Brewers Promote Top Prospect Ethan Small To Fill Void In Rotation

It is time. After a shoulder injury suffered by Freddy Peralta a week ago, and with a doubleheader coming up on Monday, the Milwaukee Brewers have promoted their top pitching prospect, LHP Ethan Small.

The 28th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Mississippi State, Ethan Small has been seen as a key future piece of the Brewers rotation. Since entering the professional ranks, Small has a 1.78 ERA in his minor league career spanning 136.2 IP.

Jeff Passan was first to report the call up.

Small will make his MLB debut on Monday in the doubleheader against the Cubs.

The Milwaukee Brewers have selected the contract of top LHP prospect Ethan Small, calling him up to make his MLB Debut.

The 25 year old Small will become the sixth starter in the Brewers rotation that is needing extra help during a stretch of 18 games in 17 days. Freddy Peralta’s injury opened up a spot by pushing Aaron Ashby into the first 5 spots and opening up one for the sixth starter, which will be Small.

With the top six being so strong for the Brewers, an injury was likely the only way a big league rotation spot would open up for Small.

MLB Pipeline has Small ranked as the Crew’s No. 7 prospect, but he’s the highest ranked pitcher on the list after Aaron Ashby’s graduation earlier this year.

Small doesn’t have the overpowering fastball velocity that Ashby does, but his fastball has great spin and deception that allows it to play up. Small also has a full four pitch mix complete with a nasty changeup along with a slider and a curveball. His changeup is his best secondary pitch and Pipeline even has his changeup graded higher than his fastball.

He’s had some issues with walks lately, but in his last start for Triple-A Nashville, Small went five innings allowing just one run and zero walks. He was scheduled to start again on Sunday, but the Brewers have scratched him from that start and told him he would be promoted.

Overall, Small has been excellent at limiting runs allowed, never posting an ERA above 2.00 in any season of his career to date.

It remains to be seen just how long Small will be up in the big leagues. He hasn’t been tried out of the bullpen in Nashville yet so taking over Ashby’s role as the swingman between the bullpen and the rotation in Milwaukee isn’t a guarantee. When the Brewers go back to a five man rotation, will they keep Small up or send him back down? We’ll find out.

For now, the important news is Ethan Small is arriving in the big leagues. The Brewers have several open 40 man roster spots so a corresponding move there isn’t necessary, but someone, likely from the bullpen, is going to be sent back down when Small is officially added to the roster.

Congratulations to Ethan Small on his promotion to the big leagues.