Brewers appoint Thiago Vieira to task, promote Bradley Blalock

The Brewers announced Monday that the right-hander Thiago Vieira He was assigned to the mission. His spot on the roster will go to the right-hander Bradley Blalock, who was called up from Double-A Biloxi for what would be his MLB debut. Milwaukee also selected an outfielder Chris Roller to Triple-A Nashville and brought back fellow outfielder Joey Weimer From the list of injured people.

Vieira, 30, is one of the most powerful pitchers in the game, averaging 98 mph on his heater this season and frequently touching triple digits. However, he has struck out in nine of his 16 starts this season, producing a 5.64 ERA over 22 1/3 innings. While Vieira has struck out 23.6% of his opponents, he has also walked 12.3% of the batters he has faced. Even more annoying is his tendency to call loudly. Opponents have hit six homers on him already this year — an average of 2.42 round trips per nine frames.

One of only five Brazilian-born players in big-league history, Vieira had a stellar career with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League from 2020 to 2022. He has been with the Brewers since returning to the United States and caught a glimpse with The Mariners (1 round in 2017) and White Sox (24 2/3 rounds from 2018-19) before that. Overall, the flame-throwing righty pitched 51 MLB frames and surrendered a 6.18 ERA with a 21.2% strikeout rate and an 11.6% walk rate. The Brewers will have a week to trade him, try to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

Blalock, 23, was a 32nd-round pick by the Red Sox in 2019 and was traded from Boston to Milwaukee last year. Luis Urias Switch. The right-hander has raised his profile significantly since that humble draft pick, and never more so than in 2024, when he opened the season with seven starts of 2.27 ERA ball at the Double-A level. This marks Blalock’s first action over Ball A. He has struck out a below-average 20.6% of his opponents this year, but has posted an excellent 5% walk rate and a nearly 43.1% average ground ball rate.

Entering the 2024 season, Blalock was ranked 13th among Milwaukee farmhands by FanGraphs, 17th by MLB.com and 22nd by Baseball America. The righty gets praise for his above-average command, a 92-96 mph fastball and a few average or near-average secondary offerings (slider, split changeup, curveball). Similar to FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen His rise to that a Jose Urquidi The type of starter who could transition into a long relief role on a playoff roster.

The Brewers don’t need a starting shortstop in the coming days, but Blalock will be there to give them some length in the event of a starting shortstop from the righty Joe Ross today. It is also possible that he could join an injury-hit squad over the next few days. Ross is scheduled to play today with the rookie Robert Gasser On the hill tomorrow and Freddy Peralta To follow on Wednesday. Milwaukee is on Thursday and then scheduled to go Bryce Wilson, Colleen Rhea And Ross again next weekend in Boston, where Blalock will likely face the organization that recruited him.

with Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, Jacob Jones And DL Hall Whatever is on the injured list at the moment, the Brewers have been patching things together in their starting pitching staff. Even if he doesn’t slot into the rotation right now, it’s possible Blalock could eventually be called up to start some games later in the summer.