The Brewers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed outfielder Blake Perkins to a one-year, Major League contract.
Big league deals for player who’ve yet to make their MLB debut aren’t common, but there are a handful of such signings every season. The 26-year-old Perkins is a former second-round pick by the Nationals (2015) who batted a combined .246/.357/.456 with 15 homers and 21 steals between the Double-A and Triple-A affiliates for the Yankees last season. Signing him to a big league deal doesn’t necessarily indicate that Perkins will be on the Brewers’ roster next year, however, as the switch-hitter will still be optionable. Rather, the Major League deal was likely reflective of considerable interest from other parties on minor league contracts.
Perkins ranked among the top 30 prospects with the Nationals and Royals each season from 2015-19, regularly drawing praise as a potential plus center fielder with good speed and a keen eye at the plate. That strike zone recognition was on full display in 2022, as Perkins walked in a hefty 13.6% of his plate appearances.
However, most scouting reports on Perkins, particularly as he began to reach the upper minors, labeled him as a glove-first player who’d need to improve his offensive profile to take the next step. For the first time in his pro career, Perkins appeared to do just that in 2022. Entering the season, he’d connected on just 28 home runs in 564 professional games, but he swatted 15 long balls and added another 21 extra-base hits in just 397 plate appearances.
While last night’s trade of Hunter Renfroe opened up some playing time in the Milwaukee outfield, Perkins is likely still a ways down the depth chart with the Brewers. Christian Yelich, Garrett Mitchell, Tyrone Taylor and Esteury Ruiz give the Brewers at least five other options who are already on the 40-man roster, to say nothing of top prospects Sal Frelick and Joey Wiemer, each of whom posted huge numbers in about a quarter of a season’s worth of games at the Triple-A level in 2022. Frelick and Wiemer aren’t on the 40-man roster but could emerge as potential call-ups at any point in 2023. Perkins adds some depth to that mix, but he’ll have to earn his way into a big league audition.
Yes just what us fans were asking for
Dump Renfroe for Perkins. Yes yes and yes
Do you think Perkins hit 29 homeruns in the minor leagues?
He hit 30
He hit 43 over 7 seasons.
i suppose that’ll officially take the brewers out of the running for Bellinger…
And officially out of the running for Judge?
*sigh* i suppose
And officially out of the running for the NL Central
@nolan okay chill. Cards are the most mid team in the NL. Best in a crap division
The Cardinals are a perennially good team for a reason. Far from “mid”.
If the Cardinals are the most “mid” team, then what does that make the Brewers? The most bottom team? Have fun fighting it out with Pittsburgh for last place.
If you think the Brewers will be competing for last, in a division which also has a 100 loss Reds team, then you’re dumber than the average Cardinals fan.
Eh,..,that’s saying a LOT.
Have you seen the “average” Card fan?
Brewers on a real short list of teams not in on bellinger
Every team is in on Bellinger. MLB,KBO,NPB, even a few college teams.
Why would they be?
He’s still gonna get 15M. He’s a lefty who plays CF/1B. We’ve got Tellez, Yelich, then Frelick, Mitchell, Turang and Tyler Black who would likely have been in AAA last year if not for a broken scapula.
The Brewers need RHed hitters. They have MOOORE than enough LHed OFers.
Quit yer whining. It a very low cost lottery ticket. Nothing more.
He’s 26 year old “glove first” player who put up an .813 OPS with a little pop and speed. Honestly would have been happy to see something like that as part of the Renfroe return. So getting him for free is a nice addition.
The dude crushes left handers. His OPS the last two years is close to 1.000 vs LHPing(which the Brewers were already terrible at before getting rid of Renfroe and likely losing Peterson and McCutchen who were 3rd and 4th best on the team vs lefties).
He’s got a real chance to be on this teams OD…which would be less than ideal. But if Frelick, Mitchell and Turang can play…oh well.
*sigh*!
I remember when the Nationals traded this guy to Kansas City for Kelvin Herrera back in 2018.
POVERTY
You think the Brewers are poverty?
Try being a Pirate fan
Dude…it’s a signing for a guy who’ll PROBABLY be in AAA and may not even be on the roster this year.
