Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day starter confirmed By GM Matt Arnold

Being named an Opening Day starting pitcher in Major League Baseball is a big deal. Opening Day not only marks the start of another 162-game adventure, but it means that each ball club has their ace on the mound.

Over the last decade, the Milwaukee Brewers went through a period where the Opening Day starter was "cursed" to perform bad for the year. This curse started in 2015 with Kyle Lohse and expanded to 2016 with Wily Peralta, 2017 with Junior Guerra, 2018 with Chase Anderson, and 2019 with Jhoulys Chacin.

The curse stopped in 2020 as Brandon Woodruff was the Opening Day starter that year and got a second start on the first game of the year in 2021. Following that, Corbin Burnes got the nod on in 2022 and 2023. This year, a new pitcher is inline to start on Opening Day.

Freddy Peralta has been named the Milwaukee Brewers 2024 Opening Day starter.

With Woodruff sidelined recovering from shoulder surgery and Corbin Burnes now with the Baltimore Orioles, Freddy Peralta was the logical choice to be the 2024 Opening Day. GM Matt Arnold did confirm this recently and spoke highly of how he deserves it.

"We are counting on him this year, and he is going to be our Opening Day starter. Those are big shoes to fill based on the guys that we've had in the past, but he's got every ingredient to do it. He's such a good person. He's such a good leader on the field, in work habits, and then off the field in everything he does. I couldn't think of a better guy to honor with the Opening Day start."

- Matt Arnold

Throughout his six-year Brewers career, Peralta has a 3.83 ERA across 580 innings pitched. He entered the starting rotation full time in 2021 and had a career year as he had a 2.81 ERA. Additionally he was one of the hardest pitchers to get a hit off of that year.

Injuries limited his time on the mound in 2022, but he remained effective when pitching. Last year he stayed healthy, made a career high 30 starts, and had an incredible second half of the season. All of this has helped prepare Freddy Peralta for a start on Opening Day in 2024.

After the 2024 season Freddy Peralta has two option years (club) remaining on his contract and each is valued at $8MM. Unless the "curse" resurfaces or a major roster shakeup occurs there is a good chance that he will be on the mound for game one in 2025 and 2026 as well.