With a record of 26-28 heading into Monday, the Milwaukee Brewers find themselves further down in the NL Central standings than they are used to being. After shockingly good starts from the Cubs and Cardinals, the Brewers are 6.5 games out of first place. One of the only bright spots for Milwaukee this season has been 23-year-old rookie pitcher Logan Henderson.
Henderson has started four games for Milwaukee and has a 3-0 record with a 1.71 ERA across 21 innings of work. The young right-hander has also struck out 29 batters over this stretch. Despite starting his career as good as he could have hoped, Henderson has been optioned back to Triple-A to make room for a returning arm in DL Hall. It's safe to say Brewers fans are full of confusion, shock and rage.
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Milwaukee Brewers sticking with veterans over rising stars
The Brewers are a team full of veteran pitching, most of whom have been on the IL. Over the last week, Aaron Civale and Aaron Ashby have rejoined the club after an IL stint. Logan Henderson was just optioned to Triple-A to make room for DL Hall and Brandon Woodruff is now eyeing his return to the big leagues.
The only reason Henderson was in the majors and making starts was because of the injury-ridden roster the Milwaukee Brewers possessed. It sounds like the Brewers want to see what their initial vision for 2025 will look like by getting everyone healthy. What they are failing to realize is sometimes you have to call an audible and roll with the hot hand regardless of experience.
Henderson has yet to pitch more than 80 innings in a season as a professional baseball player so perhaps the Brewers felt like he would not be able to sustain this success long-term. There is no reason for them to think this, as he had shown no signs of slowing down.
The only logical explanation for Henderson's send-down is that the Brewers feel their bullpen needed to be addressed and Henderson has options on his contract. However, most teams in the MLB would have no problem finding a way to keep a starter on their roster who has a 1.71 ERA over his first 21 innings.
Milwaukee can try to spin this roster move any way they want to but it will still not sit right with Brewers fans. It was a more than questionable decision to demote an arm that seems capable of leading Milwaukee back into the division race.