2019 MLB Season: Finding the Next Ryan Pressly
By Ryan Sanders
Colten Brewer was acquired by the Boston Red Sox from the Padres in the off-season. Dave Dombrowski has been hounded by the masses to sign a prime time reliever. From my look, Brewer could be that guy for the Red Sox by mid-season.
While it is unlikely Brewer will be available for other teams, he just logged a season for the San Diego Padres where his surface metrics weren’t great but he induced ground-balls 50% of the time and had a 3.26 FIP.
Brewer features a cutter at 93 MPH, 66% of the time, and a curve-ball and slider that he threw 33% of the time. His fastball spin rate was in the top 15 among all pitchers and his breaking balls were top 35.
One knock against Brewer is that he walked nearly 15% of hitters but the other pieces of the profile are encouraging. Brewer’s breaking ball heat maps are interesting because he was able to throw them consistently for strikes and out of the zone in a good chase area. He is also throwing his cutter up in the zone but he does occasionally get a little wild with it.
Brewer is a little different than the other guys on this list because his breaking ball has such elite spin compared to his fastball. Nevertheless, he could emerge as a strength in the Red Sox bullpen in the 2019 MLB season.