How Did The Brewers Get Eric Lauer?
The Brewers had Eric Lauer through trade.
The Padres traded Lauer and Luis Uras to the Milwaukee Brewers on November 27, 2019, in exchange for Trent Grisham, Zach Davies, cash considerations, or a player to be named later.
Because of his unreliability, Lauer’s troubles have been much more distressing to witness. He was brilliant out of the bullpen against the Chicago Cubs in his Brewers debut, striking out six batters in two and a third innings.
He then failed to make it out of the fourth inning in each of his outings, surrendering a total of 13 runs.
He’s had two solid starts this season against two National League juggernauts in the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, but he’s been roughed up by the Philadelphia Phillies and killed by the Detroit Tigers.
Despite the southpaw’s poor overall performance with the Brewers, the team is still willing to give him starts.
In recent weeks, Craig Counsell has used a six-man rotation to give his young starters more rest and to offer Lauer more opportunity.
The Brewers start a series against the Cincinnati Reds tonight, and he’ll get the ball. Why do they believe he is deserving of more opportunities?
The first and most obvious argument is that Lauer turned 26 earlier last month and is still under club control until 2024.
He was signed by the Brewers in the hopes of providing valuable innings for several seasons. After a 40-inning sample size, they’re not going to abandon him.
However, there’s more to it than that. The high ERA may not reflect that, but Lauer’s raw material has been far superior.
In March of 2020, he was sidelined due to a shoulder ailment, and it was later discovered that he had a ruptured left capsule.
He’s added a couple of ticks to his fastball now that he’s fully recovered. On his heater, the lefty is averaging a career-high 92.7 mph, up from 91.5 mph last season.
Lauer has now hit 94 or higher on the gun 46 times this year, up from only six times last summer. With his velocity up, he’s been able to get more fastballs past batters.
The number of people who have complained about it has increased from 21.6 percent to 37 percent.