Although the Milwaukee Brewers lost out on signing coveted free agent starting pitcher Yu Darvish, the organization is still set on acquiring another starter to help boost the status of their pitching staff. As things stand, Milwaukee projects to have a decent pitching rotation heading into the 2018 season, but the organization lacks in upside compared to division rivals such as the Chicago Cubs, who recently signed YU Darvish to a max contract, and already have a very competitive pitching core.
Currently, Chase Anderson, Zach Davies, and Jhoulys Chacin are the known starters for the Brew Crew, with Brent Suter, Junior Guerra, Aaron Wilkerson, Brandon Woodruff, and Yovani Gallardo set to do battle this spring for the fourth and fifth slots. That aside, Milwaukee has been linked to a multitude of different pitching options that the club is looking at bring aboard.
The most talked about option as of recent has been Oakland Athletics pitcher Jharel Cotton. The recently turned 26 year old was originally a 20th-round pick by the Dodgers back in 2012 but was dealt to Oakland at the trade deadline in 2016 as a part of the Rich Hill deal.
He debuted in the big leagues that September and tossed 29.1 innings with a 2.15 ERA across five starts, though FIP- (90) and DRA- (100) saw some luck involved in that level of run prevention. The 5’11” Cotton posted a 3.65 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 during 468.1 innings pitched coming up through the minors and after his terrific run down the stretch, he entered 2017 ranked as a top-100 prospect by both Baseball America and Fangraphs.
He features a mid-90s fastball that averaged 93.6 MPH in 2017 along with a cutter, curveball, and his bread-and-butter pitch – a plus-plus changeup. As spring training approaches, the Brewers will continue weighing their options, but expect Cotton to be a prioritized target for the club going forward. 