MLB’s most valuable pitcher needs to be even better
Brewers’ crippled bullpen pins hopes on Josh Hader
PHOENIX – There might not be a more valuable pitcher in the game.
Certainly, no one had a greater impact on his team’s success.
Arguably, he’s the greatest reliever in all of baseball.
He’s Josh Hader of the Brewers. “There is no disputing how valuable Josh Hader is to our team and his impact in the game,” manager Craig Counsell says. “No major league hitter would dispute it. Nobody that watches him pitch would dispute it. When you strike out 140 (actually 143) guys, nobody is going to argue with it. He has created a standard that people are surprised when someone even hits the ball.”
Hader turned in one of the finest seasons by a left-handed reliever, helping Milwaukee win the NL Central title in the 163rd game of the 2018 season. The Brewers desperately need an encore.
They rely on their bullpen perhaps more than any other team, with their relievers accounting for 601⁄3 of their 922⁄3 innings in the postseason last year. They’ve had one complete game by their starting rotation since July 2015, and no Brewers starter has thrown 200 innings since Yovani Gallardo in 2012.
Yet they will open the season with two of their veteran relievers, Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress, on the injured list. Knebel is set to miss an extended period with a ligament issue.
“Josh can’t pitch every day, even though a lot of people who would like to see him do that,” Counsell said. “He’s human. He’s going to give up runs once in a while. He’s not going to strike everybody out. He’s not always going to be perfect. But he impacts our games in such a meaningful way.”
Yet while no one can debate Hader’s value to the Brewers, it might be two more years before his worth can be proved in an arbitration hearing. In a week that saw nine contract extensions, worth nearly $1 billion in total, there was also Hader’s new deal. This one wasn’t negotiated. Hader’s contract was simply renewed: $687,600.
Hader was understandably disappointed but insists there’s no bitterness. He knows how this business works. So there’s nothing he can do but wait. And pray his valuable left arm holds up.
The Brewers have yet to approach him about a contract extension, which likely will be tabled for at least a year. “I’d be interested in that,” Hader said, “just so I can take care of my family. I just want my family to be chillin’. I don’t want them to worry about a thing. They did everything for me growing up. I’d like to take care of them, too.”
The Brewers called on Hader 23 times last season to pitch at least two innings. They went 23-0 in those games.The Brewers summoned him seven times during the postseason, which ended in a Game 7 loss to the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series. He didn’t give up a run in 10 innings, striking out 16.
“It was just insane what he did,” Brewers first baseman Eric Thames said. “We definitely wouldn’t have been there without him . ... What’s even more amazing is how he handled all of that adversity after the All-Star break.”
The most glorious moment of Hader’s career, pitching in his first All-Star Game, was scarred before he walked off the mound. Racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments he made on his Twitter account while in high school were exposed for all of the world to see.
He profusely apologized, saying those were no longer his beliefs, and entered MLB’s sensitivity training program. He was forgiven, at least publicly, by his teammates and Brewer fans. Despite hearing taunts and boos on the road, he never once appeared rattled.
Hader says he’s a better person now and in a better place in life since those exposed tweets. “It happened, and we got through it,” Hader said. “You learn how to better yourself as a person and how you go about the way of life. I know I’m a better man for it.”