Photo Courtesy Daveynin (Flickr CC)
The Milwaukee Brewers have used 49 or more players in each of the last three seasons, and they’re on pace to approach or eclipse that level again in 2018. Many of the players that have gotten the call to join the Brewers this season have played in the majors before, but a couple haven’t: Catcher Jacob Nottingham made his MLB debut on Monday, April 16, and pitcher Freddy Peralta was called up for the first time to start on Sunday, May 13. Those two were the ninth and 10th players to make their MLB debuts as Brewers since the start of the 2017 season, but there are almost certainly more to come. Here are four addition potential candidates.
Nate Orf
He would be one of the most improbable success stories in all of baseball, but Nate Orf’s time could be coming. It’s not unusual for players who were not selected in the MLB draft to eventually sign professional contracts (as Orf did coming out of Baylor in 2013), but most of them have brief professional careers playing in the low levels of the minor leagues before getting released or opting to retire. Even if he never touches the majors, Orf will stand out as an exception to that rule.
After he hit .312 with a high walk rate for rookie-level Helena in his pro debut season, the Brewers skipped Orf ahead to High-A, which should have been a remarkably challenging assignment. Orf hit there, too, and has hit everywhere since, including stints at the highest levels of the minors: the prospect-rich Arizona Fall League and the Venezuelan Winter League. Furthermore, he’s done it while showing the ability to play five positions: second base, third base, shortstop, left field and right field.
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Orf’s ascent to the big leagues was likely delayed by Tyler Saladino’s early success at the MLB level as a Brewer, but this is a team that’s run out of options among infielders on the 40-man roster if injury or prolonged ineffectiveness were to cause a roster spot to come available. A long, improbable climb up the ladder could reach its destination for Orf soon.
Corbin Burnes
A fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft, Burnes has been a fast riser through the organization. He climbed to full season ball with Wisconsin in his first partial professional season, then advanced past High-A and reached AA Biloxi in 2017, posting a 1.67 ERA in 145.2 innings in the process. He was promoted to AAA Colorado Springs to open the 2018 season, and it’s possible only bad timing prevented him from making his MLB debut this month. He had pitched on Thursday, May 17, and was not available when the Brewers needed to call up a pitcher to start in place of Chase Anderson on Sunday, May 20; Freddy Peralta got that call instead.
Any member of the Brewers’ AAA rotation could be just one day away from the big leagues: If a late injury or illness strikes—and the team needs a spot starter—one of their first logical steps is to see who’s lined up to start that day for the Sky Sox. Burnes is easily the highest-regarded prospect of the Brewers’ Pacific Coast League arms, however, and as such the best positioned to get that call and make an impact.
Dylan Moore
Dylan Moore is a name that all but the most devoted followers of the Brewers minor leagues may not recognize: He was signed over the winter as a minor league free agent following a poor 2017 season in AA in the Braves organization, where he batted just .207 with a .291 on-base percentage and .292 slugging in 122 games. The Brewers assigned him to Biloxi to open the season, and he quickly hit his way out of there, posting a .373/.429/.639 line in his second year in the Southern League before being promoted to Colorado Springs.
Like Orf, Moore can play a lot of positions. He played all four infield spots plus left and center field in his brief stay with Biloxi. Unlike Orf, he was a high draft pick at one point: The Rangers selected him in the seventh round in 2015. He also could be a candidate to get the call if the Brewers’ already thin infield depth gets thinner and, as a player the Brewers didn’t make much of an investment in, he could also represent a situation where the Brewers aren’t risking much if they add him to the roster temporarily and have to expose him to waivers to remove him again.
Nick Ramirez
It’s not unusual for a player whose career stalls as a position player to try out pitching, but it is unlikely for one to experience the kind of success Nick Ramirez has. A first baseman and relief pitcher during his time in college, Ramirez was a fourth-round pick in 2011, and the Brewers tried him exclusively as a position player for several seasons before deciding to see what he could do on the mound in 2017. In his first 62 relief appearances at the AA and AAA levels, he posted a 1.26 ERA.
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As if his success on the mound wasn’t enough, Ramirez’s teams have also occasionally sent him to the plate over the last few years and found that the power that made him a high draft pick is still there. The Brewers are flush with lefty bullpen arms right now, but even so, at some point opportunity could come knocking for a guy who could help a team as a pitcher while also being able to swing the bat.
