The Brewers rookie whose postseason performance is turning heads

On the road to powering their way to the best record in baseball, the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers leaned heavily on their rookie class throughout the regular season. Chad Patrick brought stability to the starting rotation when they needed it the most, while Jacob Misiorowski made an electric midseason debut. On the offensive side, Caleb Durbin and Isaac Collins emerged as everyday contributors.

All four rookies played pivotal roles and firmly entered the conversation for Rookie of the Year honors. Brewers manager Pat Murphy has also continued to give his first-year players opportunities in the postseason, with one's performance standing out in particular.

Chad Patrick has found another gear for the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2025 postseason

Jacob Misiorowski's Game 2 performance was certainly impressive, but his outing instilled more feelings of relief than surprise. In other words, Brewers fans are more than aware of what The Miz can do when everything is clicking, making his first postseason less "head-turning" and more "head-nodding," confirming what Brewers fans know their talented rookie is capable of.

Meanwhile, Chad Patrick's arsenal of pitches looks more impressive in the postseason than it did all season, making his playoff performance more "head-turning" than The Miz's. Through two relief outings in the NLDS, Patrick has faced eight batters and gotten them all out. He tossed a clean inning of relief during Game 2, while striking out a pair of Cubs. Then, in Game 3, he covered 1.2 scoreless innings while leaving two inherited runners from Jared Koenig stranded.

Through 2.2 perfect innings this postseason, Patrick has thrown just nine of his 33 pitches outside the strike zone, showing impressive command. He's also found an extra gear in velocity, as during Game 3, both his cutter and sinker averaged 2 MPH faster than their regular-season marks. His sinker, in particular, peaked at 97.4 MPH and averaged 94.1 MPH.

While pitching out of the bullpen gives Patrick the chance to ramp up his stuff, he’s also proving to his manager that he can stay composed in a rather unfamiliar role while under the bright lights of October. During the regular season, Patrick made just four relief appearances, one on Opening Weekend in New York and the others in the final weeks of the season.

What he’s accomplished in the postseason so far is more than impressive and reinforces why he earned a spot on the NLDS roster. If Milwaukee makes a deep run, he’s certainly positioned to keep getting opportunities.