Julio Teheran’s Resurgence
Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports (Getty Images)
After yet another dominant performance in which he pitched six innings and allowed just two baserunners against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Brewers’ starting pitcher Julio Teheran’s ERA now sits at just 1.79 for the season. Even better, his WHIP is just 0.89.
However, it hasn’t been an easy road for Teheran since he signed as an international free agent to the Braves in 2007.
At just 17 years old Teheran started his four year stint in the Braves minor league system before being called up to the majors. Teheran was an above average pitcher for a while with the Braves before joining the Angels in the 2020 season, which is where his struggles began.
Teheran's ERA skyrocketed to 10.05 in his 10 appearances with the Angels in the COVID season before joining the Tigers in 2021. Teheran would only be able to pitch five innings with Detroit before sustaining a shoulder injury that sent him out of the MLB.
Teheran then split his time during the 2022 season between the Mexican baseball League and the Atlantic league.
After spending a year in Independent leagues, the Padres signed him on a minor league deal in November of 2022 for the 2023 season. It really didn’t look promising for Teheran to make it back to the majors as he had an ERA of 5.63 in eight starts in AAA.
However, the Milwaukee Brewers must have seen something they liked in Teheran’s data in the minors, because on May 25th of this year the Brewers signed him to a one year deal, and it has worked wonders for them.
After the injury, Teheran had to rework himself as a pitcher in a big way. His average fastball velocity, which used to sit near 96, now resides under 90 MPH. Teheran has worked around that by adding a devastating cutter and speeding up his windup.
Opposing hitters can only manage a batting average of .200 of Teheran’s cutter, and are slugging just .250 on it.
Mixing that cutter with an increase in usage of his sinker, Teheran is in the 84th percentile of hard hit percentage according to Baseball Savant.
Basballsavant.MLB.com
Despite his struggles before arriving in Milwaukee, it looks like the 32-year-old will be here to stay.
