Brewers select veteran LHP Blaine Hardy

The Brewers have selected the contract of left-hander Blaine Hardy.  The veteran will take the spot of Hunter Strickland, whose placement on the COVID-related injury list wasn’t made official until today.

Hardy underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2020, preventing him from taking the field last season and keeping him from benefiting from a minor league deal with the Twins. The southpaw inked a new minors deal with Milwaukee back in January, and he returned from Tommy John rehab to post a 3.50 ERA over 46 1/3 innings for the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville.

Through six MLB seasons and 289 2/3 innings with the Tigers from 2014-19, Hardy posted a 3.73 ERA/4.31 SIERA with 18.6% strikeout rate. Hardy has worked mostly as a reliever but did make 13 starts in 2018, and he started seven of his 17 games with Nashville this year. Milwaukee could use Hardy as rotation depth, as a long reliever, or potentially both in a swingman capacity.