Milwaukee Brewers Send Pitcher to the Minors After Tipping Pitches

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher, Robert Gasser, had to be disappointed to learn that he’d start the season in the minors and not with the Big League club on Opening Day. However, on May 17, the Brewers required his services and called him up from the minors and slotted him into the rotation.

Unfortunately, the joy of being promoted lasted all of one week as on May 24, Gasser was sent back to the minors. It wasn’t just because he lost his last start to the Los Angeles Dodgers but rather how the southpaw suffered defeat. Over 4.1 innings, he allowed four hits, four walks, and three earned runs, but even more noteworthy is that Gasser reportedly tipped his pitches, which allowed the Dodgers to tee off of him.

In the fourth inning of Saturday’s loss to Los Angeles, the Brewers held a 3–1 lead, with Gasser on the mound, Andy Pages on second base, and Teoscar Hernadez at bat. Gasser then, apparently, did something that tipped off Pages, who then began motioning to Hernandez by either holding his arm straight out or touching his helmet.

With Hernandez knowing either the pitch type or the location, or possibly both, he took advantage of the situation and clubbed a three-run home run. That put the Dodgers up 4–3, and they would continue to add more runs, winning by a final score of 11–3, making it Milwaukee’s most lopsided defeat of the season.

After the game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said the quiet part out loud. He intimated that Gasser was likely tipping his pitches.

“There’s a huge emphasis on making sure they can’t get your signs from second base—there’s a huge emphasis on it,” Murphy told reporters. “Pitchers have to be able to not give away anything. It’s gotten to [be] a science. Every team does it. We do it. Every team does it. Some teams do it less subtle than others. He got caught up and gave away some pitches, and it ended up hurting him.”

Opposing players on second base are the ones with the best line of sight to see if a pitcher is tipping and then have that opportunity to relay that to the batter. Gasser has made just two starts this season, but opponents have feasted off him when he’s pitching with a runner on second base.

There have been five plate appearances in which that was the case across Gasser’s two starts. Four of those batters at the plate at the time proceeded to reach base safely, with only one out recorded by the pitcher in the process.

Gasser was asked about potentially giving away his pitches and admitted that this isn’t the first time this has been brought up to him.

“I did look back once and saw [Pages] moving his hands, and when I came in [to the dugout], I saw some of their hand signals,” Gasser said after Saturday’s loss. “I haven’t looked in depth at it. I saw some of the photos, it seemed like my hand was getting covered, but I’ll have to take a further look at it.

“It’s definitely something that’s come up before, and I thought I had a good grip on it and was covering it up. I don’t know. Maybe they had something. Maybe not.”

As it stands, Gasser’s stats for the 2026 MLB season are 8.1 innings pitched, six earned runs allowed, seven hits allowed, and six walks issued. He has a 6.48 ERA, a 0–1 record, and the Brewers have lost both of his starts.

He also made two starts last year after first being called up in 2024. He pitched well in his first two years with a 2.67 ERA across 33.2 innings. But the tipped pitches, plus two-time All-Star, Brandon Woodruff, nearing a return from the injured list, has Gasser being sent down to Triple-A Nashville, which is where he began the 2026 MLB season.

That would allow him to work out the kinks in regard to his activity on the mound and a more thorough review of giving away his pitches. Gasser, who turns 27 on May 31, was a second-round pick in 2021 by the San Diego Padres. He was then acquired one year later by Milwaukee in a trade that sent then-four-time All-Star closer, Josh Hader, from Milwaukee to San Diego.

In Gasser’s place, and until Woodruff is cleared to return, the Brewers recalled right-handed pitcher Carlos Rodriguez. Like Gasser, Rodriguez also began the year in the minors, got an early-season call-up, and was then sent back down to Triple-A. The latter has a 2.25 ERA across 4 innings pitched this year.

Even with Milwaukee winless in Gasser’s pair of starts, it still sits atop the National League Central. And even with one of their young pitchers possibly tipping pitches, the Brewers’ pitching staff, as a whole, has been elite. Entering Sunday, Milwaukee ranked third in all of baseball in team ERA (3.28), first in strikeouts per nine innings (9.8), and led MLB in allowing the fewest home runs per nine innings (0.7).