Photo: Bryse Wilson - Instagram
Bryse Wilson
Bryse Wilson
While we knew that starting pitching depth would be a key for the Brewers and nearly every other MLB team in 2024, no one could have predicted that it would be this heavily tested this early.
After using 10 starting pitchers to get through the 2023 season the Brewers used nine starters in their first 22 games this season, a number that is almost certain to grow in the months ahead. Since moving to Milwaukee, the Brewers have never used more than 13 starting pitchers in a season, but they’re on pace to pass that mark by the All Star break.
Some of the pitchers the Brewers have turned to in an effort to fill in the gaps have done well enough to merit further consideration: Bryse Wilson has allowed just two runs across eight innings in his pair of starts, and Tobias Myers has successfully recorded five innings in each of his first two MLB appearances. To weather their current crop of injuries, however, the Brewers are probably going to need those two pitchers to stay at that level and find others who can pitch just as well: Opening Day rotation members DL Hall and Jakob Junis were already on the injured list when Wade Miley received the diagnosis that he would need elbow surgery and miss the remainder of the season.
Having already gone through most of their backup plans, the Brewers will be a strong candidate to add pitching depth at or before the trade deadline if they remain in contention. Until or unless they can supplement from outside the organization, however, they’re going to have to cobble together options from within. For as long as the Brewers are starting pitchers from lower tiers in their internal depth chart, they need to be prepared for the following:
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Short starts. It was only a little more than a week ago that manager Pat Murphy told reporters that the Brewers “can’t keep letting him throw 3 1/3 (innings) and say ‘that’s fine’” regarding DL Hall but the attrition in the starting rotation since then has created a scenario where they’ll almost certainly see more abbreviated outings from their starters going forward, if not some full-on bullpen games. As we noted in January and again in February, the Brewers have the bullpen pieces necessary to win games where their starters don’t go deep. They’ll need to be strategic about when they use those relievers, however, to prevent injury or diminished effectiveness from overuse.
Pitchers who are still learning how to start on the job. The Brewers already knew that Hall hadn’t started many games in the majors before they added him to their Opening Day rotation, but now they’re relying on two more pitchers without much starting experience in Wilson and Myers. They’re going to need to be prepared to help those pitchers make adjustments that improve their ability to go deep into games. During the fourth inning of Sunday’s game Bill Schroeder of Bally Sports Wisconsin noted, for example, that Myers “works fast, and everyone likes that,” but Myers also had several instances in the game where his mid-90s 4-seam fastball dipped down into the low 90s and his low-90s cutter dipped into the 80s. It’s possible if he took his time a little more (within the limits of the pitch clock, of course) he’d see more consistency. In the quote linked above Murphy also cited this as an issue for Hall.
Being prepared for when things go poorly. Digging deep into the depth chart is going to lead to some days where things simply don’t go well, and it will be important for the Brewers to be able to mop up the late innings on their bad days without needing to burn through their best relievers. Janson Junk took one for the team and worked two innings despite giving up four runs on eight hits when the game was out of reach on Sunday, for example, but the Brewers also found themselves needing to use Elvis Peguero in a game where they were already significantly behind.
It will make a lot of things better for the 2024 Brewers if Freddy Peralta, Colin Rea and Joe Ross remain healthy and effective to take some pressure off the bullpen and the back of the rotation. The group behind them remains an active question mark, however, and the Brewers are going to have to either resolve or work around that if they’re going to stay in the postseason picture.
