The Brewers announced that they’ve signed left-handed reliever Hoby Milner and outfielder Dylan Cozens to minor league contracts. Both players will be invited to Major League Spring Training.
Milner, 30 next month, put up a strong 2.01 ERA but questionable peripherals through 37 1/3 innings as a rookie with the Phillies back in 2017. He’s yet to come close to replicating that level of run prevention; in 24 1/3 frames since that debut effort, he’s been rocked for a 7.77 ERA.
That sky-high ERA is an eyesore, but Milner excels at limiting hard contact (career 83.4 mph opponents’ exit velocity and 27.9 percent hard-hit rate). He also comes with a terrific minor league track record, having tallied 146 innings of 3.08 ERA ball with 11.5 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in four seasons out of the bullpen at the Triple-A level. He’s seen big league time each year since 2017, so there are clearly some clubs who believe there’s another level possible despite the overall lackluster results.
Cozens, meanwhile, was once one of the more promising prospects in the Phillies organization. The 2012 second-rounder is now 26 years old and four seasons removed from a 40-homer campaign at the Double-A level. Cozens hasn’t played in an official game since May 2019 thanks to surgery to remove bone spurs and repair torn cartilage in his left foot that year. He’s a career .252/.329/.473 hitter in the minors with prodigious power but far too much swing-and-miss in his game, evidenced by a 36 percent strikeout rate in parts of three Triple-A seasons.
Cozens does have a handful of MLB plate appearances (45) but has managed just a .154/.267/.282 slash with 24 punchouts in that tiny sample. He’ll give the Brewers some left-handed-hitting depth in Triple-A, but with a full outfield in Milwaukee, he’s likely to open the year in the minors and shake off some of the injury rust as he awaits an MLB opportunity.
Cozens…another Phillies bust. They have so many. It’s hilarious.
They sure can pick em, can’t they? Ha!
Too many identical Cozens.
certainly wish Cozens well. i hope he figures it out.
Likewise. Fun player to watch in the minors, but never panned out.
Saw Cozens and Hoskins play in Reading several years ago. Ironically, Cozens was the bigger draw. However, until he learns how to make better contact, he may go down alongside a long list of players who hit impressive HR totals in the minors but never quite cut it at the MLB level.
It didn’t take long for even AAA pitching coaches to figure out all the holes.
Hoby Milner sounds like a guy who rocks a lumberjack beard and sells craft beer in Austin.
Wasnt he a motorcycle cop
Sorry it was Adam 12
That was his uncle Martin.
Good one Rangers 29! You left out and is a singer-songwriter in a Country-Alternative band.
Why are they picking up all these reclamation projects. Get something thing that can actually do something to help the major club instead of fishing in the ocean.
They need bodies to fill out their minor league rosters.
Claudio lite
Claudio has had some success in his career. Milner has been atrocious. And for some reason Maddon trusted him last year which made things worse. I don’t think Ive ever hated hearing a relievers name more than I did his last year.
I think the Reading stadium (one of the oldest and well kept, btw) produces too many hopefuls….The venue is small and power numbers are inflated…..Cozens and Hoskins were killers for a season….Unfortunately, Cozens swing is loooong and full of holes. FWIW, he was considered a good guy. Hope he can find/settle in as a 4th/5th role…
Aaron Altherr says hello.
Interesting point. I still like Hoskins. The homers are way down, but the OBP is amazing. Anyway back to your point, you may be onto something.
Reading is one heck of a minors park – ive been there myself – but its no secret its small. its not like its great power hitters – Ruf, Cozens, Hoskins, etc – were made out to be power hitters when they werent, the power was just magnified.
Wait, Dylan Cozens is giving up on his hockey career!? I mean, playing for the Pagulas can’t be THAT terrible …
Milner needs to make it to the bigs for one very specific reason. When he comes into the game, on the jumbotron board they can play the scene from Independence Day when Vivica A. Fox is shouting out to the dog and he jumps into the utility closet at the last second with all those flames behind him.
But the dogs name was Boomer wasn’t it? Or am I missing something?
Either way Independence Day scenes should be on the Jumbotron more often. And if it’s your rival, then scenes from After Earth.
Re Hoby Milner: when you start out your pitching career with 31.1 innings of 2.01 ERA, you really have to get rocked in the next 22.1 innings to have a career ERA of 4.53.
Don’t see either of these moves helping the Brewers no matter how cheaply they came. Brewers need to find some solid starting pitchers. Can’t go on year after year hoping to find success turning over the 6th inning onward to the bullpen. That can only work for so long because relievers are the most inconsistent creature in all of baseball. One year they are lights out and the next year they can’t get any outs. This assessment becomes even more acute if Josh Hader (as rumored) is traded.
Just depth moves. They need a lefty other than Suter and Hader out of the pen. Perdomo is unproven and QTC has not been given a shot. 3 players for one slot. Maybe 4 with Andrews.
I was hoping they’d look at signing Chafin as their bullpen lefty.
Why do we keep signing players who don’t even have success in the minors? Lol