Anderson (biceps) to IL, Sproat recalled as Crew navigates pitching staff's tough stretch

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers’ stretch of short starts came with a price tag on Monday when the team placed right-handed reliever Grant Anderson on the 15-day injured list with right biceps tendinitis and recalled right-hander Brandon Sproat, a rookie starter who’d been demoted to the Minors last month to begin dabbling in bullpen work.

Anderson threw 17 pitches on Saturday night in Cincinnati and 44 more over 2 2/3 innings of Sunday’s afternoon series finale after starter Kyle Harrison was knocked out early for the second straight outing. Harrison's latest early exit capped a seven-game road trip during which Milwaukee’s starting pitcher completed five innings only once -- Logan Henderson’s seven-inning gem in a loss at Wrigley Field on Thursday.

“Once [Quinn] Priester and [Brandon] Woodruff are down,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, referring to two experienced arms who suffered long-term injuries earlier this year, “we knew, hey, we’re going with basically five rookie, inexperienced pitchers, even six. You’re living with all the things that come with young pitchers. Whatever that is, we’re prepared for it.”

The Brewers have been using a six-man starting rotation for several weeks in an effort to limit their young starters’ workloads. But that comes at a cost to the bullpen in the best of times, and the Brewers were not in the best of times as they welcomed the Cubs to American Family Field for a Labor Day matinee.

Take Harrison, an early-season standout who has hit a major roadblock recently. He has recorded 15 outs or fewer in each of his past nine starts, a stretch beginning June 27 that includes a multi-week stint on the IL with left forearm tightness. In his past two starts against the Cubs and Reds, Harrison has allowed 15 runs (13 earned) on 19 hits in 7 1/3 innings.

The Brewers plan to have Harrison make his next start on Saturday against the Reds, but they will be ready with a long reliever behind him, perhaps with a piggyback in mind. The club hopes that, by shortening his starts or even mixing in relief outings, it could help Harrison reset in time to play a meaningful role in the postseason.

Murphy compared the situation to the way the Brewers handled Jacob Misiorowski last season when he struggled in the second half as a starter. Misiorowski wound up being a bullpen weapon against the Cubs and Dodgers in the postseason, and rode that success into a breakthrough 2026 season back in the rotation.

“It gets in your head and it’s hard to battle through,” Murphy said. “It’s very common in our game. How many guys come up from the Minor Leagues and kill it? [Instead], they kill it and then taper off. A kid is the greatest [hitter] in the world for a week, and now they’re hitting .180.

“That’s part of our game. The game humbles you, and Harrison is going through it.”

Sproat also went through it. The Brewers had high hopes for him coming into this season after acquiring him from the Mets with infield prospect Jett Williams in the Freddy Peralta deal. Sproat cracked the Opening Day rotation but was optioned to the Minors after going 3-7 with a 5.27 ERA in 21 outings as a starter or a bulk pitcher behind an opener.

“Honestly, the biggest thing I took away from it was a restart,” said Sproat, who had a 4.00 ERA in 18 innings over five shortened outings for Triple-A Nashville, the most recent a multi-inning bullpen outing. “First time being sent down, it sucked. No one’s going to say, ‘I’m happy about it.’”

He found ways to channel that feeling into action. Sproat drove from Milwaukee to Nashville with his girlfriend, giving them seven hours to talk through the emotion of being demoted.

“I told her, ‘I’m upset. This hurts,’” he said. “But if I go down there with a bad attitude about it, one, I’m not representing my faith in a good way. Two, I’m only going to do myself a disservice by having a bad attitude and not getting better. And three, it’s not only going to affect me, but it’s going to look terrible to the other guys and the coaches. That was the last thing I want.”

So Sproat went to work, and circumstances brought him back to the big leagues.

He’ll pitch out of the bullpen for now.

“The thing that I’m super grateful for is that, when you’re working with young pitchers, it’s really fun, you know what I mean?” Murphy said. “It’s more of a gift and an opportunity and a possibility more than it is a problem. One might look at it as a problem, like, ‘Ah, what are we going to do?’ But when you’re in it, and these are the cards we were dealt, it’s kind of fun to see them grow and get confidence.”