Milwaukee Brewers: Michael Brady signs a minor league deal

The Milwaukee Brewers broke into the Hot Stove with a minor league signing. Okay, maybe not hot, but heating up hopefully.

Michael Brady signed the dotted line to join the Milwaukee Brewers farm system. At 30 years old, the hope is that the righty will help strengthen the bullpen for the Crew. His MLB career is 31.2 innings long, and the ERA is not great.

He averages nearly two home runs per nine innings, but only one walk. So there are positives and negatives to take away. The team hopes Brady will reach the MLB level, but the minor league deal is no guarantee of that. One thing is for sure, he will have to get his stat of five hit batsmen in check is he hopes to find and sustain success.

Brady’s career began in 2009 in the 24th round with the Marlins. However, at that time he played infield. After what can only be described as an abysmal start, he started transitioning to become a pitcher. In 2010 it looked to pay off with a sub two ERA in short season A ball.

The journeyman minor leaguer has logged over 500 innings in the farm system during seasons with the Athletics, Nationals, Angels, and Marlins. Brady is consistent with a low walk rate, a fairly high strikeout rate, and really does not surrender a lot of homers.

This may not be the giant domino of a move that fans are hoping for, but the Milwaukee Brewers have to start somewhere. Not every move can be a blockbuster. These types of minor league signings can come up huge as the season progresses.

His main pitch, the cutter, gets up to the plate are just under 90 MPH. There are upsides and downsides to being a cutter pitcher. Unless the conversation is about Mariano Rivera, then it is all positives. But for mere mortals like Brady, the cutter can be good to create groundballs, but also the small amount of movement leaves the ball susceptible to hard contact.

That is the case more often than not for Brady. His BABIP in the minors is north of .300. While he may not give up contact all that often, when he does it usually is a good thing for the opposing team.

Next: Potential landing spots for Neil Walker

It is not spectacular, but it is something. With this move, we can confirm there is life in the Milwaukee Brewers front office. Now, hopefully, the next announcement will be at the MLB level.