No. 5 Brewers prospect Gasser set for MLB debut

MILWAUKEE -- Triple-A Nashville manager Rick Sweet tried to slow roll the news, but one of the Brewers’ top pitching prospects was savvy enough to know he was headed to the big leagues.

Left-handed starter Robert Gasser, Milwaukee’s No. 5 prospect, joined the Brewers on Thursday and is lined up to make his Major League debut Friday night against the Cardinals at American Family Field.

Gasser has made three starts this season for Triple-A Nashville, pitching to a 5.25 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 12 innings. He was placed on the injured list to start the Minor League season after dealing with bone spurs in his elbow in Spring Training.

“I’m excited, for sure,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We told ‘Gas’ in Spring Training before the injury, ‘You’re going to pitch in the Major Leagues, so prepare for your debut.’ … There’s some swing and miss there. There’s a poise. There’s a good repertoire that I think matches up against righties and lefties.”

The 24-year-old was acquired by the Brewers at the 2022 Trade Deadline as part of a four-player package from the Padres for reliever Josh Hader. He will fill a vacancy in Milwaukee’s rotation with DL Hall (left knee sprain), Jakob Junis (head, right shoulder) and Wade Miley (Tommy John surgery) among the Brewers' pitchers currently on the IL.

The Brewers have already employed nine different starting pitchers during this trying start to their season in the athletic training room, but a 10th is needed on Friday because ace Freddy Peralta is serving a five-game suspension stemming from a heated win over the Rays on Milwaukee’s last homestand.

With Peralta sidelined one more day on Friday, Gasser expects to get the nod. The Brewers will have to make roster moves to add him to the 26-man and 40-man rosters.

“Being in Triple-A, you’re always one step away, one call away,” Gasser said. “I was throwing the ball well last year and felt really good this spring and I knew they had a lot of faith in me.”

He almost certainly would have been in the big leagues earlier if not for the emergence of a bone spur in his elbow. In a different era, a pitcher might undergo surgery to shave down the spur, but now they often go the rehab route and the body adapts.

Asked about the health of his arm today, Gasser said, “Great, honestly.”

He was already brushing up on Cardinals hitters on Wednesday as he prepared to join the big league team for the first time. By Thursday, he was fully immersed in pregame preparations as the Brewers opened their four-game series against the Cards with another recent call-up, Tobias Myers, making the start.

Gasser will have family and friends on hand, including his father, Jim, who was once a Brewers draft pick. He was Robert Gasser’s first call after getting the news, but missed the call because he was at the dentist.

“Rick Sweet called me in and they were trying to slow roll me, but I had a feeling what was happening,” Robert Gasser said. “They just let me know that my next start will be in the big leagues.”

It marks the culmination of a pitching development that began when Gasser was drafted in the second round by the Padres in 2021.

“It’s just knowing who I am as a pitcher and how I can get outs,” he said. “The behind the scenes stuff and the tech that we have really helped me out, and having people around me who know that my stuff works and are helping me implement good sequences to hitters in order to use it to my best ability.”