The Milwaukee Brewers recently traded their ace, two-time All-Star Freddy Peralta, to the New York Mets. They also included right-handed pitcher Tobias Myers in the deal. In return, Milwaukee received two of New York’s top-five prospects, infielder/outfielder Jett Williams and right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat.
While Myers did not start games regularly in 2025, Peralta was the only Brewers pitcher to make 30+ starts in each of the last two seasons. With him gone, there is some concern about the depth of the starting rotation, especially after last year’s team saw it decimated by injuries at multiple points in the season.
The good news for Milwaukee is that they have many high-quality young arms who can compete for a job in the starting rotation. However, there is one, specifically, that manager Pat Murphy would rather keep in the bullpen.
Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy prefers using Aaron Ashby out of the bullpen
One of those pitchers is left-hander Aaron Ashby, who initially came up through the Brewers’ system as a starter but has recently been used as a multi-inning reliever.
And Murphy would prefer that it stays that way, per Adam McCalvy:
“They’re [DL Hall and Ashby] both capable. Now with trading Freddy and Tobias, I think there might be more of a need for at least one of them to step in that role. Ashby has kind of separated himself, and he’s done a great job in that relief role. He can handle that and he’s really resilient.”
In 26 career starts, Ashby is 3-10 with a 4.81 ERA. However, in 71 career appearances out of the bullpen, he is 8-6 with a 2.55 ERA.
Based on these numbers alone, it is easy to see why Murphy would prefer to keep Ashby in the bullpen. Fortunately, the amount of young starters that the Brewers already have should allow him to do just that.
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