Milwaukee Brewers: Will an opener solve Peralta’s issues?

In Freddy Peralta’s next start, the Milwaukee Brewers have decided to use an opener to help with his first inning struggles.

Outside of an excellent start against the Cincinnati Reds early in the season, it has been a rough start to the year for the Milwaukee Brewers young starting pitcher Freddy Peralta to say the least. In addition to spending some time on the injured list, Freddy hasn’t made it past the fourth inning in any of his other four starts.

On the season he has allowed 28 hits and 20 earned runs in just 21.2 innings pitched and holds an ERA of 8.31. A big reason for Peralta’s struggles has been the first inning where he digs himself and the Milwaukee Brewers into a hole that neither can recover from. However, this isn’t a new problem, it is an issue that Freddy struggled with last year as well.

During the 2018 season, Peralta had a first inning ERA of 7.98 and batters had a cumulative OPS of .798 against him. And as you’ve guessed it, the start to the 2019 season isn’t any better, in fact, it’s worse. In first innings this season, Peralta has a 27.00 ERA and batters have a whopping 1.523 OPS against him. At least outside of the organization, no one is really sure what the issue is for Freddy, but it is clear that something needs to change.

So to combat the issue, the Milwaukee Brewers will likely use an opener in his next start to pitch that first inning and then have Freddy take over from there.

We have seen manager Craig Counsell use this strategy before, most notably with Wade Miley in the postseason last year, but will it work for Peralta?

The Milwaukee Brewers are hoping that by starting Peralta in the second inning, it will relieve some of the first inning jitters he has or take away the mental block that may be there. In the second and third innings this season, Peralta has settled in quite well allowing only four runs over 10 innings and holding opponents to a .662 OPS.

However, in the fourth inning, which is usually the second time through the order, Freddy has struggled once again. His ERA skyrockets to 13.50 and batters have an OPS of 1.256.

Even with his struggles last season in the first inning, we saw Freddy come out of the bullpen a number of times in the middle of games and not have the same issues that he did as a starter. Maybe the solution is as simple as not pitching the first inning? Either way, we will find out over his next few starts whether or not that’s the case.

At a minimum, the Milwaukee Brewers are hoping that Peralta can at least get to the fifth inning with the game not out of reach and at that point they can have the bullpen take over.

The Brewers have high aspirations this season and to truly meet their full potential, they will need Freddy pitching like we know he can. So let’s see if an opener does the trick.