Brewers Acquire RHP Bryse Wilson from Pittsburgh Pirates

[Brock Beauchamp]

It's not a flashy move this offseason, but it adds pitching depth, and the Brewers have shown a knack for converting struggling pitchers into serviceable major league pieces.

Earlier in the week, the Pittsburgh Pirates designated right-handed pitcher Bryse Wilson for assignment. Today, the Brewers traded for the 25-year-old pitcher for cash considerations.

Wilson has spent portions of five seasons in the major leagues, sporting an ugly-looking 5.54 ERA over 232 innings. He spent most of that time as a starter, appearing in 56 games and starting 43. At a glance, this appears to be more roster-filler, potentially for the AAA Nashville Sounds, but intriguing aspects of the young righty deserve to be mentioned.

Wilson entered the league as an Atlanta Brave in 2018 with a potent average of 95mph on his fastball. Over the years, particularly last season with the Pirates, that number has slowly dropped to the 92.4mph average fastball he had in 2022. Despite having solid velocity on that fastball - even by 2023 standards - Wilson has struggled to miss bats, posting a low 15.4 K% rate over his career.

Undoubtedly, the Brewers plan to send Wilson to Arizona to retrieve some of that lost fastball velocity. It wouldn't be surprising if they immediately moved him to the bullpen, which often helps add a tick or two in velocity.

Strangely, despite his struggles, Wilson still threw five different pitches quite often in 2022:

And a few of those pitches were massacred by opposing hitters, notably his changeup and four-seam fastball in 2021 and 2022:

Year	Pitch Type	#	# RHB	# LHB	%	MPH	PA	AB	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	SO	BBE	BA	XBA	SLG	XSLG	WOBA	XWOBA	EV	LA	Spin	Ext.	Whiff%	PutAway%
2022	Sinker	593	402	191	32.5	92.1	179	160	49	38	9	0	2	21	141	.306	.296	.400	.407	.342	.341	91.2	5	1958	6.5	11.7	16.9
2022	4-Seam Fastball	438	117	321	24.0	92.7	114	99	30	18	7	0	5	24	77	.303	.278	.525	.498	.384	.370	91.7	21	2034	6.5	22.2	16.7
2022	Slider	290	228	62	15.9	83.4	77	75	18	10	4	0	4	13	63	.240	.314	.453	.530	.297	.364	88.4	17	2160	6.6	20.7	17.8
2022	Changeup	270	72	198	14.8	85.1	82	73	22	12	6	1	3	10	64	.301	.310	.534	.499	.386	.387	92.9	5	1467	6.5	18.8	13.9
2022	Curveball	234	111	123	12.8	77.2	56	53	13	4	3	0	6	11	43	.245	.245	.642	.519	.378	.334	86.1	18	2307	6.5	20.4	18.3
2021	4-Seam Fastball	505	194	311	44.5	93.0	134	120	38	25	5	0	8	20	104	.317	.297	.558	.559	.388	.391	86.7	20	2024	6.6	23.7	16.0
2021	Changeup	225	87	138	19.8	86.8	70	67	18	10	6	0	2	8	60	.269	.333	.448	.537	.309	.378	89.4	8	1576	6.6	14.3	11.9
2021	Sinker	218	158	60	19.2	92.7	68	63	16	8	6	0	2	10	53	.254	.237	.444	.419	.323	.311	87.6	4	2001	6.6	10.9	15.6
2021	Curveball	131	81	50	11.5	77.0	30	27	7	5	0	0	2	7	21	.259	.210	.481	.359	.327	.266	82.7	11	2322	6.6	25.9	18.4
2021	Slider	57	28	29	5.0	86.0	17	16	6	4	1	0	1	1	15	.375	.310	.625	.517	.439	.369	85.3	23	2204	6.6	17.2	14.3

The Brewers likely see something in Wilson to warrant this small gamble on the roster's margins. Given the recent history of the Pirates' pitching development system, Milwaukee's front office surely saw the numbers and realized changes could be made to Wilson's pitch mix and usage and see improved results on the field.

Can the Brewers work their fringe-y pitcher magic yet again?

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[Sweaty]

He's not likely AAA filler, since he's out of options.

[Brock Beauchamp]

8 minutes ago, Sweaty said:

He's not likely AAA filler, since he's out of options.

I'd be surprised if they don't try to sneak him through waivers. I should have clarified that a bit.

Unless they really see something they like after working with him, I suspect he'll be a spring training waiver wire guy during the time when teams try to sneak everybody through before opening day.

[Sweaty]

Trading cash considerations for a player that was DFAed usually indicates that the team believes other teams (or at least one) were looking to grab that player off waivers.

The Brewers also had to DFA Trevor Kelly to make room, since the 40-man is maxed.

[Brock Beauchamp]

6 minutes ago, Sweaty said:

Trading cash considerations for a player that was DFAed usually indicates that the team believes other teams (or at least one) were looking to grab that player off waivers.

That's a really good point. Giving cash back for a DFA means you either really want him or kinda want him but think other teams in more advantageous waiver positions also want him.

Either way, the Brewers like something about the guy.