Brewers' Josh Hader must create own adrenaline with no fans in stands

MILWAUKEE — Over the past few years, Miller Park has provided the Milwaukee Brewers with one heck of a home-field advantage.

The stadium’s hitter-friendly configuration — which has helped it earn a reputation as a home run factory — combined with a steady stream of offensive talent are big reasons why, but it’s hard to overlook the impact provided by near-capacity crowds every night.

Josh Hader knows first-hand just how much the atmosphere can help a player. The hard-throwing left-handed reliever elicits some of the biggest cheers of the game when he takes the mound and the noise gets louder and louder with every one of his strikeouts.

Hader won’t have that emotional boost when the Brewers finally begin their season later this month.

In order to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Major League Baseball will not allow fans into its stadiums, at least for the time being, leaving Hader and the Brewers to find new ways to get their adrenaline flowing.

“Closers are probably the biggest beneficiary of adrenaline from the fans and game situations,” manager Craig Counsell said Wednesday during a video conference with reporters. “Those guys’ roles are probably going to feel different. The games will feel different.”

For Hader, the situation provides just as much of a rush as the roar of a raucous crowd and is one of the ways he’ll try to get himself mentally prepared for big moments.

“You can get adrenaline from a situation,” Hader said. “It’s really just staying within yourself, and really building the adrenaline in the situation.”

Hader made five Cactus League appearances, striking out seven while walking three and allowing four earned runs over 4⅓ innings before baseball shut down in March. Much of his quarantine workload was focused on refining his secondary pitches, which should help him rely less on his fastball, but also make his fastball more effective.

“Really dialing in on the changeup was one of the biggest things for me,” Hader said. “Then moving to the slider, just trying to make sure my secondary pitches are pretty sharp.”

Hader slid into the closer’s role last season when Corey Knebel was lost to an elbow injury during spring training and underwent Tommy John surgery.

Hader handled the role well, converting 37 of 44 save opportunities with 138 strikeouts in 75⅔ innings and a 2.62 ERA in 61 appearances. But the return of Knebel, who saved 39 games in 2017 and 16 more in 2018 before moving into a set-up role between Hader and Jeremy Jeffress, could lead to Hader sliding back into the middle-relief, multi-inning role he excelled at in 2018.

“It’s going to be huge just having him back in the bullpen,” Hader said. “Just adding (Knebel) to the pitching staff we have, it’s going to be definitely a fun season.”

Counsell has yet to determine how he’ll structure the back end of his bullpen. If past tendencies are any indication, both Hader and Knebel will see ninth-inning action, with hard-throwing right-hander Ray Black and veteran right-hander David Phelps potentially in the mix as well.

“However we can get three outs and whoever is best suited to do it that day, that’s how we’ll do it,” Counsell said. “The outs in the eighth inning are pretty important, too.”

Mitchell signs

The Brewers announced that they had signed first-round draft pick Garrett Mitchell.

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Mitchell, 21, was selected 20th overall in last month’s draft after batting .355 with 18 runs, six doubles and nine RBIs as a junior at UCLA.

With Mitchell in the fold, the Brewers have reached agreement with all five of their 2020 selections.

Battling the heat

Temperatures in Milwaukee reached the 90s Wednesday with dew points in the 70s, making for a scorching day.

To keep the players safe, Counsell said the team considered adjustments to its workout schedule and, since there was work being done on the roof, it was closed for the Brewers’ intrasquad scrimmage.

“It’s been tolerable so far,” Counsell said. “I don’t expect (the heat) to continue. It’s pretty rare that we get the hottest 3-4 days of the year right here, but we’re just stressing hydration and I think we’ll get through it. One one way, it’s keeping the players loose. Some of them actually really like it.”

COVID-19 update

Luis Urias and Angel Perdomo are still under quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 before the start of camp.

“Right now, nothing has changed with their status,” Counsell said. “We have to wait for them to go through (the testing protocols) and for them to be negative. At this point, nothing has changed.”

Win and loss

After spending the first few days of camp focusing on drills and live batting practice, the Brewers split into two teams and played a five-inning situational scrimmage.

Zack Brown and Shelby Miller were the starting pitchers. Jedd Gyorko scored the first run and Justin Smoak provided the first home run, off of Miller, while Black scuffled, walking four of the five batters he faced.

“We don’t know what to expect in any of these games, honestly,” Counsell said earlier in the day. “It’s hard to say what we really expect what it means, what it’s going to feel like. I think we’re going to have to experience that afterwards. I’m not going in with any expectations of how it’s going to feel.”

The Brewers will hold another situational scrimmage Thursday afternoon.