Brewers acquire pitcher Wilson from Pirates
The Milwaukee Brewers still haven’t done much dipping of their toes into free agency, but they continued to add depth to their roster Wednesday by acquiring pitcher Bryse Wilson from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for cash considerations.
Wilson, 25, made 25 starts for the Pirates in 2022, pitching to a 5.22 earned run average in 1152⁄3 innings with 72 strikeouts and 39 walks. Before joining Pittsburgh in 2021, Wilson was one of the top prospects in the Atlanta Braves system. He was a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball heading into the 2019 season, ranked as high as No. 60 by Baseball Prospectus thanks to a hard, well-located fastball, strong changeup and decent slider.
Wilson outdueled Clayton Kershaw in Game 4 of the 2020 National League Championship Series, throwing six one-run innings as the Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, but failed to replicate that success in the regular season. Across parts of four years with Atlanta, Wilson had a 5.90 ERA and was traded in July 2021.
Wilson, who was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh last week, pitched better down the stretch in 2022, owning a 4.39 ERA and allowing only 1.9 walks per nine innings in 82 innings after July 1.
Wilson’s four-seam fastball, once his bread-and-butter pitch, was tagged heavily, leading him to decrease its usage noticeably as 2022 went on. He instead leaned more heavily on his sinker and a balanced mix of changeup, slider and curveball while also debuting a splitter late in the season that had a .192 batting average against and a higher whiff rate than any of his other pitches.
Out of minor-league options, Wilson’s best chance to crack the roster with the Brewers may come out of the bullpen considering the array of starters the team already has at the MLB level.
Former Brewers lefty returns on minor-league deal
Side-winding lefthander Alex Claudio, who spent 2019-20 with the Brewers, signed a minor-league contract with an invite to MLB spring training on Tuesday.
Claudio appeared in a league-high 83 games for the Brewers in 2019 and had a 4.11 ERA across 81 innings in two seasons with the team. He has since bounced around between the Angels, Red Sox and Mets, appearing in 44 big-league games.
In 2019, the Brewers acquired Claudio from the Texas Rangers in exchange for a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick, which was the 42nd overall selection in the draft. One pick later, the Orioles selected Gunnar Henderson, considered to now be the top prospect in baseball.