Projecting the Brewers starting rotation in 2025 before the offseason kicks into gear

There's an old adage in baseball that says you can never have enough pitching. The Milwaukee Brewers know that to be true and it couldn't have been more true for the club in 2024. Injuries ravaged the staff and pushed the starting rotation depth to the brink. Luckily for the Brewers, one of the last pitchers they expected to call upon, Tobias Myers, ended up being fantastic for them.

Myers' performance has secured his rotation spot heading into 2025, as both GM Matt Arnold and manager Pat Murphy have intimated in their end of season press conferences. Who else will be joining him though?

The starting rotation has been a strength of the Brewers organization for several years now. The group faced some concerns in 2024 as they were missing both Corbin Burnes (trade) and Brandon Woodruff (shoulder surgery). They managed to make it through and are in a pretty good spot heading into 2025.

Here's how the starting rotation group currently stands before the offseason additions start to happen.

Brewers 2025 projected starting rotation

1. RHP Freddy Peralta
2. RHP Brandon Woodruff
3. RHP Tobias Myers
4. RHP Colin Rea ($5.5MM club option)
5. RHP Aaron Civale

As things stand here in mid-October, this is what the Brewers 2025 Opening Day starting rotation would project like. Freddy Peralta is once again at the top, Brandon Woodruff is expected to be back from his shoulder surgery, but we won't get a clear picture on if he'll be ready for the start of the season until we get closer to spring training. Tobias Myers is in, Colin Rea has a $5.5MM club option that appears very likely to be picked up, then Aaron Civale in his final year of control rounds out the group.

If everyone stays healthy and no one is traded away, brought in via trade, or signed in free agency, this is how the top of the group is likely to look. Granted, the offseason hasn't even begun yet so there's a lot of roster changes still left to happen.

There's also a number of depth options that will likely be stretched out to start in 2025 and will likely be called upon to be in the rotation at some point throughout the year.

6. LHP DL Hall
7. LHP Aaron Ashby
8. RHP Bryse Wilson
9. RHP Carlos F. Rodriguez
10. RHP Logan Henderson
11. RHP Jacob Misiorowski
12. RHP Chad Patrick
13. RHP Coleman Crow

Luckily for the Brewers, their upper minors are stocked with pitching prospects so they should have no shortage of arms to call upon and won't need to grab a ton of extra arms in free agency this winter. That said, they still should bring in one or two just to be sure because once again you can never have enough pitching.

The Brewers are likely going to stretch DL Hall and Aaron Ashby back out as starters. The projected rotation above is all right-handers and the Brewers may want to get at least one lefty in there to change things up. Bryse Wilson is better out of the bullpen but can start in a pinch.

After that, it's a bunch of unproven prospects. Rodriguez got limited big league time in 2024 and Henderson is a lock to be added to the 40 man roster next month. Jacob Misiorowski is the Brewers top pitching prospect, but his future in the starting rotation is a bit murky and he may be best suited out of the bullpen. Until the Brewers decide he's definitively a bullpen arm, he'll remain on the rotation depth chart.

Chad Patrick had a great Triple-A season and could earn a 40 man spot this winter while Coleman Crow was acquired in the Tyrone Taylor trade last year and will be recovered from Tommy John surgery in time for 2025 spring training.

Joe Ross is hitting free agency, Frankie Montas has a $20MM mutual option that is sure to be declined and he'll hit free agency. Wade Miley will also be a free agent and coming off TJS. Also Robert Gasser is coming off TJS as well and isn't expected to be back healthy until near the end of the 2025 season, so he's off the depth chart for now.

The Brewers could also look to add one or two more starting options that have some big league experience this offseason. Milwaukee has a solid top seven if everyone is healthy, but Woodruff is not a guarantee to be healthy or back to his old self right away. On paper this group is pretty good and has some depth to it, but they could certainly use some more, especially with the unknown with Woodruff.