Article: Where have all the Wisconsinites gone?

[Kyle Lobner]

On Monday the Orioles did something they hadn't done in 32 years. When is the last time the Brewers did it?

This morning's daily Cup of Coffee newsletter from Craig Calcaterra contained a fun fact about Monday's Brewers/Orioles game, even if it was a bit of a stretch:

Quote

Bruce Zimmermann got the start and authored four of those shutout innings. He’s the first Maryland-born pitcher to start a home opener for the Orioles since 1990.

That's a lot of qualifiers, but still an interesting accomplishment. If the Orioles aren't going to be good, at least they're drawing some local interest by featuring one of the seven Maryland-born pitchers who appeared in an MLB game last season (Josh Hader is one of the others, of course).

The Brewers, for their part, have used a Wisconsin-born starter on Opening Day just once in their franchise history: Jerry Augustine got the ball for the first start of the year in 1978, and the Kewaunee native logged eight strong innings in a game the Crew went on to win 12-3 (more on that contest here).

Augustine pitched in 279 games across ten seasons as a Brewer, including 104 starts, but beyond him the Brewers' history with Wisconsin-born starting pitchers is relatively sparse. Madison native Gene Brabender made 50 starts for the franchise but 29 of them came for the expansion Seattle Pilots before their move to Milwaukee. The only Wisconsin-born pitcher to make a start for the Brewers in the last 39 years was Milwaukee native Paul Wagner, who made nine starts for the Crew in 1998. The last of those nine came on July 24 of that season, and Monday's game was the 3686th the Brewers have played since.

In the intervening years the Brewers have only had a few candidates to step in and snap that streak: Green Bay native Bob Wickman pitched exclusively in relief during his Brewers tenure, which ended when he was traded in 2000, and after that it was nearly 20 years until River Falls native J.P. Feyereisen made his MLB debut as a Brewer in 2020. Auburndale native Jordan Zimmermann's 2021 comeback attempt was probably the closest the Brewers have come to using a Wisconsin-born starter since Wagner, but he opted to retire after two lackluster relief appearances.

In recent years the Brewers also haven't had a deep field of candidates: No Wisconsin-born pitcher started a game for any MLB club in 2021, and the four that did so in 2020 (Zimmermann, Pete Fairbanks of the Rays, Kyle Cody of the Rangers and Jonathan Stiever of the White Sox) combined to make just eleven starts. It's possible the most successful pitcher in the group right now is Neenah native Drew Rucinski, who left for Korea following the 2018 season and has a 3.01 ERA across four seasons since as the ace for the KBO's NC Dinos. From 2019-21 Rucinski led all KBO pitchers in innings (539) and strikeouts (463), and in 2020 his Dinos won the Korean Series.

The relative lack of standout Wisconsin-born pitchers is all the more striking when taken in context of the prep baseball landscape in the state. Scouts are quick to note that Wisconsin is producing more baseball talent recently: In 2018 now-Mariners outfielder Jarred Kelenic, a Waukesha native, became the highest-drafted player in Wisconsin baseball history when he was selected sixth overall by the Mets. Since 2016 the state has produced six players taken in the top 120 picks in the MLB draft, including four (Kelenic, Diamondbacks catcher Daulton Varsho, Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux and Yankees catcher Ben Rortvedt) that have already reached the majors. None of those six picks were pitchers, however, and only one Wisconsin-born pitcher has been selected in the draft's top 300 picks since 2010 (Oshkosh native Josh Uhen).

So, while Wisconsin-born position player prospects continue to emerge around the sport, Brewers fans are likely to continue to wait for their next opportunity to cheer on a local product on the mound at American Family Field.

 

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[Frisbee Slider]

Caleb Boushley is a starting pitcher for Triple-A Nashville. He is a Hortonville native and went to UW-Lacrosse. He is not on the 40-man roster but he’s in the upper level minors. At 28 years of age, maybe he will get a start in the Majors someday?

[Frisbee Slider]

Caleb Boushley is a starting pitcher for Triple-A Nashville. He is a Hortonville native and went to UW-Lacrosse. He is not on the 40-man roster but he’s in the upper level minors. At 28 years of age, maybe he will get a start in the Majors someday?

[Joseph Zarr]

Paula Cole must be a Brewers fan. This is exciting for any an all nostalgia-riddled Oregon Trail Gen'ers. I shall now go hang my Lilith Fair poster and watch last night's highlights from Baltimore.

[Joseph Zarr]

Paula Cole must be a Brewers fan. This is exciting for any an all nostalgia-riddled Oregon Trail Gen'ers. I shall now go hang my Lilith Fair poster and watch last night's highlights from Baltimore.

[Joseph Zarr]

4 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Caleb Boushley is a starting pitcher for Triple-A Nashville. He is a Hortonville native and went to UW-Lacrosse. He is not on the 40-man roster but he’s in the upper level minors. At 28 years of age, maybe he will get a start in the Majors someday?

If Caleb Boushley is starting on the Big Club, I fear our season has really and I mean really headed South. But, hey, who knows maybe he finds a miraculous turn around and a treasure trove of untapped stuff. Stranger things have definitely happened.

[Joseph Zarr]

4 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Caleb Boushley is a starting pitcher for Triple-A Nashville. He is a Hortonville native and went to UW-Lacrosse. He is not on the 40-man roster but he’s in the upper level minors. At 28 years of age, maybe he will get a start in the Majors someday?

