The Brewers placed lefty Angel Zerpa on the injured list earlier this week after he experienced forearm tightness. Manager Pat Murphy suggested not long after that the southpaw could be facing a lengthy absence. Murphy provided another ominous update Friday, telling the Brewers beat that surgery is on the table (via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).
A specific diagnosis remains unclear. Forearm tightness can be a precursor to a host of serious injuries for pitchers, including UCL and/or flexor tendon damage and irritation of the ulnar nerve, among other possibilities. The nature of the injury and the still under-consideration surgery will determine the length of absence, but it seems the Brewers shouldn’t plan on Zerpa returning anytime soon.
Milwaukee acquired Zerpa from the Royals in an offseason trade sending Isaac Collins and Nick Mears back to Kansas City. The Brewers sold high on both players — Collins in particular — in apparent hopes of acquiring a more controllable, hard-throwing lefty with big ground-ball numbers. Given Zerpa’s solid track record with K.C. and the Brewers’ success in coaxing new levels of performance out of players, there was reason to be optimistic about a potential breakout.
That hasn’t panned out in the slightest. Zerpa has appeared in a dozen games and been roughed up for 11 runs (nine earned) on 16 hits and six walks in just 12 2/3 frames. His 14.5% strikeout rate is among the lowest in the league, and his 10.9% walk rate is a career-worst mark. Zerpa’s sinker is averaging 95.6 mph — down a full mile per hour over last year’s average of 96.6 mph.
From 2021-25 in Kansas City, Zerpa combined to record a 3.97 ERA with a 19.7% strikeout rate, a 7% walk rate and a massive 57.1% grounder rate. He tended to struggle against right-handed opponents, but the Brewers presumably had some ideas about how to help him correct that problem.
With Zerpa increasingly looking like a 60-day IL candidate, any such hopes from the Brewers will be placed on hold. They control him through 2028, so there’s still some hope for down-the-road contributions even if he ends up requiring a major surgery. He’d need to be tendered a contract, but Zerpa is playing this season on a $1.095MM salary, so even the generally frugal Brewers wouldn’t find his salary to be a true roadblock.
Zerpa joined fellow southpaws Rob Zastryzny and Jared Koenig on the injured list when he landed there. Zastryzny is dealing with a back strain. Koenig has a UCL sprain that he’s currently trying to rehab without surgery.
Three lefty relievers on the injured list would normally deplete an organization’s supply, but the Brewers are deeper in southpaw bullpen arms than nearly any team in the sport. Even with Zerpa, Koenig and Zastryzny out, the have Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, Shane Drohan and Brian Fitzpatrick in the MLB bullpen. Fitzpatrick was added to the roster after Zerpa’s injury and just recently made his big league debut. Ashby and Hall both have ERAs under 2.50 with big strikeout numbers but troubling command woes.
