Brewers trade Isaac Collins and Nick Mears to Royals for Angel Zerpa

The Milwaukee Brewers acquired left-handed relief pitcher Ángel Zerpa from the Kansas City Royals.
Zerpa is a hard-throwing ground ball specialist who had a 4.18 ERA in 69 appearances last season.
Collins was fourth in NL rookie of the year voting last year, while Mears made 63 relief appearances.

The Milwaukee Brewers didn’t make any moves at the winter meetings in Orlando this week, but they sure came away prepared to deal.

Two days after inking their first free-agent (Akil Baddoo) to a major-league contract, the Brewers dealt from their recently-replenished outfield depth for a relief pitcher who fits the team’s mold.

The Brewers on Dec. 13 traded outfielder Isaac Collins and right-hander Nick Mears to the Kansas City Royals for hard-throwing ground ball specialist Angel Zerpa, according to multiple reports confirmed by the Journal Sentinel.

Zerpa, a 26-year-old left-hander, throws a sinker-slider combination that fits well with how the Brewers approach their pitching staff. Zerpa carried a 63.7% ground-ball rate, registering in the 99th percentile among pitchers in the major leagues last year, and managed 58 strikeouts in 64 ⅔ innings despite a low whiff rate of only 16.4%.

Zerpa posted a 4.18 earned run average across his 69 appearances for the Royals a year ago, but had better underlying numbers that were more in line with his career 3.97 ERA.

In Collins and Mears, the Brewers are giving up two players who contributed to a 97-win team in 2025.

Collins was fourth in balloting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award after batting .263 with a .368 on-base percentage and .779 OPS while Mears made 63 appearances with a 3.49 ERA and registered 16 holds.

By making this deal, the Brewers are projecting somewhat of a step back from Collins and Mears in 2026 while believing that they can get more out of Zerpa, who throws in the upper 90s (96.6 mph average sinker) and has some of the best pure stuff of any left-handed reliever in baseball.

Collins possesses excellent plate discipline, which fueled his breakout campaign a year ago, but he also faded after returning from paternity leave in late August. He’s also part of a deep outfield group that includes Sal Frelick, Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Brandon Lockridge, Blake Perkins and now Baddoo.

Mears, meanwhile, held a high-leverage role early in the season and finished with solid results but saw his swing-and-miss numbers decline dramatically in 2025. His strikeout rate dipped from 29.3% in 2024 to 20.8% as he struggled to get whiffs on his four-seam fastball.

Mears was ultimately left off the roster for the National League Championship Series. The 29-year-old right-hander, acquired via trade from Colorado at the 2024 trade deadline, had an expected slugging percentage on his fastball of .522, more than 100 points higher than the actual figure.

Zerpa has three years of club control remaining as well as one minor-league option left, which gives Milwaukee additional flexibility with its bullpen.

He immediately slots into the back end of the Brewers’ bullpen alongside Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill and Jared Koenig – though it’s quite possible the Brewers also find a trade partner for Megill in the near future as well with Uribe assuming the closer’s role.

‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’