After a dominant spring, Chad Patrick’s bullpen reliability has vanished. The Milwaukee Brewers must now decide if fatigue or role inconsistency is fueling the right-hander's sudden, high-scoring collapse.
Milwaukee Brewers reliever Chad Patrick has allowed seven runs in his last two appearances.
Not only that, but he went a stretch of not being able to retire seven batters in a row. In total, he's allowed those seven runs, all earned, while recording just three outs.
Looking at how stellar he's been since moving to the bullpen, something is very clearly off with the 27-year-old. He hasn't taken his "demotion" to heart, and instead used it as motivation to prove he's still one of the best pitchers Milwaukee has to offer.
Lately, that simply hasn't been the case. After picking up his third save on June 8, Patrick's ERA has risen from 2.22 to 3.35 and there's plenty of room for concern.
Patrick Gave Up Four Runs on Five Hits vs. Phillies
Patrick's last two appearances haven't gone according to plan, and that's putting it lightly. The Indiana native was the hero in the team's opener in Las Vegas against the Athletics, but he turned into the villain in that series finale along with game two against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Manager Pat Murphy and pitching coach Chris Hook are firm believers in what Patrick can do. He's been used in a two-headed-monster type role, piggybacking off a short start from the likes of Shane Drohan or Coleman Crow. When needed, he does slot back into the starting rotation.
It's possible all the bouncing around is getting to Patrick, but one would have to question why now all of a sudden it's become an issue when he was pitching so well in April and May.
Fresh off his third game of the year where he's allowed four runs, Patrick's dominance in the bullpen has come to a screeching hault.
Should Patrick Become a Starter Again?
The biggest question is, did this move to the bullpen run its course?
With such a large sample size, it shouldn't be hard to tell. It's not like Murphy is using Patrick as much as someone like Aaron Ashby, far from it, but some of Patrick's numbers are eye-opening and wouldn't be in his favor should he return to the starting rotation.
According to Baseball Savant, Patrick is under the 31% percentile for his xBA (20), Avg Exit Velo (31), K% (28), and GB% (21). Not being a strikeout or groundout pitcher is fine, especially since his Whiff% is up to the 62% percentile.
He has a fastball run value that's in the top 80%, but clearly something still isn't working and this is an issue the Brewers can't afford to have with how many pitchers are currently injured.
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