The reigning NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers have added another piece to their already dominant bullpen.
Thursday afternoon the Brewers announced they have acquired ground ball specialist Alex Claudio from the Rangers in exchange for a competitive balance draft pick.
Left-handed reliever Alex Claudio has been acquired from Texas in exchange for Competitive Balance Round A pick in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft. #WinterMeetings pic.twitter.com/ukUnmXZ2og
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) December 13, 2018
Claudio, 26, is a funky low-velocity left-hander -- he operates with a mid-80 fastball and a dead fish low-70s changeup -- who generates a ton of ground balls. Here is the ground ball leaderboard among pitchers with at least 200 innings pitched from 2016-18:
- Alex Claudio: 63.5 percent
- Marcus Stroman: 61.3 percent
- Clayton Richard: 59.3 percent
- Jeremy Jeffress: 58.6 percent
- Blake Treinen: 58.4 percent
In 202 2/3 innings over the last three years Claudio managed a 3.24 ERA with a 5.8 K/9, so ground balls are his thing, not strikeouts. He has also been far more effective against lefties (.194/.220/.278) than righties (.313/.357/.440) in his big league career to date, so, for all intents and purposes, Claudio is a left-on-left ground ball specialist.
The Brewers already have a stacked bullpen, one they rode to the NLCS this past season. This is what their relief unit currently looks like with Claudio in the mix:
- Closer: RHP Corey Knebel
- Setup: LHP Josh Hader, RHP Jeremy Jeffress
- Middle: RHP Matt Albers, RHP Jacob Barnes, RHP Corbin Burnes, LHP Alex Claudio
- Long: RHP Junior Guerra
Claudio is under team control through 2021 as an arbitration-eligible player, so this was not a short-term pickup. The Brewers added a player with long-term control to their bullpen.
As for the Rangers, that competitive balance pick currently slots in as the 40th overall selection. That will change slightly as picks are gained and lost through free agent compensation this winter.
