Richards once a brewery worker, now Brewer

Willy Adames will be finding his way around Milwaukee for the first time when the Brewers begin a homestand on Monday against the red-hot Padres, but for reliever Trevor Richards, it’s a homecoming.

Richards and his now-wife, Aunna, lived in Milwaukee for an offseason after college and Richards took a job at MillerCoors, which sits just a long toss from the Brewers’ home ballpark. Richards earned $9 an hour working in the gift shop and the employee beer store before beginning an unlikely rise to the Major Leagues.

“We had a little studio downtown somewhere that was actually pretty cool,” Richards said before logging two scoreless innings in his Brewers debut in the team's 9-4 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. “So, we're excited to get back and see the city again.”

Are there any coffee shops or restaurants he’s particularly eager to get back to?

“My wife, I'm sure she has a list going,” Richards said.

Richards is an “only in baseball” kind of story. Born in Aviston, Ill., just east of St. Louis, he went undrafted out of Division II Drury University in Missouri after earning a degree in criminology. He gave pro baseball a shot in 2015, and he pitched in the independent Frontier League, but he was unsigned at the start of '16, and he worked at the brewery while beginning to look for a career outside of baseball.

That July, his fortunes changed. The Marlins signed Richards and he began a rapid climb through their Minor League system to the Majors by 2018, making his first career start against the Brewers in Milwaukee after spending a previous afternoon touring the brewery and connecting with old friends. Miami traded Richards to Tampa Bay, along with relief ace Nick Anderson, in July 2019, and Richards, armed with an average fastball but a plus changeup he’s had since high school, pitched as a swingman.

A couple of weeks ago, the Rays decided to try Richards in short-relief stints at Triple-A Durham, and the resulting uptick in velocity was one of the factors that drew the Brewers’ interest ahead of Friday’s trade that sent Richards and Adames to Milwaukee for relievers J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen.

“Everybody knows how Tampa’s moving their arms; they’ve got a lot of arms over there,” Richards said. “So, I kind of expected it a little bit. Still, whenever you’re called into the office and they tell you you’re traded, it’s surprising. …

“The last couple years I’ve been doing different roles, throwing here, throwing there, not having a consistent role, essentially. I think coming here kind of gives me a fresh start getting in the bullpen and developing a role.”

New home for Adames

Adames is hoping to feel a little more comfortable when he takes his first swings in his new home ballpark beginning on Monday night. For whatever reason, he always had a hard time hitting at Tropicana Field while playing for the Rays over the past four years.

Here are some of the splits:

OPS: .616 home, .864 road
AVG: .217 home, .293 road
Extra-base hits: 38 home, 61 road
wOBA: .272. .364 road
wRC+: 76 home, 130 road

The road numbers are indicative of a player who ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 22 overall prospect going into the 2018 season. But the home numbers have held Adames back.

“I don't know for everybody else, but it's been really hard for me to hit the ball here at the Trop," Adames said. “If you look up the numbers on the road, I have weird splits in my career. Like, I kill on the road, and then when I'm here at home, I can't hit.

“I don't want to sound like I'm making an excuse. But, you know, it was kind of like a little tough time for me.”

Adames isn’t alone. Despite its cozy dimensions, Tropicana Field has been baseball’s fifth-most pitcher-friendly park over the past three years, according to Statcast’s park factors, on par with Citi Field in New York and Target Field in Minneapolis.

American Family Field leans slightly to the pitchers as well, with a park factor of 99. But it is home run-friendly because of its short power alleys, so there is optimism that Adames could be the latest player to see an uptick in production with a move to Milwaukee.

"I think he's performed a bit better of late, seems to be gaining a little bit more confidence and getting a little bit more comfortable of late,” said Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns, referring to Adames’ .197/.254/.371 slash line at the time of the trade. “This is a player with a track record, a player who has performed on both sides of the ball at the Major League level. We would expect him to be able to perform at a level that provides production, especially given the type of defense we know he's going to provide."

Said Adames, who was 1-for-3 with a walk in his Brewers debut on Saturday: “I've been feeling better lately. It was a rough beginning. Not a lot of luck. I was hitting the ball really well, but straight to the [defenders]. I think I'm feeling better right now.”

Anderson OK after early exit

There was an explanation for Brett Anderson’s exit after only 65 pitches in five solid innings against the Reds on Saturday, and it wasn’t worry about letting him face the lineup a third time, manager Craig Counsell said. During a long top of the sixth inning, when home-plate umpire Ron Kulpa was struck by a Sonny Gray pitch and had to leave the game, Anderson began to feel a bit light-headed in the heat of the dugout, according to Counsell.

With a rested bullpen, the club opted to go to reliever Brent Suter in the bottom of the sixth.

“Brett, when the umpire went out in that long inning, he just wasn't feeling good, kind of physically wasn't feeling good,” Counsell said. “He recovered, but the long inning essentially made me go to the bullpen. He was cruising. I thought he was pitching really well and doing a nice job, but it was more just how he was a little light headed, with the heat and stuff, and the time of the inning, so we got him out of there.”