His road to the majors is about as unorthodox as it can get. The sacrifices to keep a dream alive were endless, laboring with independent teams for four years.

Yet, nine years after pitching his last collegiate game for Cal State, Monterey Bay, Jared Koenig has landed on Major League Baseball’s biggest stage in October.

The former Aptos High left-handed pitcher is part of the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen, having appeared in the team’s first three playoff games against the Dodgers.

Koenig, whose professional career began in 2017 with the Monterey Amberjacks, went 6-1 this past year for the Brewers in the regular season, with two saves and a 2.88 earned run average.

Undrafted out of CSUMB in 2016, the 31-year-old made 72 appearances for Milwaukee, striking out 68 hitters in 66 innings of work.

In two seasons with the Brewers, Koenig has appeared in 127 games, mostly as a set-up man out of the bullpen, having won 15 games, while picking up three saves, striking out 133 hitters in 128 innings of work.

Originally signed by the Athletes team’s international scout while in Australia in 2019, Koenig made his major league debut in 2022, going 1-3 when the franchise was still in Oakland.

Blessed with a fastball that has hit the century mark in the postseason, Koenig spent a season in the Padres organization before Milwaukee signed him to their Double-A affiliate in 2023.

Since being called up in 2024, Koenig has been one of the Brewers most reliable relievers. During the postseason, he’s allowed three hits, with a strikeout in 2.3 innings of relief.

Koenig spent one season pitching for head coach Walt White and the Otters after playing at Old Dominion, going 3-1 with 63 strikeouts in 61 innings of work in 14 starts.

While pitching in the Independent Pacific Association, he was the Pitcher of the Year in 2018. The following year Koenig posted a 2.24 ERA with 133 strikeouts in the Frontier League.

While pitching for the A’s Double-A team in Midland after losing the 2020 season to COVID, Koenig was the Pitcher of the Year in 2021, earning a call-up to the A’s in 2022, where he appeared in 10 games, winning one of his five starts.

Keonig was a two-time Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League all-league selection, striking out a career high 10 in a five-inning outing in 2012.

Originally Published: October 9, 2025 at 8:28 AM PDT