Over the past two seasons, as numerous Brewers starters have come and gone, Jimmy Nelson has remained steady. He accrued 177.3 innings over 30 starts in 2015, and 179.3 innings over 32 starts in 2016; over that span, he ranked 14th in the NL in workload. And he pitched to some pretty solid results as […]
Author: Ryan Romano
Does Tyler Thornburg Have A Reverse Platoon Split?
The Brewers have quite a bit of familiarity with platoon splits, especially when it comes to relievers. During his two-ish years in Milwaukee, Jeremy Jeffress fared far better against right-handed batters (.242 wOBA against) than he did against lefties (.351 wOBA). A host of other faceless bullpen arms — Burke Badenhop, Neal Cotts, and Jonathan Broxton, […]
Corey Knebel’s Heat Isn’t Enough
Velocity is the new thing! It’s always been a thing, sure — pitchers generally want to throw hard — but as of late, it’s become more integral than ever. While you’ve probably seen some version of this graph before, the trend really bears repeating: The MLB-average fastball this season, at 92.6 mph, clocked in 1.5 […]
Ryan Braun’s Worrisome Ground Ball Tendency
As we head into the offseason, perhaps no Brewer has a less certain future than Ryan Braun. Milwaukee’s prodigal son prospered in 2016: The 3.9 WARP that he compiled this year was the highest total since 2012, when he finished second in the NL MVP voting. That exquisite production, together with his fairly team-friendly contract — he’ll […]
Jacob Barnes Could Be The Next Great Brewers Reliever
Through the ups and downs of recent years, the Brewers always seemed to have a lot of quality arms out of the bullpen. Sometimes, said arms didn’t last too long — remember John Axford? How about Jim Henderson? — but while they’re on top of their game, these guys light up Miller Park. Although the Will Smith […]
Game 162 Recap: Brewers 6, Rockies 4
The conclusion of the 2016 season had everything: long balls, long relief, a couple of blown saves, and an extra-inning rally in a pear tree — all of which helped the Brewers narrowly avoid 90 losses. (Hey, 73-89 ain’t too shabby.) Worst Play: Oddly enough, the player who nearly blew the game for the Brewers […]
Two Late-Season Brewers Trends to Watch
This weekend, the 2016 season comes to a close. For the Brewers, it’s been a fairly successful one: They’ve already won three more games in 2016 (71) than they did in 2015 (68). And September’s gone better than all the months that preceded it, as Milwaukee has gone 14-12 and outscored its opponents 118-96. A couple of players […]
Game 156 Recap: Reds 4, Brewers 2
The Brewers blew a bunch of opportunities on offense and couldn’t make up for it pitching-wise; as the result, they lost their final home game — and final home series — of 2016, to the worst team in the National League. Yeah, that encapsulates 2016 pretty well. Best Play: Don’t say the Brew Crew didn’t put up a fight, […]
Examining The Carter-Broxton Mold of Plate Discipline
When you think about plate discipline — specifically good plate discipline — what comes to mind? Sabermetricians fall into two broad schools of thought on what defines the term. On the one hand, some will look at how well a player can detect the difference between a ball and a strike. On the other hand, some will […]
Game 150 Recap: Brewers 3, Cubs 1
In a sentence that I still can’t comprehend, Wily Peralta went toe-to-toe with a Cy Young contender to help the Brewers win the series against the Cubs. Worst Play: Thanks to two second-inning singles — one of them off the bat of Peralta — the Brewers held a 2-0 advantage heading to the bottom of […]