Brewers: 5 Pitchers Seeing a Velocity Increase in 2021

RHP Brandon Woodruff

Brandon Woodruff is the second head in the Brewers 1-2 punch atop their rotation. Woodruff had a short start on Opening Day before absolutely shoving in his second start against the Cubs.

As was the case last season, Woodruff is relying heavily on his four-seam fastball and his sinker. Woodruff’s four-seamer is sitting just under 97 mph at 96.8 and the velocity remains quite level to last season. The four-seam is up 0.2 mph from last season to 96.6. He has recorded eight strikeouts with it this season, so far.

His sinker is up as well, from 96.3 mph up to 96.9. Woodruff has done a good job of avoiding contact, but most of his batted balls have come from his sinker. The pitch also has the lowest Whiff % of his arsenal.

Woodruff also throws a changeup that is clocking in at 86.9 mph as opposed to 86.7 last season. That very well could end up back at last year’s levels as the sample size increases. Woodruff’s curveball has seen his highest increase in velocity. It has gone from 83.5 mph up to 85.2.

Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff is also seeing an overall increase in his velocity from last season.

Just as the case with Burnes, Woodruff does have one pitch where he is seeing a decrease in velocity from last year to this. Woodruff’s slider has declined from 88.2 mph to 87.2 over the past year.

Burnes and Woodruff are the potent 1-2 punch for the Brewers. At this point of the season, they have done all they can do to put Milwaukee in a position to win, and the increase in velocity is helping with that.

RHP Freddy Peralta

“Fastball Freddy” is no more. Since moving back to the rotation, Freddy Peralta has been experimenting with more and more offspeed pitches. The results were good too, recording 14 strikeouts in 7 innings, but walking seven.

As opposed to last season, Peralta has added 1.5 mph of velocity on his four-seam fastball. It went from 93 mph to averaging 94.5 in 2021. Freddy’s curveball has gained an additional 0.5 mph from this year to last, now up to 80.2.

As Peralta continues to branch out on his offspeed selections, it will be interesting to track his velocity throughout. It will also be interesting to see how his velocity holds up if he does continue to act as a starter.

LHP Brent Suter

This may be one of the more surprising pitchers to see an increase in velocity. Brent Suter is not a hard thrower, but he is incredibly effective both on the mound and off the mound. Suter is rolling with four pitches this season, and all have seen an increase so far.

The four-seam fastball is looking at an increase of 2.5 mph up to 87.9. Now Suter has thrown only 36 four-seamers this season, but that is a noticeable increase that will be interesting to monitor throughout the year. Last season as the season went on, Suter’s four-seam month-by-month went down from 85.5 to 85.3. Still, Suter’s fastball is faster than in 2020 (but still slower than a Burnes’ changeup).

Another pitch with a massive increase is his sinker, which is right now averaging 90 mph, up from 87.1. (Caveat: he has only thrown two, but that is still impressive for someone with Suter’s track record).

His changeup is up 2.3 mph to 83.4, and his curveball is up 4.4 mph! He has thrown only seven curveballs so far, but proportionally that is up from last year as he is throwing it 10% of the time as opposed to 7.2% last year. Suter has been able to become effective with less velocity than many other pitchers, and an increase in velocity could help him to make him an even more lethal weapon coming out of the bullpen, or making the occasional spot start.

LHP Josh Hader

One of the most enjoyable things watching the Brewers is the dramatic change in velocity that occurs when Josh Hader comes in to replace Brent Suter. With Suter now becoming a flamethrower, is there going to be a less dramatic dropoff?

No.

Hader has only pitched two innings and thrown a total of 29 pitches this season, so the sample size is smaller than the other pitchers mentioned. However, his average four-seam fastball is clocking in at 97.5 mph, and topped out at 100 mph.

Josh Hader and Brent Suter are two Brewers bullpen arms seeing a noticeable increase in velocity in 2021.

That four-seam average is up from 94.5 mph in 2020 for Hader. Oh, and his 4-seam has a 54.5% whiff % this season. Lethal.

Hader also is still working with a slider that he has thrown eight times this season. Again, small sample size on this one, and we very well could see a decline in average velocity as the year continues. But as of right now, Hader’s slider is up from 80.3 mph to 85.2. That’s nearly a 5 mph increase in his velocity!

There is no question that the Brewers need to provide run support to capitalize on these pitching performances. There may be a question if these velocity increases will continue throughout the 162-game season, and those are valid questions.

Craig Counsell is very good at maximizing pitcher usage and pulling pitchers with lower pitch counts to help preserve their arms. But right now, the Brewers pitching staff is cruising, and throwing harder.

Data via Baseball Savant