Just hours after acquiring Víctor Caratini from the Padres, the Brewers have landed another catcher. Milwaukee is picking up Alex Jackson from the Marlins in exchange for minor leaguers Hayden Cantrelle and Alexis Ramirez, according to announcements from both teams.
Milwaukee already had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster, and Jackson has been optioned to Triple-A Nashville. Milwaukee is still set to open the year with a catching tandem of Omar Narváez and Caratini, but Jackson joins prospect Mario Feliciano as depth options on the 40-man roster.
Jackson, 26, spent less than a season as a Marlin. The Fish acquired from the division-rival Braves for Adam Duvall last summer. He appeared in 42 games with Miami late last year, hitting .157/.260/.278 while striking out in 48.8% of his 123 plate appearances. That marked Jackson’s most extended MLB work, as he’d picked up just 50 plate appearances in Atlanta between 2019-21.
Obviously, Jackson will need to make more contact moving forward. The right-handed hitter is a former 6th overall pick and top prospect, though, drawing praise from evaluators for big raw power and arm strength behind the dish. Jackson has popped 42 home runs and 29 doubles in 597 career Triple-A plate appearances. That’s massive power production, although it’s been accompanied by a .234 batting average and .318 on-base percentage.
Jackson has one option year remaining, so the Brewers can stash him at Nashville for the rest of this season. If he stays on the 40-man roster, Milwaukee will have to decide whether to carry him on the active roster in 2023. For now, he’ll add some depth to a catching group that just lost Pedro Severino to an 80-game PED suspension and saw Brett Sullivan shipped to San Diego in the Caratini deal.
Cantrelle was a fifth-round pick in 2020 out of the University of Louisiana. The 23-year-old drew some praise for his athleticism and defensive aptitude on draft day, but he’s coming off a rough professional debut. Cantrelle hit .175/.376/.313 in 341 High-A plate appearances during his first pro action last year. He stole 28 bases and walked in an incredible 22.6% of his trips to the dish, but Cantrelle also fanned 26.4% of the time and only had 20 extra-base hits. Baseball America slotted him 37th in the Milwaukee farm system this winter.
Ramirez signed as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic during the 2017-18 signing period. He pitched at a pair of rookie ball levels during his first two professional seasons. Ramirez hasn’t pitched in game since 2019; after the 2020 minor league season was canceled, he spent all of last season on the minor league injured list. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote last July that he was up to 96 MPH with a potential above-average slider in 2019.
Y tho
Brewers like him as AAA depth more than Sullivan.
Cornering the market
gave up 4 prospects that will never sniff the majors for more than a cup of coffee for 2 backup catchers…
Alex Jackson couldn’t hit water if he fell out a boat
They just need a veteran C to work with their AAA pitchers & top high minors C prospect Mario Feliciano.
Bud Selig Fan;
Yes, there goes Stearns yet again. Patient. Quiet until the last minute when it comes clear what his team needs.
Pitching is the most important component of a team, and Catcher is the most important position because he’s the one that handles them.
As you wrote a while ago, the Brewers coaching staff is great reworking veteran Catchers. Stearns got 2 for them to work with. They can hit .180 and be extremely valuable to the Brewers success.
Samuel—
Caratini is an upgrade defensively over Severino, and he’ll have an opportunity to work with Charlie Greene, imo, the best C instructor in baseball and will likely get better, especially with pitch framing.
This PED fiasco will end up helping the pitching staff with Caratini replacing Severino as Omar Narvaez’s backup. And pitching is what this team is all about.
I still can’t believe AA got 2021 NL RBI-king (Duvall) from a division rival for him (AJax). And they say trading intradivision is never cheap.
Now that we’ve traded Jackson, it officially makes that trade beyond stupid.
@mfb
Don’t be too sad though. The Marlins tend to make better trades here recently. But yeah two years of Duvall for just Jackson is head scratching
I wish the yankees could had gotten him
Honestly, there is no reason why they couldn’t have…
Lol. I remember when braves fans were talking up Jackson. He stinks
This Braves fan didn’t, never liked him at all.
I dont remember it. Unless it was right after he got drafted.
Literally every Braves fan hates Jackson
Bet the Brewers regret not bringing back Pina
Nah. Makes sense to go younger and cheaper.
Brewers cornering the market on catchers. Blake Swihart is next (can go into the HOF with a Brewers cap).
Off topic, but MLB just sold some streaming rights to Peacock for Sunday MORNING (1130AM) baseball. Next up: the Home Shopping Network’s Game of the Week.
Of course they could GIVE Nik a free game a week; maybe then the 12 year olds won’t be screaming “Hey dad, what happened to Spoongebob; they got some guys playing rugby instead”.
The MLB Slimecast would be a million times better than any Sunday Night Baseball telecast.
“We will acquire ALL of the backup catchers, Pinky. Teams will have no one to catch warmup pitches between innings, and will inevitably have to pay a fool’s ransom to get their catchers back… and then I will rule the world!”
Ha! Drew Butera already foiled your plan. “Narf!”
Hayden Cantrelle, Nerds Herd legend
Is there a return policy for whichever of the 2 they decide not to keep..?
Nashville this year for Jackson. NPB or KBO next year.
It would be funny if us trading Jackson to the Brewers gets us better players than we got from them for Yelich.
If by “funny” you mean “sad”, then yes.
This helps the Brewersa lot actually. Now Feliciano can spend the whole year at AAA developing with no pressure or interruptions. If he develops well, he could start in two years or becomes a valuable trade chip. Jackson can handle being called up because of injury.
Look, whether you’re a country music fan or not, you have to admit, this guy is a legend.
I would assume Alan is confused by your comment as well