Milwaukee Brewers: 3 Early Takeaways from the First Two Series Wins

While the season is still young, the Brewers currently sit at 5-1 and are riding a five-game win streak after sweeping the New York Mets. This is by no means a large enough sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions, but here are several observations about the team so far.

Though the season is not even a tenth of the way over, the Brewers are riding a hot streak after a slow Opening Day. Everything seems to be clicking for the team as they start to pile up wins now that hopefully will help them later on in the season.

Here are three early takeaways from the Milwaukee Brewers' first two series wins to start the 2023 season.

Early Brewers Takeaway #1: The Bullpen Looks Good

One of the biggest question marks that the Brewers had going into the season was their bullpen. One of their anchors for the past five seasons, Josh Hader, is no longer in the picture, and the team came in with several unproven pitchers who would be seeing key innings to set up setup man-turned-closer Devin Williams.

Rule 5 Pick Gus Varland has been a pleasant suprise, throwing two scoreless innings in his first stint in the majors. In fact, through six games only two relievers (Javy Guerra and Joel Payamps) have allowed runs.

That is good news considering Craig Counsell just announced Aaron Ashby will undergo Arthoscopic shoulder surgery and could miss the entire season. Without Ashby, the team will need to rely on guys such as Hoby Milner, Peter Strezelecki, and Varland to pick up the slack

Early Brewers Takeaway #2: Brian Anderson was a Great Pickup

The Brewers picked up Brian Anderson as a very under the radar signing, getting a one-year $3.5 million deal after being non-tendered by Miami following a poor, injury-riddled 2022 season. Through six games, Anderson has a cool 308 wRC+, slashing .500/.565/1.056 while splitting time between right field and third base.

While Luis Urias is on the injured list with a quad injury, Anderson will have no problem getting consistent playing time, and even once his torrid pace cools off, having Anderson healthy will be a crucial bat for the Brewers as the season drags on.

Early Brewers Takeaway #3: The Rookies are Here, and They Look Good

For a team with playoff intentions, having three rookies in the starting lineup everyday may not seem like an ideal situation. However, when those three rookies are playing like Garrett Mitchell, Brice Turang, and Joey Wiemer, that can only be a good thing.

The three top prospects have been having positive impacts on all aspects of the game, showing strong defensive ability, speed on the base paths, and all have hit momentous home runs early in the season with Turang hitting his first career grand slam and Mitchell hitting a walk off home run to sweep the Mets.

In addition to these three, the Brewers have Sal Frelick sitting in waiting at Triple-A and he will almost certainly be up at some point this season. Between the addition of Anderson and the emergence of Wiemer and Mitchell, the team seems to be in a good spot in the outfield even with Tyrone Taylor on the injured list.

There are only 156 games left in the 2023 season and a lot can and will change, but the Brewers are riding a hot start and things are looking up at American Family Field.