Former Brewers minor league pitcher of the year set to join the big league bullpen

As the Milwaukee Brewers continue their grueling stretch of 19 games in 18 days, the team continues to make changes to its pitching staff to ensure it has enough fresh arms. Yesterday, Chad Patrick was recalled from Triple-A for a spot start in game one of the Brewers' doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. Patrick, who joined the team as the 27th man — a roster spot that is only available for doubleheaders — was sent back down to Triple-A Nashville prior to Wednesday night's contest.

However, as Patrick rejoins the Nashville's roster, one of his Sounds' teammates is getting another shot at the big leagues. As recently announced by the Brewers, Carlos Rodriguez is joining the major league bullpen as a long reliever, replacing Tobias Myers, who had been filling the same role admirably over the last two weeks.

It's a tough demotion for Myers, who seemingly hit his stride in the Brewers’ pen in his last three appearances. Myers covered two innings in each of those outings, dating back to last Wednesday, and didn't surrender a single run. His five strikeouts and zero walks during the span suggested that Myers found the command that he displayed so consistently a season ago. Now, Myers, who may still impact the big league roster before the season is over, heads back to Nashville to try and continue the momentum that he gained over his last few big league appearances.

Carlos Rodriguez replaces Tobias Myers as long reliever in Brewers' bullpen

Rodriguez, who was the Brewers' minor league pitcher of the year in both 2022 and 2023, rejoins the big league club for his second stint in the majors this season. Rodriguez made just one appearance during his first stint with the Crew back on May 22, and delivered a gutsy relief performance in which he began his outing, was forced to sit through a rain delay, and then finished his outing when the rain had subsided. Despite allowing three earned runs in 3.1 innings that he covered, Rodriguez earned his first MLB win during the outing and was looked upon favorably for giving some of the other Brewers' relievers a night off.

However, following his performance, Rodriguez went down with forearm soreness, a scary injury for any pitcher as it is generally the precursor to elbow issues and, in the worst case scenario, Tommy John surgery. Luckily, Rodriguez avoided a major injury, but the setback slowed down his impressive season in Triple-A. He was off to an exceptional start in for the Nashville Sounds, posting a 1.99 ERA through his first nine starts. That was the moment that the Brewers elected to call him up for his rain delay outing. Since then, and following Rodriguez's recovery process, the 23-year-old right-hander’s minor league ERA has ballooned to 4.11 on the season.

Meanwhile, the start back in May was not Rodriguez's first career stab at the big leagues. He made three underwhelming starts for the Brewers in 2024, and suffered three losses while posting a 7.30 ERA. He struggled to keep the ball in the ballpark during those three starts, allowing an average of one home run every four innings.

Hopefully, Rodriguez can provide some steady innings out of the bullpen for the Brewers. More than anything, the Crew needs an innings eater that can cover multiple frames in low-leverage situations. Rodriguez, for however long he remains with the big league club, should be able to deliver just that.