The Brewers optioned rookie starter Brandon Sproat to Triple-A Nashville before tonight’s 4-2 victory over Pittsburgh. Milwaukee also optioned swingman Garrett Stallings. That opened the two spots on the pitching staff for Dustin May and Antonio Senzatela, who were acquired at the trade deadline. Lefty reliever JoJo Romero, acquired alongside May from St. Louis, is on the 15-day injured list after an appendectomy.
Sproat gets pushed back to the minors for the first time all season. The 25-year-old, acquired from the Mets in the Freddy Peralta deal, held a rotation job since the middle of April. Sproat got out to a rough start to the year, looked to be settling in with a strong June, then hit another skid in July. He walked 12 batters in 17 2/3 innings last month. Pittsburgh tagged him for four runs on five hits and a pair of walks in three innings yesterday, saddling him with a third consecutive loss.
That pushed Sproat’s season earned run average to 5.27 across 95 2/3 innings. He’s showing impressive raw stuff and has punched out 24% of opponents, but a near-12% walk rate hasn’t quieted any questions from scouts about whether he’ll have the command to reach a mid-rotation ceiling. With utility prospect Jett Williams having a pedestrian offensive season (.234/.341/.385) in Triple-A, this hasn’t been a great year for anyone involved in one of last winter’s biggest trades.
Milwaukee will activate Kyle Harrison from the injured list tomorrow. He’ll take on Paul Skenes in an exciting pitching matchup. May’s team debut will come on Thursday opposite Braxton Ashcraft in the series finale. Harrison’s return seems likely to bump one of Robert Gasser or Shane Drohan out of the starting five.
Sproat still has a full slate of minor league options and could be back up with the MLB club in 15 days. This doesn’t bode especially well for his chances of securing a spot on Milwaukee’s playoff roster, let alone getting a start in October. The Brewers will ideally be able to run Jacob Misiorowski and Harrison in the first two games of a series. Logan Henderson would probably line up as their #3 arm, with May battling some of the less experienced starters for a potential Game 4 nod.
