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Pitchers and catchers (and many early-reporting position players) have arrived at American Family Fields of Phoenix to prepare for the 2024 MLB season, and they won’t have to wait long to take the field as their Cactus League schedule opens on Saturday.
The first highlights of the spring always draw plenty of attention, and this year should be no exception. Rookie and top prospect Jackson Chourio’s every move in major league camp is likely to be heavily scrutinized as he works to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster and live up to the hype generated by his eight-year, $82 million contract.
While this is Chourio’s first spring training since signing that contract and his first real opportunity to make an MLB roster, these won’t be his first Cactus League games. Chourio got into nine games and batted 15 times for the Brewers as a 19-year-old last spring, connecting for three singles. All told, 64 players batted at least once, and 50 pitchers appeared in at least one spring training game for the Brewers last year.
It’s likely harder than it used to be for a player to “play their way on” to an Opening Day roster with a big spring. In the analytics era teams know more about their players’ likely performance than they used to, and they have a much greater capacity to evaluate a player by the quality of their inputs (a pitcher’s velocity and pitch movement or a hitter’s exit velocity and launch angle, for example) than by their results, which can be heavily influenced by luck.
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Nonetheless, every spring there are a few standouts putting up big numbers. Here are some of the Brewers’ top performers from the Cactus League a year ago and their results in the season that followed:
Owen Miller
A local product in his first season with the Brewers, Owen Miller was one of the stories of the spring last year. He was a regular in the Brewers’ Cactus League lineups and batted .381 with a .435 on-base and .500 slugging in 42 at bats, leading the team in hits with 16.
Miller made the Opening Day roster and continued to be a strong story through the first half of the season, playing several positions as the Brewers mixed and matched to try to find a working lineup. He struggled to maintain the momentum of that hot start and eventually returned to AAA Nashville, but he’s back in camp this spring and has a realistic chance to contribute to the Brewers again in 2024.
Tyson Miller
Brewers pitchers ranked 25th out of 30 MLB teams with a 5.21 ERA as a group last spring, but that wasn’t reliever Tyson Miller’s fault. He logged extended duty out of the bullpen and looked fantastic, allowing just four hits in ten innings and striking out eleven batters. His 0.80 walks and hits per inning (WHIP) and .138 batting average against were the best mark for any Brewer who logged at least six innings in the spring.
Miller did not make the Opening Day roster, but he did have stints with the Brewers in April, May, June and July. During his time in the majors he made seven appearances as a Brewer and posted a 5.79 ERA in 9 1/3 innings. In July the Dodgers claimed him off waivers and he made two appearances there before getting waived again and claimed by the Mets in August.
Mike Brosseau
Coming off a 2022 season where he provided an offensive spark in limited duty, Mike Brosseau made a big impact on the Cactus League fields to open the 2023 season: He batted .375, drew seven walks to reach a .512 on-base percentage and slugged 1.000 with a Cactus League-leading six home runs.
Brosseau brought that power with him to the regular season, but it didn’t last long. He hit a pair of home runs in his first six games for the Brewers but batted just .170 with a .214 on-base and .302 slugging in the 23 games that followed before returning to the minors and eventually getting released to pursue opportunities in Japan. He’s back in Arizona this spring as a non-roster invitee in Royals camp.
Gus Varland
Coming into camp as a Rule 5 pick that either needed to stick with the big league team or be offered back to the Dodgers, Gus Varland was under some significant pressure to perform and lived up to it. He was touched for a few home runs across his eight Cactus League appearances, but he also tied for the team lead by striking out 17 batters despite pitching about half as many innings as several prominent Brewers.
Varland made the Opening Day roster and was off to a solid start when a fluke occurrence derailed his season: He was hit by a comebacker in a game against the Padres on April 15 and suffered injuries to his face, hand and forearm. He rejoined the big league team in May but was returned to the Dodgers after a disastrous outing on May 15 where he allowed nine runs in an inning.
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