It's time to give Craig Yoho another shot at the big leagues

The Milwaukee Brewers' pitching department has been excellent as of late. In fact, since June 1, the Brewers pitching staff — including both starters and relievers — has the lowest ERA in all of baseball, at 3.00. It's the main reason why the Brewers have been so successful as a team over the last month. Yes, the offense has been much better as well over the last two months, but their .740 OPS since June 1 ranks middle of the pack while the pitching staff is setting the league-wide pace.

As such, it may feel wrong to mess with a good thing; why fix something that isn't broken? However, there's reason to believe that the Brewers would benefit from making a change to their current group of relievers.

With a 2.76 ERA since June 1, it's not the bullpen's past performance that suggests the need for reinforcements, but rather it's the possibility of burnout in the near future that indicates that the group would benefit from a fresh arm. See, while the Brewers' bullpen has been excellent as of late, they've also been overworked.

Both Abner Uribe and Grant Anderson ranked in the top 13 relief pitchers in innings pitched this season entering play on Friday night. Both right-handers have tossed at least 49 innings through the team's first 103 games, meaning they are throwing an inning nearly every other game. Meanwhile, Nick Mears and Jared Koenig also rank towards the top of the league in terms of games pitched. All of that is even with the additions of Aaron Ashby and DL Hall to the bullpen who have both done wonders to lessen the workload for their fellow relievers.

Luckily for the Brewers, one of their top pitching prospects is back to form down in Triple-A Nashville and looking like he's ready for another shot at the big leagues.

Craig Yoho has been lights out for the Nashville Sounds over the last two months, he's ready for another chance in MLB

When Craig Yoho made his MLB debut on April 21, it was much to the delight of Brewers fans who were anxiously waiting to see how his elite changeup would play against big league hitters. Though he started strong, giving up just one earned run in his first four appearances, Yoho surrendered five earned runs to the Chicago White Sox in his fifth appearance on May 1 and was subsequently demoted to Triple-A.

However, since rejoining the Nashville Sounds, Yoho has once again looked like the shut-down reliever that he came to be during his breakout season in 2024. Since his brief major league stint, Yoho has posted a 1.52 ERA through 23.2 innings with the Nashville Sounds. He's collected 31 strikeouts during the span, while walking just 10 batters. Yoho has been especially dominant during his last 10 outings, allowing just one earned run and four hits.

There are several candidates that Yoho could replace on the big league roster, but none of them are replacement candidates because of their performance. For example, Yoho could take Anderson's spot for a couple of weeks just to give him a rest before the stretch run, but Anderson's sparkling 2.68 ERA does not suggest he's a candidate for a demotion. Meanwhile, the Brewers could replace Tobias Myers with Yoho and push Myers back into a starting role in Triple-A, which will more than likely be his long-term role on the Brewers.

However, the Brewers may not have to make one of the two difficult decisions mentioned in the paragraph above, as one of their relievers could be headed for a stint on the IL. As reported by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nick Mears tweaked his back before his outing on Friday night, and will undergo testing before a final decision is reached on whether or not an IL stint is needed.

It's likely that the Brewers will be careful with their prized reliever, Mears, as they will need him most at the end of the season. Therefore, it almost feels inevitable, regardless of the severity of the injury, that Mears will spend at least some time on the IL. If that is the case, expect Yoho to be back with the big league club in the near future. Stay tuned, as news on Mears is likely to come before tonight's matchup with the Miami Marlins.