Brewers: Three Milwaukee Hurlers Named Finalists for All-MLB Team

As awards season is coming to a close, MLB announced finalists for their second annual All-MLB team. Three Brewers made the cut.

MLB certainly has its share of awards to distribute at the end of each season, from the prestigious Cy Young and MVP to colorful Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers. But one type of award they didn’t always have, unlike their NFL and NBA counterparts, was an All-league team, an honor that a handful of Brewers could have capitalized on in recent years.

That all changed in 2019 when MLB announced that it would be creating its inaugural All-MLB team. Fans, players, and media members, among others, got the chance to vote for players from both the AL and NL to create an MLB First and Second superteam of the game’s top stars.

Last year, four Brewers – C Yasmani Grandal, LHP Josh Hader, 3B Mike Moustakas, and OF Christian Yelich – were named finalists. When the votes were done being counted, Hader and Yelich were named to the All-MLB First Team, while Grandal made the Second Team.

This year, three all new Brewers have a shot at making an All-MLB team. And it just so happens that they are three of the team’s best pitchers.

In the starting pitcher category, Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff have been named finalists. Meanwhile, stud reliever Devin Williams has a chance to add another honor in the relief pitcher category. Let’s take a quick look at their chances.

Starting Pitchers – Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff

Burnes and Woodruff put up extremely solid seasons for the Brewers in 2020 and it shouldn’t surprise anyone to see their names among the 20 starting pitcher finalists. Earning one of the five spots on either the First or Second team won’t be easy, however.

For starters, all six finalists for the AL and NL Cy Young are among the finalists with Shane Bieber of the Indians and Trevor Bauer of the Reds leading the way. You also have a trio of former Cy Young winners (Jacob deGrom, Clayton Kershaw, Dallas Keuchel) and a pitcher who threw a no-hitter in 2020 (Lucas Giolito).

For his part, Burnes was in the Cy Young conversation before a late injury derailed his chances. He may have an outside chance at the Second Team, but it’ll probably be an uphill battle for him or Woodruff to grab any All-MLB honor this year.

Relief Pitchers – Devin Williams

Let’s be honest, is there any reason why Williams shouldn’t just have his name penciled in as an All-MLB First Team reliever right now? It would be the icing on the cake in one of the greatest seasons for a relief pitcher in Milwaukee Brewers history.

With a wicked changeup and a high-powered fastball, Williams took the league by storm in 2020 and it showed once awards season rolled around. He started by winning the third-straight NL Reliever of the Year for a Brewers pitcher and followed it by being named the third Rookie of the Year in franchise history on Monday.

In all likelihood, history repeats itself and Williams joins his Reliever of the Year counterpart from the AL, Liam Hendriks of the A’s, in the two reliever spots on the All-MLB team. Nick Anderson of the Rays has an outside chance of joining the party, but voters from previous awards have already shown that they understand just how dominant Williams was in 2020.

Voting for the award is open now on MLB.com and ends on Friday, November 13th. Then it’s time to wait and see if there’s one final chance for Brewers fans to see one of their favorite players bring home some hardware.