veteran righty Jake Petricka, who struck out 13 batters in 11 innings this spring.
- Aaron Wilkerson, who allowed 10 runs and four homers in three outings as a Brewer in 2018.
Given that relatively brief list of available pitchers, the Brewers may have to exercise extra care to ensure their current complement of relievers remain healthy and available. With a young starting rotation, that won’t be easy for Craig Counsell and company to do.
