Brewers’ biggest flop to begin 2026 MLB season

The Milwaukee Brewers were a strong, battle-tested team when the 2026 season started. They had won the NL Central title two years in a row. Even though they traded Freddy Peralta to the Mets over the winter, they were able to move on and rely on young pitchers to fill the gap. Brandon Sproat, a 25-year-old righty who was part of the Peralta deal, was given a spot in the Opening Day rotation and a chance to show what he could do right away. Sproat has been a complete disaster in three games, with a 10.45 ERA and a WHIP of 2.32. This has left the Milwaukee coaching staff with many more questions than answers.

In a Brewers rotation already missing Quinn Priester (thoracic outlet syndrome) and navigating early-season injury concerns across the board, Sproat’s inability to provide length or quality starts has been the single most glaring individual failure of Milwaukee’s otherwise encouraging start to 2026.

A Debut That Set the Wrong Tone

Right away, the alarm bells went off. Sproat gave up a grand slam to Colson Montgomery on the second batter he faced in his first start for the Brewers against the Chicago White Sox. He then gave up seven runs in just three innings, giving up six hits, four walks, and three home runs before being taken out to start the fourth. It was a terrible first game for a pitcher who was supposed to bring stability.

First inning GRAND SLAM for Colson Montgomery! Brandon Sproat's Brewers debut is off to a brutal start pic.twitter.com/KV0bMm7leo

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 29, 2026

The Brewers’ offense bailed him out that day, rallying for an 11-9 win, so Sproat avoided the loss. But no scoreboard mercy could hide what the numbers revealed: his sinker command was absent, his sequencing was off, and big-league hitters were making him pay. His two subsequent outings only deepened the concern.

After giving up four home runs in just 6⅔ combined innings across those next starts, his ERA ballooned to a staggering 14.85 before settling at 10.45 following a more recent bullpen appearance. His Statcast numbers are equally alarming, a 91 mph average exit velocity against, 47.6% hard-hit rate, and a .560 wOBA allowed tell the story of a pitcher who hasn’t been getting batters out by luck or circumstance; he’s simply been pummeled.

The Pedigree That Made This Hurt More

Brewers fans are frustrated with Sproat’s problems because of the circumstances surrounding his acquisition. Milwaukee gave up Freddy Peralta, a proven starting pitcher who was a fan favorite and had been with the team for years. Sproat was a key part of that deal. The pressure of being the “Peralta replacement” has been too much to handle, and so far, Sproat has not come close to justifying the cost.

To be fair, there are legitimate reasons to pump the brakes on a full panic. Sproat has long been regarded as a high-ceiling arm with a deep, plus-repertoire, a mid-90s sinker, a sweeper, a changeup, and an above-average curveball, and he did flash those tools late in 2025 at Triple-A, putting up a 2.44 ERA and a 70:21 K:BB ratio over his final 11 starts before earning his September call-up.

The mechanics are there. The stuff is real. Manager Pat Murphy has also publicly insisted that Sproat remains in the rotation and is not being demoted despite the ugly ERA. “He feels optimistic,” Murphy said, even after Sproat briefly scared the organization by injuring his right knee on a fielding play against Washington, an injury that, fortunately, checked out clean.

The Broader Ripple Effect on Milwaukee

Sproat’s struggles don’t exist in a vacuum. The Brewers are already operating shorthanded, with Jackson Chourio (fractured left hand) sidelined since Opening Day with a return timeline projected for mid-to-late April, first baseman Andrew Vaughn sidelined after suffering a hand injury in the very first game of the season, and now Christian Yelich’s hamstring injury, sustained on Sunday, leaves the Brewers severely shorthanded. The bullpen has been asked to absorb the workload that Sproat has consistently been unable to cover, and even with Milwaukee holding an 8-7 record and sitting third in a competitive NL Central as of April 13, the team is running on fumes in the rotation department.

The Brewers are a franchise that consistently does more with less, their 2026 run differential of +16 through 15 games already suggests they’re outperforming some of their struggles. But they cannot sustain that efficiency indefinitely if a core rotation arm continues to give up runs at a historic rate. Luis Rengifo’s anemic .136 batting average at the plate adds another layer of offensive concern to an already injury-riddled lineup, but Sproat’s inability to give Milwaukee anything resembling a quality start remains the franchise’s single biggest flop to open the 2026 season.

The arm talent is undeniable. The question is whether Sproat can unlock it, before the Brewers’ early goodwill runs out.

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