Hader to pen? Nope, rumor squelched

[LouisEly]

Uh oh.... Hader only goes two innings. They were good innings, and it doesn't look like there was a rain delay. We can only hope a blister.

[burnzy24]

I read on twitter that this was planned. Not sure why.

[markedman5]

Transitioning to a bullpen role......that would be disappointing but not surprising based on his inability to go deep into games.

 

[adambr2]

Kind of hilarious that the source is literally 'Josh Hader's mom.'

 

It won't be disappointing if he becomes our Andrew Miller.

 

Unfortunately this was always an inevitable possibility with Hader.

 

Hopefully Woodruff, Ortiz, Burnes and Supak will live up to what we hope.

[MrTPlush]

It became really obvious this year.

[gregmag]

Maybe (hopefully) more with this season in mind than permanent? It would make a ton of sense to use him as a six-out reliever for the Brewersthis year. The team would benefit, the MLB staff could work with him, and really he has no place else to go at this stage -- CS is likely hurting his development.

[Austin Tatious]

Hader and Ortiz both need to work on their command and throw strikes. Who knows where we are with Bickford. There has already been talk of him being a bullpen guy. Ponce has not really taken it to another level. Medeiros, and his five handle ERA in a repeat year, is probably not a top 30 prospect anymore. Even his last blind supporters have gone quiet. Let's hope he can still become a loogy. There is some value to that.

 

Regarding Hader, sure he has electric stuff. But I'd pump the brakes on any Andrew Miller comps until he throws strikes. Command for a pitcher is like accuracy for an NFL quarterback. It's the first thing you need. It doesn't matter how hard you throw if you're spraying it all over the place.

 

Woodruff, Burnes, and maybe even Supak could possibly be the best hopes as future starters. There aren't enough guys yet. We need impact pitching additions in the draft, in the international market, and via trade in the worst way. We don't need strikeout prone left fielders. If there is a hot pitching prospect in another system, it's almost impossible to pry him away through a trade.

 

This MLB draft will be interesting. I think we get a starter at nine (maybe even a southpaw) and another pitcher at 34 or 46.

[markedman5]

Adam McCalvy:

 

"Couple of you have asked and no, Josh Hader is not moving to relief. But Brewers may cut some starts short to manage innings, I'm told."

[FVBrewerFan]

Let's not over analyze 3rd party sources who know Haders mom. They need to limit his innings, that's all.

[markedman5]

Let's not over analyze 3rd party sources who know Haders mom. They need to limit his innings, that's all.

 

Brewers prospects confirmed that it was indeed his mom who gave the info

 

 

[JohnBriggs12]

Brewers could really use a lefty power arm out of their pen. Harder is a logical choice as he's already on the 40 man. It says less about his eventual role (Sale relieved in his first go around in the big leagues) and more about the Brewer strategy for competing this year using the talent on hand.

[homer]

Stearns told Haudricourt that Hader is still a starter.

 

[LouisEly]

If they're going to short some of his starts to save on innings, why not short his home starts? At Nashville is going to be one of the more neutral parks he will pitch in.

[Never Outhustled]

Hader and Ortiz both need to work on their command and throw strikes. Who knows where we are with Bickford. There has already been talk of him being a bullpen guy. Ponce has not really taken it to another level. Medeiros, and his five handle ERA in a repeat year, is probably not a top 30 prospect anymore. Even his last blind supporters have gone quiet. Let's hope he can still become a loogy. There is some value to that.

 

Regarding Hader, sure he has electric stuff. But I'd pump the brakes on any Andrew Miller comps until he throws strikes. Command for a pitcher is like accuracy for an NFL quarterback. It's the first thing you need. It doesn't matter how hard you throw if you're spraying it all over the place.

 

Woodruff, Burnes, and maybe even Supak could possibly be the best hopes as future starters. There aren't enough guys yet. We need impact pitching additions in the draft, in the international market, and via trade in the worst way. We don't need strikeout prone left fielders. If there is a hot pitching prospect in another system, it's almost impossible to pry him away through a trade.

 

Don't ignore Freddy Peralta. Terrific stuff, terrific prospect.

[pacopete4]

How could you not give this guy every opportunity to be a starter? Makes no sense at all at this point to move him to a reliever role.

[ZBTMP]

Medeiros, and his five handle ERA in a repeat year, is probably not a top 30 prospect anymore. Even his last blind supporters have gone quiet. Let's hope he can still become a loogy. There is some value to that.

