Freddy or Not

 

Checking in now with the three-man Brewers rotation unit of lore, and you'll find that Brandon Woodruff is hurt, Corbin Burnes is shakier than he's been in a while, and good ol' Freddy Peralta is better than he's ever been. 

Honestly, I equate this to the old Tigers rotations. Like, Verlander's gonna do well every year, and now Scherzer's having his big year, and maybe next Porcello's gonna have his year. Like they're all good but they trade off being THE guy for the team. And that's what happened here, we've had the Woody year, we've had a few Burnesy years, and now Freddy's top dog. A 4-2 record, a 3.32 ERA and 46 Ks. What's funny is that Corbin Burnes has similar stats, but has given up more runs. So Freddy has the better overall stats, which is pretty welcome. For years, Peralta's whole thing was striking everybody out but not necessarily being the best nuts-and-bolts pitcher, and now he's one of the more reliable arms in that rotation.

I will say that it is kind of odd that the Brewers still have Ethan Small, Aaron Ashby, Janson Junk and Jake Cousins in the minors right now [though Ashby is injured] while people like Wade Miley and Colin Rea start games. I might add, Miley and Rea are doing way better than one might think, but there's an entire young rotation waiting in Nashville. It really is the other side of somebody like the Yankees, where because the injuries haven't permeated the active roster, they haven't had to dig into those guys as much, which is a good problem to have.

This Brewers team will probably take 1st place in the next week or so, and I am honestly fine with that, the way they're playing. True, only William Contreras and Owen Miller are hitting over .250, but Rowdy Tellez has 10 homers, Willy Adames has 23 RBIs, Christian Yelich has 35 hits and 8 steals, and both Joey Wiemer and Brice Turang have fit into this team perfectly. This team is doing a lot correctly right now, and though the Pirates had the starrier start, the Pirates are playing the Orioles right now while the Brewers get to pants all of Missouri for a week. 

There are issues, of course, but I like what I'm seeing from the Brewers, and I hope they all keep it up.

Coming Tomorrow- I am thoroughly convinced that this guy will have a slow start sometimes just to make you think you have a chance against him.