Milwaukee Brewers: The resurgence of Matt Albers?

Following several successful outings, are the Milwaukee Brewers now seeing the Matt Albers we thought we would see when the team signed him last season?

2017 & 2018

In 2017, Matt Albers had an incredible season for the Washington Nationals.  He posted a record of 7-2 with an ERA of 1.62, .85 WHIP as well as 2 saves.  In January of 2018, the Milwaukee Brewers signed Albers to a two-year deal worth $5 million.

Albers started 2018 strong, but as the season entered the summer months, his production started to dip. In addition to his drop in production, he spent most of June and July on the injured list. When he returned in July, he never could get things going again. He finished 2018 with a 7.34 ERA and 1.66 WHIP.

2019 results

This season did not start out very well for Albers.  He gave up six earned runs in his first seven innings of work, and it was starting to look like the Milwaukee Brewers may have made a bad investment. Since the 20th of April, things have completely turned around for Albers.

In his last seven outings, he has given up no earned runs, he has allowed only two hits and has 10 strikeouts.  His ERA has gone from 7.04 on April 15th to 3.52 as of May 7th.

The Milwaukee Brewers have also won four of the seven games he pitched in. While this is not a huge sample size, it is enough to think the Brewers may be getting the reliever they thought they signed in 2018.

With the bullpen, outside of Josh Hader, being extremely inconsistent, a successful Albers may be the shot in the arm the bullpen needs to regain its 2018 form. As he continues to accumulate successful outings, his opportunities to pitch in higher leverage situations will also increase. The Brewers and their fans are hoping that this really is the resurgence of Albers.