With their ace having to wait one extra game in the rotation due to suspension, the Milwaukee Brewers have called up their long-awaited southpaw starter prospect for his MLB debut.
Robert Gasser, acquired in the notorious Josh Hader trade with San Diego, was the Padres’ 71st choice in the 2021 draft. He immediately ascended through the ranks in their farm system before heading to Milwaukee, where he was aggressively promoted to Double-A and Triple-A ball. In 2023, Robert Gasser earned the International League Pitcher of the Year Award. He had 166 strikeouts in 135 ⅓ innings of work and a 3.79 ERA in hitter-friendly conditions.
The automatic ball-strike system (with an infamously tight zone) forced him to refine his command even further, and one could argue that had the Brewers suffered any further pitching injuries last season, he would have been the next man up. After an issue with bone spurs at the outset of the 2024 season, he’s built up his workload again, with some interesting improvements to boot. He will make his first start in the majors Friday night against the St Louis Cardinals.
His arsenal is that of a traditional starter, with a four-seamer, cutter and sinker as fastball variations, combined with a sweeper and changeup that provide a lot of different movement profiles. He isn’t a high-octane arm, but his mix of pitches has produced a 29% strikeout rate in Triple-A since the start of 2023, so perhaps we should take a more complex dive into his arsenal;
As a side note, if you’re curious about any of the statistics listed above and what they might represent, I’ve created a biography of them here, which goes into what they mean and what defines good or terrible in the context of the league.
Four-Seam Fastball
Robert Gasser’s most effective swing-and-miss fastball is his four-seamer, which (like most such offerings) works best when located up in the zone. With the pitch generating a 28% whiff rate since the start of 2023, Gasser is throwing it harder than ever so far this season, touching 96 mph and sitting a solid mile per hour higher than he managed in 2023. Combine this with strong movement characteristics from a lower-than-average arm slot, and he has a vertical approach angle (VAA) of -4.17° since the start of ‘23, which would be good enough for 11th in MLB over that period.
Gasser has five good pitches with which he can confuse an offense, and he has made significant progress with his command since May 2023, leaving no doubt about his fitness to join the major-league rotation. He can pitch deeper into games and has a better track record of health and longevity than the majority of the Brewers’ current rotation, and he improves the quality of the rotation’s back end. Gasser is highly likely to stick in the major levels. He might be a crucial addition to the Brewers’ season, which has been surprisingly successful. Everything here makes sense, and he’ll be an interesting character to follow for the rest of the season.
