The Brewers are in the midst of a stunning September surge, one that could potentially find them playing themselves out of a 2017 Top 10 draft pick and — better yet — finding another MLB role from their pile of future values. This surge is stunning because thus far it’s come against the World Champion […]
Tag: Michael Blazek
Three Stats to Follow: Deadline Relief
Coming into the season, the trio of Michael Blazek, Jeremy Jeffress, and Will Smith were arguably three of the top four bullpen pieces in Milwaukee, alongside Tyler Thornburg. This piece examines some factors which may have affected their value over the past 4 months. While the potential headline trades involve names such as Braun and Lucroy, […]
Game 75 Recap: Nationals 3 Brewers 2
Best Play: Although the Brewers couldn’t score off Tanner Roark, they certainly tried — or, at least, their third baseman did. Leading off the seventh inning, Aaron Hill crushed the first pitch he saw to deep right for a ground rule double. (Odd trivia: Two innings prior, Hill had a first-pitch double to lead off.) […]
Game 71 Recap: Athletics 5 Brewers 3
Tl;dr: The Athletics pulled away in a close game as defensive miscues and poor relief work by the Brewers led to a 5-3 loss. Top Play (WPA): Yonder Alonso’s single to center, which scored Danny Valencia and advanced old friend Khris Davis to 3B, broke the tie and gave Oakland a 3-2 lead (.228). Both […]
Game 26 Recap: Brewers 5 Angels 4
TL;DR: Chris Carter hit two bombs and the pitching held off the Angels as the Brewers won 5-4. Top Play (WPA): Jonathan Lucroy’s two run homer in the bottom of the 5th, which tied the game at 4 was the top play of the game (.247). All of the Brewers runs were scored via the […]
Game 8 Recap: Brewers 6 Cardinals 4
Top Play (WPA): No surprise here, but the top play in terms of win probability was Domingo Santana’s home run off Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal in the top of the ninth inning (+.490). After a solid, methodical offensive performance that saw four separate two-out hits drive in four runs, Brandon Moss hit a Michael Blazek […]
Game 6 Recap: Brewers 3 Astros 2
Jimmy Nelson blew past his opponents for the second time in as many starts, and the hitters backed him up this go-round, giving the Brewers a 3-2 win over the Astros in the rubber game. Worst Play: Normally, we start with the best play, but this recap will go with the chronological order. Following Nelson’s six strong […]
The Brewers and Overperformance
For many years, pitchers were evaluated through Earned Run Average, better known as ERA. The statistic was invented by Henry Chadwick and started gaining popularity in the 1900s. After many years in what Brian Kenny refer likes to refer to as “the dark ages” came the sabermetric movement, accompanied by a slew of new metrics. […]
Which Brewer Had the Worst Pitch in 2015?
On Tuesday, I wrote about the best pitches that we saw from the Brewers in 2015. Jimmy Nelson’s curveball, Ariel Pena’s four-seam fastball, Francisco Rodriguez’s changeup, and Will Smith’s slider all separated themselves from the pack in a good way. Now, we come to the natural compliment to that exercise — which Milwaukee offerings proved […]
Which Brewer Had the Best Pitch in 2015?
Most fans of baseball seem to observe the game from a hitting-centric viewpoint. As Warren Spahn once quipped, “hitting is timing, pitching is upsetting timing.” This approach has never appealed to me — I think pitchers have a greater hand in the game than we credit them for. Aside from the fact that they succeed far […]