Milwaukee Brewers: The importance of Jimmy Nelson
The Milwaukee Brewers biggest need this offseason is pitching. However, the answer to solving that problem may come from within.
The Milwaukee Brewers made an improbable run to the NLCS during last season without a legitimate frontline starting pitcher. Jimmy Nelson is that pitcher but spent the entire 2018 season on the disabled list.
However, Nelson is on track to be healthy and ready for Spring Training boosting the Brewers chances of staying in contention during next season. Prior to injuring his shoulder late during the 2017 season, Nelson was on his way to claiming the top spot in Milwaukee’s rotation.
Nelson started 29 games in ’17 before the injury and finished the year 12-6 with a 3.49 earned run average. Beyond those numbers, Nelson was coming into his own on the hill and quickly became the Brewers most reliable pitcher.
The big right-hander set a career high with 199 strikeouts across 175 1/3 innings pitched. Nelson also turned the corner with limiting walks allowing just 48, 36 fewer walks than the season prior, while maintaining an impressive 10.2 K/9.
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Without Nelson last season the Milwaukee Brewers were forced to turn to a number of different pitchers throughout the season. Stability is something that last year’s rotation never enjoyed. Zach Davies missed considerable time and Chase Anderson regressed back to an average starter, leaving the Crew mixing and matching their rotation all season long.
Getting Nelson back and healthy for Spring Training is almost the equivalent of signing a top end starter from this year’s free agent market. Nelson is a power pitcher who has shown that he can provide quality innings at the top of the rotation.
It would be nice to see general manager David Stearns sign one of the top available pitchers this Winter. However, Milwaukee has to be smart about where they’re spending their money and have some promising pitchers already in the system.
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We won’t know the impact Nelson will have until the 2019 season gets underway. Getting Anderson and Davies, along with Nelson, back to the way they pitched during the 2017 season will pay huge dividends for this team. The key in this equation is having an ace like Nelson taking the bump every five days.