The Brewers have agreed to a minor-league deal with veteran righty Tom Wilhelmsen, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. He’ll head to the team’s top affiliate.
As McCalvy notes, Wilhelmsen has an interesting history already with the Milwaukee organization. The Brewers drafted him and welcomed him back after an extended stint away from the game.
Of course, the now-33-year-old Wilhelmsen has never suited up for the Brewers at the game’s highest level, instead plying his trade in the majors elsewhere over the past seven seasons. If he wants to do so now, he’ll need to earn his way back up.
Wilhelmsen became available when he was released recently by the Diamondbacks. He has seen his swinging-strike rate drop all the way to 6.2%, with 17 strikeouts and 12 walks through 26 1/3 innings. But the veteran is still popping 95 with his fastball and getting grounders on about half of the balls put in play against him.
For Milwaukee, it certainly makes sense to add some cheap depth given the club’s recent bullpen struggles. Wilhelmsen will cost only the league minimum during any time he spends in the majors, as the D-Backs will continue to pay the remainder of his $1.25MM salary for the season.
Sad to see him go as he was an AZ native. His production fell off quite a bit though so it’s no surprise. Good luck to the Bartender in Milwaukee
Happy for him to get a shot here in MKE. It’s strange, but sometimes a change of scenery is all a player needs in order to regain his past productivity.
Which is why I want the Cubs to pick up Feliz.
Gross, no thanks.
Sure go for it. He’s got a live arm but cant seem to get outs.
Change of scenery could help, but going to a hitters division with small parks doesn’t help him. A pitchers division would have helped him more. Best of luck