If Caleb Boushley is starting on the Big Club, I fear our season has really and I mean really headed South. But, hey, who knows maybe he finds a miraculous turn around and a treasure trove of untapped stuff. Stranger things have definitely happened.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm not surprised by a lack of professional pitchers from Wisconsin. Unless you go to State you're only going to pitch in a handful of games with a temperature or windchill above 40 during your high school career. Just terrible conditions to try to pitch in. And if you play for one of the high level traveling teams in the summer your arm's probably going to be shot from abuse by the time you get to college. And if you play college ball in Wisconsin you'll have the same weather to deal with along with competing for innings against all the guys your coach recruited from warm weather states who are much further developed.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm not surprised by a lack of professional pitchers from Wisconsin. Unless you go to State you're only going to pitch in a handful of games with a temperature or windchill above 40 during your high school career. Just terrible conditions to try to pitch in. And if you play for one of the high level traveling teams in the summer your arm's probably going to be shot from abuse by the time you get to college. And if you play college ball in Wisconsin you'll have the same weather to deal with along with competing for innings against all the guys your coach recruited from warm weather states who are much further developed.

[liveforoctober]

Wisconsin only has one D1 collegiate baseball program in the state, at UW-Milwaukee. That shouldn't be overlooked... even our best in state talent has to get recruited out of state if they want to develop. There are a few dozen D3 kids from Wisconsin college floating around the high minors and a dozen or so in the last decade that have made the big leagues... but it matters when you don't have D1 schools to recruit and develop your in state talent that wasn't highly recruited out of high school.

[liveforoctober]

Wisconsin only has one D1 collegiate baseball program in the state, at UW-Milwaukee. That shouldn't be overlooked... even our best in state talent has to get recruited out of state if they want to develop. There are a few dozen D3 kids from Wisconsin college floating around the high minors and a dozen or so in the last decade that have made the big leagues... but it matters when you don't have D1 schools to recruit and develop your in state talent that wasn't highly recruited out of high school.

[liveforoctober]

5 hours ago, Julio Muchacho said:

If Caleb Boushley is starting on the Big Club, I fear our season has really and I mean really headed South. But, hey, who knows maybe he finds a miraculous turn around and a treasure trove of untapped stuff. Stranger things have definitely happened.

I think the point is that the author made it seem like we will have a long long time to wait for a WI kid to be on our mound again and, as pointed out, we have a AAA arm currently in the system. So 'long time' in reality could be a flu bug in the clubhouse next week.

[liveforoctober]

5 hours ago, Julio Muchacho said:

If Caleb Boushley is starting on the Big Club, I fear our season has really and I mean really headed South. But, hey, who knows maybe he finds a miraculous turn around and a treasure trove of untapped stuff. Stranger things have definitely happened.

I think the point is that the author made it seem like we will have a long long time to wait for a WI kid to be on our mound again and, as pointed out, we have a AAA arm currently in the system. So 'long time' in reality could be a flu bug in the clubhouse next week.

[CheeseheadInQC]

Does the cold affect pitchers' development more than hitters? I live in northern Illinois, so not a significantly different climate than the southern part of Wisconsin, and while it hasn't translated into more than a cup of coffee recently, pretty much the only players our area has put into the minor leagues lately have been pitchers.

[CheeseheadInQC]

Does the cold affect pitchers' development more than hitters? I live in northern Illinois, so not a significantly different climate than the southern part of Wisconsin, and while it hasn't translated into more than a cup of coffee recently, pretty much the only players our area has put into the minor leagues lately have been pitchers.

[liveforoctober]

This is a random thought. I'd be curious what the rate of 3 sports high school athletes are in the colder climates vs the warmer ones. I am making this up, but it would make sense that the further south you go, the easier it is to access year round competition in a sport if you are wanting to specialize. Up here in the cold, you have to go south to play any kind of competitive baseball past October or before April. I wonder if there is a correlation.

 

[liveforoctober]

This is a random thought. I'd be curious what the rate of 3 sports high school athletes are in the colder climates vs the warmer ones. I am making this up, but it would make sense that the further south you go, the easier it is to access year round competition in a sport if you are wanting to specialize. Up here in the cold, you have to go south to play any kind of competitive baseball past October or before April. I wonder if there is a correlation.

 

[Frisbee Slider]

18 hours ago, Julio Muchacho said:

If Caleb Boushley is starting on the Big Club, I fear our season has really and I mean really headed South. But, hey, who knows maybe he finds a miraculous turn around and a treasure trove of untapped stuff. Stranger things have definitely happened.

I agree, we are unlikely to make a proactive move to get Caleb Boushley a big league start. I thought the same thing before Alec Bettinger got a start for the Brewers, last May. I’m not sure Bettinger profiles a ton better than Boushley. 

[Frisbee Slider]

18 hours ago, Julio Muchacho said:

If Caleb Boushley is starting on the Big Club, I fear our season has really and I mean really headed South. But, hey, who knows maybe he finds a miraculous turn around and a treasure trove of untapped stuff. Stranger things have definitely happened.

I agree, we are unlikely to make a proactive move to get Caleb Boushley a big league start. I thought the same thing before Alec Bettinger got a start for the Brewers, last May. I’m not sure Bettinger profiles a ton better than Boushley.