Milwaukee Brewers: Jordan Lyles 2019 season report card

At the mid season mark the Milwaukee Brewers needed to bolster their rotation, they called the Pittsburgh Pirates and acquired Jordan Lyles. Today we take a look at how the 2019 season went for Lyles.

Does anyone remember the Jordan Lyles of 2018? The guy that went 3-4 with a 4.11 ERA and was waived by the San Diego Padres and claimed by the Milwaukee Brewers on August 5, 2018.

He didn’t really stand out while in Milwaukee, only making appearances in 11 games.

So when the Brewers traded for Lyles, then 5-7 and went just 1 2/3 innings while giving eight runs in his last start, it confused everyone.

What happened next was unexpected.

Overall Season Grade: A

At the start of the off season Lyles wasn’t on the Milwaukee Brewers radar to re-sign. In fact he wasn’t on many teams radar. He ended up signing a deal with the Pirates and started out with amazing results. He went 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 10 games with Pittsburgh.

Then something went wrong. He lost six decisions in a row with and posted an ERA just shy of 10.00.

So when the Milwaukee Brewers sent Double A pitcher Cody Ponce to Pittsburgh for Lyles, it raised a lot of eyebrows.

His first game in Milwaukee was great. He threw five innings and allowed just one run on three hits against the Oakland A’s in a 4-2 win. His next two starts were both solid, giving up just one earned run in a win against the Pirates and dropping a game against the Texas Rangers 1-0.

By the seasons end, Lyles made just 11 starts. Although it seemed like more after he went 7-1 with a 2.45 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. More importantly Milwaukee was 10-1 in games he started.

His performance was amazing and gave the team a solid starter while Brandon Woodruff recovered from injuries, Jhoulys Chacin was released, and Corbin Burnes under performed.

Lyles is a free agent and will look for a long term deal as he is 29. Milwaukee could be a great landing spot, but he would cost somewhere between $3-5 million a season. Management will have to figure out if the last half of 2019 was a fluke or if Lyles is a solid mid rotation starter before signing him long term.