In 2017, Brewer fans thought they had found the ever-elusive homegrown ace in Jimmy Nelson. While his record for that year was just 12-6 with an ERA of 3.49, other pitching stats - those that tell us more about what a pitcher really is (10.21 K%, 50.3 ground ball rate, 3.05 FIP, 4.8 fWAR) - were saying that Mr. Nelson was on the precipice of becoming the bonafide, genuine article. A true ace that was not bought or traded for, but one that grew up in the Brewers system.
Better yet, he was leading the Brew Crew towards the playoffs.