Brewers: Taking a Statistical Deep-Dive into Bryse Wilson's Career-Altering 2023 Season

On January 4th, 2023, the Milwaukee Brewers acquired RHP Bryse Wilson from the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash considerations after he was designated for assignment. This move to acquire Wilson came amongst a flurry of other pitcher acquisitions, with the Brewers acquiring Javy Guerra, Elvis Peguero, Tyson Miller, Janson Junk, Joel Payamps, and others during the 2022-23 offseason.

After being selected by the Atlanta Braves out of high school in the 4th round of the 2016 MLB Draft, Wilson cruised through the minor leagues, making his MLB debut at age 20 in 2018. Wilson was ranked as high as #80 on Baseball America's top 100 list heading into the 2019 season and was ranked as the #6 Braves prospect by MLB Pipeline.

Wilson battled adversity in Atlanta, pitching to a 5.90 ERA in 23 appearances with Atlanta over parts of four seasons, and saw his minor league options dry up quickly as he struggled to stay on the big league roster. During the 2021 season, the Pirates decided to take a chance on his prospect pedigree and acquired him at the trade deadline for Richard Rodriguez.

Wilson did not see a big jump he was hoping for after moving to Pittsburgh, as he posted a 5.37 ERA in his two seasons there. He would see good run at the big league level in 2022, though, making 20 starts over 25 appearances and putting up 115.2 innings over the season.

After being non-tendered at the end of 2022, the Brewers decided to acquire Wilson and see if they could maximize the potential that Atlanta saw when they selected him so high in 2016. In order to do so, the Brewers and Wilson needed to make some changes to different areas of his game, and they worked with him to do just that.