Recent Brewers' trade acquisition posts eye-popping velocity in team debut

When the Milwaukee Brewers traded for right-hander Joel Kuhnel from the Athletics over the weekend, fans weren't sure what to expect from the 31-year-old relief pitcher. On one hand, Kuhnel was off to a strong start with the Athletics through the first two months of the season, with a 2.88 ERA on June 3 to prove it. On the other hand, one bad outing against the Chicago Cubs led the Athletics to suddenly designate Kuhnel for assignment, suggesting that they were looking for an excuse to cut ties with the veteran right-hander.

A quick look at Kuhnel's arsenal revealed that Brewers fans should expect few strikeouts, few walks, and plenty of soft-contact when the reliever takes the mound. With a sinker that averaged just over 94 mph during his two-month stint with the Athletics, and a seldom-used four-seamer that wasn't much sharper, Brewers fans weren't expecting Kuhnel to overpower opposing hitters.

However, on Monday night, in Kuhnel's Brewers' debut, the league-average velocity that fans were expecting to see didn't show up. Instead, Kuhnel averaged nearly 99 mph on his sinker and topped out at 100.5 mph with the pitch. The one four-seamer he threw checked in at 99.6 mph and even his curveball was 4.2 mph sharper than usual.

If Joel Kuhnel's velocity gains prove to be real, he could become a key piece of the Brewers' bullpen

Kuhnel's increase in velocity caught just about everyone by surprise last night. Everyone except Athletics' slugger Nick Kurtz, who hit Kuhnel's aforementioned 100.5 mph sinker, which was poorly located, over the left-field fence. However, outside of the one mistake to Kurtz, Kuhnel's bump in velocity seemingly did wonders for his ability to generate strikeouts -- something that's been lacking in his repertoire this year.

The recently acquired Kuhnel, who was facing his former team, collected four strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work last night. Kuhnel had just four strikeouts during the entire month of April, in which he made 10 appearances. If he can generate more swing-and-miss, and continue to keep his walk rate at the excellent 5.3% mark that it currently sits, Kuhnel won't just be a placeholder in the Brewers' bullpen; he will become one of the key members of the back-end.

It's worth acknowledging that Kuhnel was pitching in the thin air of Las Vegas last night, and that could have impacted his velocity slightly. After all, pretty much all of the Brewers' pitchers had an extra tick on their pitches last night. However, Kuhnel didn't just have one extra tick on his offerings; he had five extra ticks. That seems to suggest the right-hander was doing something different last night that allowed him to unlock velocity he's never seen in his career before. It could be that the Brewers' excellent pitching coaches have already implemented a change that's allowing Kuhnel to reach back for more velocity.

Even if Kuhnel ends up living in the 97-98 mph range with his fastballs rather than the 99-100 mph velocity that he was displaying last night, he still has the potential to be a high-leverage weapon for Pat Murphy and the Brewers. Time will tell whether or not his velocity gains are real, but Kuhnel's Brewers' debut certainly caught fans' attention in the best way.

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