Photo by Kirsten Shmitt, courtesy Milwaukee Brewers
Nine years ago last week the Brewers passed a milestone that felt significant at the time, but now just reflects how rapidly the state of the game has changed in a relatively short span.
On August 4, 2017 the Brewers put Brandon Woodruff into an MLB game for the first time. He started against the Rays, did not allow an earned run over 6 ⅓ innings and was credited with the win. Perhaps more notable, however, was that Woodruff was the 28th different pitcher the Brewers had already used that season, setting a new franchise record.
In the context of franchise history to that point, 28 was a huge number. The 1977 and 1978 teams had only used 13 pitchers all season. Even the worst team in franchise history, the 56-106 2002 team, only used 25. This 2017 team was not a bad team, however, or at least they weren’t at that moment. Their win over the Rays that day improved them to 58-53, half a game back of first place in the NL Central. This was a Brewers team that had led their division for 69 days earlier in the year, at one point by as many as 5 ½ games.
This season was also, however, something of a turning point in organizational pitching strategy. From their expansion season as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 all the way through 2016 the Brewers had never used more than 27 pitchers in a season. They’ve used at least 30 in every full MLB season since, meaning that the nine seasons in franchise history where they’ve used the most pitchers have all come in the last decade:
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A pair of caveats to add to this data: The dip in 2020 is at least in part due to the 60-game season. The Brewers still managed to use 24 pitchers in 60 games, a remarkable number, but almost certainly would have logged more over a full campaign. The 2026 data is also as of Monday morning, when the Brewers had already used 30 pitchers in 118 games and still had 44 regular season contests left to play.
Over the span of that graph several factors have changed that could or should have reduced pitcher usage:
- The adoption of the universal DH has eliminated the practice of removing a pitcher prematurely because their spot in the batting order was due up.
- The MLB active roster has expanded but the 40-man roster did not, slightly reducing teams’ roster flexibility.
- The rules have changed to limit September callups, reducing the number of players getting a “cup of coffee” in the majors during the season’s final month.
- MLB implemented new rules to limit situations when position players are allowed to pitch.
Despite all of that, however, the Brewers continue to churn through more pitchers than they ever have before. They’re routinely shuttling pitchers back and forth from AAA Nashville to fill the lower tiers in their bullpen and they’re not shy about letting go of pitchers when they need roster space and calling the next guy up. Eleven of the aforementioned 30 pitchers the Brewers have employed in 2026 have pitched in five games or less with the team.
Clearly, the Brewers are making this work. From Opening Day of the 2017 season through Sunday they’ve won 837 games, and only the Dodgers, Yankees and Astros have won more. There are, however, a few takeaways to note from an era where they’ve churned through this many arms:
- The Brewers deserve a great deal of credit for scouting and player development and acquisition that has left them with the depth of talent necessary to be able to call up and often treat as fungible this many MLB-caliber pitchers.
- Their ability to acquire the volume of talent required to follow this pattern again in 2027 may be hindered, however, if an expected offseason lockout limits their ability to make transactions.
- Finally, the existence of this volume of MLB-caliber pitchers could be taken as a sign that the league has the volume of talent available to support expansion, a topic that is likely to come up during this winter’s Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.
In many ways, the Brewers’ payroll forces their front office to find ways to do more with less when attempting to construct a competitive roster. In terms of raw numbers, however, their volume of pitchers used suggests they’re actually doing more with more.
