When
the season began the Milwaukee Brewers were nothing more than a potential wild
card team if they got lucky. Now
they’re in the hunt for a playoff birth with a record of 73-64 the team is in
second place for the first time since the beginning of the season. More surprising is how the team has
been doing it is the complete opposite of which most people expected them to
win games. The team has had some surprising
good pitching from guys like Jimmy Nelson, Willy Peralta, Francisco Rodriguez
just to name a few. As for hitting
the team has shown what its future looks like with young stars like Carlos
Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy having monster seasons while veteran stars Ryan Braun
and Aramis Ramirez keep the team consistent. Today I want to take a look at a team that I waited to see
the rug get pulled out from under them and while it has slowly been happening
that doesn’t mean they’re out of it.
Offense
|
|
BB%
|
K%
|
AVG
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
OPS
|
ISO
|
BABIP
|
wOBA
|
wRC+
|
WAR
|
|
Brewers
|
6.7%
|
20.2%
|
.254
|
.312
|
.409
|
.721
|
.156
|
.298
|
.317
|
97
|
19.2
|
|
NL
|
7.6%
|
20.9%
|
.249
|
.312
|
.384
|
.696
|
.135
|
.299
|
.308
|
93
|
16.0
|
The
Brewers are known for being a free-swinging team and they don’t walk much but this
doesn’t mean the team strikes out all the time. The team is very aggressive so aggressive that the team
averages an O-Swing% of 34.7% and swing in general 50% of the time. How do they survive swinging so
much? The team makes contact an
impressive 77.6% of the time.
Admittedly still below the league average of 78.7% of the time but 1%
isn’t much of a difference. While
this team doesn’t walk much they do have a tremendous amount of power having an
ISO of .156. 21 points over the
league average and it all comes from that aggressive approach. A basic strategy for most teams is to
wear the pitcher down by forcing the pitcher to pitch more often. The Brewers swing away and this gives
them an odd edge over those teams that wait for a pitch and may pass up on a
pitching mistake to keep to the approach.
The
Brewers came into this season with two players that very few really thought
could do what they’re doing right now.
Jonathan Lucroy was a player I loved in the preseason and what a season
he’s having. A slash line of
.298/.363/.478 puts him as one of the best on the team and one of the best
catchers in baseball this year.
One of the most impressive things about him this season is how, on a
team that is as free swinging as the Brewers, he’s kept his K% at only 11.3%
and having a BB% is 9.3% both of which is extremely impressive. Carlos Gomez has finally made a name
for himself after joining the Brewers in 2010. After 3 disappointing seasons on offense he’s finally broken
out and not only is he one of the best offensive CF’s in baseball he’s one of
the best defensive OF’s in the entire league. Gomez is primed to make this team his through his amazing
play and his very likeable personality.
Ryan Braun hasn’t had a very strong season after being suspended 50 for
PED use but he’s still doing well.
An ISO of .206 is the second highest on the team and a slash line of
.274/.324/.480 is solid but considering the huge contract the Brewers put into
Braun this was something the team didn’t want to see in year 2.
|
|
BB%
|
K%
|
AVG
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
OPS
|
ISO
|
BABIP
|
wOBA
|
wRC+
|
WAR
|
|
Jonathan
Lucroy
|
9.3%
|
11.3%
|
.298
|
.363
|
.478
|
.841
|
.180
|
.318
|
.368
|
132
|
5.6
|
|
Carlos
Gomez
|
6.8%
|
23.0%
|
.282
|
.348
|
.479
|
.827
|
.197
|
.340
|
.364
|
130
|
4.6
|
|
Aramis
Ramirez
|
4.3%
|
15.3%
|
.300
|
.345
|
.456
|
.800
|
.155
|
.329
|
.351
|
121
|
2.7
|
|
Ryan
Braun
|
6.1%
|
20.2%
|
.274
|
.324
|
.480
|
.805
|
.206
|
.314
|
.350
|
120
|
1.1
|
|
Scooter
Gennett
|
5.0%
|
14.0%
|
.302
|
.334
|
.462
|
.796
|
.160
|
.332
|
.343
|
116
|
2.1
|
|
Khris
Davis
|
6.2%
|
22.7%
|
.249
|
.307
|
.478
|
.786
|
.229
|
.283
|
.342
|
115
|
2.1
|
|
Rickie
Weeks
|
7.7%
|
26.0%
|
.264
|
.337
|
.418
|
.756
|
.155
|
.349
|
.336
|
111
|
0.8
|
|
Lyle
Overbay
|
12.0%
|
20.8%
|
.247
|
.336
|
.352
|
.688
|
.105
|
.305
|
.309
|
93
|
0.0
|
|
Mark
Reynolds
|
10.8%
|
29.1%
|
.199
|
.289
|
.401
|
.690
|
.202
|
.226
|
.304
|
89
|
1.4
|
|
Jean
Segura
|
4.8%
|
12.2%
|
.232
|
.275
|
.313
|
.588
|
.081
|
.258
|
.259
|
58
|
-0.4
|
Pitching
|
|
K/9
|
BB/9
|
HR/9
|
BAA
|
WHIP
|
BABIP
|
ERA
|
ERA-
|
FIP
|
FIP-
|
WAR
|
|
Brewers
|
7.51
|
2.68
|
1.07
|
.249
|
1.26
|
.289
|
3.77
|
100
|
3.98
|
104
|
8.3
|
|
NL
|
7.77
|
2.91
|
0.86
|
.246
|
1.27
|
.294
|
.368
|
100
|
3.72
|
100
|
10.5
|
Earlier
in the article I mentioned how the Brewers have had surprisingly good pitching
but looking at the stats they’re just average. In 2013 the team had an ERA of 3.84 and a FIP of 4.12 and a
year later both are down. Why is
this so shocking they improved?
