Brewers sign two-time KBO pitcher of the year Lindblom

The Milwaukee Brewers made it official Monday morning, signing starting pitcher Josh Lindblom, who has spent the majority of the past five years playing in Korea.

This isn’t the first time the team has gone overseas to add to the 40-man roster. Before the 2017 season, the Brewers inked first baseman Eric Thames, who played the previous three years in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO).

Lindblom spent the last two seasons with the Doosan Bears and was named the KBO’s pitcher of the year both years – the first foreign player to earn the award. He was also named the league’s MVP in 2019.

In 2019, Lindblom went 20-3 with a 2.50 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 189 strikeouts in 194 2/3 innings. The previous season he was 15-4 with a 2.88 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 157 strikeouts in 168 2/3 innings.

Lindblom pitched for the Dodgers, Phillies, Rangers and A’s from 2011-14 before signing with the Lotte Giants of KBO. He spent two years there before heading back to the states and joining Pittsburgh’s organization. He pitched mainly for Triple-A Indianapolis that year – making four appearances for the Pirates – before leaving mid-year to rejoin Lotte.

Lindblom owns a career 4.10 ERA and 1.367 WHIP in 114 major-league games. However, using analytics and adding a splitter and cutter to his pitch repertoire, he remade himself into an ace in Korea.

Milwaukee is hoping Lindblom can boost its rotation much like Miles Mikolas has done in St. Louis. Mikolas spent three years in Japan fine-tuning his game before heading back to MLB with the Cardinals in 2018. He has a 3.44 ERA and 1.144 WHIP in 64 starts for St. Louis.

Lindblom will join a starting rotation which no longer has Chase Anderson, Jhoulys Chacin, Zach Davies, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Lyles, the five of whom combined to make 105 starts for the Brewers in 2019.