Brewers: 5 Bold Predictions For The 2020 Season

We’re just a few short days away from the 2020 regular season beginning. It’s time once again for some bold predictions for the Brewers season.

Last year, we made some bold predictions ahead of the 2019 Brewers season. For the most part, they didn’t come true.

Christian Yelich did somehow get even better, but he fell shy of his 2nd MVP award. Jimmy Nelson did not recapture his old form. The Brewers only had two players hit 30+ homers and not six. The Brewers did not win the World Series. And Corbin Burnes did not even come close to establishing himself as the ace and winning the Cy Young.

That’s why they were called bold predictions and not safe predictions.

Now it’s 2020 and it’s time for some more bold predictions for the season.

Bold Prediction No. 1

Drew Rasmussen Becomes Breakout Bullpen Weapon

Since drafting Drew Rasmussen in the 6th round in 2018, he’s been on a rocket-like trajectory to the big leagues. Rasmussen was a first round pick in 2017 who didn’t sign because of an elbow issue that ended up needing surgery. So the Brewers ended up with a first round talent in the sixth round and now that he’s been healthy, Rasmussen has recaptured that high performance level.

Rasmussen pitched across three different minor league levels last year, making it all the way up to Double-A. He pitched as a starter in the minor leagues, and there’s a chance he could stick in the rotation moving forward, if he’s going to make an impact on the Brewers in 2020, it will be as a reliever.

He’s kind of in a similar situation to Corbin Burnes in 2018, developing as a starter and moving up the ladder quickly, before moving to the bullpen to make an impact at the big league level. However, Burnes doesn’t have the history of arm injuries that Rasmussen does, which is why Rasmussen is more likely to stay in the bullpen going forward.

Based on how he’s pitching in spring and summer camp, Rasmussen is my pick to be the Brewers breakout bullpen weapon in 2020. He’s got a 100 MPH fastball with a nasty, hard slider that are the keys to his success.

He dominated in the minors last year, he’s dominating in camp, and with the extra roster spots, he might just earn an Opening Day job.

Even if he doesn’t make the team outright, Rasmussen is highly likely to make his major league debut this season. Once he does, he’s going to join Josh Hader and Corey Knebel in the back of the bullpen and create a new Big Three to lock down games in the final innings.

Bold Prediction No. 2

Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta find their footing, establish themselves in rotation by the end of the year.

Corbin Burnes is going to have a Cy Young caliber sea…. yeah, I’m not going with that one this time. While I still believe Burnes has the talent to win Cy Young awards in his career and that he will do so at some point, he’s going to have to establish himself in the rotation first.

In the current rotation situation, both Burnes and Freddy Peralta are battling for the final spot and only one of them can win it to start the season. However, by the end of the season, I predict that both Burnes and Peralta will be in the rotation and will have found their footing in the big leagues.

Whether through injuries or ineffectiveness from one of the top four starters, I think that both of these pitchers will have made their way into the rotation with lots of success.

Burnes is entering 2020 with a new mindset and a change in his pitch selection, centering his arsenal around his wicked slider instead of his fastball, which got hammered last year.

Peralta is coming into 2020 with more pitches at his disposal. Over the past two years, Peralta has mostly worked with his fastball, the occasional curveball, and an extremely rare changeup. During the offseason, Peralta worked on adding a slider to his arsenal and it went extremely well. He also focused on refining his other secondary pitches with a great deal of success.

With a full starter’s arsenal and less reliance on his fastball, Peralta should be able to find the consistent success that’s evaded him so far in his career.

Everything was looking good for both Burnes and Peralta this spring. They have extremely high ceilings, and I predict they’re going to start touching that ceiling this year.

Bold Prediction No. 3

Brewers get out to hot start, are in first place through 20 games

The Brewers will have played their 20th game of the season on August 13th. By the end of that day, marking one-third of the way through the schedule, I predict the Brewers will be in first place in the NL Central.

I’ll even go one step further and predict the Crew’s record through 20 games, which I’ll boldly put at 14-6.

Through the first couple weeks of the season, Craig Counsell is being gifted extra roster spots which will allow him to utilize the Brewers incredible roster depth to the max. With extra pitchers and extra hitters to make favorable matchups, the Brewers stand a higher chance of winning each individual game. Yes, every other team has those same extra spots, but Counsell has proven himself to be a master at creating matchups and out-maneuvering other managers.

There are some tough games in the early going, including a road series against the Cubs to start the season, then a home series against the Cardinals. There are also some weaker matchups, including a three game series against the Pirates and four games against the White Sox. Playing those games at home against the Reds and Twins will be very intriguing to watch as both are improved rosters that can present challenges now and in the future.

The Brewers will have a stretch of 14 games without an off day in the initial 20 games. It’s better to have that stretch early rather than late, and with players just itching to get going, they should be just fine during that stretch.

The NL Central is going to be a dogfight with the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, and Reds all expected to compete for playoff spots this year. With so many games against division opponents, by the end of the year, this is likely to be a close race that comes down to the wire. A hot start can make all the difference in a shortened season like this.

In a 162 game season, there’s a lot more room for error and you can go through a cold stretch and still be fine. That won’t be the case this season in this division. Quickly jumping out to the division lead is going to be extremely important, and the Brewers are in a great position to do so.

Bold Prediction No. 5

Luis Urias becomes the Brewers shortstop of the future and pushes Orlando Arcia out of the way

For the last couple of years, Orlando Arcia has been disappointing at the plate, but his job has been safe due to a lack of better options. This past offseason, GM David Stearns finally got some strong competition for Arcia at the shortstop position with Luis Urias.

During spring training, Arcia was looking very good, swatting five home runs with a reworked swing. So far in Summer Camp, he hasn’t looked as powerful offensively and he’s going to need to recapture that swing that worked so well before the shutdown.

Meanwhile, Luis Urias hasn’t been able to get on the field yet. He suffered a hamate bone injury back in January and then the day he was supposed to play his first spring training game, the sport shut down.

Then, as Summer Camp was about to get started, Urias tested positive for Covid-19, so he hasn’t been able to join the Brewers at Miller Park just yet. When it rains, it pours for Urias, I guess.

More from Brewers News

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• Brewers Making Colossal Mistake With Corbin Burnes’ Contract
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• Brewers: Where Does Devin Williams Stand In NL Reliever Of The Year Race?

While things have not been going well for Urias so far this year, I think things are going to start looking up fairly soon.

Once Urias is able to get back on the field, I think he’s going to thrive. While Arcia is likely to have the starting shortstop job to begin the season, I predict Urias is going to push for more and more playing time and by the end of the season, he’ll take over the starting job.

Urias has the better offensive pedigree and his defense is quite strong. If he plays to his potential, he’s the superior player over Arcia. When both players are healthy, if Arcia shows any sign of a slump or slowing down offensively, Urias can jump right in and if he gets the opportunity, I don’t think Urias is going to let it get away from him.

Bonus Prediction

The Milwaukee Brewers are 2020 World Series champions!

Why not? We made this prediction last year, and we’ll do it again. If you say it enough times, one day it’ll come true, right?

As long as the Brewers stay healthy, avoid any sickness outbreaks, and play to their potential, they should be in a strong position to compete for and win the World Series this year. This roster is deeper than it’s ever been before and for a season like this, that’s extremely important.

Even if a few guys go down with Covid-19 or other injuries, they have enough depth that they’re covered at basically every position.

We have to stay positive through all the struggles in 2020, and what could be more positive than a Brewers World Series victory that’s totally legit by the way?

This is going to be a wild season unlike any we’ve ever seen before. The Brewers appear to be in a good position to contend for a World Series, but it’s extremely dependent on health.