Kintzler excited to be back with Brewers, calls Triple-A 'blessing in disguise'
MILWAUKEE -- It is quite uncommon for a player to have another big-league opportunity with the same team after being outrighted off its 40-man roster.
But for Brandon Kintzler, his second chance with the Milwaukee Brewers came just two weeks after his future with the organization seemed cloudy at best.
After being removed from the 40-man roster April 23, Kintzler had his contract purchased to rejoin the Brewers and hopefully help Milwaukee with its struggling middle-relief unit.
"It feels great," Kintzler said. "It's obviously not the position the team wants to be in or how I want to join the team, where we're in last. But it feels great to come in and contribute and hopefully save the arms of the late-inning guys and eat up some innings."
After earning a late-innings role in 2013 by posting a 2.69 ERA in 71 appearances, Kintzler battled through a painful knee injury to pitch in 64 games with a 3.24 ERA last season.
Kintzler addressed the partially torn patella tendon in his left knee with surgery in October and came to spring training expecting to earn a spot in Milwaukee's bullpen.
Instead, the Brewers optioned the 30-year-old to Triple-A Colorado Springs on March 29.
"I was shocked," Kintzler said. "But in the back of your mind you always know that it's a business and things are going to happen. To be honest with you I probably wasn't ready to leave spring training anyway. I wasn't pitching that great so I wouldn't have been any help up here. I probably would have been sent down right away anyway."
In eight Cactus League appearances, Kintzler had a 6.48 ERA. Michael Blazek and Tyler Thornburg pitched their way on to the roster with strong springs, leaving Kintzler on the outside looking in.
"I think the bullpen is a place where you are never going to be set," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "There are always going to be spots for competition going into spring training. I think that's the one area of the team where every single year there are going to be spots that are undecided. I think that's how it was this year.
"The thinking out of spring training is you are taking the best 12 pitchers at the time. At the time, the decision was made to take the hottest 12 or the best 12. That's how we wanted to start."
Kintzler suffered a nail avulsion on his right middle finger early in the season, which he tried pitching through in his debut with the Sky Sox on April 10. He went on the disabled list the next day and didn't pitch again until April 23.
"It ripped off," Kintzler said of his nail. "It happened in the spring, slowly, and ripped in half so I Superglued it. In Colorado Springs the air is so dry and my first outing it just busted and then it was cutting me while I was trying to pitch. I was throwing cutters and wild pitches everywhere -- before I gave up runs -- so they put me on the DL.
"Then we kind of let it grow back, treated it and got a fake nail on it. And as I'm pitching the fake nail busts and I had to leave the game (on May 1). So I took the fake nail off and just pitched without it. It's been a rollercoaster."
His ERA was 6.35 at Colorado Springs, but the right-hander tossed five straight scoreless outings after returning until he allowed two earned runs in an inning of work against Memphis on May 5.
Kintzler has an opportunity to earn a role with the Brewers, a team in need of a consistent middle reliever outside of Blazek. Tyler Thornburg and Rob Wooten both struggled in their time in Milwaukee, while Neal Cotts has a 5.11 ERA over 12 1/3 innings.
"It was definitely a blessing in disguise to go down (to Triple-A)," Kintzler said. "I had a great pitching coach down there (Fred Dabney) that helped me a lot and a great training staff that put me in a good position to where I could be healthy. We worked on a lot of stuff. So it was a blessing in disguise.
"I think I've been throwing the ball great. Ever since the nail thing and I came back from the nail I've been throwing the ball really good. I've had no issues. My sinker's been sinking and the velocity has been where I need it to be. I don't have any question marks on that."
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