12:58pm: Via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, general manager David Stearns said that although Nolin has been developed as a starter to this point in his career, the Brewers will look at using him out of the bullpen, perhaps in a multi-inning role (links to Twitter).
12:44pm: The Brewers announced today that they have claimed left-hander Sean Nolin off waivers from the Athletics. Nolin had been designated for assignment by Oakland last week when the club acquired Khris Davis from the Brewers, so, while he isn’t a part of the trade, he’s technically an additional piece of compensation picked up by the Brewers as a result of the trade. (Nolin, after all, would not have been available in this manner were it not for the Davis trade.)
The 26-year-old Nolin was one of four players traded by the Blue Jays to the Athletics in the 2014 Josh Donaldson blockbuster. Long considered one of Toronto’s better prospects, Nolin ranked No. 8 on Baseball America’s list of top prospects just last offseason. BA has profiled him as a potential fourth starter in the past, praising his above-average command and mix of four average or better offerings. Nolin had sports hernia surgery last offseason though, and that may have contributed to an early groin injury that led to more than a month on the disabled list in 2015. When he was healthy enough to take the mound, Nolin made 14 appearances (12 starts) at the Triple-A level, logging an excellent 2.66 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 37.7 percent ground-ball rate. (BA did note that his high arm slot made him likely to end up as an extreme fly-ball pitcher).
In the Majors, Nolin struggled quite a bit more, making six starts and totaling a 5.28 ERA in 29 innings of work. Nolin managed just 14 strikeouts against 12 walks in that time, and his fastball sat at just 86.9 mph — a considerable drop from the low 90s heat he showed when healthy and rising through the Blue Jays’ farm system.
Milwaukee will hope for better health out of Nolin than the A’s received in 2015. If he is indeed back to form, he’ll give the Brewers another option in what would otherwise project to be an all-right-handed rotation. Nolin is out of minor league options, so he’ll need to crack the roster out of Spring Training or again be exposed to waivers and clear before the Brewers would be able to option him to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Figured this was coming after the Davis trade. A’s must have wanted to see if they could get something for him via trade instead of making him a throw-in for the Brewers.
Love the sneaky great offseason Milwaukee has had given their rebuild goals.
Think you confused former Jay Daniel Norris with Sean Nolin — Nolin was never considered a top prospect (though a decent one)
Yeah was gonna say. I don’t remember seeing Nolin on any such lists, unlike he meant the Jays internal list.
I wondered what he was thinking there, Nolin has been about a 45 arm throughout his prospect ratings and nowhere near #8. Makes sense that he was confusing him with Norris.
I was already a fan of the Davis trade and now they basically added on a young lefty with decent upside who is controllable til 2022 (and I guess possibly losing whomever they DFA). Hopefully he can find a spot on the big league roster out of camp since he’s out of options and I doubt he’d clear waivers.
He made it through all the AL teams and some NL teams as well before being claimed. Clearly he’s not a super attractive asset. Looks like the classic “hit a wall at MLB” type pitcher, and the velocity decline is a red flag the size of Texas.
The sports hernia surgery and following groom issues could explain the velocity drop if he wasn’t getting a good push off. Just barely 26 is early to see that kind of steep velocity decline unless it’s something mechanical or injury related. Hoping he comes back and finds a bit of that velocity and can turn into a back end starter or at least a lefty bullpen piece and if he shows that in doing he’d be tough to get through waivers again. Not saying he’s a huge get, but he’s young, controllable, and the Brewers can use another lefty arm.
*groin issues