Milwaukee Brewers: Keep your Eyes on Brad Boxberger this Spring

There’s no question that this is a very talented Milwaukee Brewers bullpen that GM David Stearns has put together. However, they’re also still quite young, and adding an experienced veteran presence to the mix wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

Enter Brad Boxberger, who was signed just two weeks ago to a minor league deal and is at Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Boxberger will have to perform well in Arizona to make the Opening Day big league roster, but given his track record, he is someone who could provide that veteran presence I just mentioned, and he’s certainly someone worth keeping your eyes on this Spring.

Boxberger has dealt with injuries over the last six seasons but has been quite effective when healthy. He is a former closer and a former All-Star in 2015 with the Tampa Bay Rays. That year he led the AL in saves with 41 and recorded a 3.71 ERA in 63 innings pitched.

His numbers then dipped in 2016 and 2017 as he, unfortunately, battled injuries in each of those seasons but saw a resurgence in 2018 with Arizona when healthy.

Boxberger would go on to tally 32 saves that season, and while his 4.39 ERA and 1.425 WHIP aren’t overly impressive, many of his underlying numbers were all well-above league average, according to Baseball Savant.

In 2019, Boxberger was injured again, this time with Kansas City, and appeared in just 26.2 innings over 29 games. But in the shortened 2020 season with Miami, he again bounced back, posting a 3.00 ERA and a 1.389 WHIP in 18 innings.

For much of his career, Boxberger has relied on two primary pitches. His go-to is his four-seamer, which is around 92-93 mph mark, and he also mixes in an 81 mph change-up. But in 2019, he added a slider to his repertoire, which was used about 18 percent of the time this past season and hits the 88-89 mph range.

Like any pitcher, staying healthy is going to be key for Boxberger, but when he’s been able to do so, he’s been successful, with his 2015, 2018, and 2020 seasons being evidence of this. And a healthy Boxberger in 2021 could provide the Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen with a nice and somewhat surprising boost.

While Boxberger was often used in high-leverage situations in the past as a closer, that wouldn’t be his job here in Milwaukee. With Josh Hader and Devin Williams, those roles are filled, but what Boxberger can do is eat-up those innings between when the starter exits and when the back-end of the bullpen is needed.

The fit for Boxberger in this bullpen makes a lot of sense, but as I mentioned initially, it’s going to come down to how he performs this Spring. And although the Milwaukee Brewers are yet to take the field in any live games, Boxberger is already on Manny Pina’s radar with his performances in practice:

"“He’s good,” catcher Manny Piña said Sunday via The Athletic ($). “He has a very good change-up. Fastball command to both sides of the plate. Curveball, slider, cutter. He impressed me when he threw those pitches. It was his second bullpen of the spring and he was commanding the ball very well.”"

As Spring Training continues to unfold, much of the attention will be on Keston Hiura at first base, the left side of the Brewers’ infield, the return of Lorenzo Cain, and Chrisitan Yelich’s performance, among other things–and understandably so. But when it comes to the non-roster invitees, keep your eyes on how Brad Boxberger is doing. He is someone who could make the Opening Day roster and eat-up some innings out of the bullpen this season for the Crew.