Brewers reliever's concerning velocity dip could foreshadow troublesome 2026 season

For years, the Milwaukee Brewers have had a knack for getting the most out of their relief pitchers. Even when other teams couldn’t unlock a reliever’s full potential, the Brewers often found a way to do so. Arms like Trevor Megill, Jared Koenig, Joel Payamps, and Elvis Peguero are great recent examples of pitchers brought in from outside the organization who went on to thrive in Milwaukee's 'pen.

That said, it’s noteworthy that Payamps and Peguero are no longer with the Brewers. As is often the case in baseball, relievers tend to have a limited shelf life, and replacing them with someone new is seemingly an easy task for an organization like Milwaukee. The Brewers always have an abundance of depth, and continue to replenish via waiver wire pickups throughout the year.

This year, one key bullpen piece mentioned above, Koenig, is a player worth keeping an eye on due to his early struggles. His appearances so far have raised some questions, as his velocity has been down and he’s been getting hit hard as a result.

Should the Milwaukee Brewers be concerned about Jared Koenig's dip in velocity?

This spring, Koenig’s box scores have looked quite ugly. While he has just two official Cactus League appearances, the first, back in February, saw him allow three hits, a walk, and four earned runs while recording only one out. Koenig's appearance in the exhibition game against Great Britain (which does not appear on MLB.com, FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, etc.) was even worse. In that game, he surrendered four hits, two walks, and five earned runs while again recording just a single out.

To make matters worse, his velocity against Great Britain was noticeably down across the board. His fastball averaged 3.2 mph less than it did last year, his cutter was down 2.5 mph, and his curveball dropped 2.7 mph. It’s fair to say his pitches simply don’t play as well at a decreased velocity, especially his sinker, which sat just 92.6 mph compared to 95.8 mph last year.

Koenig did bounce back with a scoreless outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks this afternoon, and while his velocity was a tick up from where it was against Great Britain (93.8 mph on the sinker), it was still considerably lower than where it sat last year. Even still, the upward trend is encouraging, especially considering the fact that he handled a heavy workload last year, appearing in 78 games and logging 73.1 innings between the regular season and playoffs.

With three weeks remaining before Opening Day, Koenig still has time to get his arm back in shape. However, the reality is that if he can’t turn things around, the organization may have to start thinking about having him start in the minor leagues to figure out his velocity issue. Koenig does have minor league options remaining, and with several other left-handed options projected to be a part of the Brewers' Opening Day roster, Milwaukee could survive an extended Spring Training for their previously reliable southpaw.