Royals fans looking for a postseason side to pull for have the usual answer at the top of the list: anyone playing the Yankees. But Milwaukee gives them another reason to pay attention, and it comes straight out of the Kansas City area.
The Brewers’ staff includes two pitchers with local roots, headlined by Grain Valley’s Jacob Misiorowski. The lesser-known name, though, has been making a bigger October impact so far: Aaron Ashby, the Park Hill High School product who grabbed the save Monday night in Milwaukee’s 7-4 win over the Dodgers as the Brewers moved ahead 2-0 in the National League Championship Series.
Ashby was a fourth-round pick by Milwaukee in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri, and he has become a serious weapon for the Brewers this season. In 75 appearances, the left-hander put together a 13-3 record with a 3.12 ERA, four saves and 116 strikeouts in 89 1/3 innings.
His postseason run has been even more eye-catching. Through five playoff games, Ashby has tossed 9 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out eight. He earned the first postseason win of his career in the divisional series against the Padres, then followed that with two shutout innings in Game 1 against the Dodgers and a five-out save in Game 2.
John Smoltz, interviewing Ashby for Fox Sports this week, told him: “I think you’re going to be the wild card in this thing.”
So far, that prediction has landed. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy has shown plenty of trust in him, and Ashby said that trust was there in the biggest moment Monday night.
“I basically told Murph on my way into the dugout, I said I was good to go (in the ninth inning),” Ashby told reporters after the game, “and he was like, ‘You got it.’”
Ashby, the nephew of former major-league pitcher Andy Ashby, has piled up big numbers over the past three seasons. In 132 games, including four starts, he has 225 strikeouts in 184 1/3 innings.
He said the turnaround has come from staying healthy and settling into a daily routine after missing most of the 2023 season following surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
“I think just kind of a culmination of being healthy for the past couple years and finding out what my routine on a daily basis needs to be, includes honestly just a lot of long toss,” Ashby said. “I try and throw as much as I can to keep my arm in shape.
I don’t really believe in the wasting bullets kind of mindset. I think I’m trying to make more bullets out there.
So really just keeping my arm in shape every day, and it’s worked up to this point.”
Milwaukee’s bullpen has taken on the feel of those dominant Royals relief groups from 2014-15, blanking the Padres in the NLDS and then shutting down the Dodgers through two games. In six postseason games, Brewers relievers have posted an 0.31 ERA with five wins and four saves.
Ashby said the group’s confidence comes from its closeness and the way it has worked together all year.
“Those guys, we’ve been by each other’s side all year long. (Bullpen coach) Charlie Greene’s kept us together,” Ashby told Smoltz.
“It feels comfortable down there. Everyone trusts each other.
I’m pitching with this calmness that I know I got three guys behind me that can get me out of any situation. So that’s a very freeing feeling as a pitcher and allows us to each go out there and do our thing.”
After his two scoreless innings against the Dodgers, Ashby was also named John Smoltz’s #KingOfTheDiamond.
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