Milwaukee Brewers: Looking back at the Carlos Gomez trade
By Kenny Jilek
Adrian Houser
After two appearances in 2015 with the Major League squad, he was sent to the minors and stayed there until finally being the last guy in the trade to come up for any significant amount of time in 2018. Last season he was with the club for short stints, cleaning up late-game messes to keep the upper tier relievers fresh for close games. This year he has made the jump to full-time MLB pitcher after starting in AAA.
In the absence of Corey Knebel, the Milwaukee Brewers needed a big arm out of the bullpen to help get the ball to Josh Hader late in games. He has been electric in that role. In 25 2/3 innings, he has allowed just three earned runs for an eye-popping 1.05 ERA as a reliever.
He has recently moved to a starter role, which he has now done four times this season. Twice, that role was being somewhat of an opener for Freddy Peralta who has struggled in the first inning. He has struggled in a starting role with an ERA of 7.62. This is most likely a temporary stint in the starting rotation and he is expected to move back to the bullpen after the All-Star Break, especially whenever Gio Gonzalez returns.
A key for Houser this year has been getting hitters to swing at the first pitch. When this happens, his opponent batting average is .189 with an OPS of .517. When they don’t swing at the first pitch, those numbers jump to .284 and .843. In other words, when hitters swing at the first pitch, they’re hitting similarly to Travis Shaw this year and when they don’t they are hitting like a borderline All-Star.
If Houser can continue his dominance in relief and maybe even move into the starting rotation permanently one day, he will be almost as big of a piece in this trade as Hader. Even if he stays in the bullpen and is solid for the next few years, his part in this trade will be a big plus.