The Brewers traded for an ace Freddy Peralta and the swingman Tobias Myers to the Mets last week. Milwaukee often, though not always, trades its best players as they approach their final year before free agency. There was little chance that they would meet Peralta’s asking price for another contract. That left the front office to decide whether to move him for manageable pieces or hold him in his final year of arbitration and collect a compensatory draft pick when he signs elsewhere.
They picked off the first when the Mets pitched Jett Williams again Brandon Sproat table, albeit in a deal that also cost them a potential rotation arm in Myers. It’s clearly not the start of a rebuild for a team that had MLB’s best record and advanced to the NL Championship Series last year. They are relying on their pitching line to continue producing as they aim for a fourth straight division title.
What will Pat Murphy’s starting staff do?
Locks
Brandon Woodruff
Woodruff is back as a veteran anchor and their clear #1 starter. The Righties accepted a qualifying offer of $21.05MM, a move that likely surprised the Milwaukee front office to some degree. President of baseball operations Matt Arnold admitted that bringing back Woodruff made them more comfortable parting ways with Peralta (reported by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). The 2026 salary cap factors into that to some extent, however Peralta’s $8MM salary shouldn’t have been a dealbreaker even by the Brewers’ standards. There were other players who could have moved them (eg Andrew Vaughn, Trevor McGill) if ownership has authorized a reduction in salary.
The Brewers can feel comfortable having a designated starter in the rotation. The big question is how many innings they can reasonably expect. Woodruff missed all of 2024 with shoulder surgery. A few minor injuries delayed his ’25 debut, and his season ended after 12 games. He has pitched 131 2/3 innings over the past three seasons. Woodruff enters camp healthy, but it’s fair to wonder if he can put together 150 innings.
Quinn Priester
The 25-year-old Priester is now Milwaukee’s most experienced second baseman. He and him Robert Gasser they are the only other starters with more than a year of MLB service; most of Gasser’s career has come on the injured list working his way back from UCL surgery.
Priester started the ’25 season in Triple-A with the Red Sox. Dealing with Milwaukee in a rare April trade for value, the former first-rounder was a revelation. He threw 157 1/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball after a 56.1% slugging percentage. Milwaukee had a 19-game winning streak between May and September. Priester has serviceable but not great swing-and-miss stuff. Steady slide profile designed to keep the ball down. That approach comes with a different batted ball but plays well in front of a strong infield defense.
Upside Plays
Jacob Misiorowski
Misiorowski was arguably the #1 pitching prospect in the MLB when the Brewers called him up in June. He started his career in electric fashion, allowing two earned runs or less in six of his first seven starts. Milwaukee didn’t let him focus on games, but he flashed the radar gun while missing a lot of at-bats. His performance gradually declined, and scouts’ lingering concerns about his command put him in a bullpen position in the playoffs. Misiorowski impressed again in October, striking out 16 over 12 innings of three-run ball in last season’s outing.
Overall, the 6’7″ righty finished his debut campaign with a 4.36 ERA in 66 innings. He certainly won’t be the back-end innings eater often associated with an ERA in the mid-4.00s, though. Misiorowski has ace stuff with some mobility issues that could make him uncomfortable. He should get a full look at it this year, although he has questions about his first-round performance.
Logan Henderson
Henderson may not be a Misiorowski player, but his 2025 debut was highly anticipated by Milwaukee fans. He was called up in April and made more than four starts before being removed from the MLB roster. The Brewers brought him back after the trade deadline. He made one start before being diagnosed with elbow inflammation and spending the rest of the season on the injured list. The 23-year-old righty allowed five runs while striking out a third of the batters he faced in his first 25 1/3 MLB innings.
