MILWAUKEE – With the format going from best-of-five to best-of-seven in the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers, starting pitching just shot up in value.
And you might be surprised to hear where one of Milwaukee’s hottest starters got the boost of confidence he needed to help the Brewers slam the door on the Padres in the NLDS.
As the Brewers celebrated their 3-1 win in Game 4 and a chance to advance to the next round, Robert Gasser shouted out one member of the coaching staff who sees little of the spotlight: Ty Duvall, the 29-year-old 2019 25th round Draft pick and Mariners Minor Leaguer who is in his first season as Milwaukee’s bullpen catcher.
“We’ve been working so hard this whole year, and those guys go unnoticed,” said Gasser, who danced around trouble not of his own making during four critical innings against the Padres on Wednesday night. “He’s got so much conviction. He sent me a long text [Tuesday] night, saying how confident he is in me and that he believes in me.
“That’s the stuff that doesn’t get seen, but I want to make sure it’s known.”
It’s the stuff the Brewers have become known for, the bonds that help explain how a small-market club that has traded the likes of Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams and Freddy Peralta to restock the farm system in recent years continues to contend season after season.
Gasser is part of that cycle. The Brewers picked him up in the Hader deal at the 2022 Trade Deadline, along with relievers Taylor Rogers and Dinelson Lamet and outfielder Esteury Ruiz, who was subsequently flipped in the three-team trade that brought All-Star catcher William Contreras to Milwaukee.
Tommy John surgery in 2024 interrupted his ascent, but Gasser recovered in time to make the Brewers’ postseason roster last year in a low-leverage role against the Cubs in the NLDS and the Dodgers in the NLCS. Gasser had a big moment when he struck out Shohei Ohtani with two runners aboard in the eighth inning of NLCS Game 3, but the Brewers were down three runs on the way to a 5-1 loss.
Now, Gasser finds himself in a much more prominent situation. After delivering a 3.87 ERA in 21 games (20 starts) during the regular season -- including a 1.67 ERA in six outings (five starts) after Aug. 26 -- he’s become the Brewers’ third-most reliable starting pitcher behind Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson, given that right-hander Dustin May has been spinning his wheels.
Gasser did the job against the Padres, wiggling free of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning after third baseman Joey Ortiz couldn’t convert a potential double-play ball. Had the Padres put a crooked number on the scoreboard, it could have been a very different kind of night.
“It’s a credit to this dude right here,” said Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby, who followed Gasser’s four innings of one-run ball with three scoreless innings. “He came in. He set the tone early, like his first legit time pitching the playoffs. I know he pitched last year, but in a game where we needed him. And he set the tone early.”
The Brewers will need more of that in a seven-game series. While they do have length options -- May, plus left-handers Shane Drohan and Kyle Harrison -- Gasser is the only starter beyond Misiorowski and Henderson still stretched to 100-plus pitches.
“Somebody will have to step up,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “‘Gas’ has been doing it, and somebody else has to step up, too. Our pitching coaches don’t get enough credit.”
Neither does the bullpen catcher.
“Ty is a great guy, he does the most for me,” Gasser said.
For Duvall, building up the pitchers is part of the job.
“I have a unique perspective because I get to catch. I get to see what other guys don’t while they’re watching mechanics and how the ball comes out,” he said. “And he’s thrown some pitches to me that make me say, ‘This is it. This guy’s got it.’
“He’s also got really, really high standards for himself. So when the work is not good or when he’s missing spots in his catch play, he expresses that to himself. He has that demanding voice. And my message to him was essentially, ‘You’re going to have 50,000 people rooting against you tomorrow. Don’t give them one more. Root for yourself.’”
Players call this sort of thing “self-talk,” and Duvall encouraged Gasser to dominate that part of the game. He texted a viral Instagram video of a doubtful son on a dirt bike, and a mother telling him, “You got this, baby!”
As the race begins, the kid starts talking to himself, and convincing himself: “You got this!” It’s quite charming.
Gasser said the message was just what he needed.
And that made his bullpen catcher very pleased.
“You need somebody rooting for you,” Duvall said. “And if it’s anybody, it should be yourself.”