Milwaukee Brewers: Who will Jimmy Nelson replace when he returns?

It is likely that at some point this spring, Jimmy Nelson will return to the Milwaukee Brewers starting rotation and when he does, who’s spot will he take?

Out of Spring Training, Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell decided to go with his young core of Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes, and Freddy Peralta, along with last year’s ace, Jhoulys Chacin and Zach Davies to make up his starting rotation. While through the first two weeks of the season we have seen some promising stretches from these pitchers, there have been a number of bumps in the road as well.

So when we do finally get to the anticipated return of Jimmy Nelson, which will most likely happen at some point this spring, it begs the question, which pitcher from the current starting rotation will be on the outside looking in?

It has been a long time since Nelson has taken the mound in a meaningful major league game, August of 2017 to be exact. And while there will be some definite rust to shake off when he does return, there is no doubt that once he is ready, Counsell will put him back into the starting rotation.

This spring, Nelson was able to make a few appearances, throwing four innings while allowing six hits, two earned runs, and a home run. However, those numbers are irrelevant, what was important was that we saw Nelson’s velocity up and in the range it needs to be in. Coming off of a fluke shoulder injury, nobody is really sure what to expect, but that was a great sign.

Since the regular season has began, Nelson has been back in Arizona continuing to strengthen that injured shoulder and recently pitched in an extended Spring Training game, that Counsell was very encouraged by. Next up for Nelson will be some innings in Triple-A San Antonio, but it is still an unknown of how long he will be there.

However, once the time comes for Nelson to return to the Milwaukee Brewers, Counsell will have to make a difficult decision and move a current starter out of the rotation to make room for Jimmy. Obviously in baseball things can change at any moment but as of now, we know that Chacin isn’t going anywhere and I don’t think Davies is either.

Not many would have guessed that heading into Spring Training but so far Davies has appeared in 10.2 innings and has a 1.69 ERA with seven strikeouts. I expect Counsell to continue riding that wave as we all hope we see Davies produce similar results to his 2017 season.

So that leaves us with one of the Milwaukee Brewers young pitchers that will be left out, and all of them have taken some lumps early on this season.

Woody has struggled to keep batters off the bases so far and has a WHIP of 1.667 to show for it, but of the trio, he is perhaps the steadiest. His steely demeanor where no moment appears to big serves him well as we saw last September and October, where he struck out 16 batters while allowing just one earned run in 12.1 innings. In 2019, Woody has a BAbip of .485, but water finds its level and those balls that are finding grass now, won’t last forever.

From Burnes in 2019 we have seen absolute brilliance or a likely home run ball. So far he has given up six long balls and 11 earned runs in 10 innings, but he’s also struck out a whopping 18 batters. Currently, Burnes is working on a five-pitch arsenal that as we’ve seen is very effective when he’s firing on all cylinders.

In the minors, Burnes did very well in the starter role and has always been someone who pounds the strike zone, which when off, can lead to home runs. There have been some rumblings about moving him back to the bullpen, but it is way too early to give up on Burnes as a starter.

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Lastly, we come to Peralta who may have the highest ceiling of the bunch but is also the most volatile as we’ve seen over his three starts this season. Against St. Louis, Freddy would last just three innings and give up four earned runs on six hits. He would then bounce back when facing Cincinnati and throw eight scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts. However, in start number three he would give up seven earned runs on eight hits in just 3.1 innings of work.

He is incredibly dynamic, but they don’t call him “Fastball Freddy” for nothing. Peralta needs to develop more confidence and rely on his curve to keep hitters off-balance. When Nelson does make his return, I expect Freddy to be the odd man out. At just 22-years-old, sending him to Triple-A to work on his curve and change-up against a lower level of competition doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all, but given what we have seen from the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen thus far, he may end up there.

dark. Next. Patience is key with young pitchers

Regardless of where he ends up, Freddy will still play a big role this season for the Milwaukee Brewers. And if he can add those two pitches confidently to his arsenal, the sky is the limit for Peralta.

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