The Brewers may be on to something with Aaron Ashby's new role in Triple-A

Boy, oh boy has it been a wild ride for Aaron Ashby and the Milwaukee Brewers ever since he signed that extension in 2023. He's now under control through at least the 2027 season (with club options for '28 and '29), but he's also thrown just 8.2 innings at the big league level post-extension.

Injuries are a crazy thing in baseball, and there's never a "right" time for them to strike. The left-hander underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder last year and didn't throw a pitch in the majors.

This year, his return to action had the potential to be an underrated storyline for the Brewers. Ashby was going to have the opportunity to raise his value and get back in the good graces of followers of the team. Instead, it's gone about as poorly as it could. In The Show, he's got a 6.23 ERA with seven walks and five strikeouts in those 8.2 frames, which earned him a ticket right back down to the minor leagues.

Down there, things are going just as bad. The 26-year-old has an 8.13 ERA through 24 appearances and 14 starts, walking a jaw-dropping 73 batters with 90 strikeouts in just 83 innings of work. That's not going to cut it. However, the Brewers are switching up the way they utilize Ashby, and that could be the perfect move for all involved.

Brewers bullpen with Aaron Ashby is working wonders

Since Ashby has looked nothing like a competent starting pitcher this year (at any level), the Brewers are trying him out as a reliever who's capable of going more than one inning. So far, it's been working out nicely, even though the sample size is still small.

Ashby has 10 relief appearances under his belt in Triple-A, but only his last six have come since his transition began. In that time, he's continued to strikeout batters left and right and cut back on his walks. It seems that something's began to click here.

In his last six outings, Ashby's ERA may be 7.04, but that's because of two blow-up outings back on August 2 and August 6, in which he allowed six earned runs in two innings of work. Since then, he's been nearly spotless. Again, the sample size has been small (even smaller if you take the two rough outings out of the equation), but Ashby's last four appearances have resulted in 5.2 innings with 12 strikeouts, one walk, two hits and no runs scored.

Ashby has always been a crafty left-hander whose deep arsenal and, well, majestic curveball have occasionally given off Kershaw-like vibes over the years. However, he's been unable to put together a lengthy run of success in a few years now. Now, he's sitting 95-97 with his sinker and throwing some absolute filth with his looping curveball and wipeout slider.

It's unclear if the Brewers are going to have this transition to the bullpen be a permanent one, but more than anything it's currently about getting him turned around and improving the results. The vast majority of his results haven't been easy on the eyes in 2024, but he's giving the Brewers a second starter-turned-reliever that could help their big league 'pen down the stretch alongside top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski.