MILWAUKEE — He may not have had the stuff of Corbin Burnes nor the model of Freddy Peralta, however right-hander Colin Rea quietly bought the job achieved every time the Brewers referred to as upon him in 2023.
So, the membership is bringing him again for extra.
The Brewers on Thursday signed Rea, a right-handed pitcher who’d hit free company hours earlier, to a one-year contract with a membership possibility for 2025. The 33-year-old got here to 2023 Spring Coaching on a Minor League deal however earned a big function within the large leagues by going 6-6 with a 4.55 ERA in 26 video games (22 begins) throughout 5 stints with Milwaukee. He set profession highs in wins, video games, begins, innings pitched (124 2/3) and strikeouts (110) whereas holding opponents to a .235 batting common and posting a 1.19 WHIP. The group went 14-8 in his begins.
Alongside the way in which, Rea helped the group navigate a sequence of accidents to its deep crop of beginning pitchers. Rea was one of many pitchers who helped hold Milwaukee afloat earlier than the group surged to 92 regular-season victories and the Nationwide League Central title, generally filling in for an harm, generally serving as a sixth starter to supply the others some further relaxation, and infrequently figuring out of the bullpen.
When Rea pitched into the sixth inning for a win over the Astros on Could 23 at American Household Discipline, it marked his first Main League victory since 2020 with the Cubs, and his first victory in a Main League recreation he began since July 1, 2016, for the Padres, the group that drafted Rea within the twelfth spherical in 2011.
4 weeks after successful that begin in opposition to the Yankees in 2016, the Padres traded Rea to the Marlins, solely to see him returned after he blew out his elbow in his first begin for Miami. After that, Rea bounced from the Padres to the Cubs to Japan and to the Brewers for one look in reduction of Burnes within the penultimate recreation of 2021 when Milwaukee was resting up for the postseason – an outing that stood out to Brewers supervisor Craig Counsell and pitching coach Chris Hook. Then it was again to Japan in 2022 earlier than Rea returned to the Brewers final winter on a Minor League deal.
By April, Rea was within the large leagues, changing the injured Brandon Woodruff. After a quick demotion to Triple-A Nashville, he was again once more, changing the injured Wade Miley. Rea went from organizational depth to a key piece for a group that had 4 beginning pitchers on the injured listing at one time throughout Could.
“I believe the largest factor to say about Colin is that he is third on innings on this group, in order that simply tells you ways necessary that he is been,” Counsell mentioned in September. “He is been part of a variety of wins. He is been form of a rock for us, and at first of the season once we have been in Phoenix, you were not anticipating that in any respect.”
In contrast to final season, when he bounced between the Majors and Minors, Rea might be out of Minor League choices going into subsequent yr.
It stays to be seen how a lot the Brewers will depend on Rea going into 2024. Peralta is the one lock for Milwaukee’s beginning rotation, with Burnes and Adrian Houser probably producing commerce curiosity as they go into their closing offseason of arbitration. Woodruff, too, has yet one more yr of membership management however is prone to miss all of subsequent season following shoulder surgical procedure. Miley has a mutual possibility ($10 million, with a $1 million buyout) which have to be determined by Monday. Eric Lauer was faraway from the 40-man roster final month and elected free company.
Rea was one in all six extra gamers who grew to become free brokers on Thursday with the conclusion of the World Collection. Of the others — Rea, catcher Victor Caratini, first basemen Darin Ruf and Carlos Santana, third baseman Josh Donaldson and outfielder Jesse Winker — Caratini and Santana appear the probably to generate curiosity from the Brewers in a return.