Brewers Recall Lefty Shane Drohan From Triple-A Nashville After Mechanical Fixes

Shane Drohan spent the winter rediscovering a pitch he nearly forgot he had. Now the left-hander is headed to Milwaukee for what will be his major league debut.

The Brewers placed left-handed pitcher Jared Koenig on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow sprain, recalling fellow lefty Shane Drohan from Triple-A Nashville to replace him on the 26-man roster. Koenig was removed after a disastrous outing in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against the Royals, in which his sinker velocity dropped under 94 mph after sitting at 96 mph in his season debut.

Drohan, 27, is ranked as Milwaukee's No. 25 prospect by MLB Pipeline. He made one appearance at Triple-A before getting the call, allowing two earned runs over 3 1/3 innings with Nashville while striking out six. That single outing was enough for the Brewers to trust him with a big-league job.

The mechanical story behind the recall begins with a pitch Drohan consciously shelved. While adding a gyro slider and leaning heavily on a cutter last year, Drohan neglected the changeup that had once been a primary pitch, and he spent the winter focused on rediscovering the shape and feel of that offering. He explained the mindset shift during spring training. "It's human nature. You want to impress, being the new guy," Drohan said. "But when you play for so long, you have to settle in and do what you know you're good at and what got you here. It's knowing who you are as a pitcher and sticking to it."

The physical gains were just as significant. He added a tick of velocity to every pitch in his arsenal, and the induced vertical break of his fastball increased from 14 to 16 inches, meaning it had more carry at the top of the strike zone. That fastball already drew elite attention at the Triple-A level: it ranked among the top three in the International League in terms of swing-and-miss rate last season.

Drohan missed a significant chunk of the 2025 season with forearm inflammation but was effective when available, delivering a 3.00 ERA with a 34.5% strikeout rate across 54 innings. In Triple-A Worcester, he made 12 appearances, 11 of them starts, posting a 2.27 ERA with 67 strikeouts over 47 2/3 innings.

The promotion puts all three players acquired in the Caleb Durbin deal on the big-league roster. Left-hander Kyle Harrison and infielder David Hamilton both broke camp with the team. Drohan was once a Rule 5 pick by the White Sox in 2023 but never pitched with them and was returned in June 2024.

Milwaukee opened the year with a lefty-heavy bullpen that included Angel Zerpa, Aaron Ashby, and DL Hall alongside Koenig. Drohan slots directly into that group, though his track record as a starter leaves open the possibility of rotation use if injuries mount. The Brewers are set to begin a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox on Monday, which adds a layer of narrative: Drohan is poised to make his MLB debut against the very organization that developed him before trading him away.