Brewers May Have Master Plan For Angel Zerpa After Controversial Trade

It's rare that the vast majority of neutral observers side with one team in a trade, but that seemed to be the case in the deal the Milwaukee Brewers made with the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.

Milwaukee shipped outfielder Isaac Collins and right-handed pitcher Nick Mears to the Kansas City Royals in a two-for-one swap for left-handed pitcher Angel Zerpa. Mainly because Collins just finished fourth in National League Rookie of the Year voting, folks were stunned it took more than him for the Brewers to simply land a reliever.

However, the Brewers have earned such a strong reputation for building rosters on a budget that the baseball community simply has to hear them out on why Zerpa was the right addition. And one insider hinted at a possible pathway for the Brewers to "win" the trade from a value perspective.

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Zerpa could be used as starter

Jun 11, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Angel Zerpa (61) pitches during the eighth inning against the New York Yankees at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

On Monday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that there is a possibility Zerpa will start for Milwaukee, something the 26-year-old has not done regularly since the Royals started using him out of the bullpen frequently in 2023.

"Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold told reporters the team is open to trying Ángel Zerpa as a starter," Rosenthal wrote. "No great surprise there – the Brewers are always trying to create starting pitchers, knowing how expensive they are in free agency and how difficult they are to acquire in trade."

"All but eight of Zerpa’s 148 major-league appearances have been as a reliever, but he started in the minors. The Brewers will be deep in starting pitching even if they trade Freddy Peralta. Robert Gasser, Aaron Ashby and DL Hall are their other potential left-handers."

Looking at Zerpa's induced break profile on Baseball Savant, what stands out the most is that his slider drops a lot more (8.9 inches more, to be exact) than the league average for lefties. Maybe the Brewers will try to develop a fastball/sinker that tunnels better with the slider, or maybe they'll tweak the slider itself to actually bring it closer to league average, because the pitch had a negative-3 run value this year.

In some trades, "winning" the deal in terms of value stats like WAR isn't the No. 1 objective. But in this one, between two teams hoping to one day win championships on middling budgets, that's pretty fair to state, and if Zerpa were to become a starter, one could more easily envision a path to the Brewers carrying the day.

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