2015 MVBrewers #10 - Mike Fiers

Mike Fiers wasn't on the Brewers active roster to start the season last year but by the end of the season he had become one of the more interesting pitchers on in the entire franchise. He opened this year having earned a rotation spot but it was hard to know what exactly to expect. By the end of the season he was playing for another team but proved his value for each.

Fiers made 21 starts for the Brewers throwing 118.0 innings. He had a 23.8 K%, 8.5 BB%, .254 BAA, 1.36 WHIP, and 1.07 HR/9. All of that resulted in a 3.89 ERA, 3.85 FIP, and 2.0 fWAR. That's reasonably solid production. But in a down season for the Brewers that 2.0 fWAR was the second best mark of any pitcher. Only Jimmy Nelson bested Fiers with a 2.1 fWAR. He accumulated that WAR over 9 more starts and 60 more innings. It's very likely had Fiers not been traded he would have been the Brewers most valuable pitcher by a wide margin.

He was traded though, along with Carlos Gomez. The duo brought in an impressive package of four prospects--Domingo Santana, Brett Phillips, Josh Hader, and Adrian Houser. In a poll such as this I think it's okay for the individual to decide how and for what reasons he values a player. I know some people felt a traded player shouldn't be considered in the poll. That's fair enough but I think one could make a strong argument that their trade value can or even should be considered. Statistically Fiers was one of the most valuable Brewers pitchers and then he helped bring in this prospect package. To me that definitely makes him worthy of being included in the top 10 MVB.

As noted Fiers season didn't end in Milwaukee. He made 10 appearances in the regular season with the Astros, 9 of which were starts. For them he threw 62.1 innings with a 23.4 K%, 8.3 BB%, .196 BAA, 1.06 WHIP, and 1.44 HR/9. That was all worth 3.32 ERA, 4.39 FIP, and 0.6 fWAR. Most notably he threw a no-hitter against the Dodgers in a game where he also struck out 10 batters. That one stung a little bit as the Brewers have gone so many years with out one. It was still really nice to see him get it though.

All things considered Mike Fiers was definitely one of the best Brewers players of the year. Even just considering his statistical value in his partial year with the team puts him in the top 10. If you then take into account his trade value that cements his placing. I'll miss Fiers as I always thought he was underrated. But I am happy to see him have success elsewhere and excited to see what those prospect can do in the near future.

Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs