Milwaukee Brewers Grades: Taylor Jungmann

Last year, the New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom won the National League Rookie of the Year voting. The tenth place finisher was Arizona pitcher Chase Anderson.

Their connection: they both won nine games in their first big league year.

Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Taylor Jungmann won nine games this year and should get some RoY voyes, although he won’t win the award. But a season like this is something the Brewers had hoped for since they made Jungmann the 12th overall pick out of the University of Texas at Austin in the 2011 MLB draft.

The big Texan (6’6″, 220 pound) is another one of the young guns in Milwaukee’s starting rotation, along with Jimmy Nelson, Wily Peralta, Zach Davies, Tyler Wagner, and Jorge Lopez.

These guys are a big part of the reason Brewers fans should take heart and look for Milwaukee to be a contender again soon, perhaps as early as the 2017 season.

It took Jungmann three and one-half years to get to the big league club, but now that he is here, look out.

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Jungmann made his major league debut on June 9 at PNC Park and earned his first win, shutting down the hard-hitting Pirates on three hits and one run in seven innings while striking out five.

He was arguably the Brewers best starter into early September, compiling a win-loss record of 9-5 after a win against the Buccos on September 3.

That would be his last victory of the season.

Ten of his first 16 outings were ‘quality starts,’ but the heavy workload of 178.2 innings (a career high) between AAA Colorado Springs and Milwaukee took a toll on him.

His last six starts showed a record of 1-3 with an ERA of 7.85. After averaging 5.8 innings per start in his first 24 starts, he slipped to just 4.8 innings per start in the last half-dozen.

He relied on a four-seamer that averaged 92.5 MPH, along with a curveball, and mixed in a 92 MPH sinker and threw an occasional change-up as well. (Pitching stats courtesy of Brooks Baseball.net.) Jungmann struck out 8.1 batters/nine, while allowing 3.5 walks. His WHIP was 1.282 and he ended at 9-8 with a 3.77 ERA in 21 starts.

Jungmann had a tremendous year at the plate, slashing .270/.289/.324 on 10-for-37 hitting, including a pair of doubles along with six sacrifices.

He is a solid fielder, making only one miscue in 28 chances (.964). As is often the case with tall, lanky pitchers, he had trouble holding runners, allowing 18 steals in 24 tries.

Jungmann turns 26 in December, so he should have at least another 6-8 years as a productive pitcher, hopefully most of them with Milwaukee.

GRADE: B

Next: Nelson's Final Grade

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