Between injuries, inexperience, and a few up-and-down starts to the year, there are a lot of questions surrounding the Milwaukee Brewers' pitching rotation this season. Yet when it comes to their relievers, Milwaukee has been consistently reliable, led largely by 27-year-old Aaron Ashby's heroics.
Now in his fifth season as a pro, Ashby was selected in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft and has already set a career-high with six wins on the season. He secured his latest victory with a two-inning, zero-hit effort against the St. Louis Cardinals, in which he allowed only one man on base.
Ashby now stands atop the league in pitching wins alongside former Cy Young winner Chris Sale in Atlanta. Through 17 games pitched, he holds a commendable 2.35 ERA and has only allowed one run in his last five games for the Brew Crew.
Aaron Ashby is on pace for one of the all-time great reliever seasons
With six wins just over a fifth of the way through the regular season, Ashby is well on his way to securing the all-time record for single-season wins by a relief pitcher. The current record is held by Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roy Face, who secured 18 wins in the 1959 season.
Obviously, it would require Ashby to perform at an unprecedented rate for the rest of the season. The southpaw from Kansas City has been used in many ways over the years, with Manager Pat Murphy plugging him into all sorts of situations since taking over the clubhouse in 2023. That experience has empowered Ashby, helped him sharpen his skills, and put together arguably the best stretch of his career.
Even if he fails to reach that all-time MLB record, he could certainly pounce at the Brewers' franchise record. Depending on who you ask, the record is either 10, set by multiple players, or 14, set by Jim Slaton in 1983. At this early stage, both of those achievements are clearly within reach.
So far in 2026, he has 35 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched for a 1.348 WHIP. Although there is some level of concern by Brewers fans that his current usage might set him up to break down later in the year, Ashby's contributions have been every bit necessary with the Brewers floating around .500 through the first 35 games.
Much of the excitement surrounding the Brewers goes to its young core of starters in Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, and Kyle Harrison, but it's the back-end of the rotation, headlined by Ashby, that's saving the team in some of its toughest situations.
Whether or not Ashby can maintain this historic pace and set Brewers history is to be seen, but it's extremely encouraging to see this level of growth from a vital contributor.
By the end of this season, Aaron Ashby is a name that people outside of the Brewers fanbase will know and respect far beyond what they currently expect from him. And who knows – maybe he'll make history in the process.
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