Promising Brewers' bullpen option quietly returns to Triple-A after Spring Training injury

With the three-month mark of the 2026 season still on the horizon, the Milwaukee Brewers have already made use of most of the pitching depth that they assembled during the offseason.

Injuries to starting pitchers Quinn Priester, Brandon Woodruff, and Logan Henderson have forced Milwaukee to turn to rookies like Coleman Crow and Shane Drohan in their rotation at various points this year. Meanwhile, injuries in the bullpen to big-league arms like Ángel Zerpa, Jared Koenig, Rob Zastryzny, and DL Hall have resulted in the Brewers turning to prospects like Craig Yoho and Brian Fitzpatrick, minor league free agent signing Drew Rom, and midseason trade acquisition Joel Kuhnel.

Though Koenig is several appearances into a rehab assignment and Hall and Zastryzny will hopefully return to the Brewers' bullpen before the end of July, if the first three months of the season are any indication, Milwaukee will eventually come to rely on several more arms who currently reside on their Triple-A roster.

One such arm, who could be an intriguing addition to the Brewers' bullpen at some point during the 2026 campaign, is right-hander Gerson Garabito. Milwaukee signed Garabito to a minor league deal back in mid-December after a 2025 season in which he spent time with the Texas Rangers and the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). Garabito, who initially signed as an international free agent with the Kansas City Royals back in 2012, made his MLB debut with the Rangers in 2024 and posted a pedestrian 4.78 ERA in 26.1 innings pitched.

It's not Garabito's past numbers, however, that indicate he may be able to help the Brewers at some point this season, but rather it's an arsenal of pitches that, under the guidance of Milwaukee's excellent pitching coaches, should be able to find success at the big-league level.

Offseason free agent signing Gerson Garabito could help the Brewers' bullpen at some point in 2026

Garabito's signing was met with surprised excitement from Brewers fans, who weren't expecting a 30-year-old minor league free agent signing who spent time re-vamping his value in the KBO last year to have as intriguing of an arsenal as the former Ranger possesses.

Unfortunately, before Garabito could really introduce himself in Spring Training, the right-hander suffered a broken bone in his right foot in late February that required the Brewers' recent addition to undergo surgery. As a result, Garabito missed the first two months of the 2026 campaign, before joining the Brewers' Rookie Ball affiliate in the Arizona Complex League for a rehab assignment on May 21. On June 6, Garabito joined the Nashville Sounds, and has since made four appearances for the Brewers' Triple-A squad.

Garabito was off to a strong start in Nashville, covering five innings and allowing just one earned run while striking out six in his first three appearances. However, last night, Garabito, who pitched the first two innings of Sounds' matchup with the Memphis Redbirds, surrendered four earned runs and his early-season Triple-A ERA ballooned to 6.43. Garabito walked two, hit a batter, and surrendered a three-run homer in his six-out start last night.

However, as previously mentioned, it's not Garabito's past numbers leading to encouragement that he could help the Brewers at the big-league level at some point, rather it's his intriguing five-pitch repertoire. Garabito sports two fastballs -- a four-seamer and a sinker -- that both sit around 94 mph, and pairs them with three secondary offerings -- a slider, curveball, and changeup.

The most intriguing pitch is certainly Garabito's sinker, which he didn't throw nearly as much as his four-seamer before arriving in the Brewers' organization. Back in February, Jack Stern of Brewer Fanatic not only predicted that the Brewers would lean heavily into Garabito's sinker, but also noted that the pitch shares similar characteristics to Priester's sinker, which was key to the right-hander's breakout last season. Be sure to check out Stern's full breakdown of Garabito's arsenal and how the Brewers may tweak his repertoire, which is free to read over at brewerfanatic.com and linked below for your convenience.

Will the Brewers Apply a Familiar Blueprint to Gerson Garabito's Arsenal?

Through Garabito's first four appearances with the Brewers' Triple-A affiliate, Stern's prediction is spot on: the Brewers have tasked Garabito with making his excellent sinker the focal point of his arsenal. Though it's certainly a small sample size, Garabito is now throwing his sinker 34.1%, while his four-seamer makes up just 14.8% of his pitches. It's unreasonable to expect Garabito to have the same type of breakout that Priester did last year, but with comparable ingredients, it's certainly not a stretch to say that he could turn into a productive big-leaguer with similar tweaks to his arsenal and pitch usage.

Garabito's promotion to the Brewers' big-league club is by no means imminent, but should Milwaukee experience another string of relief pitcher injuries, don't be surprised if his name is called upon at some point before the end of the season.

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