The Brewers are sticking with the six-man rotation a little longer, and the next turn through the schedule now makes the plan pretty clear: Shane Drohan is headed back to the bullpen after one more start.
That’s the latest read from Milwaukee’s upcoming pitching schedule, which suggests the club will keep using six starters for another round before trimming back to a more familiar setup. The move would send Drohan into a relief role, where he pitched earlier this season.
Milwaukee’s top four arms aren’t changing. Dustin May, Kyle Harrison, Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson remain locked into the rotation and are expected to form the backbone of the staff the rest of the regular season, with some combination of that group also lining up as the club’s projected postseason rotation. The only real question has been the final spot.
The Brewers already answered part of that by announcing Robert Gasser will start the last game of the upcoming series against the Seattle Mariners, which keeps his place in the rotation intact for now. Then came the report from Brewers beat writer Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who said Drohan will get one more turn before likely moving back to long relief.
“It sounds like the Brewers plan to go with the six-man rotation for one more turn through, then they will shift Shane Drohan to a long relief role. Drohan is nearing his career high of 129 innings.
- Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) August 16, 2026”
That innings number matters here. Drohan has already logged 98.1 MLB innings and another 13.2 in Triple-A this year, putting him close to his career high. Gasser’s workload is also worth watching, though his situation is different: he threw more than 135 innings in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023 before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2024, and he sits at exactly 100 total innings between MLB and Triple-A this season.
Drohan’s case for a return to the bullpen isn’t just about workload, either. He was effective in that role earlier in the year, making 10 appearances out of Milwaukee’s relief corps from late April through the end of May and posting a 1.82 ERA across 24.2 innings. With the Brewers’ four other starters seemingly set, that kind of usage looks like the likeliest postseason path for him as well.
The six-man setup has helped Milwaukee manage a young group of arms through a punishing stretch. The Brewers just went through 17 games in 17 days, a run that ends with tomorrow’s off day, and the extra starter gave the club more breathing room for pitchers nearing career highs in innings. The tradeoff, of course, has been extra pressure on the bullpen.
That strain has already shown up. Abner Uribe is expected to miss time with a short-term flexor strain, and the club had to designate Bryse Wilson for assignment to bring in another fresh arm. Wilson, who has been strong in his second stint with Milwaukee, cleared waivers and re-signed with the Brewers three days later.
Even with those headaches, the front office’s ability to keep six viable starters on hand says a lot about the depth Matt Arnold and the Brewers have built. Losing Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester to season-ending injuries could have left the rotation thin in a hurry. Instead, Milwaukee has been able to lean on a deep group of young pitchers to survive a brutal early-August schedule and keep the staff moving through the season.
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