Rex Brothers And The Weirdly Kinda-Good But Pretty-Bad Season In Relief

Sept 16, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher R. Brothers (49) reacts with catcher Y. Torrealba (8) following the win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field.The Rockies defeated the Cardinals 6-2. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies’ embattled former lefty relief ace is having a very bizarre season in AAA Albuquerque, and while it isn’t good… it also isn’t awful?

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The Colorado Rockies are probably going to bring Rex Brothers back up to the big leagues in September when rosters are expanded, and they should.

He’s already been up once before this season, the Rockies ought to figure out if Brothers has improved at all in AAA Albuquerque the past six months, and, well, he’s had an interesting season, to say the least.

Brothers has been just as wild in AAA this year as he’s ever been (41 walks in 39.2 innings), and yet he’s also been completely unhittable (just 26 hits allowed in those 39.2 innings, for a .183 batting average against).

He’s also putting up insane strikeout numbers that keep him intriguing to the Rockies (59 in those 39.2 innings, or 13.4 per nine innings — which would be a professional career high).

Obviously, he’s walking way too many guys to be taken seriously in the big leagues right now — which means he’s perfect for the Rockies! (Har, har, har). But he’s been, um, effectively wild?

Seriously though, he deserves a shot in September only because he’s done what the Rockies’ current pitchers have generally failed to do (and boy, has Brothers done it successfully throughout his career): miss bats.

Yeah, there’s that little ol’ walk problem — it can’t be overstated how much of a problem it’s become — but Brothers has such skill for striking out hitters that there surely has to be something left… right?

Depending on how he does in September as a call-up with the Rockies, he may either have an outside shot to make the team out of Spring Training next season, or you might never hear from him again in professional baseball (or at least in Colorado).

However it shakes out, the next month can go a long way to determine whether Brothers is more like the guys who walks more than a batter per inning, or the guy who strikes out nearly two per inning.

Or, most likely, perhaps Brothers is both of those things, and there’s a way the Rockies can somehow use it to their advantage.

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