Milwaukee Brewers

Zack Greinke / RHP / starter

Greinke deals the basic four pitches, but they can be devastating for batters. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and he throws it with decent control. He has a tendency to work his arm side with the fastball (away from LHs, inside to RHs). Zack’s changeup gets good movement and he’ll throw it strictly to LHs. Greinke will vary his breaking pitches, throwing his curveball anywhere in the 70s and his slider anywhere in the 80s. Both pitches can break hard and miss bats.

Zack has had a crazy up-and-down career so far. He has gone from being high school Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2002, to minor league superstar, to major league bust, to suffering from depression, to Cy Young Award winner, and recently to being blockbuster trade material. The kid has always had lights out stuff, and it was inspirational to see him finally put it all together in 2009. 1/1/11 CSJ

[fastball(90-97), slider(83-89), curve(65-80), changeup(82-87)]



Yovani Gallardo / RHP / starter

Gallardo, a Mexican-born right-hander, has become a strict fastball / breaking ball pitcher. His changeup has all but vanished from his repertoire in 2011. Everything starts with Yovani's fastball, which looks straight and hittable, but is spotted well. He also locates his curveball and it has enough break and velocity to be tough to hit. Yovani will use plenty of tight sliders, especially against RHs. Again, the changeup is Gallardo's least used pitch, and he may not throw it in a given outing. While pitching out of the stretch position, Gallardo seems to lose a little on his fastball, falling to around 88-89 mph.

Gallardo dominated the minor leagues, reached the majors by age 21, and became the ace of the Brewers by 2009. Yovani can also hit. He won the 2010 NL Silver Slugger Award and was the first pitcher to ever homer off of Randy Johnson. Further, Gallardo earned plenty of street cred after being robbed at gun point in a Milwaukee supermarket parking lot in 2010. 9/30/11

[fastball(89-95), curve(75-81), slider(84-89), changeup(86-87)]

Shaum Marcum / RHP / starter

At only 29 years of age, Shaun Marcum has already defied the odds multiple times in his career. First, he reached the majors and pitches at a very high level with a fastball that barely touches 90 mph. Second, he missed all of 2009 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and came back to throw his best season of baseball in 2010. Now with the Milwaukee Brewers, Marcum is repeating last year’s success.

Marcum's winning ways can be traced directly to excellent assortment of secondary pitches. His changeup can get some funny movement and good deception. It has become his best pitch and he throws it often. Shaun throws a downward breaking curveball that can screw with the hitter's timing or get a swing-and-miss. He has a standard slider that he’ll show a couple of times a game, but his best breaking ball may be his cutter. He’ll work the cutter to either side of the plate to any hitter in an attempt to get easy batted outs. Marcum's fastball tops out about 90 mph, but looks sneaky fast after all those spinners and changeups. Surprisingly, his fastball flies fairly straight.

Marcum counts on his excellent control and command to succeed. He rarely “hangs” any of his junk balls, and he consistently stays on the edge of the strike zone. The Missouri born right-hander has a compact delivery with few moving parts. He short-arms his release from an over-the-top arm angle.

Marcum’s success may seem surprising if you’re looking at the radar gun. But after years of posting positive numbers at every level of baseball, nothing is surprising with this guy anymore.
8/15/11

[fastball(84-90), changeup(77-82), cutter(82-87), curve(71-76), slider(77-79)]

John Axford / RHP / closer

Axford starts everything with a fastball that explodes onto hitters out of an awkward, snapping arm action. He then mixes in two different breaking balls, although they can often blend together. Both his curve and slider get good downward movement and are thrown at a high velocity. I'm sure John also has a changeup hiding somewhere deep in his repertoire, I just haven't seen it.

Axford took an interesting path to the major leagues. He was born in Canada and drafted out of high school. Instead of signing, Axford chose to attend Notre Dame and pitched in the College World Series as a freshman. After two excellent seasons at ND, Axford needed TJ surgery in 2004. Axford finished his collegiate career in 2006 at Buffalo's Canisius College, where he battled his control and a lack of run support all season. Axford has always shown the ability to rack up strikeouts and really turned it on after the Brewers moved him to the bullpen full-time in 2009. He is now famous for his sweet 'stache and being the guy that made Trevor Hoffman a middle reliever.
8/14/11

[fastball(92-97), curve(79-81), slider(83-87), changeup]