This staff is composed of pitchers that are coming off a bad season,
young and still inexperienced, or on the down slope of their careers. All of which make for a staff that
you’d have little confidence in but not only have they found success they’ve
held their own. The staff has some
great veteran presence with Francisco Rodriguez holding down a young pen and
the rotation headed by Matt Garza and Kyle Loshe, both having a major impact on
this staff just by being there.
Overall this staff isn’t anything super special but it’s the fact that
they’ve done as well as they have that makes it so impressive.
Matt
Garza is the ace of this staff numerically but at the same time he doesn’t
really doesn’t lead the team in anything.
A solid K/9 and BB/9 does help the team but he’s a solid veteran
presence and has taken many of the younger pitchers under his wing. Wily Peralta has had his ups and downs
this year but for his second full season he’s improved his BB/9, dropping it by
almost a full walk from last season, and cut his HR/9 by roughly 3% from last
season. At 25 Peralta has plenty
of time to improve and he’s already taken the right steps forward. Mike Fiers has made some noise recently
with a very impressive K/BB of 5.11 an impressive feat for a pitcher that had
K/BB of 2.50 last year. Fiers has
really cut down the walks this year he has only started 5 games this year and
as impressive as it is we have to temper our expectations a little. Francisco Rodriguez was the riskiest
signing the Brewers made all off-season and it has paid off in spades for the
team. A very affordable $3.2
million 1 year contract has given them a closer with a net save value of 34, a
K/9 of 10.20, a BAA of only .200 and an ERA- of 80. Now K-Rod has a very high FIP and his FIP- is 11, which puts
him at 11% worse than league average.
He’s been very lucky so far and the team is defiantly benefiting but I
don’t see Rodriguez being able to do this again next year and if teams are
smart they won’t sign him.
|
|
K/9
|
BB/9
|
HR/9
|
BAA
|
WHIP
|
BABIP
|
ERA
|
ERA-
|
FIP
|
FIP-
|
WAR
|
|
Matt
Garza
|
6.43
|
2.66
|
0.62
|
.221
|
1.13
|
.255
|
3.58
|
95
|
3.52
|
92
|
2.2
|
|
Kyle
Loshe
|
6.41
|
2.10
|
1.00
|
.250
|
1.21
|
.281
|
.368
|
98
|
3.95
|
104
|
1.7
|
|
Yovani
Gallardo
|
6.64
|
2.53
|
0.90
|
.252
|
1.26
|
.288
|
3.43
|
91
|
3.86
|
101
|
1.6
|
|
Mike
Fiers
|
9.86
|
1.93
|
0.64
|
1.58
|
0.76
|
.206
|
1.93
|
51
|
2.51
|
66
|
1.2
|
|
Zach
Duke
|
11.15
|
2.61
|
0.52
|
.222
|
1.12
|
.315
|
2.44
|
65
|
2.28
|
59
|
1.0
|
|
Jimmy
Nelson
|
7.52
|
2.45
|
0.77
|
.275
|
1.38
|
.330
|
4.14
|
110
|
3.79
|
100
|
0.7
|
|
Wily
Peralta
|
6.65
|
2.78
|
1.20
|
.263
|
1.35
|
.294
|
3.82
|
101
|
4.40
|
110
|
0.7
|
|
Will
Smith
|
11.95
|
4.19
|
0.78
|
.258
|
1.47
|
.371
|
4.19
|
111
|
3.15
|
82
|
0.6
|
|
Rob
Wooten
|
7.83
|
2.16
|
0.27
|
.295
|
1.41
|
.373
|
4.59
|
122
|
2.59
|
68
|
0.5
|
|
Francisco
Rodriguez
|
10.20
|
2.10
|
1.80
|
.200
|
0.97
|
.229
|
3.00
|
80
|
4.21
|
111
|
-0.3
|
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