Call me Helen Keller. Stating Medeiros as a “repeat pitcher with a 5+ ERA” may be factually correct, but it isn’t an encompassing player profile. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I thought Medeiros was the youngest pitcher in the FSL last season. He has improved his K-BB% from 0.2% to 15.3%. Reports are his velocity is up. His prospect status is rising currently.

[Jose Cardenal1]

Count me as still a supporter of Mederios too. However it is interesting looking at his splits this year. He has a 8.20 ERA and 1.61WHIP as a starter while he has a 2.77 ERA and 1.12 WHIP as a reliever (actually more innings so far in relief). Something about starting just has not agreed with Kodi. Maybe he (not Hader) ends up being the poor mans Andrew Miller. What he wont be is a LOOGY. His splits between LH and RH are pretty even.

 

If your looking for a LOOGY look at Wei-Chung Wang's splits. There is your future LOOGY.

[MrTPlush]

Kodi Medeiros is still quite inexperienced overall. Only 240 professional innings and has never thrown more than 80ish in any given season. As mentioned his ERA isn't flashy, but the secondary stats have greatly improved.

[Austin Tatious]

I was looking at Medeiros' numbers and one thing that gives me hope is that his walks are down. But, he is still giving up a lot of hits, although not as many as last year. His whip was near a whopping 2 last year and he's brought it down. He does get a lot of strikeouts. So, some of his peripherals are looking better, as they should be, repeating a level. He's hardly new to this as he is in his fourth year in the minors. I wouldn't list him in our top prospect lists by any stretch, but there is hope he can be a reliever. If his performance goes up, particularly as a starter, sure we could lift him in the rankings, but not until you actually see it.

[adambr2]

Kodi could still be an impact arm, it just won't be as a starter. He should be left in the pen and developed there.

[CheezWizHed]

Kodi could still be an impact arm, it just won't be as a starter. He should be left in the pen and developed there.

 

Kodi may very well end up in the pen, but its not a good development plan to just move him there. He needs innings and time to work on control. If he eventually goes to the BP, I would imagine he would follow Wang's route to the pen. Some time starting at AA, then moving to the BP.

[And That]

Kodi is back to throwing gas again. His first 5 innings pitched on 5/17 were the best I have ever seen him throw. Mid 90's filth. If he could bottle that up and use it every single time he goes out on the mound, he's a top 50 prospect in baseball. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that and he still has a lot of work to do, but he's more on the right track after a worrying 2016 season.

 

Edit: Forgot to add, Kodi's swinging strike % has risen from 8.5% last year (which is pretty bad) to 13.2% this year (which is pretty average). With his stuff, you'd hope for more than average but again, moving in the right direction.

[adambr2]

Kodi could still be an impact arm, it just won't be as a starter. He should be left in the pen and developed there.

 

Kodi may very well end up in the pen, but its not a good development plan to just move him there. He needs innings and time to work on control. If he eventually goes to the BP, I would imagine he would follow Wang's route to the pen. Some time starting at AA, then moving to the BP.

 

Don't know why he can't work on control from the pen.

 

Not all high leverage relievers follow the failed starter route anymore. Can't think of his name but the White Sox took a relief pitcher in the 1st round last year to groom as a closer, hasn't started a game in the minors. Probably a more comparable example to Kodi in terms of age and career path is Joe Jimenez of the Tigers who also never started and was groomed as a reliever.

 

Guess I just don't see the point of forcing him to continue in a role that he's not going to be successful in. That seems to just risk his confidence more than anything to me.

[CheezWizHed]

Don't know why he can't work on control from the pen.

 

Not all high leverage relievers follow the failed starter route anymore. Can't think of his name but the White Sox took a relief pitcher in the 1st round last year to groom as a closer, hasn't started a game in the minors. Probably a more comparable example to Kodi in terms of age and career path is Joe Jimenez of the Tigers who also never started and was groomed as a reliever.

 

Guess I just don't see the point of forcing him to continue in a role that he's not going to be successful in. That seems to just risk his confidence more than anything to me.

 

Its about innings. Getting the work in. A MiLB reliever might get 40-50 innings per year. A starter will get 3x that many innings.

 

Jimenez has a MiLB career BB/9IP of 2.6, so I doubt he ever had much for control issues. Kodi certainly needs more opportunities to work on his repeatability and control. Yes, he CAN work on that out of the pen, but I think you reduce his chances of success by doing so.

 

And I certainly hope that the development staff doesn't use ERA as a milestone of "success". Because as others have pointed out, he has been more successful this year despite the ERA.

[DHonks]

minor league fields are hard to use as comps. Brandon Webb had terrible minor league ERA's, then won a Cy Young. Plus minor league scorers aren't big league for a reason.