40-Man in Review: Will Brennan

Reviewing the 2024 season for Will Brennan

At the end of June I embarked on my first big piece as a writer here at Covering the Corner; a deep dive into Will Brennan’s offensive improvements since the 2023 season. I would recommend reading that article before continuing, I do not plan on rehashing his first half stats as in depth as I did in that article.

In the midst of the research portion of the article Will Brennan was sent to the 10-day IL with rib cage inflammation. A concern I had pointed out in the above linked article was that this particular injury could impact his offense if he does not have a proper IL stint.

On July 10th, Brennan made one rehab start with the Columbus Clippers as a DH. He went 0-for-4. Worth noting that one AB was lost to the Strikes/Ball Challenge system that MiLB employees. The ball nicked the outside corner and was originally called a ball by the home plate ump before being overturned with the pitcher’s challenge. The following day Brennan was recalled and met up with the team in Detroit. Thus began the worst month in Will Brennan’s professional career.

In the month of July across 21 plate appearances, Brennan only reached base once - on a hit by pitch. In 9 games and 20 ABs, Brennan put up a slash line of .000/.048/.000. At the trade deadline the Cleveland Guardians acquired Lane Thomas from the Washington Nationals and, not even a month after returning to the club, Will Brennan was optioned down to AAA Columbus on July 30th.

Will Brennan made his time in Columbus count. Including his one game on rehab, Brennan hit a .371/.421/.571 with 7R, 6RBI, and 4SB. He remained confident in the outfield, making some impressive plays.

On August 9th the Guardians recalled Brennan from the Clippers. He carried the momentum he started in Columbus back to Cleveland, kind of. Excluding July, Brennan put up a .330/.349/.408 and 117 wRC+ to close out the regular season. Unfortunately the thing that made him look like he improved from 2023 in the first half took a massive hit in the second half.

Prior to his midseason injury (March 28th - June 25th), Brennan had a BB% of 7.1% and K% of 11.9%. From July 1st until the end of the regular season, Brennan had a BB% of 2.4% and K% of 16.5%. He started the season tying his 2023 walks at 16 to only walking 3 times for the rest of the season. His ISO took a hit from .159 prior to injury to .065 in the second half. His Hard% dropped from 31.5% to 15.7% and FB% dropped from 40.6% to 29.7% in that same timeframe. All the while his IFFB% went from 5.5% to a disastrous 26.7%. Despite a decent BA and OBP for the second half, the parts of 2023 Will Brennan that needed to stay away, reared their ugly head once again.

In a small sample size, Brennan had a difficult postseason going 2 for 13 with a double and sevens strikeouts. He also mishandled a grounder in right-field and missed what would have been a good sliding catch that landed in his glove. For some reason, Brennan’s tendecies to chase and to press seem to increase in his limited postseason appearances. Perhaps additional experience will help with this dynamic if future opportunities present themselves. You can’t conclude anything very meaningful in fewer than 15 PA’s.

What does the 2025 season look like for Will Brennan? Not too many fans will like this, but there’s a strong chance he is still on the 40-Man roster come Opening Day, if not breaking camp. Chase DeLauter is poised to take over the LHH RF role, but he only played six games in AAA during the 2024 season and the front office doesn’t rush development. That isn’t to say that DeLauter doesn’t break camp with the squad, but don’t be surprised if he starts in AAA for a month or two. Will Brennan is making league minimum, has 3 MiLB options remaining, and isn’t eligible for arbitration until 2026. That is the perfect type of player to hang onto until the front office knows for sure that one of DeLauter, Juan Brito, or George Valera are sure things.

It is well known that at a certain point you know who a player is and have to be realistic about their ceiling. As someone who still considers Will Brennan my favorite player, the reality of his future on this team has made me appreciate him more. Brennan is the definition of a team player and is always ready to do whatever is needed to help the team win, even if it means less play time or starting the year in AAA. His ceiling may not be as high as some of us dreamed back in 2022, but with how Nolen Jones and Will Benson turned out, I have to trust that the front office will handle the LHH RF role in the best way possible.