Aaron Ashby's 2025 performance out of the bullpen looks eerily familiar

If you’re a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers and have a sharp eye, a long memory, and a soft spot for the bullpen, you might want to start paying closer attention to Aaron Ashby's performance in 2025. Because whether anyone’s noticed or not, Ashby’s season is starting to look eerily similar to the dominance we once saw from 3x NL Reliever of the Year Josh Hader. And that should excite fans.

In 2025, Aaron Ashby has quietly become one of the most effective relievers in baseball. He’s posted a 1.87 ERA across 33.2 innings, striking out 36 batters and allowing just one home run all season. He’s picked up two wins and two saves along the way, and his 1.16 WHIP reflects the kind of consistency that managers dream about in high-leverage arms.

But Brewers fans don't have to go too far back to remember another dominant, left-handed multi-inning reliever, who essentially shortened the game by six outs for Milwaukee's pitching staff in every game that he pitched.

Ashby’s 2025 surge is starting to mirror Hader’s 2018 dominance

First, take a moment to remember what peak Hader looked like back in 2018: 81.1 innings, a 2.43 ERA, 143 strikeouts, a ridiculous 0.81 WHIP, and a staggering 15.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Hader was overwhelming, a left-handed pitcher who bullied lineups.

Ashby may not bring the same strikeout rate, but when you put the numbers side by side, it becomes clear: he’s delivering elite results in his own way, and the gap may not be as wide as it seems.

Hader was a buzzsaw. A left-handed weapon of mass destruction. But the comparison isn’t about raw power; it’s about value, impact, and the ability to shut down multiple innings at the back end of games. In 2025, Ashby is giving the Brewers that same edge, just in a more understated way.

Milwaukee’s been leaning on their bullpen all season — not entirely by design, but by necessity. Injuries, inconsistency, and rotation reshuffling have forced the ’pen to carry a heavier load, and Ashby has responded in a big way.

He’s become manager Pat Murphy’s Swiss Army knife. Need a clean 8th? Ashby. Need two innings of zeroes with a one-run lead? Ashby. Need a lefty to deal with the heart of the order in the 7th? You get it…

Let’s be clear: Josh Hader’s 2018 season was one of the best by any reliever in baseball. Striking out the most batters in a season by a left-handed reliever in the history of the sport. But in 2025, with bullpens now built around shorter outings, matchup-based leverage, and a deeper staff, Ashby might be doing something just as impressive in context.

If Hader was a human fireball that consumed innings and intimidated hitters, Ashby is a scalpel,  calculated, efficient, and precise. And in today’s game? That may be just as valuable.

The Brewers have found themselves in the middle of an intense battle for the NL Central crown. Their rotation has come around after being held together by duct tape to begin the season. Their offense is inconsistent at times. But the bullpen? It’s been a quiet strength, and Aaron Ashby is a big reason why.

Aaron Ashby is not Josh Hader. He doesn't need to be. But if you squint just a little, if you watch him dot the outside corner and walk off the mound with a quiet intensity, you might just feel a little déjà vu.