Milwaukee Brewers: Should Gio Gonzalez stay in the rotation?

Milwaukee Brewers lefty Gio Gonzalez made his first start in a Brewers uniform. It went well. Should he stay in the rotation?

Gio Gonzalez needed 89 pitches to make it through 5 2/3 innings on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants. 59 went for strikes. He only allowed three hits and one walk while surrendering one unearned run. Gonzalez managed to strikeout seven.

Did he do enough to stay in the Milwaukee Brewers starting rotation?

How did Gonzalez look really?

He was out there looking like Gio Gonzalez in 2018. His fastball topped out in the 91-92 MPH range, and he worked around 89 for most of the evening. His curveball found the the strike zone, and the change up looked enough like a slower version of his fastball and kept hitters off balance. That’s what Gonzalez is in his age-32 season.

Gonzalez last threw on August 29th, and it looked like the nine-day layoff gave him a chance to ‘reboot’ himself. He worked quickly, missed bats, and generated six ground ball outs. He wasn’t doing any of those things in his final start for the Washington Nationals.

He did warm up once in the recent series again the Cubs, and reportedly would have entered the game if the Brewers needed him for extra innings.

Should he stay in the rotation?

Yes. It looks like the Milwaukee Brewers have decided that Freddy Peralta will work out of the bullpen for the rest of the year. Junior Guerra last threw on September 2nd, and only lasted three innings in Washington. It looks like Guerra’s days in the Brewers rotation are over for 2018. It certainly looks like Gonzalez will stick in the rotation.

It was odd that the Milwaukee Brewers didn’t move Gonzalez into the rotation right away. They did have a five-man rotation already in place, but Zach Davies was on his way back, Peralta was coming up to his innings limit, and Guerra had been rough. It looks like the ‘no plan in place‘ plan was to give Gonzalez a few days off, let the rotation work itself out, and allow Gonzalez to slide in when there was an opportunity. Gonzalez could end up as the capable left-handed starter the Milwaukee Brewers have lacked for the past few seasons, and he’s staying in the rotation for the foreseeable future.