Caleb Durbin took our No. 8 spot earlier this week, and today we’re here to crown the No. 9 player in our MVBrewers rankings. Reliever Abner Uribe lays claim here, as he picked up 10 votes from the BCB community. Chad Patrick garnered four votes, while Andrew Vaughn and write-in votes for Aaron Ashby totaled three each.
Uribe, 25, burst onto the scene back in 2023 with the Brewers, appearing in 32 games after being called up in early July. Across 30 2/3 innings that year, Uribe allowed just eight runs (six earned), including no homers. He struck out 39 and pitched to a 1.76 ERA and 2.77 FIP.
Looking to build on that success, Uribe emerged from spring training in 2024 as the team’s closer after Devin Williams went on the IL to begin the season. Instead, Uribe struggled, appearing in just 14 games with a 6.91 ERA, 4.63 FIP, and 14 strikeouts over 14 1/3 innings. He was then involved in an altercation with the Rays’ Jose Siri, resulting in a suspension.
Before he could serve the suspension, however, he was demoted to Triple-A, where he then suffered a knee injury that required surgery and kept him out for the rest of the year.
In 2025, he returned to the big league club, and after serving that suspension, he went on to lead the team with 75 appearances while also totaling 75 1/3 innings, the fifth-most on the team and the highest mark among relievers. What did he do over those 75 games? Pitched to a 1.67 ERA, 2.75 FIP, and 90 strikeouts, adding seven saves as he filled in for an injured Trevor Megill late in the year.
Uribe’s Baseball Savant page is filled with red, as he ranked in the top 10% in xERA, xBA, fastball velocity, average exit velocity, whiff rate, strikeout rate, barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and groundball rate. His barrel rate of 2.9% actually ranked in the 100th percentile.
All three of his pitches — sinker, slider, and 4-seam fastball — graded out above average. He went with the sinker 51% of the time and the slider 46% of the time, inducing plenty of groundouts with the former and plenty of swings and misses with the latter.
He did face his share of struggles in the postseason, though, allowing two runs on three hits and four walks while striking out six across six innings (3.00 ERA, 3.14 FIP), though he did strike out the side in Game 2 of the NLDS.
Across his 75 appearances, he went exactly one inning almost every single time, facing the minimum with three strikeouts in four of those games and striking out three in an inning on two other occasions. His longest appearance was a two-inning hold on June 10 against the Braves, in which he struck out just one but also allowed only one baserunner.
We’ll close out our rankings on Tuesday with our No. 10 player (along with some honorable mentions). To weigh in on the voting, visit The Feed.
