Brewers Rumors: Is Aaron Ashby Set To Receive Call-Up On Wednesday?

The Milwaukee Brewers have not announced a starter for Wednesday’s game against the Cubs. Perhaps it will be one of their top pitching prospects.

Rumors are swirling about Aaron Ashby, one of the Brewers top left-handed pitching prospects, and his eventual call up to the big leagues. He was moved to the bullpen in Triple-A a few weeks ago in preparation for the call. Has the moment arrived?

A report has circulated that Aaron Ashby will receive his Brewers big league call up officially on Wednesday ahead of the game against the Cubs.

There was allegedly a tweet from Ashby’s college team, Crowder baseball, that announced the call up and it was quickly deleted. There was also an article in the Joplin Globe, Ashby’s hometown paper, that was posted and since deleted from the paper’s website.

The meta description of the article states that Ashby has received the phone call that he’s coming up to the big leagues.

The news obviously isn’t official until the Brewers announce it, and there’s no reason to make the announcement on Tuesday if they know Ashby won’t pitch until Wednesday. Those around Ashby likely knew of the call as he’s going to call those close to him about it, and perhaps they made the announcement prematurely and were told to delete them until the move was official.

Regardless, we know the Ashby call up is coming relatively soon. He was moved to the bullpen three weeks ago and has adjusted well to the role. As soon as he feels comfortable coming out of the bullpen, it makes sense to call him up. Perhaps he feels comfortable after three weeks.

Ashby had a 2.93 ERA in Triple-A after six starts. Ashby’s ERA has jumped up to 4.50 on the year after his switch to the bullpen and six games from there. However, his last outing went great, going 1.2 IP, allowing just one hit, no runs, and striking out four.

The Brewers could certainly use the help. With Brett Anderson dealing with an injury and the Brewers needing a sixth starter to get through this final stretch of no off days before the All-Star Break, Ashby could come up to fill that starter’s role until Anderson returns and then he can move to the bullpen.

Eric Lauer has been the sixth starter, but with Anderson out, he moves up to the fifth spot. Ashby can now take the sixth spot in that rotation and can go back and forth from the rotation and the bullpen on the big league staff.

UPDATE: Jeff Passan has confirmed our initial report of Ashby’s promotion.

Things like this have happened before with other prospects as they tell their friends and family about their promotions and then local news puts it out a little too early and has to delete it.