Aaron Ashby was in his rookie season with the Milwaukee Brewers back in 2021 when Brent Suter was christened with the nickname “Vulture” for the 12 games he won out of the bullpen.
Just six weeks or so into this season and sporting a nifty 7-0 record, Ashby is already being hit with the same good-natured ribbing by his teammates.
“I come in and they’re hitting me with ‘The Vulture’ or ‘The Snake’ or whatever,” Ashby said with a wry smile on Sunday, May 10. “But it’s all good, man.
“I love it.”
There was no tacking onto the win total for Ashby on Sunday as he came on to strike out three of the four batters he faced in the eighth inning of a tie game eventually won by Brewers in walk-off fashion when Brice Turang homered with two outs in the ninth off David Bednar.
Even still, the left-hander’s seven victories are tops in the major leagues and after he’d logged his seventh with a two-inning stint in a 10-inning win on Saturday night Ashby was one of only 12 pitchers since 1974 to have won seven or more games by May 9.
And he’d done so as the only reliever on the list and in easily the fewest number of innings – 25, with Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan winning seven games in 46 innings of work in 2023.
“I really don’t know how else to describe it,” Ashby said. “It’s just one of those things. I feel good that I haven’t come in with the lead, given up the lead and then we take the lead and take a win away from the starter. That’s a really (lousy) way to get a win.
“I think it’s just timing, man. I’ve thrown in multiple situations, and it’s just kind of like one of those things, you know?”
Indeed, Ashby has been a unique and valuable weapon for the Brewers, who have employed him in various roles in his team-leading 19 appearances (including one as an opener) out of a bullpen that’s been more fluid and shakier than it has in a number of seasons due to various factors.
He’s saved a game and also entered in the fifth inning, thrown as many as 2 ⅔ innings and 44 pitches and as few as a third of an inning and seven pitches and twice pitched on consecutive days (most recently Saturday and Sunday) with his five-pitch mix featuring a 97.1-mph average sinker as devastating as ever.
“With what this team has been through in (38 games), and we’ve had a lot of adversity, this kid’s been a stable force,” manager Pat Murphy said. “It has to be a guy that really loves to throw and a guy that really embraces that role. Not a lot of teams (do), because they want that leverage available every day.”
It was only a couple seasons ago that Ashby made but two spot starts for the Brewers in the first half of the season as he continued a comeback from shoulder surgery before experiencing a breakthrough with Class AAA Nashville and then emerging as a bullpen weapon for Milwaukee down the stretch.
Murphy used a story to illustrate just how far Ashby has come in that time.
“It was before the ’24 season and Ashby was rehabbing,” he recounted. “I looked out the window and across to the farthest corner of the field there and somebody’s playing catch. It was a week after fantasy camp and I watched this guy, this left-hander, kind of barely getting it out. ‘Why would they still work out here?’
“It was Ashby, and I’m like, ‘He will never help us this year.’ And he did, and he was extremely valuable last year. It’s a testament to the kid. He’s an incredible human.”
Now sporting a 2.08 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 26 innings, Ashby is eyeing 110 innings as a goal after having logged 66 ⅔ in 43 appearances out of the bullpen last season (he also pitched in seven of the Brewers’ nine playoff games). His career high is 107 ⅓ set in 2022 but 19 of his 27 outings that season came as a starter.
“I spent so much time not contributing, you kind of just realize how sweet it is to be here and the value in contributing in really effective ways whenever your name is called,” Ashby said. “My results aside, I just want them to be able to rely on me whenever Murph calls down there and says, ‘Ashby is in the game.’
“I want him to never regret that decision and I want the team to feel like when I come in the game, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got, no matter what.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers lefty Aaron Ashby taking his MLB-leading seven wins in stride
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
