2022 Awards: Most Improved Player

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?