How is Hader thriving despite velocity dip?

Could less be more for the two-time National League Reliever of the Year? After watching Josh Hader deal his latest hitless inning, Brewers manager Craig Counsell made that case.

Hader’s four-seam fastball averaged 92.9 mph while he pitched a scoreless 10th inning in the Brewers’ 12-inning loss to the Twins on Tuesday -- the eighth-lowest average fastball velocity of his 158 career outings, and the lowest since a four-out appearance at Miami in July 2018. Hader’s hardest fastball on Tuesday (94.1 mph) clocked in below even his average fastball velocity in 2020 entering the night. The first pitch to Ildemaro Vargas, the final hitter faced by Hader, was a 91.8 mph fastball.

And yet, Hader worked a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts to continue his sparkling start to the season. In seven appearances spanning 7 1/3 innings, Hader has yet to allow a single hit. He has struck out 12 of the 27 batters he’s faced.

“I think we noticed [the velocity] by the end of the day. He’s really had some tough appearances, I would say,” Counsell said. “The last three appearances have been tough appearances. So I did notice it at the end of the outing, but I also noticed that Josh is executing pitches probably as well as we’ve seen, too. And that’s growth. That’s getting better.

“Josh is pitching really, really well. He’s pitching at a really high level. It’s a little different, but the level he’s pitching at is just the same. I love what he’s doing, I really do. I think he’s throwing the ball wonderfully and giving hitters a lot to think about. I think it shows up in the results.”

Regarding Hader’s recent stressful outings, Tuesday’s 22-pitch inning came two days after he threw 25 pitches to save a 6-5 win over the Cubs in thrilling fashion on Sunday, which came two days after he threw 35 pitches for a four-out save in a 4-3 win at Wrigley Field on Friday.

Hader continues to throw far more sliders than a season ago -- 64.8 percent fastballs to 35.2 percent sliders in 2020 compared to 83.9 percent fastballs and 15.5 percent sliders in '19. Overall, Hader’s average four-seam fastball is 94.2 mph this season, compared to 95.5 mph last year. A more direct comparison might be the 95.1 mph that Hader averaged with his fastball last March and April at the onset of the season.

His strikeout rate remains right on pace with his record-setting career mark -- 44.4 percent in 2020 to 44.6 percent for his career.

Holt ‘trying to stay positive’
If a player is struggling with the bat, he might as well do something with the glove.

That was the positive on Tuesday night for infielder Brock Holt, who came off the bench to begin the top of the 11th inning as a pinch-runner at second base, then made arguably Milwaukee’s defensive play of the year in the bottom of the frame to keep the game alive. Unfortunately for Holt, the Brewers lost in the 12th before he got an opportunity to do something about his batting average.

“My numbers stink,” Holt said. “I'm trying to stay as positive as I can. This is a tough situation, a tough season.”

Holt entered the week with three hits and nine strikeouts in his first 24 at-bats, a lower total than some teammates because of his role mostly coming off the Brewers' bench, and because he missed time at the start of the regular season after rolling his left ankle during batting practice on Opening Day.

“I'm working. I'm trying to figure things out,” Holt said. “It's nothing mechanical or anything like that, it's just needing those reps and those at-bats, and I just don't have them yet. I'm still trying to stay as positive as possible. It's a weird, weird season, and weird situation to be in, and we're all trying to get through it. It's the first time that we've had to deal with anything like this, so we're learning on the fly.”

Holt is used to the challenge of staying ready to come off the bench, a skill that came in handy late Tuesday night. He was playing third base in the bottom of the 11th inning when, with the automatic runner at second base, Brewers first baseman Jedd Gyorko fielded a ground ball and looked to Holt at third. Gyorko bounced the throw, and had it skipped by Holt, the game would have been over.

But Holt made a tricky catch on a short hop and applied the tag. When Byron Buxton followed with a grounder to Holt that the Brewers converted into a double play, David Phelps had the Brewers’ first-ever two-batter inning in the books.

“Brock made a fabulous play,” Counsell said. “From my view, it wasn't an easy short hop. It was a huge play. Phelps ended up throwing only five pitches. It gave us another shot and that's what you're looking for at this point.”

Said Holt: “I’d be lying to you if I said that after sitting on the bench for 10 innings before coming into the game, you're as ready as you should be, because it's hard to prepare. You can hit in the cage and do certain things, but it's not like being in the game. It's one of those things that's a reaction-type play. I'm sure if we had a still-shot photo of the play, my eyes were probably closed when I scooped it.”