Brewers get high marks for Andrew Zerpa trade

Earlier this offseason, the Brewers sent Isaac Collins and right-handed pitcher Nick Mears to the Kansas City Royals, in exchange for left-handed pitcher Angel Zerpa, in one of the biggest trades of the offseason, so far.

ESPN gives Milwaukee a B-minus for the trade, which plugged a pretty big hole in the bullpen.

“This is a prototypical off-the-radar move for the Brewers,” Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield write for ESPN. “One that has little downside, a good bit of upside and costs relatively little in the payroll department. Zerpa is a hard-throwing lefty who was developed as a starter during his slow rise through the Royals’ system before transitioning to a mid-leverage bullpen role once he finally stuck in The Show.

“Zerpa can dial it up to 99 mph or so when he’s revved up, but doesn’t miss as many bats as elite relievers with that kind of top-end velocity do. He does feature elite vertical movement on his slider and that, combined with the hard sinker he throws to hitters on both sides of the plate, allowed him to produce groundballs at a 99th percentile rate last season, per Statcast.”

Last season, Zerpa struck out 58 in 64 innings of work, while surrendering 30 earned runs but only walking 22 on his way to a 5-2 start in his 69 appearances for the Kansas City Royals.

The Brewers’ pitching lab has developed a reputation for turning unheralded players with dominant traits into legitimate weapons on the mound.

If Zerpa can produce more of the same, and leverage his 99 mph heat into a few more strikeouts, he could quickly go from an off-the-radar trade piece into a late-inning machine for the Brewers.