Milwaukee Brewers: AFL check in on Adrian Houser

The Milwaukee Brewers have four pitchers in the Arizona Fall League.

Adrian Houser is the Milwaukee Brewers pitcher with the most innings for the Salt River Rafters in the AFL. He has thrown five innings with a 5.40 ERA. It gets worse. His WHIP is 1.80. In limited innings, these numbers can blow up. But in this case, he’s surrendered eight hits and four runs in five innings. The good news is that he only walked one.

Early in the AFL season it is hardly cause for worry. Five innings is only five innings. He will get more, when he does he will need to bring those hit totals down. However, the fact he isn’t walking a ton of guys is a huge positive in this situation.

Playing in the AFL is earned, and for a pitcher who is not yet considered a top prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers system, Houser had to throw very well. And he did. In 17.2 innings across two levels in the 2017 season, he gave up only three runs. He also struck out 27.

If you remember the Carlos Gomez deal back in 2015, the haul to this point has been spot on. Domingo Santana, Josh Hader, and Brett Phillips all were brought in. Well, Houser is the fourth player from that deal. Needless to say he is in good company, even though that doesn’t guarantee his success.

Houser played as high as the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers this past season, but in 2015, he made is MLB debut. That’s right, he appeared twice. Giving up only a hit and two walks through two innings before being sent down to the Biloxi Shuckers. An ERA above five got him sent down farther for 2016.

But 2017, even in its limited capacity was somewhat of a resurgence for Houser. The 24 year old once again proved why he should be considered a solid prospect. While he started all of his games in 2017 and thus far in the AFL, he may project better out of the bullpen.

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Regardless, Houser is seeing some solid time against some of the games best prospects. It is good exposure and experience for him. He is older than a lot of the players in this league, but at only 24 he will hope the AFL will help him grow quickly into an MLB arm once again.