MILWAUKEE -- Free-agent reliever Jake Petricka signed a one-year contract with the Brewers on Saturday. The deal adds another 95-plus mph fastball to Milwaukee's pool of bullpen candidates.
The 30-year-old Petricka worked high-leverage innings during parts of five seasons with the White Sox before pitching 41 times for Toronto in 2018 with the best rate of swinging strikes (10.5 percent) in his career. He has a 3.98 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP over 223 2/3 big league innings.
Petricka has two years of club control remaining and one Minor League option, the sort of flexibility coveted by a Brewers team known for actively managing its roster during the season. Last year, a pool of pitchers with options were shuffled back and forth between the Minors and Majors to afford manager Craig Counsell a daily complement of fresh arms.
His primary pitch is a sinker that averaged 94.8 mph last season and topped out at 98.2 mph. Statcast™ tracked 58 pitchers who threw at least 500 sinkers last season; Petricka's average velocity with the pitch ranked 10th of those players.
Petricka is the third player added to Milwaukee's bullpen mix this winter. The Brewers previously traded for Rangers left-hander Alex Claudio and Mets right-hander Bobby Wahl.