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Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training 2022
While everyone is finally in Phoenix and preparations are underway for the 2022 MLB season, some of the participants have been there much longer than others.
While members of MLB teams’ 40-man rosters were locked out of their respective training camps until early last week, minor leaguers reported to spring training in early March as usual. The list of players who have been in Phoenix working out for weeks now includes the prospects the Brewers had previously invited to MLB camp, meaning those players had an opportunity to get a pretty significant leg up on their locked-out counterparts.
This situation was on full display in the first Cactus League game on Friday. The Dodgers’ starting pitcher, former Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, had just re-signed with the team seven days earlier after being a free agent during the lockout. The Dodgers made a late decision to make him available to pitch at all that day, and his outing was extremely brief: He faced just five batters and was done for the day after throwing just 21 pitches.
Meanwhile, top prospect Ethan Small was the first pitcher to throw in a game for the Brewers this spring. Small, who has been in minor league camp for weeks (and pitched in winter ball in the Dominican Republic) was clearly ahead of Kershaw in his progression towards Opening Day readiness: He allowed just one walk across two scoreless innings, throwing 37 pitches. Following the game Craig Counsell told reporters Small is “going to make starts for us” this season.
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A day later, on Saturday it was Brandon Woodruff’s day to throw. The Brewers opted to keep him in Phoenix to pitch in a minor league game, however, and sent non-roster invitee Luis Perdomo to Surprise to face the Rangers. Perdomo is coming back after missing the entire 2021 season following Tommy John surgery but appears healthy and ready to compete for a spot this spring. The story on his outing on Saturday notes that he’s been pitching in Brewers camp since January and the results were apparent, as he retired all six batters he faced in his first official Cactus League outing.
Spring Training Who’s Who
In a normal spring it would have been a long shot for either Small or Perdomo to pitch their way onto the Opening Day roster or even move up significantly on the depth chart: The Brewers have Woodruff, Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, Eric Lauer, Aaron Ashby and Adrian Houser returning from last year’s starting rotation, so there doesn’t seem to be a spot available for someone to come in from off the roster and pitch regularly. This year, however, the fact that pitchers like Small and Perdomo have had longer to stretch out might put them in a position to contribute sooner.
On the position player side, the Brewers’ list of non-roster invitees reads like a “who’s who” of early spring training contributors: Outfielder Jonathan Davis started two of the first three Cactus League games and came off the bench in the other. Infielders Mark Mathias and Brice Turang have played in every game. First baseman/designated hitter Tyler White is tied for the team lead in at bats. While the Brewers ease their regulars into games, all of these players have been working for weeks to be ready to fill in the gaps.
Depending on the decisions MLB makes in the weeks ahead, there may be room for some of these guys to continue to fill in the gaps into April: At some point in the near future the league is likely to announce that the 2022 season will open with expanded rosters to avoid overextending players following this abbreviated ramp up to Opening Day. They did something similar for the 2020 season, expanding rosters to 28 players for the entire campaign. While it’s unlikely they’ll expand rosters for an entire 162-game schedule this year, it seems likely teams will carry an extra player or two through April, at minimum. If that happens, the players who have been building up for this opportunity all this time will likely have the inside track for those jobs.
