After a long wait, the Brewers got their first real look at 24-year-old righthander Coleman Crow.
They like what they have seen.
The Brewers acquired Crow from the Mets after the 2023 season when they traded Tyrone Taylor and Adrian Houser to New York. Crow missed the entire 2024 season, save for nine innings in the Arizona Fall League, as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Crow signed for fifth-round money out of high school when the Angels drafted him in the 28th round in 2019. His pro career has been interrupted by the pandemic and then major elbow surgery, but he has traits the Brewers value, including a high-spin curveball that is a focal point of a well-rounded arsenal.
“We had him evaluated as a starting pitcher,” Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine said. “He’s someone who we were willing to make the bet that, once he got healthy, he could put himself in position to be part of our major league group of the future.”
Crow made his first start of 2025 on April 18, a three-inning outing for Double-A Biloxi. The Brewers will move forward trying to thread the needle of keeping a close eye on his workload while at the same time affording him enough opportunity to continue to develop.
In three April starts, Crow logged a 3.24 ERA and 1.44 WHIP with 12 strikeouts in 8.1 innings.
“The early returns have been great,” Kleine said. “Our player development group and high performance staff and medical group have done a great job of getting him back on the field to have success, but we’re so early into 2025 (that) we’re still in the evaluation period as to how this will play out over the course of this year.”
The Brewers face a decision on Crow this offseason if he doesn’t get called up before then. Because he signed in 2019, he qualifies for minor league free agency after the World Series if he isn’t on a 40-man roster.
MICROBREWS
— Milwaukee had three of its top 30 prospects—righthanders Craig Yoho and Logan Henderson and third baseman Caleb Durbin—make their MLB debuts in April. Also making their debuts were righthander Chad Patrick, the International League pitcher of the year last year, and Rule 5 lefthander Connor Thomas.
Henderson turned in a dynamic six-inning, one-run, nine-strikeout start to beat the Athletics on April 20, while Durbin collected a pair of hits on the night of his callup from Triple-A Nashville on April 18.
— Catcher Jeferson Quero had yet to make his 2025 debut in early May after suffering a hamstring strain. He spent spring training in the final stages of his comeback from major shoulder surgery that ended his 2024 season after one plate appearance. Once he returns to action, Quero will be eased in with starts at DH before being cleared to resume catching.