Baseball America ranked Henderson 96th on their list of the top 100 prospects last week. They credit him with more control and more changeup, while his 93 MPH fastball plays above its velocity due to his release angle and spin. Henderson has been effective in the minors, posting a 3.26 ERA with a 32% strikeout rate in his career. Can he continue to miss at-bats at a high rate against MLB hitters without trusting his cutter or his slider? He can also get into home run trouble as an average-speed fly ball hitter where his fastball is most effective at the top of the strike zone. There are questions about the final ceiling, but Henderson’s first start couldn’t have been better.
Brandon Sproat
Sproat will try to quickly replace Peralta in the starting five. He also landed in the back half of the aforementioned BA list – a few spots above Henderson, in fact. Sproat has the biggest stuff, sitting 96-97 with an above-average combination of marks on his slider, curveball and changeup. His command is not nearly as civilized. Sproat walked 10.4% of his opponents in 26 Triple-A games last year, and was struck out nearly four times in a September call-up. The 6’3″ righty has a shot to be a rotation starter, but command will need to improve if he’s going to get there.
Rear Arms
Chad Patrick
Patrick was a 26-year-old rookie acquired by the Brewers from the A’s in 2023 to be a shortstop. Abraham Toro. There wasn’t much fanfare when he broke through his first MLB camp last spring. Patrick moved into seventh place in Rookie of the Year voting after pitching 119 2/3 innings of 3.53 ERA ball. There’s a good chance he would have been ranked much higher if the team’s depth hadn’t pushed him to Triple-A when Woodruff returned to work on July 6.
The righty spent six weeks in the minors through no real fault of his own. He had worked in a swing role when he was called up in mid-August. Patrick has jumped into any role and had an excellent postseason, pitching nine innings of two-run ball with 11 strikeouts. He has a 6-pitch mix led by a plus cutter that has helped him strike out a quarter of opponents. Patrick probably doesn’t have the ceiling of some of his teammates but should enter camp with a leg up on Henderson and Sproat for a starting fourth or fifth role.
Robert Gasser
Found in San Diego on Josh Hader trade, Gasser had an impressive five-start debut in 2024. He had a breakout and elbow surgery that kept him off the MLB mound until last September. The southpaw started two games and gave up six runs (only two earned) with four walks and five strikeouts in 5 2/3 frames. His minor league adjustment numbers were even better. The 26-year-old Gasser has a 3.72 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate in Triple-A frames over 200 career innings. He is on the old side due to injury but still looks like a full-back.
Almost Relievers
Angel Zerpa, Aaron Ashby again DL Hall each has first hand experience but is a better fit in the bullpen. All three were used primarily as relievers last season — with the Royals, in Zerpa’s case — and have joined. Jared Koenig in giving Milwaukee a quartet of big arms from the left side out of the bullpen.
Zerpa has solid command and gets a ton of ground balls, but his sinker/slider combination leaves him vulnerable to right-handed hitters. You’ll probably need to pick up a splitter or cutter if you’re going to convert a double heavy line in the game. Ashby hasn’t been able to stay healthy as a starter, while Hall’s command is the biggest obstacle. All are capable of working multiple innings and can get action as starters, as Ashby has done a few times in the postseason to match him. Kyle Tucker again Shohei Ohtani.
The other two starters on the 40-man roster, Carlos Rodriguez again Coleman Crowproject like arms that go up and down. Rodriguez has decent stuff but he used to walk away from the kids. He allowed 18 runs in a career-high 22 innings. Milwaukee added Crow to the roster early in the offseason to avoid major league free agency. He is the #30 ranked prospect in Baseball America and has little upside despite impressive hitting rates in the minors.
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Even without Peralta, Milwaukee has a talented group of starters. Their overall lack of experience behind Woodruff means they will likely add a fifth starter or swingman on a one-year contract to ease the load on their young arms. As is often the case with the Brewers, they will likely mix in some starters/openers while shuffling pitchers up and down from Triple-A. Woodruff is their only starter who can’t be sent down to the minor leagues, this season Rob Zastryzny they are the only thing that comes out of options. They’ll have plenty of roster flexibility if they want to mix up bullpen plays or rotate six-man to keep up pitchers’ innings.
