Brandon Sproat, a rookie right-hander for the Milwaukee Brewers, recorded a career-high seven strikeouts on May 24 but was unable to complete the fifth inning in a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite his struggles, manager Pat Murphy said there are no plans to remove Sproat from the starting rotation.
The performance highlights both promise and inconsistency for Sproat, who is part of a group of young pitchers with the Brewers. Murphy said, “He’s so good, when he’s good, that it gives you hope. He was facing a great lineup. He’s done some great things for us already this year. In no way, shape or form are we considering getting him out of there. This guy’s got a chance to be a high-end starter. He’s a rookie. Rookies are going to go through that. He has such upside.”
Sproat joined Milwaukee in January after being acquired from the New York Mets as part of a trade involving Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers. Entering this season as the organization’s No. 5 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, Sproat made his eighth start Sunday and allowed four hits and three runs over four-plus innings while walking four batters.
Murphy compared Sproat’s early challenges with those faced by second-year starter Jacob Misiorowski during his own rookie campaign last year: “We lived through some of this last year with Miz, too,” Murphy said. “But Sproat shows some brilliance.” However, Murphy also acknowledged that Sunday’s outing “wasn’t ideal.”
Sproat identified walks as an area needing improvement: “Not walk guys. Simple as that,” he said after the game. “I didn’t do my job again today… I was able to manage through the walks early, but the last one in the fifth was the final straw.”
The Brewers had won nine consecutive regular-season games against Los Angeles before dropping two straight in this series following Friday night’s victory and ending their streak of four consecutive series wins.
