Is Brewers' breakout lefty on cusp of All-Star nod?

This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LOS ANGELES -- Is there a permutation of the National League’s All-Star Game pitching staff that includes one of baseball’s relievers, even though he doesn’t have a single save?

And while we’re at it, what’s the best way to ship chicken wings from Southern Illinois to North Texas?

These are the tough questions being pondered by one loving grandmother.

“Her hot wings are legendary,” said Brewers reliever Bryan Hudson.

Brewers fans may have already heard of Hudson’s grandmother, Kim Gibson, owner of Sunset Bar and Grill in Godfrey, Ill., where the wings are so good they’re worth shipping to Arlington in the event Bryan earns his way to the All-Star Game.

Statistically, Hudson has a case. Entering the Brewers’ series opener at Dodger Stadium on Friday, he ranked first among qualified National League relievers in ERA (0.99), first in WHIP (0.66), first in batting average against (.132), tied for fourth in strikeouts (52) and fifth in innings pitched (45 1/3).

Even though Dodgers catcher Will Smith hit a low and inside pitch for a two-out, game-tying home run in the seventh inning on Friday to bump Hudson’s ERA to 1.17, the lefty has an incredible story. Hudson was cut loose by the Cubs as a Minor League free agent in November 2022 and designated for assignment by the Dodgers last December, when they needed to open a 40-man roster spot after signing free agent starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The cost to Milwaukee for acquiring Hudson in a trade with Los Angeles on Jan. 3 was its 2023 20th-round Draft pick, left-hander Justin Chambers.

When that transaction hit the wires, it barely created a blip.

Now, 27-year-old Hudson is talked about as an All-Star candidate.

“My friends, my parents, my grandparents, they all have their ideas,” Hudson said. “I just try to keep my head locked in. There’s a lot of talk and chatter on the socials. Friends are talking. I try to tune out all of that stuff. My thought process is, 'What good does it do?' All it’s going to lead me to is overthinking.”

How did this happen? For Hudson, it’s a combination of things. He credits the Dodgers for helping him get his mechanics in order -- no small task for a pitcher who stands 6-foot-8. They taught him how to repeat a delivery and use his length.

But it was the Brewers who helped Hudson complete his ascent by aiding him in understanding how to best use his arsenal. That process began with a telephone conversation but picked up speed after Hudson reported early to the Brewers’ complex in Phoenix during the second week of January. Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook was impressed from the jump by Hudson’s commitment.

And as the 2024 season began, Hudson says, “It all began to sync up.”

“Within two weeks, I was in the [team’s sports science] lab, and we were going over pitch selection and how stuff plays,” Hudson said. “They were able to show me how hitters see it. I would be in the lab throwing cutters, and they could flip the video around and let me see how it looked from a hitter’s point of view. They broke it down so I could understand the ‘why.’”

That wasn’t always the case, Hudson said. He’d also thrown in the Dodgers’ pitching lab and the Cubs’ before that, but he never came away with the full scope of the data.

“A lot of times, they don’t want to give you the numbers, the spin, that kind of stuff,” Hudson said. “The Brewers were really open with that information. … The Cubs were tight. They would have you do drills, collect all this data and numbers, and they wouldn’t give you a lick of it.

“I just wanted to understand what I was doing. They give you a really good understanding of it here.”

The Brewers have spent a lot of time talking internally about just that thing, Hook said. Early on, teams were hesitant to share too many details of the data because they were still interpreting what it all meant. Now, they have the experience to put those numbers into action, and that means a greater comfort sharing the raw data with the players themselves.

“We’ve come a long way,” Hook said.

So has Hudson. This weekend, he returned to Dodger Stadium with gaudy numbers and a shot at making the All-Star team.

Reserves and pitchers will be announced on Sunday, when the series will conclude.

“I’ve got a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, just because they let me go,” Hudson said. “But other than that, I’m just excited to see the guys I know. I’m good friends with a lot of them.”