Article: 2022 Awards: Most Improved Player

[DuWayne Steurer]

While the Brewers fell short of the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, there were still noteworthy performances on the diamond to talk about. Congratulations to the Brewer Fanatic Most Improved Player for 2022, Hoby Milner!

The Brewers came into 2022 with high hopes, riding the wave of four consecutive playoff appearances. However, by the end of the year, despite tallying 86 wins, the Crew fell just short of the Phillies for the final wild-card spot. Amid injuries, and at times inconsistent offense, and a pitching staff that just didn't perform up to the very high standards that were set for them in 2021, the team just wasn't able to put together long stretches of wins after a 32-18 start that was the best fifty game season opening in franchise history. 

Despite the failure to reach the playoffs, there's still more than a handful of positives to take from an eighty-six-win team and in this article, we're going to look at the most improved players on the 2022 Brewers.

3rd place SP Eric Lauer 
On the surface, Lauer's statistics look pretty similar from 2021 to 2022. He posted a 3.69 ERA and a 4.50 FIP in 2022, compared to a 3.19 ERA and a 4.04 FIP in 2021. His WHIP, walk, and K rates are almost all the same from season to season. His home run rate took a slight bump up, unfortunately. Lauer did stay on the field for the '22 Brewers, making 29 starts and throwing 158 2/3 innings. 

Lauer had stretches in 2022 where he looked close to becoming the "fourth ace" for the Brewers, joining Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta at the top of the rotation. He carried an ERA in the low twos until mid-June when he got blown up for eight earned runs in a single start. Lauer's last start of the season he pitched six hitless innings and was removed for pitch count. More so for those stretches where he flashed "ace" material and not necessarily the raw numbers, and coming into his age twenty-eight season, Lauer earned a few "most improved" votes from the panel.

2nd place DH/UTIL Keston Hiura 

For the time that Hiura was in the lineup in 2022, he didn't return to his rookie form, but definitely added some punch to the lineup, with a .765 OPS and fourteen home runs in 266 plate appearances. After his disastrous 2021 campaign, getting any kind of offensive production out of Hiura had to be looked at as a bonus for the Crew. Hiura's reverse splits (.866 ops vs RHP, .619 OPS vs LHP) were a hindering factor, as he saw 109 of his 266 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. While it's heartening to see him providing offense, he'll probably have to continue to work on his reverse splits and cut down the strikeout rate (41.7% in 2022) for him to find a full-time job in 2023. 

1st place RP Hoby Milner 

Hoby Milner entered 2022 with a total of 77 1/3 innings pitched for four teams over five seasons, and they had been best described as "bad" at best, and that could be considered generous. Over his previous two seasons, Milner had surrendered a ghastly thirteen home runs over just 35 innings.

Coming into 2022, it's hard to know what the Brewers expected from Milner. A sidearm lefty who barely hits ninety, who's historically been really bad against righties, who will now have to face a minimum of three batters? That sounded like a recipe for disaster. 

I'm not here to tell you Hoby Milner is suddenly a Cy Young candidate, or reliever of the year candidate, or even that he's going to be great next year. Relievers, by nature, are pretty volatile from year to year. But in 2022 Milner caught proverbial lightning in a bottle and had a solid season from the front to the back. Throwing 64 2/3 innings, Milner posted a respectable 3.76 ERA/3.16 FIP, while lowering his home runs allowed to just five over those 64 2/3 innings. On top of that, Milner's splits were much better than they had been historical allowing just a .704 OPS against right-handers, against a .655 OPS vs. left-handed batters. 

With the Brewers bullpen going from a strength in 2021 to a sudden (and inexplicable) weakness in 2022, having Milner become a reliable middle-inning option was one of the few things that seemed to go right for the Brewers pen this year. 

Certainly, the role of the LOOGY has changed, and it appeared that there wouldn't be a place in the game for soft-tossing left-handers that struggle to get out right-handed batters. Milner certainly adjusted last year, and if he finds his way onto the Brewers in 2023, we'll hope he continues having success. 

Congratulations to Hoby Milner. Now let us know who you think was the Most Improved Brewers player in 2022?

