Milwaukee Brewers: What to Expect from RHP Jhan Marinez

After the game last night, the Milwaukee Brewers announced they acquired RHP Jhan Marinez from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash.

The Milwaukee Brewers bullpen rotation seems to be always rotating as LHP Michael Kirkman was just claimed off waivers after being designated for assignment, but they designated him for assignment once again in order to get RHP Jhan Martinez. As FanGraphs shows in their graph through ERA-FIP, the bullpen isn’t a strong department for the Milwaukee Brewers, so it’s no surprise they’re willing to make a move when they see promise in a pitcher.

At one point when Marinez was with the Florida Marlins, he was a top 10 prospect according to FanGraphs, but that was back in 2010 when he was quite young. It was said right away he needed to improve on his groundout rate and walk rate and may have been something that continued to ship him around the MLB.

When he was with the Chicago White Sox, he ranked 14th, but with his walk rate of 6.52 BB/9, questions were raised once again about how good he could be. He has an 89-94 fastball, slider, and change-up and hopefully can succeed with his control in order to stay in the big leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers.

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He only has 2.2 IP in 2010 with the Marlins, 2.2 IP with the White Sox in 2012, and 3.2 IP with the Tampa Bay Rays this year, so it’s difficult to tell just how well he’ll succeed. But, back in 2015 with the Rays in AAA, Marinez had 61 IP, a 1.92 ERA, 9.59 K/9, and 3.54 BB/9.

The Milwaukee Brewers can only hope they’ll see numbers like that in the big leagues with them as they’ll need all the help they can get as the 4.45 ERA ranks 25th in MLB. Marinez is now 27 and hopes his 6th team might be the right fit.