Let’s talk about John Brebbia

Over the course of the last week, I spent a lot of time driving, and that means I spent a lot of time listening to the MLB Radio Network.

It’s “Players Week,” so lots of players are making appearances. Imagine my surprise on Tuesday when CJ Nitkowski and Ryan Spilborghs announced that Colorado Rockies reliever John Brebbia would spend the next hour as a guest on “Loud Outs.”

Wait. John Brebbia is a Rockie?

The answer is yes. Brebbia signed an MiLB deal with the Rockies back on December 1. I am embarrassed to say I had completely forgotten. Still, since I was driving for the next hour, I settled in to listen.

It was an interesting conversation, and I thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone (in case you, too, have forgotten) that John Brebbia did, in fact, sign with the Rockies. In addition, it’s worth considering what he might bring to the rebuilding team. (After listening to him on “Loud Outs,” I have some ideas.)

Who is John Brebbia?

He’s the kind of player that’s been a lot of places.

The 35-year-old righty grew up in Sharon, Massachusetts, and attended Elon University. (He completed his degree in political science a few years ago.) He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 30th round of the 2011 MLB Draft and then began a long and winding baseball odyssey. He made his MLB debut in May 28, 2017, against — get this — the Rockies.

Brebbia has played for a lot of teams: St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Atlanta Braves (twice), and Detroit Tigers with plenty of MiLB stops along the way.

According to Baseball Savant, Brebbia has a four-pitch mix: a four-seamer (49%), a slider (43%), a changeup (7%), and a curveball (1%).

He’s earned a career 4.04 ERA (3.80 FIP) in 378.1 IP and has accumulated 3.1 fWAR.

So, he’s okay.

Why did the Rockies sign him?

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Clearly, the most obvious reasons are that a team can never have enough arms, and there are no bad min0r-league contracts. If he never makes it to Coors Field, whatever. Conversely, if he’s good and the Rockies can move him at the trade deadline, excellent.

But listen to what he told Spilborghs and Nitkowsky on Tuesday.

Spilborghs: I had the pleasure last night emceeing a little event with some stakeholders with the Rockies. And we were talking with Paul de Podesta. And Paul was describing this pitching staff and this group of new thinkers, as far as the coaching staff. They brought in Alon Leichman from Miami, Gabe Ribas— I believe he came from the White Sox. You have Matt Buschmann, who's bounced around. What does that make you feel when you know you have a brand new coaching staff? Do you have a feeling, like, they're just gonna throw stuff up, throw stuff up against the wall. Does that excite you to be a part of that?

Brebbia: I think that you can kind of have two approaches towards seeing that. I know some people are like, “Okay, give me one thing. Let me do this one thing. Let me slow down.” I'm the exact opposite. I would like to be rapid fire shot by a paintball gun with as many things as you can possibly get. And then let's see what works and what doesn't work.

I expect tons of failure because I want to try tons of things, and you hope you get a little bit that works out of it, at least. So when I see something like that, I get excited because I'm like, “Oh, cool.”

Baseball is so rapidly moving in — I don't want to say a new direction. It's not like technology is new, and the data they're collecting is new, but it's it's advancing very quickly in the direction that it's going. So I think that when you have a bunch of different thought processes, a bunch of different minds kind of getting together and firing away, I think you can get some really, really special things out of it.

Again, some people can look at it and say, ”That feels messy to me. I don't like that.” But I think there's a lot more people that are like, ”That's pretty cool. Let's see what happens.” Because if the one way doesn't work, you have so many other options to go to. So I love being able to see it and then be a part of it.

In listening to Brebbia, I heard echoes of Michael Lorenzen: He wants to try things and see if they work.

If there’s one thing that’s been clear since DePodesta became the Rockies president of baseball operations, it’s that anything is on the table — Leichman and Kyle Freeland said as much last weekend at Rockies Fest. In 2026, the Rockies intend to try a lot of things to see what works. To do that, they are going to need players who are willing to be creative and aren’t afraid to fail.

Brebbia fits that mold

There were to other player traits that DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes mentioned last weekend: “curious” and “problem solver.” In other words, the Rockies are looking for versatile and athletic players, but in addition to that, they want a certain mindset.

All indications are that Brebbia is that kind of player.

Plus, he’s got experience, and the Rockies will need some veterans to help mentor a very young bullpen.

I’ve written before about the Mile High Baseball Nerd Club. At the time, I was joking. But in retrospect, that’s what’s happening: They’re going to try for some Mile High alchemy.

Having collaborators and test subjects like John Brebbia will be key.

An interesting fact about Brebbia

You may have known this, but I did not prior to his radio interview.

On the first day of the season, Brebbia shaves his face — apparently, it’s quite an undertaking. And he does not shave again until Opening Day of the next season.

In finding pictures for this article, it’s possible to track the progress of the season by looking at Brebbia’s beard.

Mickey Moniak cuts his hair short before the season begins and does not cut it again until the season is over. (I learned that last year.) So should Brebbia make the Rockies’ roster, look for lots of hair growth in 2026.

Closing thoughts

It was a big week for the Colorado Rockies who did a lot of dealing over a two-hour period Wednesday morning: They traded Angel Chivilli to the Yankees; DFA’d Yanquiel Fernández; and acquired Edouard Jullien and Pierson Ohl from the Minnesota Twins.

In an afternoon media availability, DePodesta suggested they probably weren’t done yet and that fans should expect to see additional roster changes during the season.

It’s a very new way of doing business, and I, for one, am here for it.

Thanks for reading —

Renee

Rockies Pitch is a newsletter that focuses on Colorado Rockies baseball.

Find me on Bluesky at @ReneeDechert.com or send an email to Renee@RockiesPitch.com