Milwaukee Brewers Make Mistake Leaving Jed Bradley Off 40-Man Roster
By Pete Schwichtenberg
@schwick26_pete
Getty Images
When the Milwaukee Brewers drafted Jed Bradley back in 2011, the Georgia Tech left-hander was expected to be on the path to Milwaukee. Instead of dominating his way through the minor leagues, injuries and ineffectiveness have kept the 24-year-old pitcher in the minor leagues. Fresh off his best season of his professional career, the Brewers may have made a big mistake leaving him off of the 40-man roster.
Entering this past week, there were four open spots on the roster and the Brewers filled them with Yadiel Rivera, Michael Strong, David Goforth and Taylor Jungmann (who was a first round-selection along with Bradley in 2011). While all of these players had excellent seasons and needed to be protected from the rule-five draft, players like Logan Schafer, whose future role in Milwaukee seems bleaker by the day, could have been left off.
Last season, Bradley showed flashes of why he was so coveted on draft day in 2012. Twice during his short time with the Brevard County Manatees, he was voted Florida State League Pitcher of the Week and he was selected to the league’s mid-season All-Star game. His best start of the season came on May 20 as a member of the Manatees when he went nine scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Palm Beach Cardinals.
He finished the season with a 10-10 record and a 3.91 combined ERA at both Brevard County and AA Huntsville. While AA was no breeze, Bradley was able to show maturity and his ability to overcome obstacles by having one of his better starts as the season wound down.
While he is not even in the team’s top-20 rankings for 2014 according to MLB.com and may never be the pitcher he was expected to be, Bradley still looks to have a future somewhere. Plenty of arms joined Bradley last season by pitching well and showing the tremendously underrated depth in the organization, but losing Bradley could be costly. All prospects develop at different levels. Potentially losing him at a time when he is just looking to gel does not seem to be the team’s wisest move.
Pete Schwichtenberg is a Milwaukee Brewers writer for Rantsports. Follow @schwick26_pete, Like him on Facebook, or add him to your Google Network.
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