The Brewers have signed pitchers Enoli Paredes and Jared Koenig to minor league contracts, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Both will be in MLB camp as non-roster invitees.
Paredes elected free agency a few weeks ago after being waived by the Astros. The right-hander had previously spent his entire career in the Houston organization. Paredes pitched out of Dusty Baker’s bullpen at times from 2020-22, tallying 32 1/3 innings over 37 cumulative appearances. He worked to a 3.90 ERA but walked almost a fifth of opposing hitters.
Now 28, Paredes spent the entire 2023 season on optional assignment to Houston’s Triple-A club. He allowed 4.80 earned runs per nine over 54 1/3 innings in the Pacific Coast League. While Paredes’ 27.3% strikeout rate there was solid, his 18.6% walk percentage was similarly untenable as the mark he’s managed in his MLB career. He has a mid-90s heater but will need to dramatically improve his strike-throwing to carve out a spot in the middle innings for Milwaukee.
Koenig, 30 in January, also spent all of 2023 in Triple-A. He was in the Padres system on a minor league pact. Koenig allowed an even 5.00 ERA over 45 frames with their top affiliate in El Paso. He kept the ball on the ground at a 51.1% clip with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk marks.
His only major league work came in 2022. Koenig pitched 39 1/3 innings over 10 appearances (five starts) with Oakland. The soft-tossing lefty posted a 5.72 ERA while striking out 12.4% of opponents in green and gold. He could provide the Brew Crew with long relief depth in Triple-A if he doesn’t break camp.
New firepower for their new Skipper!
send em to the lab!
Paredes will turn it around with the brewers. By turn it around I mean from unplayable at the major league level to not too bad
Sure it’s not Winkler in disguise? That would be really funny if he ripped off his Enoli disguise when he got to the plate. Let those boos rain down
What is an enoli paredes? Sounds like a flaming dish. See it at Summerfest?
It is a brand of gruel they serve twice daily at Gitmo.
I have faith in the Brewers’ ability to get at least 50 useful innings out of both of these guys. I should have mentioned the Brewers earlier when listing potential landing spots for Dak Hudson.
Koenig claim to fame as starting pitcher for Auckland Tuatara
He almost took them to the promised land though!
More batting practice pitchers
Paredes has great stuff but has always had trouble throwing strikes. He pitched okay during the 2020 short season.
When I first saw the title, I swear it said Jared Kelenic. Thought the kid made it home. Not yet i guess!