The Milwaukee Brewers have lost another high-leverage, left-handed option in their bullpen for the foreseeable future.
Angel Zerpa was placed on the 15-day injured list on Wednesday, April 29, with left forearm tightness, retroactive to April 26.
Left-hander Brian Fitzpatrick was selected from Class AAA Nashville in the corresponding move.
“It’s highly concerning,” manager Pat Murphy said. “It’s something that had been kind of bothering him. His velocity went down during the game (on April 25) and William (Contreras) looked over at me like, ‘It’s not right.’ The velocity was down some, but not drastically.
“That’s when we got him out of there and they checked him out. Now it’s an IL and there’s going to be further testing and evaluation, and a second opinion.”
Asked for a possible timetable for Zerpa’s return, Murphy was blunt.
“He’s not going to be back anytime soon,” he said.
Zerpa blew two saves and took a loss in his last three outings and through 12 appearances (12 ⅔ innings) he’s 0-2 with a 6.39 ERA, WHIP of 1.74 and a pair of saves.
Zerpa had been expected to be a big contributor in Milwaukee’s remade bullpen after being acquired from the Kansas City Royals on Dec. 14 in exchange for outfielder Isaac Collins and right-hander Nick Mears.
He impressed while pitching for eventual champion Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic in March, going 1-0 while not allowing a run with eight strikeouts in 5 ⅓ innings spread over six appearances.
But could his usage in the WBC have potentially played a role in his becoming injured at this early stage of the season?
The Brewers, after all, have already been without outfielder Jackson Chourio to this point after he suffered a fractured bone in his left hand while also playing for Venezuela in the WBC.
“The appearances here, I think, were spread out pretty good,” Murphy said. “Obviously you can allude to (the WBC potentially being a cause), but there’s no proof why these guys get hurt when they do. There’s other guys that have been underused purposely in the same thing.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to it. We don’t know if there were remains of an old injury. We just don’t know, so you can’t pin it on the WBC.”
With Zerpa and fellow reliever Jared Koenig (elbow sprain, late May, early June return) badly dinging their left-handed depth in the bullpen, the Brewers will now turn to their 2022 10th-round draft pick Fitzpatrick.
The Smithtown, N.Y., native and Rutgers University product has enjoyed a steady ascent through Milwaukee’s minor-league system, including stops at Class High A Wisconsin, Class AA Biloxi and Nashville last season.
He wasn’t invited to major-league spring training but was unscored upon in seven Cactus League appearances with seven strikeouts in 6 ⅔ innings and carried that over to Nashville, where he was 1-1 in 10 appearances with a 0.00 ERA (two unearned runs), a 0.87 WHIP and 11 strikeouts in 10 ⅓ innings.
“He was great this spring,” said Murphy. “He’s got five offerings but the fastball-change sticks out. He was good in the spring and apparently he’s done really well.
“Excited as hell for him. I love it. I’m so excited to be in a position to see all these guys make their debuts.”
Fitzpatrick actually pitched ⅔ of an inning in an exhibition game against the Cincinnati Reds on March 24 at American Family Field and now finds himself back in the same venue awaiting his major-league debut.
“That’s always the goal, is to get up here when you’re in the minor leagues and to help out the organization in any way that you can,” Fitzpatrick said. “During that time I was really trying to soak it all in and be in the moment, and I knew that was how I was going to eventually get here – just take it a day at a time, a task at a time.”
Fitzpatrick was asked to describe himself as a pitcher. His arsenal includes four-seam and two-seam fastballs, cutter, changeup and sweeper.
“I’m a competitor. I love to compete,” he said. “I leave it all out there. I don’t leave any regrets on the field. Everybody’s got something that they’re really good at in this world, and I was blessed enough to be really good at baseball.”
Additionally, the Brewers announced Chourio and first baseman Andrew Vaughn began their minor-league rehab assignments at Nashville and that outfielder Luis Matos cleared waivers and was outrighted to Nashville.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers place Angel Zerpa on IL with ‘highly concerning’ forearm tightness
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