Francisco Rodriguez / RHP / setup reliever

Francisco throws a tough breaking ball and can dominate with it. His fastball has lost some of that old velocity, but 92 mph with some natural cut is still tough to hit. The single-season saves leader now mixes in more and more changeups to both LHs and RHs. In 2011, KRod is mixing in a decent amount of sinking 2-seamers in an attempt to cut down on those heart-attack 40-pitch saves he often gets. Rodriguez uses an unbelievable amount of torque to deliver all his pitches, and it's all about "showtime". 6/9/11

[fastball(88-94), curve(73-82), changeup(80-86)]

Randy Wolf / LHP / starter

Wolf throws the four standard pitches. He has a straight fastball that he'll use most of the time and he's not afraid to pitch inside with it, even if his velocity would make you think pitching inside would be difficult. He drops in very slow "lollypop" curveballs, a straight change, and a slider that has tightened up in recent years. No surprises here, but somehow he can be an effective starting pitcher. 6/9/11

[fastball(87-91), curve(64-70), slider(82-85), changeup(77-81)]

Jose Veras / RHP / reliever

Jose Veras is a tall man. He uses his lanky body to produce a mid-90s fastball and sharp breaking curve. He has consistently produced good strikeout totals in his professional career, but also tends to post a high WHIP. Veras has also shown a split-finger pitch that can dive under bats. 4/8/09 CSJ

[fastball(92-97), curve(75-82), splitter(80-86)]

Kameron Loe / RHP / reliever

Loe rolls a hard sinker to home plate in hopes of inducing easy groundouts. His lesser velocity makes him hittable, but he continues to pound the lower part of the strikezone. Loe mixes in a good number of curveballs as his clear second pitch. He also owns a standard slider and changeup that are rarely employed.

In 2010, at age 28, Loe seemed to figure something out and has been throwing quality late inning relief for the Brewers. 8/14/11

[sinker(86-92), curve(77-79), slider(82-86), changeup]

Chris Narveson / LHP / starter

Narveson might be a soft-tosser, but he can be very effective. He throws a ton of changeups, even more often that his fastball in some starts. He lives low and away to RHs, throwing soft and softer as an at-bat goes deeper. Chris has a big hook of a curveball that he likes to bounce, never wanting to give in. Narvy's fourth pitch is a cutter that he'll mix in on his glove side to both RHs and LHs.

Narveson starred at Roberson High School in Asheville, NC, where he became a second round draft pick in 2000. 5/3/11

[fastball(86-89), changeup(78-82), curve(71-76), cutter(83-85)]

Marco Estrada / RHP / starter - reliever

Estrada is an unheralded career minor leaguer from Long Beach State. His solid minor league ERAs seem to defy his so-so stuff and mediocre ratios.

Estrada throws a moving fastball around 90 mph and a straight changeup in the upper-70s. The former DirtBag spins a curveball and cutter for breaking pitches. 5/3/11

[fastball(88-92), changeup(75-79), curve(77-82), cutter(88-89)]

Mark Rogers / RHP / starter

Mark Rogers is going to be one of those rare shoulder surgery success stories. After being selected out of a Maine high school in the 1st round of the 2004 amateur draft, Rogers pitched parts of just two professional seasons before destroying his labrum. He had surgery to repair it, then followed up that surgery with a second one to clean out the scar tissue. All told, he missed part of 2006, and all of '07 and '08.

However, he has remade himself over the last two healthy seasons, and came to Milwaukee in 2010 with a mid-90s fastball. Rogers has a simple windup with few moving parts. He will break off sliders and curves, and throw a hard changeup. The slider is normally in the low to mid-80s, but will blend with the upper-70s curveball at times. Don't be surprised if this guy becomes a fixture in the Brewers rotation this year. 1/24/11 CSJ

[fastball(90-96), slider(80-86), curve(76-79), changeup(83-84)]

Manny Parra / LHP / starter - reliever

Parra has a simple, compact delivery that generates a low-90s fastball. He releases over-the-top, making his fastball very straight. However, with this over-the-top arm angle, he is able to use a diving splitter as a strikeout pitch. His splitter is thrown to any batter once he gets ahead. Manny uses a curveball and also mixes in a straight changeup. Parra had good results throughout the minor leagues, but that hasn't translated into Major League success. 3/6/09 CSJ

[fastball(89-95), curve(74-79), splitter(79-84), changeup(85-87)]

Zach Braddock / LHP / reliever

[fastball(91-94), slider(80-81)]