D'Amato: Pitcher Junior Guerra has given the Brewers an unexpected lift
The Milwaukee Brewers were not supposed to have enough starting pitching to overtake the Chicago Cubs this year, even with an improved lineup. That may well prove to be the case, but everybody seemed to have forgotten about one man who could make a big difference in the rotation.
Junior Guerra.
He was barely on the radar, at least externally, when the Brewers opened camp. He’d turned 33 in January and was coming off a 2017 season in which everything went wrong, starting on opening day, when he hurt his calf breaking out of the batter’s box on a bunt play.
Guerra had one good year in the bigs, when he went a surprising 9-3 with a 2.81 ERA as a 31-year-old rookie in 2016. Otherwise, he’d been the very embodiment of a journeyman, making more stops in baseball’s backwaters than a FedEx truck on Christmas eve.
Perhaps he was just another in a long line of one-year wonders, a guy who rose from obscurity and flashed in the pan. For sure, none of the experts was projecting him as a 15-game winner.
The other possibility is that we underestimated him.
Guerra has been sharp in two starts since the Brewers recalled him from Colorado Springs on April 11 to fill the fifth spot in the rotation. In his first start, he went 5 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and one run in a 3-2 victory over Brewers killer Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals.
In his second start Tuesday, Guerra went 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one hit and three walks with seven strikeouts in a 2-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Only one runner advanced past first base.
“The first inning, I felt lost,” he said. “After that, I felt really good. I put my fastball wherever I needed to. The thing I wanted to do was go deep in the game and give the team a chance to win.”
He is 1-0 with a 0.82 ERA, with five walks and 11 strikeouts over 11 innings. Opponents are batting .139 against him. Granted, it’s a small sample size, but Guerra has given the Brewers a big lift.
“We need, and I think every club needs, some surprises,” said manager Craig Counsell. “You need some positive surprises. I think we can definitely say Junior thus far has been one. But at the same time this is a player that had a highly impressive season and we’re not talking five years removed from it. It (was) 2016. And he’s off to a good start. It’s certainly a boost for us and something we needed.”
Guerra would just as soon wipe the 2017 season from his mind. He spent nearly two months on the disabled list with the calf injury and wasn’t the same pitcher when he returned, posting a 1-4 record with a 5.12 ERA. He had trouble throwing strikes and his velocity dipped more than 1 mph. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re not a flamethrower a couple feet on your fastball can be the difference between weak contact and a liner in the gap.
“Last year, I didn’t feel good all year,” he said. “Everything was different. My arm didn’t feel good. My delivery was wrong. But that’s what happens sometimes. That’s baseball.”
He got straightened out in winter ball in his native Venezuela and had a good spring as he tried to reclaim a spot in the rotation, but ultimately was optioned to Colorado Springs to start the season.
Since being recalled, Guerra has looked a lot like the 2016 version of himself. He’s back to throwing strikes, especially with his trademark splitter, which had Reds swinging at pitches in the dirt and catcher Jacob Nottingham scrambling to block them Tuesday.
“I thought he pitched great,” Nottingham said. “I thought he attacked hitters and pitched down in the zone. His split-finger was nasty, especially the last three innings.”
The big thing, Guerra said, is that he’s healthy.
“I feel really good right now,” he said. “I’m putting everything together. I’m working hard every day and I want to help the team win games. That’s it.”
If this isn't an encouraging development for the Brewers, we need to change the definition of the words.