Carlos Gomez, Francisco Rodriguez, and Yovani Gallardo to be added to Brewers Wall of Honor

The Milwaukee Brewers started the “Wall of Honor” back in 2014 as a way to commemorate players who have made significant contributions to the franchise. Players who reach certain statistical benchmarks with the organization — 2,000+ plate appearances, 1,000+ innings pitched, 250+ games pitched, winning of a major award, managing a pennant-winning team, being recognized with a statue on the Miller Park Plaza, and being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame — become automatically eligible for enshrinement upon their retirement. There are currently 64 total honorees on the Wall, including three players who were added last year — Rickie Weeks, JJ Hardy, and Trevor Hoffman. But that number will grow again this summer, as it was announced over the weekend that Carlos Gomez, Francisco Rodriguez, and Yovani Gallardo would all be honored during the 2020 season.

Gallardo was the team’s second-round pick back in 2004 and would go on to spend the first eight seasons of a 12-year big league career in Milwaukee. He posted six consecutive seasons of 180+ innings pitched from 2009-2014 while authoring an ERA below 4.00 in five of them. He posted four straight seasons of 200+ strikeouts and holds the franchise record for whiffs at 1,226. In 214 games (211 starts) and 1,289.1 innings pitched for the Brewers, Gallardo finished with a 3.69 ERA and 15.3 bWAR. He was an All-Star in 2010 and also won the Silver Slugger Award that year. He was traded to Texas prior to the 2015 season and finished out his career with stints in Texas, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Seattle. He last pitched during the 2018 season.

Gomez was acquired from the Twins for another future Wall of Honor player, JJ Hardy, prior to the 2010 season. He appeared in 697 games with the Brewers over the next six seasons before getting dealt to the Astros during the summer of 2015 in the trade that brought back Josh Hader and Adrian Houser, among others. Gomez was a superstar-level performer at times during his run in Milwaukee, making back-to-back All-Star appearances in 2013 and 2014 and winning the franchise’s first Gold Glove in 28 years when he awarded the honor in 2013. Gomez totaled 2,576 plate appearances for the Menomonee Valley Nine while batting .267/.325/.452 with 87 home runs and 152 stolen bases, good for an OPS+ of 110 and a cumulative total of 19.1 bWAR. Gomez will also be honored with a retirement ceremony in Milwaukee sometime during the upcoming campaign.

Rodriguez, nicknamed ‘K-Rod’, joined the Brewers for the first time in the summer of 2011 as a midseason trade acquisition. His presence in the back-end of the bullpen helped push the Brewers to the NLCS. He surprisingly rejoined the team in 2012 after accepting arbitration (under the old free agent compensation system), the first of four separate times that he would re-sign with the team. All-in-all, Rodriguez pitched parts of five seasons with Milwaukee, tallying 250.2 innings across 263 appearances with a 2.91 ERA. He recorded 95 saves and generated 4.9 bWAR while donning a Brewers’ uniform. He was traded away for the final time during the 2015-16 offseason, David Stearns’ first at the helm, getting sent to Detroit for Manny Pina and Javier Betancourt.

Also earning notoriety this summer is Wes Covington, who will be added to the Milwaukee Braves Wall of Honor. Covington spent six years with the Braves while they played in the Cream City, batting .284/.336/.473 with 64 home runs across 1,579 plate appearances for a 122 OPS+. He was a member of the 1957 World Series winning team and finished 16th in MVP voting in 1958. He generated 5.6 bWAR during his time in Milwaukee.

No players were voted into the Walk of Fame this year, despite plenty of seemingly deserving candidates: