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Baseball
Baseball on the Chalk Line of the Infield
Spring training is only a few days old, but the Brewers have already crossed paths with some familiar faces.
It may or may not have been a coincidence, but the Brewers’ Cactus League game against the Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields on Wednesday happened to feature the Arizona debut of their biggest offseason addition, starting pitcher Corbin Burnes. The former Cy Young Award winner and owner of the #6 spot on the Brewers’ all-time strikeout list pitched two scoreless innings in a 7-1 Diamondbacks win.
Two days later in Scottsdale the Brewers faced an old friend once again as shortstop Willy Adames, the Giants’ biggest offseason acquisition, was in the starting lineup for their game against the Crew on Friday. The first three Brewers to take the mound in that game, Freddy Peralta, Trevor Megill and Bryan Hudson, were all Adames’ teammates last season. The night before Peralta and Adames went to a Suns game together, but on the field Peralta got the best of Adames and struck him out in their only meeting. Adames went 1-for-3 with an RBI in the game.
Burnes, who only faced the Brewers in Baltimore last season, and Adames will likely both return to American Family Field as visitors for the first time this season. Adames’ Giants and Burnes’ Diamondbacks come to Milwaukee for back-to-back series as part of a homestand at the end of August.
Adames and Burnes aren’t the only old friends the Brewers have already faced this spring, of course. They’ve already seen first basemen Rowdy Tellez (Mariners) and Carlos Santana (Guardians), among others. In the next couple of weeks they’ll also get an opportunity to renew acquaintances with all of these former teammates:
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Luis Urias, Thursday at Athletics
It’s been a while since things went well for Urias, who was once rated as high as the #17 prospect in baseball and showed hints of that promise during productive seasons with the Brewers in 2021 and 2022. He’s been traded twice since then, however, and became a free agent over the winter after batting just .191 in 41 games for the Mariners in 2024. In February he signed on with the Athletics, however, and Roster Resource has him in line for a spot on their Opening Day roster. He’s certainly getting an extended look, as he appeared in six of their first eight games this spring.
Martin Maldonado, Friday vs Padres
Only eight players in Brewers franchise history have caught more games than Maldonado did during his tenure in Milwaukee from 2011-16, but he’s been on quite the baseball journey since then. The Brewers traded Maldonado to the Angels before the 2017 season but in 2018 they moved him on to Houston, where he spent six seasons and caught 65 playoff games. He’s 38 years old and coming off a dreadful season with the White Sox, however, so he has something to prove in spring training with the Padres. As we noted earlier this offseason, it’s a tough time to be an older baseball player: If Maldonado makes the Padres he’ll be one of about a dozen active position players who have appeared in 14 MLB seasons or more.
Craig Counsell, Tuesday, March 11 at Cubs
Brewers fans had plenty to say when six-year Brewer and the winningest manager in franchise history returned to Milwaukee for the first time as manager of the Cubs last May, of course, but they’ll cross paths again in Mesa next week when the Brewers and Cubs have their only Cactus League meeting of the spring. Brewers fans had the last laugh in 2024 as the Crew won eight of the 13 games against their rivals and former manager and finished ten games ahead of them in the NL Central.
