These two parties deeply appreciate each other, though, and are on the same page. Hook is far from the only figure driving the many recent success stories of Brewers pitching adjustments and development, but he’s an effective head for that department and a great communicator across both the big-league staff and the behind-the-scenes support structure.

Under Hook, Milwaukee has a coherent and consistent pitching identity, and they retain the flexibility to help pitchers with very different skill sets and shortcomings.

Even if the real risk of a departure was small, this lingered all season as a story in the background. Hook’s contract was set to expire Thursday, and while he might not be the most in step with the analytical orthodoxy of the moment, he would have had suitors as a free agent.

With uncertainty about local TV revenue spreading across the sport and making teams uneasy about the huge expenditures required to add more talent, places where much less money can be spent to get more from the same amount of talent are more important than ever. For the Brewers, Hook is that kind of investment.

As good a job as the Crew did with Tobias Myers even in the minor leagues, Hook had his hands on that developmental project from the beginning, and he helped Myers make key adjustments throughout his rookie season, too.

He’s been essential to the emergence of Colin Rsa and a perfect messenger for the bundle of sm,all changes the team wanted pitchers like Trevor Megill and Bryan Hudson to make, unlocking new levels for each.

Now, the team can move forward knowing they have the linchpin of their run-prevention genius in place for years to come.

It doesn’t obviate the need to keep acquiring interesting, talented hurlers, but having Hook around both magnifies the value of that work and raises the organization’s confidence that whatever moves they make with their staff will turn out somewhere on the high side of the range of potential outcomes.