 

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[Outlander]

Milner was pretty bad the second half of the year and was one of many that underperformed during their cold streaks in the second half. I know there was some analysis early on indicating he wasn't throwing strikes which is why hitters were not effective against him, wonder if they were more patient after those initial couple of months. Will be interesting to see how he does next year.

[Outlander]

Milner was pretty bad the second half of the year and was one of many that underperformed during their cold streaks in the second half. I know there was some analysis early on indicating he wasn't throwing strikes which is why hitters were not effective against him, wonder if they were more patient after those initial couple of months. Will be interesting to see how he does next year.

[damuelle]

1 hour ago, Outlander said:

Milner was pretty bad the second half of the year and was one of many that underperformed during their cold streaks in the second half. I know there was some analysis early on indicating he wasn't throwing strikes which is why hitters were not effective against him, wonder if they were more patient after those initial couple of months. Will be interesting to see how he does next year.

I'm seeing a 2.85 ERA and .605 OPS against in 41 IP through August 4th, then a 5.32 ERA and .817 OPS against in 23 2/3 IP the rest of the way.

But his average number of pitches to hitters was the same in each period (4.00), his strike % was actually higher in the latter part (62% rising to 64%), his strikeouts/batter was also higher in that latter period (21.9% rising to 26.2%), though walks ticked up slightly (5.3% rising to 5.8%) and homers allowed rose materially (0.6% rising to 3.9%).

To me, the data suggests that more balls landed safely (.296 BABIP rising to .349) and more balls left the yard (1 in the first 41 IP; 4 in the last 23 2/3 IP).

Honestly, the .349 BABIP seems unfairly high in the dismal part of the year, while the 0.6% HR ratio in the successful part of the season seems too low.

I'd expect Milner to still be a solid contributor next season, although we need to sign a top lefty reliever to replace Hader/Rogers. Overall, our RHP numbers were better than our LHP numbers in 2022, which I place at the feet of Mr. Stearns for only signing Rex Brothers in the off-season then whiffing on Taylor Rogers.

[damuelle]

1 hour ago, Outlander said:

Milner was pretty bad the second half of the year and was one of many that underperformed during their cold streaks in the second half. I know there was some analysis early on indicating he wasn't throwing strikes which is why hitters were not effective against him, wonder if they were more patient after those initial couple of months. Will be interesting to see how he does next year.

I'm seeing a 2.85 ERA and .605 OPS against in 41 IP through August 4th, then a 5.32 ERA and .817 OPS against in 23 2/3 IP the rest of the way.

But his average number of pitches to hitters was the same in each period (4.00), his strike % was actually higher in the latter part (62% rising to 64%), his strikeouts/batter was also higher in that latter period (21.9% rising to 26.2%), though walks ticked up slightly (5.3% rising to 5.8%) and homers allowed rose materially (0.6% rising to 3.9%).

To me, the data suggests that more balls landed safely (.296 BABIP rising to .349) and more balls left the yard (1 in the first 41 IP; 4 in the last 23 2/3 IP).

Honestly, the .349 BABIP seems unfairly high in the dismal part of the year, while the 0.6% HR ratio in the successful part of the season seems too low.

I'd expect Milner to still be a solid contributor next season, although we need to sign a top lefty reliever to replace Hader/Rogers. Overall, our RHP numbers were better than our LHP numbers in 2022, which I place at the feet of Mr. Stearns for only signing Rex Brothers in the off-season then whiffing on Taylor Rogers.

[Robocaller]

How can Lauer be among the most-improved when he got worse, during a season when offense was down?

[Robocaller]

How can Lauer be among the most-improved when he got worse, during a season when offense was down?

[sveumrules]

2 hours ago, Robocaller said:

How can Lauer be among the most-improved when he got worse, during a season when offense was down?

Yeah, Lauer pitched more, but not better.

76 ERA- | 95 FIP- in 2021 compared to 91 ERA- | 112 FIP- in 2022.

Pretty crazy how just about every returning pitcher put up worse results in 2022. The foibles of pitching, I guess.

