Colin Rea re-establishes himself in MLB, looks forward to 2024 season with Milwaukee Brewers

FAIRFAX — You may have bumped into him at the Casey’s or the Dollar General last summer in Cascade. Which probably made you do a double take.

Perhaps a triple take.

Colin Rea is a major league pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, but it’s a literal hop, skip and a jump from Milwaukee to Cascade. A little less than three hours drive time.

“Last season was a lot of fun,” Rea said recently, after wrapping up an offseason workout at the Dugout Sports baseball facility with fellow big leaguer Mitch Keller of the Pittsburgh Pirates and some minor leaguers who live in or around Cedar Rapids. “Some ups and downs, but I had a blast. Winning the division, celebrating, being a part of that ...

“Being close to family, too. There were some times where I was able to come home because we had an off day. In the middle of a homestand, I’d come home. I don’t know, last season was just a lot of fun.”

The 33-year-old right-hander spent the vast majority of the 2023 baseball season in MLB, a guy who helped the Brewers win the National League Central Division championship by stepping up and taking a regular turn through the starting rotation when the club had multiple injuries. Rea went 6-6 with a 4.55 earned run average in 26 games, 22 starts.

He set career highs in starts, victories, innings (124 2/3) and strikeouts (110), recording a very solid 1.19 WHIP. The wins were his first in the majors since 2020 with the Chicago Cubs, his first as a starter since 2016 when he was with the San Diego Padres.

Vindication for a dude who has been through so much adversity in his professional career. Or perhaps not.

“I don’t necessarily think of it like that,” Rea said. “It’s definitely gotten me to where I am, going through all that. But I don’t look at it as a reward for that happening to me and me getting (back) to the big leagues. That’s kind of where I expect myself to be. When I’m there, it’s like ‘Well, I expect to be here.’ There is no better place to be than up there.”

Here is Rea’s story.

After graduating from Cascade High School, he went to the University of Northern Iowa until it dropped its program. From there, it was a junior college in Florida, then Indiana State, where he reunited with now-Iowa head coach Rick Heller.

The Padres took him in the 12th round of the 2011 draft, and Rea climbed through the minor leagues, making his MLB debut in 2015. He made 18 starts for San Diego the following season and was traded to the Marlins, for whom he made one start before being diagnosed with a torn UCL in his elbow.

The trade eventually was rescinded, sending him back to the Padres. Tommy John surgery kept him out all of 2017, and San Diego ended up releasing him after an ineffective 2018 season in the minor leagues. The Cubs brought him in for the 2019 season, and Rea made 26 starts for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs and got a couple of appearances for Chicago in 2020.

The Brewers then signed and released him, with Rea ending up in Japan for two years. Milwaukee re-signed him to a minor-league contract and last season happened.

Rea signed a big-league deal worth $3.5 million over the winter, with the Brewers holding a $5.5-million option for 2025. As spring training begins this week, he’s penciled in as a rotation guy.

“Still the same mentality for me,” he said. “I’m not (assuming) a spot on the roster or anything. Go into spring training and prepare just like every other year. Whatever my role is, whatever the team needs, starting or in the bullpen, I’m just going to come in (and do that).

“The offseason the last couple of years have been pretty similar. It seemed like throughout my career, I was trying to figure out what works best for me. What training programs, what helps you more prepared to stay healthy throughout the season. I think I’m getting to the point where I’m just kind of sticking to that.”

Sticking around the big leagues for a little while, hopefully, with his support system in tow. That’d be his wife, Megan, and their four children, all 7 years old or younger.

“It’s a lot different having a wife and four kids when you are in this lifestyle,” Rea said. “But it’s fun. And I’m glad I’m still trying to do it.”

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