Brewers Still Able to Sign Minor League Players During Lockout

×

Expand

Photo - Milwaukee Brewers/Twitter

Brewers fans in stands

When the sounds of Refused’s “New Noise” blared over the American Family Field speakers one final time in early August, many of the fans in attendance knew they were getting a reminder of days gone by: John Axford was returning to the Brewers for the first time since 2013 and pitching in the majors for the first time since 2018. Axford’s Brewers re-debut wasn’t just the return of something old, however. It was also a significant milestone in a new trend around the game of baseball.

That Aug. 2 contest was only the Brewers’ 107th game of the season but Axford was already the 54th different player to appear in a game for the team that year, setting a new franchise record. It was only the third time in franchise history that the Brewers had used more than 50 players: They used 53 during their expansion season as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, then tied that record during the 2018 season. By the end of 2021 they had blown that record away, using 61 unique players over the course of the regular season.

Across the sport teams are increasingly relying on wide arrays of players over the course of the season: The 2021 Cubs exceeded the previous MLB record by leaps and bounds by having 69 unique players appear in at least one game, and seven of the eight teams in MLB history to use more than 60 in a season all did it in 2021 (the lone exception, the 2019 Giants, did it two years earlier). Two of those teams, the Brewers and the Dodgers, reached the postseason. While most of the teams who churn through a lot of players are not contenders, Milwaukee and Los Angeles combined to win 201 regular season games.

Succeeding while using that many players requires two things: 

• A willingness to give a lot of players opportunities to contribute. 
• The volume of organizational depth necessary to have that many successful MLB players pass through.

Not all of the Brewers’ 61 players from 2021 were successful or made a major impact, of course: ten of those players appeared in only one or two games, and about a third of them accumulated zero or negative Wins Above Replacement, according to FanGraphs. Some of the unlikely candidates the Brewers turned to at various points this season, like Jake Cousins and Miguel Sanchez, however, made the most of their opportunities and became regular contributors.

Maintaining this level of organizational depth is a constant process. Many of the players the Brewers shuttled in and out during the 2021 season were claimed off waivers, but several more have been added in minor league free transactions over the years, often added in signings or small trades that made no headlines at the time but paid noticeable dividends later. 

As luck would have it, these kinds of transactions are one of the only things MLB teams are allowed to do right now. While the current work stoppage involves a transaction freeze for major league players and members of 40-man rosters, teams can and have still signed players to minor league contracts with an invitation to major league spring training. The Brewers have already signed seven players that way this winter.

The headliners on that list are a pair of former top prospects: First baseman Jon Singleton was a member of Baseball America’s list of the sport’s top 100 minor leaguers on four separate occasions, and outfielder Garrett Whitley was a first round pick in the 2015 draft. While neither have lived up to that hype to date, both bring notable upside to an organization that has demonstrated its willingness to spread opportunity around at the MLB level.

It’s unclear at this point how long it will take for the current lockout to be resolved, opening the door for larger transactions and eventually the 2022 MLB season. In the meantime, however, the Brewers are still using minor moves to lay the groundwork for the continuation of a longstanding source of organizational success.