Article: Was Ben Sheets the Best Brewers' Pitcher Ever?

[reillymcshane]

On May 16, 2004, Ben Sheets threw one of the greatest games in Milwaukee Brewers history. The righthander struck out 18 batters - still a Milwaukee record - on the way to a 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves. It was a window into Sheets' electrifying ability. Sadly, Sheets' career would be derailed by injuries and bad teams - otherwise he may have ended up as the best pitcher in franchise history

 

Ben Sheets was born in Louisiana in 1978. He attended college at Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana Monroe), where he was an All-American. The Brewers drafted Sheets in the first round (10th overall) in 1999.

In 2000, Sheets became the hero for the U.S. Olympic baseball team, pitching 22 innings and yielding only one walk and 11 hits. For the gold medal game, he pitched a complete game shutout against the favored Cuban team, giving up only three singles and no walks.

The Brewers moved Sheets rapidly through the minor leagues, and by 2001, he was a fixture in the rotation. Sheets quickly became a workhorse, averaging 225 IP from 2002-2004. During the span, Sheets became a complete pitcher, controlling his offerings and increasing his strikeouts.

All of it came together in 2004, when Sheets produced one of the best seasons in Brewer history. In addition to a 2.70 ERA, Sheets struck out 264 batters and walked just 32. Unfortunately, Sheets suffered from a lack of run support, and only had a record of 12-14. (The club won only 67 games that season.) Due to the low win total, he finished a distant eighth in the Cy Young Award voting, despite producing 7.2 bWAR - second in the league behind Randy Johnson.

After Sheets' breakout campaign, the Brewers gave their newly minted ace a four-year contract worth $38.5 million. Unfortunately, Sheets never rose up to the brilliance of the 2004 campaign as he missed time due to injury and illness during each of the next four years. He was still effective, but he never threw for more than 200 innings or produced a sub-3.00 ERA. His list of injuries included shoulder tendinitis, hamstring issues, ear infections that caused vertigo, and a tear in his right elbow.

The latter injury occurred in the final weeks of 2008 - the only winning season Sheets had been part of with Milwaukee - and shelved him for the playoffs.

With the season concluded, Sheets was a free agent. The Brewers decided the oft-injured Sheets wasn't worth a significant investment, but did opt to offer him arbitration with the expectation of landing a draft pick as compensation. Unfortunately for Sheets, who declined the arbitration offer, the elbow injury was worse than thought and required Tommy John surgery. He missed all of the 2009 season.

Sheets signed with Oakland for the 2010 season, starting 20 games, with mediocre results, before suffering a torn flexor in his pitching elbow. He made one final stab at playing in 2012, signing with Atlanta mid-season. He pitched pretty well over nine games before landing on the DL again with a sore shoulder. After the last setback, Sheets decided to call it a career.

After retiring, Sheets returned to Louisiana to raise his family, where he owns and operates Sheets Baseball Academy. He has served as a volunteer baseball coach at his alma mater since 2013. He was inducted into the Brewer Wall of Honor in 2014.

Ben Sheets was unique in that he was a starter that relied primary on only two pitches: his fastball and a devastating curveball. No player in team history probably threw a curve ball as often and as effectively as Sheets.

Sheets' legacy with Milwaukee is effectively in place as one of the top pitchers the organization ever produced - even if it was tinged with disappointment.

In addition to pitching in four All-Star games, he is second in career bWAR, with 25.6, behind only Teddy Higuera . And he has more strikeouts than anyone other than Yovani Gallardo . Sheets' name appears in the Brewers top 10 of just about every pitching statistic that you can think of, including WHIP, innings pitched, and wins. 

As I noted, for all the accomplishments of Sheets, there is a dose of disappointment that things weren't better during his run in Brew City. Sheets pitched on some really bad clubs, dimming his accomplishments in some eyes. Also, as the club's first home grown star in years, he was cast as the savior for the franchise and awarded the richest contract in team history.

But the injuries that followed clouded people's view of him and he would never carry the club on his back like he did in 2004. I remember during the time period that people on brewerfan.net would sarcastically say things such as, "It would be nice if our 'ace' would get over his dizzy spells" and things of that nature.

The final injury cemented for many fans the sour view of Sheets. At the time, some felt he was bailing on the team in the heat of the pennant race. When he left the Brewer organization, there was some bitterness between both parties, but that appears to have faded over the years.

In the end, it's easy to remember Sheets for the good things his did in Milwaukee. Watching him when he was on top of his game was a thing of beauty. Sheets' curveball was second to none. I personally remember going to an afternoon game with my father and watching Sheets mow down the opposing team in less then 2.5 hours. It was brilliant. That's how I remember Ben Sheets.

And finally, we can't mention Sheets without talking about his batting. Sheets had a reputation as one of the worst hitters in the league. His .076 BA backs up those claims. I used to joke that Brewer pitcher Doug Davis (who had a career BA of .083) used to thank Sheets for not making him look so bad.

But Ben Sheets was a pitcher. If you want to see him at his best, take a look at all 18 of his strikeouts from May 16, 2004 game against Atlanta. The curve is just sick. Enjoy - then leave your own memories of former Brewer Ben Sheets.

 

 

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[damuelle]

Sending Sheets out there to wreck his arm on September 27, 2008 was crazy. I really appreciated his guts though and I’m sure his teammates did too; just dumb management though, with a sadly predictable outcome.

Similar to old Jordan playing that game against the Lakers whilst already nursing an injury in 2002 and Jeter playing that fateful extra inning playoff game in 2012 against the Tigers on an already-sore left ankle.

Teams are more prudent now about managing their injured players, which is incredibly necessary for lower-budget organizations.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Sheets was always tantalizing and like so many other pitchers, injuries stole his brilliance. It's unfortunate how fanbases turn so quickly on injured players, it's one of my least liked things about sports.

[Brewcrew82]

Provided he stays healthy over the next couple of seasons, this title will almost certainly belong to Corbin Burnes. And Corbin Burnes already has a Cy Young, which Sheets never came all that close to winning. 

[UpandIn]

4 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Provided he stays healthy over the next couple of seasons, this title will almost certainly belong to Corbin Burnes. And Corbin Burnes already has a Cy Young, which Sheets never came all that close to winning. 

He didn't come close in voting, but that '04 season was...pretty incredible and I think in 2022 he'd have finished 2nd or 3rd.

But...of course it appears as though Burnes will pass him up. Woodruff very well may as well without the benefit of the additional couple years.

The criticism Sheets got at the time was that he didn't put the work in that a guy like Jimmy Nelson or Burnes or Woody did. That he just got by on pure talent more than grinding and attention to detail.

Helluva pitcher though.