Burnes 21: 58 ERA- | 38 FIP-
Burnes 22: 73 ERA- | 79 FIP-

Woody 21: 61 ERA- | 69 FIP-
Woody 22: 75 ERA- | 77 FIP-

Peralta 21: 67 ERA- | 73 FIP-
Peralta 22: 88 ERA- | 77 FIP-

Houser 21: 77 ERA- | 102 FIP-
Houser 22: 117 ERA- | 105 FIP-

Suter 21: 73 ERA- | 92 FIP-
Suter 22: 93 ERA- | 110 FIP-

Hader 21: 29 ERA- | 39 FIP-
Hader 22: 105 ERA- | 87 FIP-

Ashby 21: 108 ERA- | 84 FIP-
Ashby 22: 110 ERA- | 102 FIP-

Only guys to to really stay the same or get better (beside Milner) were…

Box 21: 80 ERA- | 86 FIP-
Box 22: 73 ERA- | 89 FIP-

Devin 21: 60 ERA- | 66 FIP-
Devin 22: 48 ERA- | 51 FIP-
 

[sveumrules]

2 hours ago, Robocaller said:

How can Lauer be among the most-improved when he got worse, during a season when offense was down?

Yeah, Lauer pitched more, but not better.

76 ERA- | 95 FIP- in 2021 compared to 91 ERA- | 112 FIP- in 2022.

Pretty crazy how just about every returning pitcher put up worse results in 2022. The foibles of pitching, I guess.

Burnes 21: 58 ERA- | 38 FIP-
Burnes 22: 73 ERA- | 79 FIP-

Woody 21: 61 ERA- | 69 FIP-
Woody 22: 75 ERA- | 77 FIP-

Peralta 21: 67 ERA- | 73 FIP-
Peralta 22: 88 ERA- | 77 FIP-

Houser 21: 77 ERA- | 102 FIP-
Houser 22: 117 ERA- | 105 FIP-

Suter 21: 73 ERA- | 92 FIP-
Suter 22: 93 ERA- | 110 FIP-

Hader 21: 29 ERA- | 39 FIP-
Hader 22: 105 ERA- | 87 FIP-

Ashby 21: 108 ERA- | 84 FIP-
Ashby 22: 110 ERA- | 102 FIP-

Only guys to to really stay the same or get better (beside Milner) were…

Box 21: 80 ERA- | 86 FIP-
Box 22: 73 ERA- | 89 FIP-

Devin 21: 60 ERA- | 66 FIP-
Devin 22: 48 ERA- | 51 FIP-
 

[Robocaller]

3 hours ago, sveumrules said:

 

Devin 21: 60 ERA- | 66 FIP-
Devin 22: 48 ERA- | 51 FIP-
 

so Devin should have been considered for most improved.

[Robocaller]

3 hours ago, sveumrules said:

 

Devin 21: 60 ERA- | 66 FIP-
Devin 22: 48 ERA- | 51 FIP-
 

so Devin should have been considered for most improved.

[Robocaller]

Yelich and Brosseau should have definitely been listed.

[Robocaller]

Yelich and Brosseau should have definitely been listed.

[Nato_Coles]

Hard to argue with these, except maybe Lauer. But it's hard to remember the framing of the discussion when Keston Hiura becoming a pretty decent player again (and for that matter, Christian Yelich adding 10 points to his OPS+ and running the bases really well too) is so important to the Brewers while Hoby Milner is a medium-to-medium-high leverage reliever with an OPS+ of 105. 

We can also talk about how it took until somewhere around Labor Day for Brandon Woodruff's FIP and ERA to sync but here's the thing about FIP: it doesn't show up in the box score. However, if we're talking within 2022 (I know we're not but bear with me) it's worth noting just how much better results Woody got from June onwards. Most improved within season goes to him.

[Nato_Coles]

Hard to argue with these, except maybe Lauer. But it's hard to remember the framing of the discussion when Keston Hiura becoming a pretty decent player again (and for that matter, Christian Yelich adding 10 points to his OPS+ and running the bases really well too) is so important to the Brewers while Hoby Milner is a medium-to-medium-high leverage reliever with an OPS+ of 105. 

We can also talk about how it took until somewhere around Labor Day for Brandon Woodruff's FIP and ERA to sync but here's the thing about FIP: it doesn't show up in the box score. However, if we're talking within 2022 (I know we're not but bear with me) it's worth noting just how much better results Woody got from June onwards. Most improved within season goes to him.