The Brewers opened the left hand Rob Zastryzny came off the 60-day injured list to join their bullpen, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. That’s right Carlos Rodriguez optioned to Triple-A. Angel Zerpa commuted to 60-day IL at Zastryzny’s place.
Zastryzny played for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic but strained his left shoulder in spring training with Milwaukee. He was placed on the 15-day injured list on March 25 and transferred to the 60-day IL in mid-April. That ruled Zastryzny out at the end of May, though he is now healthy and returning for his third season with the Brewers.
Zastryzny has had three extended injury absences since joining the Brewers in the 2024 season, so he’s thrown just 29 2/3 innings for them. His results in that sample were strong. Zastryzny has a 2.12 ERA while allowing just a .580 OPS to opposing hitters since 2024. At the same time, Zastryzny’s fastball sits in the low 90s, and his 4.09 FIP since 2024 shows that he’s benefited from luck (and good defense behind him).
That said, the Brewers only need Zastryzny to be a utility arm, not a premium back-end reliever. The club’s bullpen is in the Top 10 in the Majors in many metrics, including strikeout rate (24.3%), K-BB rate (13.9%), groundball rate (45.9%), and ERA (3.28). Among the eight trained Brewers, only Trevor McGill again Jake Woodford had ERAs over 4.50. Megill has aa 2.88 expected ERA and solid peripherals, so he represents a nice regression. Led by nine wins Aaron Ashbyother releases range from solid to excellent. Zastryzny is out of options, so he will need to re-establish himself quickly, as he could be delisted by DFA.
Zerpa’s move to IL for 60 days is completely expected. He had Tommy John surgery a few weeks ago and as a result will miss all of 2026 and a good chunk of 2027. Zerpa will likely double his $1.095MM salary in the settlement as a result. The lefty had a 4.03 ERA in 118 1/3 innings with Kansas City since 2024-25, and an impressive 60.5% groundball rate that was fifth best among professional pitchers. With Zerpa’s current timeline, he will have a chance to provide a year and a half of usable free agency before hitting free agency after 2028.
More to come.
