Milwaukee Brewers: Adrian Houser should be added to the bullpen

We have seen the bullpen struggle a bit in 2019, so the Milwaukee Brewers should call-up Adrian Houser from Triple-A to give them another option to utilize.

The Milwaukee Brewers bullpen was their biggest strength last season, and perhaps the sheer dominance that we saw has spoiled us as fans. However, because of some key injuries, there are some concerns with what we have seen so far in 2019.

While Josh Hader is still incredibly dominant, he needs his rest and can’t be available in every close game situation, even though we would all love that. And due to Corey Knebel being out for the year, along with Jeremy Jeffress beginning the season on the disabled list, the Milwaukee Brewers have had to utilize players that normally wouldn’t be expected to take on late game, high leverage situations.

Outside of Hader, Alex Claudio and Junior Guerra have been the most reliable, but clearly, they are no Knebel or Jeffress. With that said, we have seen some rocky performances from just about everyone else in the pen. Overall in 47 innings, the bullpen has a 5.17 ERA while allowing eight long balls and 27 earned runs. Take away Hader’s 7.2 scoreless innings and those numbers get worse.

We have already seen the Milwaukee Brewers call-up Jake Petricka and send down Taylor Williams, so next up on that call-up list should be Adrian Houser.

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Houser spent some time with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2018 but most of it was spent in the minors. During his time in Milwaukee, he would throw in 13.2 innings over seven games, while striking out eight, and allowing five earned runs, seven walks, but no home runs.

Coming into Spring Training this season, Houser had a shot at making the 25-man roster and he pitched fairly well. In 8.1 innings, Houser recorded a 2.16 ERA, with just two earned runs, no home runs, but did walk six batters. As you can see, command has been an issue for Houser as evidenced by the number of walks he gives up and most likely played a big factor into why he didn’t make the Opening Day roster.

However, Houser has gotten off to a great start in Triple-A San Antonio, throwing 11 innings while striking out 12 batters, and has allowed no runs, one walk, and has held his opponents to a .135 batting average.

As far as his pitches go, Houser primarily throws a fastball but will also mix in a sinker, curve, and a change-up. If brought up to pitch out of the bullpen, the Milwaukee Brewers would have Houser just focus on a two-pitch repertoire as they did with Corbin Burnes in 2018, and it would most likely consist of his fastball and curve. Houser does a great job of locating the ball low in the zone, which leads to a number of ground ball outs, and few home runs given up, which will serve him well pitching in Miller Park.

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If we continue to see struggles from the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen, we will likely see some players moved around. And given that Houser has some big league experience as well as his performances in Spring Training and Triple-A this season, he should be called-up sooner rather than later.

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