8 Minor League Pitchers the Brewers Should Target This Offseason

Each year, the Milwaukee Brewers find value from unexpected places. Whether that be waiver claims, Rule 5 draftees, or the minor leagues, players emerge to contribute that fans may not have expected before the season began.

Both during the regular season and in the offseason, the Brewers often scour through minor league free agents to find the best fits for the club. With pitching always being a need, here are eight arms that the Brewers should target this offseason.

Two left-handed starters to add depth

1. Caleb Smith

2023 Organization: Pittsburgh (Triple-A)
Acquired by the Brewers in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft before an immediate trade to the Cubs, Smith has bounced around four other organizations since - Yankees, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Pirates. The 32-year-old established himself as a capable big league starter from 2018-21, tossing nearly 300 innings across the four seasons.

Injuries limited Smith in 2023, stemming from a UCL tear suffered at American Family Field in the 2022 season finale. He struggled this past year with Triple-A Indianapolis, allowing 32 earned runs in just 45 innings sandwiched around three stints on the injured list.

Smith primarily works with a three-pitch mix: 4-seam, slider, changeup. His 89.9 mph average fastball was the lowest of his career, the elbow injury likely being the primary factor for the drop-off. The left-hander has tossed 139 big league innings out of the bullpen, boasting a respectable 3.55 ERA with nearly a strikeout an inning. If healthy, Smith profiles as a good swingman option, especially for a club lacking in left-handed options out of the bullpen.

2. Tyler Gilbert

2023 Organization: Arizona (MLB/AAA)
Best known for throwing a no-hitter in his initial big league start in 2021, Gilbert has been and up-and-down swingman in the years since. The left-hander has 91 big league innings under his belt, throwing to the tune of a 4.32 ERA despite a low strikeout rate.

Gilbert reinvented himself in 2023, bumping his average fastball from 89.6 to 91.9 mph. The result was a significant jump in whiff rate across the board and a bump in K% by more than double his previous output. His 5.30 ERA in Reno was seven percent better than league average in the hitter's paradise that was the Pacific Coast League.

Like Smith, Gilbert represents an ideal swingman with big league experience starting and relieving. Significant increases in velocity and resulting changes in off-speed movement can sometimes take a year to adjust to, perhaps lending the Brewers to see Gilbert as a worthy buy-low candidate.

A pair of lefty relievers

3. Kyle Hart

2023 Organization: Philadelphia, Seattle (Triple-A)
A career minor leaguer with just 11 big league innings to his name, Hart experienced significantly better results in 2023 with an altered arsenal. Hart added velocity and movement on his slider, thrown just 11 percent in 2023 despite opponents slugging just .293 on the pitch.

Hart has traditionally worked as a starter, but could be a valuable low-leverage lefty behind Hoby Milner. Left-handed hitters managed just a .433 OPS last year against the Ohio native Hart, whereas righties hit an unsightly .321. A move to the bullpen could also result in a velocity uptick as is often the case for pitchers.

Though Hart could also provide valuable starting depth, he profiles well as a full-time reliever, representing a better option than last year's carousel of Andrew Chafin, Bennett Sousa, Clayton Andrews and Thomas Pannone.

4. Paul Fry

The southpaw tossed 117 innings in an Orioles uniform from 2018-20, striking out 120 while holding a 4.15 ERA. His primary downfall in recent years has been usage, not in volume but strategically. Fry holds reverse splits (.618 OPS vs. RHH, .784 OPS vs. LHH) yet is often deployed to get left-handed hitters out.

Fry represents a solid second or third lefty on the depth chart for a team currently lacking in left-handed pitching options.

7. Michael Petersen

The former Brewers farmhand has traveled around the block more than a time or two - he was born in England to mixed ethnicity with one African parent. He was drafted three times, once from his Bay Area high school and twice from a different junior college. A 17th-round pick of the Brewers, he spent five years in the organization never advancing past Low-A Carolina before missing all of 2020-21.

But throughout his tumultuous professional career, Petersen has exhibited the electric stuff that led him there in the first place. His 98 mph fastball ranked 10th among all Triple-A pitchers with at least 100 fastballs thrown, and hitters whiffed at more than one-third of all sliders on the year. His double-digit BB% is concerningly high, but the stuff is real if he can harness it. Just ask a familiar NL Central foe that Petersen fanned in March's World Baseball Classic.

8. John Curtiss

Across 69 innings in 2020-21, Curtiss posted a sterling 2.86 ERA with 69 strikeouts and 15 walks, the final four innings (and eight runs) coming in a Brewers' uniform. But a pair of elbow surgeries have prematurely ended his tenures in Milwaukee and Queens, making Curtiss a free agent for the second time.

His average fastball dropped from 94.9 in 2021 to 93.6 in 2023 before a clean-up procedure in his elbow ended his season. A merely healthy Curtiss would be solid contributor in the big league bullpen, a version we haven't seen in nearly three years.