Hader excels in multi-inning stints
Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell has found a different way to use reliever Josh Hader this season, with spectacular results.
Rather than using the lanky lefty several times a week for an inning or less, Counsell regularly has called on Hader for multiple innings, realizing he’d have to give him at least two days off afterward. The strikeout sensation leads the majors with 14 appearances of at least four outs as well as 12 outings of at least two innings.
Asked if multi-inning appearances with periods of rest in between are less stressful than, say, three consecutive outings of one inning, Counsell admitted, “I don’t have the answer to that, I really don’t.”
“It’s centered on Josh,” Counsell added. “Every time he has pitched two innings, he has had two days rest (afterward). He hasn’t been up at all. And the pitches have always been within a certain range (usually between 30 and 40).
“There’s no exact formula to that stuff. We’re trying to be consistent with it, with all of the guys. You look at it every day, and make our judgments and our determinations. Sometimes, you’ve got to say he’s not available, and that’s just the way it is.
“That’s why you have an eight-man bullpen. They have to share the load.”
It’s all but impossible to quarrel with the results with the way Hader has been utilized. He is averaging 17.81 strikeouts per nine innings, tops among regular relievers in the majors and is unscored on in 14 of 18 appearances, including his last six, covering 111⁄3 innings.
Hader had another dominant outing Friday night in the Brewers’ 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Mets. He pitched two hitless innings, walking one and striking out four, before turning it over to closer Corey Knebel, who blew the save in the ninth before Travis Shaw’s bases-loaded walk in the 10th decided it.
Hader was a starting pitcher in the minors, so pitching multiple innings certainly isn’t foreign to him. When summoned from the bullpen, he never asks how many innings he is expected
to pitch but has become accustomed to getting up and down in the dugout.
“I just go until they say I’m done,” he said. “I don’t ask any questions. If they want you to go one more (inning), they let you know. Otherwise, they say you’re done.
"It doesn’t matter to me if it’s one batter, one inning or whatever. I just make sure my mind-set is the same. It’s been working pretty good so far.”
As for adjusting to the routine of pitching a couple of innings, then taking a couple of days off before being used again, Hader said, “You’ve just got to make sure you do your ‘dry’ work and make sure your mechanics are still finetuned.
“You just do your regular work between outings. You read how your body feels and what you need to do. I do the regular stuff every day, even if I know I have the day off. Every day, (Counsell) asks me how I’m feeling and I give him my feedback.
“That’s what I like about this organization. Everybody is up to date on that stuff.”
There has been some debate from outsiders about whether Hader would be best-used in a starting role but it’s difficult to argue with this statistic: The Brewers are 18-0 in games in which he pitches.
Still means something: When
you’ve played as many years as Erik Kratz, especially at the demanding position of catcher, with only sporadic stints in the majors, you have to love the game. Kratz, acquired from the New York Yankees on Friday, made his first start for the Brewers on Saturday, only the fifth game he has played in the big leagues since 2016.
Over the course of his 16-year career, the 37-year-old Kratz has played in 229 games in the majors and 981 games in the minors. What keeps him going?
“Everybody wants to go to the big leagues,” said Kratz, who homered in his third at-bat. “I’ve been to the big leagues, and I had a lot of fun in the big leagues, but I don’t know if it’s why I necessarily stuck around. I think it’s because I have something to offer, and if somebody looks at me and watches how I do something and they’re like, ‘I’ll never do it that way,’ they learned something.
“There has been so much the game has given to me that hopefully I can give back to one person, or the 24 other guys on the team. It’s something that I don’t take lightly. Maybe today I don’t know everybody’s name, but tomorrow I do, then I’ve won that challenge and it’s a good day, for sure.
"I love playing. It’s not who I am, it’s what I do, and I’ve been blessed to do it for a long time.”