Is Brewers reliever Bryan Hudson a sneaky Rookie of the Year candidate?

Winning baseball trades is one key to success for small market teams and the Milwaukee Brewers have done a good job of this for nearly a decade now. Under second year GM Matt Arnold, William Contreras, Joel Payamps, and Elvis Peguero were all acquired during his first offseason. Trevor Megill was a mid-season addition last summer. Lastly, DL Hall, Joey Ortiz, Oliver Dunn, and Bryan Hudson were all acquired via trade over this most recent offseason.

Out of this group of players, rookie reliever Bryan Hudson is currently making a serious push to be an All-Star. He also should be inserting himself into Rookie of the Year considerations as well.

Brewers reliever Bryan Hudson is having an All-Star type of season

The Brewers acquired 6'8" southpaw Bryan Hudson from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for 2023 20th round draft pick Justin Chambers. He has exceeded all expectations and has become one of Pat Murphy's most trusted firemen out of the bullpen while also ranking near the top of the league in several pitching categories.

As of Memorial Day, Bryan Hudson ranked (minimum 20 innings pitched) second in reliever ERA (0.59), sixth in strikeouts (36), sixth in WHIP (0.73), sixth in innings pitched (30.1), and ninth in batting average against (.147). In addition to all of this, he has left 85.1% of all base runners stranded. One of the only things he hasn't done is record a save, but that could easily change after Trevor Megill sustained a scary injury.

How does Bryan Hudson stack up against other National League rookies?

This year the National League has quite a few rookie pitchers who are performing exceptionally well. Bryan Hudson is included in this group, but as a reliever his overall value may not stack up well when compared against starting pitchers. If he starts recording saves, that narrative may change.

Other rookies who should be in contention for the award include Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers Jared Jones (3.05 ERA across 10 GS) and Paul Skenes (2.25 ERA through his first three GS), Chicago Cubs pitchers Shota Imanaga (0.84 ERA across 9 GS) and Ben Brown (2.72 ERA across 13 GP including 6 GS), Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers Gavin Stone (3.16 ERA across 10 GS) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3.51 ERA across 11 GS).

With approximately six more weeks until the All-Star break and four months left in the regular season a lot can still happen. But right now, Bryan Hudson should be in consideration for both an All-Star bid and in rookie of the year talks. Devin Williams was able to win Rookie of the Year in 2020 despite being a non-closing reliever. Perhaps Hudson can do the same.