Brewers: What To Expect From The Bullpen in 2021

The Unknown

Ray Black only appeared in three games for an inning each last season. Black came to Milwaukee with Drew Pomeranz from the Giants in 2019 and was up and down with the Brewers and the San Antonio Missions for much of that season. Then he strained his rotator cuff in 2020, causing him to miss most of last year. It’s difficult to predict how well he’ll do and more importantly if he can remain consistent and healthy unlike years past.

J.P. Feyereisen is another one of the handful that made their Brewers debut last season. He logged just under 10 innings and finished with a 5.79 ERA with seven strikeouts. The Wisconsin native was acquired via trade from the Yankees in 2019 and has done a lot of bouncing around within the Brewers farm system. He struggled a bit to keep the ball in the park at times, giving up three home runs in six appearances. Another area Feyereisen could look to improve in is his command, where he had a walks per nine innings of 4.8.

Bobby Wahl appeared in three games for the Crew in 2020, throwing 2.1 innings and giving up two homers and three earned runs. Wahl was a part of the trade that sent Keon Broxton to the Mets in early 2019 and has yet to find his footing in the majors. He’s pitched in 17 games in his three year MLB career and has a career 7.63 ERA. Hopefully Wahl can bounce back in 2021 and get his MLB career on track in Milwaukee.

Phil Bickford only saw action in one game for the Brewers last season and it was a rough outing for the young reliever. Bickford did record two strikeouts but gave up four runs in an inning of work against the same Detroit Tigers lineup that Justin Topa made his debut against two innings prior. With more appearances, we’ll get a gauge of how good Bickford can be.

At 6-feet 8-inches tall, Angel Perdomo is one of the tallest players in baseball and he may be faced with some tall tasks this season as he is one of only three left-handed relievers on the Brewers depth chart right now. He also struggled in his small sample size from last season giving up at least one run in every game he entered.

Perdomo’s most comfortable throwing his four-seam fastball which can reach mid-90s, but batters squared it up pretty well, hitting .400 against the specific pitch. He’ll need to develop confidence in his off-speed pitches, but his sample size is far too small to predict how he’ll do this season.

At a position group that Milwaukee has excelled in, there are some question marks. But there are no guarantees in the MLB and it will be exciting to see if some of these young arms can make the Brewers tough to beat with a lead late in games.