Milwaukee Brewers: Top Ten Relievers in Franchise History

10. Tyler Thornburg

Years as a Brewer: 2012-2016

219.2 IP, 3.83 FIP, 1.19 WHIP

Tyler Thornburg was drafted in the third round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. He is associated with the trade that brought Travis Shaw and Mauricio Dubon to Milwaukee. While the trade has gone in the Brewers favor, Thornburg was an elite reliever in 2016 when the Brewers sent him to the Red Sox.

Thornburg worked his way up the minor league system and made his debut in the 2012 season. He had a rough first season posting a 7.10 FIP and 1.41 WHIP in 22 innings pitched. In his sophomore season, Thornburg started to put things together. He pitched 66.2 innings with a 3.11 FIP, 1.19 WHIP, and an astoundingly low 0.1 HR/9.

He would have made his way higher up the ladder had he continued his 2013 success, but he had less than stellar 2014 and 2015 campaigns that hindered his overall numbers with the Crew.

The 2016 season has been the best of his career racking up 12.1 K/9 and allowing a mere 0.8 HR/9. This season improved his trade value to the point where the Crew were sellers in the offseason and the Red Sox were looking for a quality arm to strengthen their pen for the 2017 season.

Unfortunately for Thornburg, durability has been an issue as of late. After the trade went through he had a shoulder issue where he missed a significant amount of time. This past year, he had to get surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. These injuries have kept him off the diamond until recently when he was activated from the DL.