You know how many of these types of signings there are every year?
Man, there is gonna be some serious competition in that clubhouse, certainly for the outfield! Everyone is walking on eggshells except Yelich. Good problem to have. These guys better get off to a hot start to make the decisions easier by the start of March!
Idk. Season is a Marathon. A lot of time 450 ABs can be just as productive as 600.
Brewers w their best Rays impression. Fans gonna freak til they see the results
Good lord..whenever I get frustrated with Preller, I just look to the Brewers front office, and think about how good we have it as Padres fans..It’s a train wreck over there..
It really isn’t. Outside of the Hader deal (which, longterm, could be a Brewers Victory dependent on Gasser—If not we weren’t keeping Hader beyond 2023 anyways) and the Schoop deal of a few years back not much has been lost. Stearns/Arnold are currently in the process of changing the mold in which small market teams can succeed. That Model is gravitating towards less power hitters (20 HR max), 20+ SB guys who get on base and don’t strike out. a ton This is potentially another piece to that puzzle. Small market teams have to reinvent the wheel before the big market teams. If Stearns had Preller’s budget he wouldn’t be out of the playoffs before the World Series year in and year out.
“Guys who get on base” would be fantastic if they had more than ONE regular (Yelich .355) who had an OBP higher than .316
Which is exactly why guys like Renfroe and soon to be Wong will be replaced by minor league talent that gets on base. If 2 or 3 of Ruiz/Frelick/Mitchell (who was great when he was up last year)/Weimer/Turang follow the trajectory (with some regression) of their minor league stats the OBP will tick up tremendously next year. The Brewers front office identified that lack of OBP was killer and they are making moves to get rid of the guys that, historically, aren’t High OBP guys. Sure, Tellez and Adames (both with pop) will stay and be low OBP guys but we will see 2 or 3 positions with an extensive tick upward in OBP come 2023. It’s the direction that the Crew should have gone a few years ago. I get not going that route and taking one last gasp last year but it’s time to reinvent the small market wheel.
Yeah man trust me I want nothing more than a WS in Milwaukee, but they are going to need to mix the young, unproven talent with some established big leaguers. They have plenty of time to do it, but it’s tough seeing Burnes, Woody, and others wasted with middling moves. Asl any Cubs fan whether it was worth it to have to rebuild a few years to win a WS. This strategy of trying to stay competitive long-term is great for being in the playoff hunt every year, but they’ll never beat LA or NY or Atl if they don’t have a star hitter (or 2). And Yelich is fine but they need another guy to be that dude.
Where on EARTH are you getting that the Brewers are looking for guys who hit “20 HRs MAX?”
LMFAO…two of their top 4 prospects right now are guys with 70 power grades, Chourio and Wiemer.
They’re not TRYING to get less power hitters, they drafted a few guys with better hit tools who make more contact like Frelick, Black, Turang. They still WANT guys to hit for power.
They’re not “reinventing” the wheel, they just drafted a couple guys with 60-70 grade hit tools…and that’s it.
Now, the PADRES talking is hilarious given after ALL the money, the trades, Trea Turner, Emanuel Clause, Max Fried, Ty France, basically a superstar team that’s been traded while one failed FA signing after another and they’ve had ONE year they’ve actually done something. The Brewers made the playoffs 4 years in a row and were a game away from the WS.
Whats the difference between a major league contract and a minor league contract if you can option him? More guaranteed money?
He must be guaranteed the MLB minimum salary and a spot on the 40 man roster, like when you get promoted from the minors to MLB.
In Milwaukee, THEY LIKE PERKINS !!
It is what it is ,a possible 5th outfielder. Organizational depth. If let’s say that Mitchell, Frelick, Weimer are doing decent then Ruiz can go to minors and get plenty at bats, or whatever combo.
Although Perkins switch-hits, his minor league splits indicate he’s far more effective vs LHP. Gives the Brewers another platoon option to spell Yelich, Mitchell or Frelick. Even 5th outfielders can help win games if smartly deployed.
Looks like he could end up being a late-blooming Aaron Hicks.