April 16: The Brewers announced this afternoon that Hoover has rejected his outright assignment and will instead elect free agency.

April 15: Veteran reliever J.J. Hoover is staying with the Brewers after being designated for assignment earlier this week, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com (Twitter link). The 30-year-old right-hander will head to Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Hoover, whom the Brewers added on a minor league pact in January, joined the big club on April 7. He then made two appearances, including a nightmarish second one against the Cardinals this past Tuesday. Hoover picked up both a blown save and a loss after surrendering three earned runs on four hits and a walk in an inning of work. As a result of that disastrous showing, he lost his place on Milwaukee’s 40- and 25-man rosters.

Since debuting with the Reds in 2012, Hoover has enjoyed some success in the majors – including in 2017. As a member of the Diamondbacks last season, Hoover threw 41 1/3 innings of 3.92 ERA ball and notched 11.76 K/9. However, a 5.66 BB/9 and a 32.8 percent groundball rate helped prevent him from landing a major league deal over the winter. Hoover will now attempt to work his way back to the Brewers via the minors.