Old-time National League baseball: Josh Hader & the Brewers rock
Although the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals are known as the teams to beat in the National League Central, the mini-market Milwaukee Brewers have done most of the beating so far. In fact, they’re neck and neck with the Atlanta Braves, another unlikely juggernaut, for supremacy in their league.
The Brewers quietly have won 13 of their past 19 games. They’ve won or split 8 of their past 10 series. Entering play Tuesday night, they led the Cards by 1 ½ games and Cubs by 2. Although they haven’t reached the playoffs since 2011, they have the essentials to do it this year.
America hasn’t noticed them because their fan base does not extend beyond the city limits of Milwaukee and its 600,000 people. A hundred yards to the south you’re in Wrigleyville.
Another reason why there’s no such thing as Brewer buzz: With one exception (and with cheating/fading slugger Ryan Braun on DL), this is a team of no-names.
The exception: their one big-ticket offseason acquisition, Lorenzo Cain. He was once the fastest center fielder in the major leagues but now he’s 32. He’s still a big-time player (OPS .831) and the sort of veteran leader a team must have if it has designs on championship rings.
He’s worth his $13 million salary if this team makes a playoff run. Give them a World Series, and these loyal Brew fans will be toasting him when he’s banking $17 million in 2022 when he’s two years older than Ryan Braun is now. Such is the wealth of baseball teams, even the poor ones.
General manager David Stearns has made the most of a small-market budget: $96 million payroll ranking 25th out of the 30 teams. He’s assembled a bench and a bullpen that stack up to the best.
This hardscrabble Brew Crew has no one among the league’s top 20 hitters. Only one Brewer is top 20 in home runs: Travis Shaw tied for fifth with 11, thus proving last year’s 31 was no fluke.
This is not a team everyone can appreciate. But for those of us who love classic National League baseball, the Brewers are a godsend. Everybody contributes to playing well everywhere (18-10 on the road), be it small-ball or long-ball with their myriad power sources.
The pitchers chip in at the plate: Dan Jennings, Josh Hader, Wade Miley, Jorge Lopez and Brent Suter combining for a .375 average in 16 at bats, with 3 doubles and a home run.
Milwaukee as a team has 60 homers, which ties them for the lead with Washington, land of Bryce Harper.
Similar story with the Brewers’ pitching, surprising success from the fringe. They’re without their ace, 28-year-old Jimmy Nelson, until the All-Star break as he recovers from shoulder surgery. Until then the Brewers’ rotation will continue to be led by the ultimate journeyman, Jhouys Chacin (6 teams in 10 years), and 33-year-old Junior Guerra, seeking his 14th career win in the Show.
The greatest pitcher you haven’t heard of is Josh Hader, who’s putting up otherworldly stats: 16 games, 27 innings, 56 K’s, 2-0 with 6 saves, 6 holds, opponents batting .068.
The 24-year-old lefthander does not look intimidating, with his friendly, welcoming demeanor and skinny physique – 6-2, 185 pounds. A poor man’s Noah Syndergaard, he has long, thick blond hair like a rock-and-roll star out of the 1970s. In fact, he says, “I’m a big classic-rock guy.” He enters a game to the tune of “Renegade,” 1979 song by Styx.
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Stearns intended to develop Hader as a starter, but he was a one-trick pony, 98 mph heater and nothing else. This year he’s developed a sharp slider from a measured, deceptive delivery that makes his pitches difficult to read. He throws everything from the stretch, because that gives him a more consistent release point than if he breaks the rhythm with a full windup.
He’s so dominating out of the ‘pen that Stearns and manager Craig Counsell do not want to confine him in a rotation where he’s used once in five days.
“He’s open to doing what’s best for the team,” Stearns told ESPN. “The industry’s perception of the value of a reliever, and how we’re deploying relievers – has changed.”
Indeed, with increasing reliance on analytics, managers crave flexible relievers who can perform reliably in any inning to take advantage of matchup opportunities wherever they are.
Hader is the team’s closer only until Corey Knebel (39 saves last season) is fully recovered from a pulled hamstring.
Hader then will be a middle reliever styled after Andrew Miller, fellow power lefty who can enter in the 6th inning to put out a fire and finish the game if needed.
Counsell at 47 is one of MLB’s most resourceful tacticians. He has plenty of options to avoid overworking Hader or Knebel. He can call on lefty Dan Jennings, who has a 2.01 ERA in 23 games. Or summon a right-hander from this array: Jeremy Jeffress, 0.36 ERA in 25 games; Matt Albers, 1.23 for 19 games; and Jacob Barnes, 2.84 in 24.
Once Nelson returns, Milwaukee’s starting rotation will be above average, with Chase Anderson (4-3, 3.86), Guerra (3-3, 2.98) and the improving Chacin (1.96 ERA for his 3 starts this month) being among the first four. Hard-hitting (rather than hard-throwing) lefties Suter and Miley are a combined 4-3. Either is a worthy No. 5.
And if not, the No. 6 starter, 21-year-old Freddy Peralta, is clearly major-worthy. He struck out 13 in his debut and allowed just 4 hits in 9 2/3 innings with the Brewers before being returned to the farm. Stearns is shrewdly conserving him so Milwaukee can enjoy some of his prime before he drifts off to a bigger port.
With this team, as with many, the pitching staff and lineup are in constant flux. Counsell deserves credit for keeping his clubhouse happy, the players buying into his role-playing direction.
This is the only way a city of 600,000 can field a team that competes with Chicago and St. Louis, two of the best-financed and best-run baseball franchises. Analytics, Moneyball and the chemistry of adaptable athletes have combined to produce a ballclub that’s better than its payroll. Maybe better than any team in the National League, at any price.