Brewers' offseason acquisition has made a strong first impression originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Milwaukee Brewers' starting rotation has proven to be one of the best in Major League Baseball early on (fifth, 3.59 ERA). Led by their young ace, right-hander Jacob Misiorowski (1-2 with a 3.31 ERA), the Brewers have received a stellar start to the season from left-hander Kyle Harrison.
Harrison was acquired from the Boston Red Sox along with left-hander Shane Drohan and infielder David Hamilton over the offseason for infielder Caleb Durbin and other minor leaguers. Since joining the Brewers' rotation, Harrison has shown tremendous growth after struggling in the early part of his career.
After posting a 4.48 ERA in three seasons with the San Francisco Giants and doing slightly better in his limited time with the Red Sox (3.00 ERA), Harrison has finally taken the next step forward in his career. Through five starts this season, the 24-year-old is 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA and has struck out 30 in 23.2 innings.
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MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy notes that Harrison is the Brewers' only left-hander making regular starts, which is what has him standing out among the rest.
“With Quinn Priester on the injured list, Brandon Woodruff under close watch coming off a series of injuries and the rest of the rotation exceedingly young, where would the Brewers be without Harrison?” wrote McCalvy. “He missed one turn through the rotation after getting banged up on an errant feed from backup first baseman Gary Sánchez, but went into Sunday’s start against the Pirates with a 3.06 ERA and a 133 ERA+, which equalled budding ace Jacob Misiorowski going into the weekend. Harrison’s value is augmented by the fact he’s the only left-hander making regular starts for Milwaukee at the moment.”
Though it's early, Harrison’s performance has him as one of the front-runners to join the National League All-Star team in Philadelphia this summer.
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