Brewers closer Trevor Megill delivered an electric inning in a thrilling win July 9, then found out he was headed to his first all-star game.
It's a standard question when a player gets named as a late addition to the All-Star Game; what were your plans otherwise?
"Go to the All-Star Game," Brewers closer Trevor Megill said, straight-faced after a 3-2 win over the Dodgers on July 9. "My plans would have changed if I didn't (get selected)."
He doesn't mean as a fan. He meant he had every intention of traveling to Atlanta and participating in the annual showcase July 15, even though he wasn't on the initial National League roster. He got the news he wanted after the win over the Dodgers, that he'd been added to the showcase for the first time in his career.
"This was No. 1 for me this year," he said. "This is what I was striving for. A lot of hard work, a lot of pitchers in front of me, putting it down and giving me the opportunities to go out there and get saves. Without the guys around me, this wouldn't be possible."
Megill blew away three dangerous Los Angeles hitters down in the 10th inning of a 3-2 win just moments earlier, giving the Brewers their first-ever home sweep of the Dodgers. He struck out Freddie Freeman, Andy Pages and Tommy Edman, setting the stage for Jackson Chourio's walk-off single in the bottom half.
Megill picked up his second win of the year to go with his 21 saves, good for second in the National League. He owns a 2.41 ERA and 43 strikeouts in just shy of 34 innings.
Megill replaces teammate Freddy Peralta on the NL roster; Peralta is scheduled to pitch against the Nationals on Sunday, close enough to the All-Star Game to render him ineligible to pitch in the exhibition two days later.
"Five years in the league now, you see it every year, guys can't throw (in the All-Star Game for various reasons)," Megill said. "There's always that chance later in the week to sneak in, so I just had to take it slow and play patience a little bit."
His selection marks three straight Brewers closers named as all-stars, joining predecessors Josh Hader (himself selected this year with the Astros) and Devin Williams. Megill registered 21 saves with the Brewers in 2024 during the first half of the season, largely when Williams was sidelined with fractures in his back.
"I learned a lot last year from one of the best closers in the game, and just kind of took it to 2025 and tried to keep the camaraderie and everything great down there (in the bullpen," Megill said. "They've been great to me down in the bullpen."
He's a remarkable story of perseverance, beginning with the Cubs in 2021 when he posted an 8.37 ERA in 28 games, then a 4.80 mark with the Twins in 39 appearances in 2022.
The Brewers acquired Megill in 2023 from the Twins in exchange for cash and a player to be named later; that became minor-league pitcher Taylor Floyd, who has remained at Class AA in the years since, bouncing to the Seattle organization before the current season.
"Trusting (pitching coach Chris) Hook and Jim (Henderson, assistant pitching coach) and (manager Pat) Murphy and (general manager Matt) Arnold and everybody," Megill said of why it's worked in Milwaukee. "It's just a very mature organization. You put a gameplan together with them, and they trust you to go out there and execute it. They don't get lost too much in the analytics and what not. Just go out there and get the zeroes, and I feel the confidence coming from up top."
That was true again July 9, when his excellent inning set the stage for a first-of-its-kind sweep against the Dodgers.
"That's leverage right there," he said. "That's what we all as bullpen arms strive to come out on top of. To be able to do that this week, it was awesome."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers closer Trevor Megill named to National League all-star team
Category: Baseball
