Drew Smyly opts out of minor league contract with Milwaukee Brewers, becomes free agent

Drew Smyly’s brief tenure with the Milwaukee Brewers organization officially came to an end earlier this afternoon. Smyly signed a minor league contract with the Brewers on July 1st after getting released by the Texas Rangers, and now less than three weeks later, he is looking for a new home after exercising a release clause in his deal.

Smyly made three Triple-A starts for the San Antonio Missions, working a total of 12.2 innings while allowing seven earned runs — including a pair of homers — along with three walks versus 18 strikeouts. That gaudy K/BB ratio helped him earn a FIP that was more than a run below his ERA and a fantastic DRA- of 43 in the small sample, but it was apparently not enough to convince David Stearns and company that the 30 year old left-hander was worth promoting to the big leagues. So, Smyly will now hit the open market in search of a better opportunity to return to the game’s highest level.

Smyly struggled greatly with the Rangers during the first half of the season, posting an 8.42 ERA across 51.1 innings in his return from Tommy John surgery. The veteran hurler owns a 4.13 ERA across 621.2 innings since making his MLB debut back in 2012.

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs and Baseball Prospetcus