PHOENIX -- The Brewers opted not to issue uniform No. 39 last season in a subtle show of respect to Corbin Burnes, the homegrown ace who won the franchise¡¯s first Cy Young Award in 39 years in 2021 and represented Milwaukee in a pair of All-Star Games before he was traded to Baltimore on the cusp of a contract year. It was with that history in mind that Brewers equipment manager Jason Shawger offered another right-hander a handful of numerical choices late last month.
Chad Patrick, the Triple-A International League¡¯s reigning Triple Crown winner after leading the circuit in wins, ERA and strikeouts last season, had his car packed for a quick stop at home in Indiana before a return assignment to Nashville to begin the 2025 season. Then plans changed. The Brewers, their starting rotation a jumble before they played a single regular season game, needed Patrick in the Majors, meaning that after wearing No. 78 during Spring Training, Patrick needed a number more befitting a big leaguer.
He preferred something as low as possible, and Shawger¡¯s five or so offerings started with Burnes¡¯ No. 39. As Shawger began to explain the connection, Patrick stopped him. He already knew.
¡°I figured, why not? He throws a cutter, I throw a cutter,¡± Patrick said on the eve of Saturday¡¯s matchup of No. 39s at Chase Field, when Patrick won his duel against Burnes but the D-backs won the game in heartbreaking fashion from Milwaukee¡¯s perspective, scoring five runs in a wild bottom of the ninth inning to send the Brewers to a 5-4 loss. ¡°Why not model your game after someone great?¡±
The choice didn¡¯t get past Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
¡°I think that¡¯s significant, to be honest with you,¡± Murphy said. ¡°I wore 21 because I thought about Roberto Clemente, and I thought I hit a lot of balls to right field. That¡¯s where the comparison stops.¡±
Patrick, 26, has his own similarities to Burnes. Both are right-handers who game-plan off their best pitch, a cut fastball. Both were fourth-round Draft picks, Burnes to the Brewers in 2016 and Patrick to the D-backs in 2021.
Patrick knows he has a long way to go to extend the comparison beyond that, but he¡¯s off to a good start, holding the Royals, Reds and D-backs to a combined one earned run on 10 hits in his first 14 1/3 innings as a big league starter. Patrick would have been able to pitch longer on Saturday -- he was at 77 pitches with the bases empty and a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning -- but the Brewers had a fresh bullpen, so they pulled Patrick rather than have him face the top of the D-backs¡¯ lineup for the third time.
¡°I was 21, 22 when [Burnes¡¯] name started coming around,¡± Patrick said. ¡°So you really start watching him pitch, and it¡¯s like, ¡®I want to be just like him because he¡¯s one of the best.¡¯ So when the opportunity came, I wanted the number.¡±
Burnes said Shawger gave him a heads up that Patrick was going to take the number.
¡°That's cool,¡± Burnes said. ¡°The fact that I can have that impact on guys that are getting to the big leagues now. He said he grew up watching me, so now I'm starting to feel old.¡±
So it was that a pair of No. 39s took turns on the mound in what became a pitching duel. The Brewers struck first against Burnes, taking a 2-0 lead in the second inning when the first four hitters of the frame reached safely and Rhys Hoskins (RBI single) and Joey Ortiz (run-scoring double play) accounted for runs. In the sixth, budding Brewers star Jackson Chourio extended the lead to 3-0 by blasting a solo home run that sailed a Statcast-projected 448 feet, and then made it 4-0 when he singled in the top of the ninth and scored on a William Contreras double before the game flipped upside down in the bottom of the inning.
Patrick, meanwhile, showed why Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook, a longtime mentor of Burnes, is so intrigued about what could come. Hook explained Patrick¡¯s appeal like this: ¡°He seems to find the right moment to make a big pitch.¡±
Take the bottom of the first inning, when Corbin Carroll singled and Geraldo Perdomo walked to open the frame, but Patrick induced a Pavin Smith double play and got Josh Naylor to fly out. Or the fourth, when Patrick wiggled out of trouble after Naylor opened the inning with a double.
Before Saturday, Patrick¡¯s path crossed with Burnes' only once. It was either during the pandemic or during baseball¡¯s lockout, as Patrick remembers it, that Burnes and Josh Hader were in a group of Arizona-based Brewers working out at a high school in Scottsdale. Patrick happened to be there doing his own throwing one day, so he found a spot along the fence and watched Burnes throw a bullpen.
On Saturday night, they met again.