3 Brewers pitchers who began 2024 on MiLB contracts and are now pitching big innings

The Milwaukee Brewers have become sort of infamous across the league for their ability to find diamonds in the rough in the form of pitchers. It may not shock you to learn that they are doing the same here in 2024.

And that's been especially important this season due to the state of the pitching staff. Besides the fact that the Brewers came into this year with questions all over their starting rotation, several injuries have ended up impacting both that unit as well as the bullpen.

And yet, Milwaukee has held up better than some might have imagined in terms of pitching. Brewers pitchers are 12th in MLB with a 3.84 ERA going into the final day of May: across the two units that comes to 15th with a 3.99 ERA for the starters and 11th with a 3.67 ERA for the relievers.

To help keep things under control with all these injuries, the Brewers had to tap into their minor league system, at times bringing up players who weren't even on the 40-man roster to begin the season. A few of those players have worked out particularly well for the Crew in 2024, helping them to a five-game, first place lead in the NL Central.

Here are three Brewers pitchers who began the season on minor league contracts but are now pitching big innings for the Crew.

1. RHP Tobias Myers

When the Brewers ended up dipping into the minors for starting pitching help for the first time in 2024, the expectation was that it would be highly regarded prospect Robert Gasser being the one chosen. But with him sidelined with an injury and the Crew still needing a spot start, the lesser known Tobias Myers ended up getting the call.

Myers had gotten off to a hot start in 2024 with a 1.45 ERA across 18.2 innings for Triple-A Nashville and carried that over into his first outing with Milwaukee when he gave up just a run in five innings on four hits and a walk while striking out four. Altogether, he now has a 4.43 ERA across six appearances (five starts)

Myers came to the Brewers last year after being let go from the White Sox organization and while he had an up and down season mostly at Double-A Bilxoi, there were glimpses of potential in some of his starts. He likely won't remain in the rotation when some pitchers start to come back healthy, but he will provide some newfound depth if injuries continue to be a problem for the team as the year goes on.

2. LHP Jared Koenig

Just a few days before Myers was called up to the majors for the first time, reliever jared Koenig had his own contract purchased from Triple-A Nashville. Even though he already had a brief MLB stint to his name with the A's in 2022, as a minor league signing this last offseason he wasn't on the radar of most Brewers fans to contribute for the parent club this season.

But contribute for the Brewers is exactly what Koenig has done and in a number of different ways as well. In 17 appearances so far this year, the southpaw has already pitched in every different inning for the Crew, including the first inning twice when he acted as an opener in two of three games during the Red Sox series on the road last week.

And Koenig has succeeded in all those different roles. He is 5-1 with a 2.22 ERA through 24.1 innings and has let only three of 13 inherited runners score. The best thing you can do as an unknown reliever is earn your manager's trust and is exactly what has happened with Brewers skipper Pat Murphy considering the multitude of ways he is already using Koenig in 2024.

3. RHP Enoli Paredes

Righty Enoli Paredes is much newer to the Brewers than the other two as he was just added to the 40-man and active rosters a week ago today. Yet in that small amount of time, he has already found himself on the mound in some big situations.

Paredes was stingy to start the season with Triple-A Nashville, compiling a 1.31 ERA across 20.2 innings with the Sounds and even earning five saves. Having already shown the ability to pitch under pressure, he was brought into a tie game against Boston and into games with a one-run deficit and three-run lead against the Cubs.

So far, all he has done is impress with Milwaukee as he hasn't given up a single run, hit, or walk in four innings and has struck out half of the 12 batters he has faced. That's a great start and if he continues to impress, he might not see Nashville again for quite some time.

This trio has been fun to watch but will they be the only pitchers on minor league contracts that the Brewers call up this season? History says that's unlikely to be the case.