Brewers call up top prospect Josh Hader, who could be their bullpen Chris Sale
Hader, a power lefty, will work out of the bullpen and could dominate like Chris Sale did after his call-up
By
Mike Axisa
•
3 min read
The 2017 regular season is now more than two months old, and the upstart Milwaukee Brewers are currently sitting in first place in the NL Central. They come into Friday with a 32-29 record overall, one game better than the Chicago Cubs. Furthermore, their plus-26 run differential is the division's best.
On Friday, the Brewers continued their youth movement by calling up top pitching prospect Josh Hader. General manager David Stearns confirmed the southpaw will work out of the bullpen initially.
Josh Hader is joining the Brewers bullpen, per David Stearns. No starts scheduled as of now. More Stearns: pic.twitter.com/TMxblR2X1t
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 9, 2017
Hader, 23, was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles back in 2012. He was traded to the Houston Astros at the 2013 trade deadline for Bud Norris, then, at the 2015 trade deadline, the 'Stros shipped him to the Brewers as part of the big Carlos Gomez/Mike Fiers trade.
So far this season Hader has a 5.37 ERA in 12 starts and 52 innings at Triple-A, though that's a bit misleading. Hader had one disaster outing (3 IP, 8 R) a few weeks ago, plus the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Milwaukee's Triple-A affiliate, play at altitude and in an extreme hitter's environment. Basically no one has good pitching numbers at Colorado Springs.
More important than the stats is the raw stuff and scouting report. MLB.com currently ranks Hader as the 33rd-best prospect in baseball. Here's what they have to say about him:
Hader possesses electric stuff, as he'll consistently operate at 93-97 mph with his fastball and complement it with a wipeout slider. The pairing enables him to miss bats with ease, a notion evidenced by his full-season-best 11.5 K/9 in 2016, and that should continue as Hader makes further strides with his changeup. Meanwhile, everything Hader throws plays up on account of his deceptive delivery, especially after he shifted to the first-base side of the rubber during the 2015 season.
That all sounds good, but let's take a look at Hader in action and see what this "deceptive delivery" actually looks like. Here's Hader in action during Arizona Fall League play last year:
Yeesh. Nasty. Imagine being a left-handed hitter and seeing 97 mph from that arm slot with a wipeout slider. Can't be fun. It's no mystery where Hader's high strikeout rates over the years are coming from when you see that video.
Anyway, Hader being called up to help out of the bullpen is reminiscent of the time another funky lefty and top starting pitching prospect was called up to help a contending team out of the bullpen. Back in 2010, the Chicago White Sox brought up Chris Sale late in the season to bolster their bullpen. Sale had been drafted a few weeks earlier, so he didn't spend as much time in the minors as Hader, but the point stands. They're both high strikeout southpaws.
During that 2010 season Sale threw 23 1/3 innings for the White Sox, during which he had a 1.93 ERA with 32 strikeouts and 10 walks. Chicago did not make the postseason that year, though it wasn't Sale's fault, nor does that invalidate the team's decision to call him up. They were able to get some immediate impact from him and also get his feet wet for the future. Sale spent 2011 in the bullpen as well before transitioning back into the rotation and becoming an ace.
Hader could follow a similar development path as Sale. Help out of the bullpen now (and perhaps next season as well) before transitioning back into the rotation. He sure as heck wouldn't be the first young starter to begin his MLB career as a reliever. In addition to Sale, others like Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Martinez, and Aaron Sanchez have all done the "minor-league starter gets broken in as a reliever before becoming a starter again" thing in recent years.
The Brewers are a young team in the process of rebuilding, though they currently find themselves atop the division standings, which is fun! Rebuilding and losing all the time can be awful to sit through. The Hader call-up not only allows him to get his feet wet in the show, but it also adds a potential impact reliever to Milwaukee's bullpen. His funky delivery and devastating fastball/slider combination could be a real weapon for manager Craig Counsell.
