The Brewers have selected the contract of left-hander Blaine Hardy. The veteran will take the spot of Hunter Strickland, whose placement on the COVID-related injury list wasn’t made official until today.
Hardy underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2020, preventing him from taking the field last season and keeping him from benefiting from a minor league deal with the Twins. The southpaw inked a new minors deal with Milwaukee back in January, and he returned from TJ rehab to post a 3.50 ERA over 46 1/3 innings for the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville.
Through six MLB seasons and 289 2/3 innings with the Tigers from 2014-19, Hardy posted a 3.73 ERA/4.31 SIERA with 18.6% strikeout rate. Hardy has worked mostly as a reliever but did make 13 starts in 2018, and he started seven of his 17 games with Nashville this year. Milwaukee could use Hardy as rotation depth, as a long reliever, or potentially both in a swingman capacity.
Hardy was a great intercontinental champion. Hopefully he’ll be able to balance his appearances on Monday Night Raw with his baseball career.
I think you have your Hardy’s mixed up. This one is actually JJ’s son, making him the nephew of Jeff and Matt, also known as the Hurt Locker..or was it Money Inc..?
Might have been The Brood
Did not know they were related! Thank You!
Wow. Two comments re a veteran MLB pitcher making a nice and early comeback from TJS, which is over 75 times less than the previous post about a college pitcher who may never see a big league minute.
This 3rd comment could list active PIN numbers and passwords, yet nary a loss would be sustained.
Poor Blaine Hardy. His lines at future autograph signings will not be terribly long.
LAUREL is the next pitcher to be selected by the Brewers !!
And then Hardy can say “We’ll here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!”
FANTASTIC come back !!
Welcome back, Blaine! You were one of the best relievers for the Tigers, even a serviceable swingman, and hopefully stick with the Brewers throughout a long postseason. I keep my fingers crossed!
Gruß,
BSHH
Blaine Hardy was a rare bright spot in the Tigers bullpen for a few years. If he could be as good for the Brewers as he was for those defense impaired Tigers, he will be solid. I don’t see him as a swing man, however.
Don’t look know but the Brewers have a real shot at getting the best record in the NL. Next 3 with Pittsburgh at home followed by SF for 3. Still more games against the cubs,nats, and more with the Pirates this month. Could get real interesting as all three west teams may be looking up at the Brewers come September.
YES! YES! YES!
You have to hand it to the Brewers organization. They turned their IF roster over this year, including an early season trade for Adames and really didn’t spend too much in free agency either. While the NL Central seemed to be wide open at the start of the season, most ‘experts’ had St. Louis or Chicago taking the division with the Reds and Brewers having an outside shot if everything went right for them. What these experts missed was how dominant the Brewers pitching was. Not only did they have have one of the best 1-2-3 starters in all of baseball, they had a great bullpen to start the year as well. They are doing all of this with little contribution from their OF either. It’s been yet another lost season for Yellich and the JBJ signing has been abysmal but yet the Brewers are 20 games over .500 and are running away with the division. If their offense can find its stride in August & September, they become one of the most dangerous and complete playoff teams in all of baseball. It would be amazing if the NLCS came down to the Brewers & the Giants. Who would have thought that was possible at the beginning of the season? While I’m a Red Sox fan first and foremost, I’ve always had a soft spot for Milwaukee dating back to the Robin Yount and Paul Molitor years. I’d love to see Milwaukee win it all this year and give Tampa its run for the money as the latest city to be dubbed Title Town. Boston’s had its run of that for quite some time over the last 15+ years, so we’re fulfilled here in Boston.