Bradley Blalock

The Brewers announced Monday that right-hander Thyago Vieira has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Bradley Blalock, who’s been called up from Double-A Biloxi for what will be his MLB debut. Milwaukee also optioned outfielder Chris Roller to Triple-A Nashville and reinstated fellow outfielder Joey Wiemer from the injured list.

Vieira, 30, is one of the game’s hardest-throwing pitchers, averaging 98 mph on his heater this season and frequently touching triple digits. However, he’s been scored upon in nine of his 16 appearances this season, resulting in a 5.64 ERA over 22 1/3 innings. While Vieira has fanned a solid 23.6% of his opponents, he’s also walked 12.3% of the batters he’s faced. Even more troublesome has been his penchant for loud contact. Opponents have belted six homers off him already this year — an average of 2.42 round-trippers per nine frames.

One of just five Brazilian-born players in big league history, Vieira had a nice run with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball from 2020-22. He’s been with the Brewers since returning stateside and had brief looks with the Mariners (one inning in 2017) and White Sox (24 2/3 innings from 2018-19) prior to that. Overall, the flamethrowing righty has pitched 51 MLB frames and surrendered a 6.18 ERA with a 21.2% strikeout rate and 11.6% walk rate. The Brewers will have a week to trade him, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

Blalock, 23, was a 32nd-round pick by the Red Sox in 2019 who was traded from Boston to Milwaukee in last year’s Luis Urias swap. The right-hander has elevated his status considerably since that humble draft selection, never more so than in 2024, when he’s opened the season with seven starts of 2.27 ERA ball at the Double-A level. That marks Blalock’s first action above A-ball. He’s fanned a below-average 20.6% of his opponents this year but posted an excellent 5% walk rate and roughly average 43.1% ground-ball rate.

Entering the 2024 season, Blalock ranked 13th among Milwaukee farmhands at FanGraphs, 17th at MLB.com and 22nd at Baseball America. The righty draws praise for his above-average command, a fastball that sits 92-96 mph and a smattering of average or nearly average secondary offerings (slider, split-change, curveball). FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen likens his upside to that of a Jose Urquidy type of back-end starter who could shift to a long-relief role on a playoff roster.

The Brewers don’t need a starter in the coming days, but Blalock will be on hand to give them some length in the event of a short start from righty Joe Ross today. It’s also possible he could slot into an injury-plagued staff within the next few days. Ross is slated to pitch today, with rookie Robert Gasser on the mound tomorrow and Freddy Peralta to follow Wednesday. Milwaukee is off Thursday and then set to go Bryse Wilson, Colin Rea and Ross again for their upcoming weekend slate in Boston, where Blalock could potentially face the organization that drafted him.

With Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, Jakob Junis and DL Hall all on the injured list at the moment, the Brewers have been patching things together in the starting staff. Even if he’s not stepping into the rotation right now, it’s possible Blalock could eventually be called upon to start some games later in the summer.