Milwaukee Brewers: Early Spring starting rotation breakdown

The Milwaukee Brewers have no fewer than eight starting pitchers vying for what is expected to be five rotation spots. How does the race look after a week of Spring Training games?

It was unclear how the Milwaukee Brewers starting rotation would look on Opening Day when Spring Training started. We’ve seen a week of games to watch, and while we’re not closer to learning what the starting five will look like in April, there are a few key takeaways from the early games.

How have the young guys looked?

Hard to say. Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes, and Brandon Woodruff have worked exactly three innings. Combined. Peralta retired all three batters he faced on Thursday against the Giants. Woodruff walked three against the Reds, but logged a scoreless inning. Burnes also threw a scoreless inning, but gave up a base hit.

That’s all we’ve seen from the Milwaukee Brewers young trio. Woodruff didn’t look great, but it’s entirely possible that he was working on his delivery or experimenting with a new pitch. All three are said to be on equal footing at this point in the Spring.

How about the older guys?

Jhoulys Chacin is the odds on Opening Day starter just because he was the Milwaukee Brewers’ most reliable starting pitcher last year. He’s also thrown one scoreless inning, and faced only three batters.

Zach Davies has made one start and one appearance in relief. He’s logged three total innings, walked one, and struck out one.

What’s the bad news?

Jimmy Nelson suffered a setback in his recovery from shoulder surgery. He reportedly felt discomfort in his throwing shoulder, and won’t appear in games any time soon. He is expected to play catch next week, and then see how he feels.

Chase Anderson is off to a rocky start to the Spring season. He’s logged three innings between one start and one relief appearance, and he’s been tagged for five runs on four hits. He’s also racked up two strikeouts, but he’s been tagged for three homers.

It’s more than likely that Anderson is working on specific pitches or aspects of his delivery, and really doesn’t care about results at this point of the Spring. However, it is troubling to see a guy who has struggled with homers give up more homers. Manager Craig Counsell surely knows the full story, and will make his judgment based on that, not a few early results in Spring Training when Anderson getting back into game shape.

It’s still too early to know exactly how the Milwaukee Brewers will shake out. It’s great to see Peralta work a scoreless inning, but it doesn’t really mean anything. Once the contenders for the rotation are working three, four, or five innings, then we’ll have a better idea on who is going to start for the Brewers in 2019.