4:05pm: The Brewers have made it official, announcing they have selected Black’s contract. Miley was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open up a 40-man spot while Miller was optioned to make room on the active roster.
1:35pm: The Brewers are expected to call up infield prospect Tyler Black today, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Black is not on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will be necessary, though Wade Miley could easily be transferred to the 60-day injured list since he is going to miss the rest of the season due to Tommy John surgery. Another move would still be necessary to get Black onto the active roster.
Black, 23, was selected by the Brewers with the 33rd overall pick in the 2021 draft. Since then, he has climbed the minor league ladder, earning huge amounts of praise for his plate discipline. He spent 2022 in High-A, walking more often than he struck out. He was limited to 283 plate appearances in 64 games due to a fractured scapula but drew 45 walks while getting punched out 44 times, leading to respective rates of 15.9% and 15.5%. He only hit four home runs but his .281/.406/.424 batting line translated to a 137 wRC+.
He got over his injury and returned to the field last year, playing 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A. He walked in 15.8% of his trips to the plate on the year while striking out at a 17.9% rate, hitting 18 home runs in the process. He hit a combined .284/.417/.513 between the two levels for a 145 wRC+. He returned to Triple-A this year and has produced a batting line of .303/.393/.525 so far.
Though the plate discipline is his most standout tool, he also has some speed to offer. He stole 13 bases in his injury-shortened 2022 campaign before swiping 55 bags on 67 tries last year. He’s tallied another three in the early going here in 2024.
Defensively, he’s more of a question mark. He was a second baseman in college and the early parts of his minor league career, spending some time in center field in 2022 as well. But since the start of last year, he’s been exclusively on the infield corners, primarily at third.
Regardless of the defensive question marks, the strong offense and the speed are enough for him to be considered one of the best prospects in the league. Baseball America currently lists him as their #73 prospect. MLB Pipeline has him at #42, ESPN at #51 while Keith Law of The Athletic put him in the #44 spot. Though for a dissenting opinion, Black doesn’t crack the top 100 at FanGraphs and Eric Longenhagen put him at just #10 in the Brewers’ system last month. Longenhagen expresses concern that Black won’t stick at third base and will eventually end up at first, where his contact-over-power approach will be insufficient.
Given the current Milwaukee infield alignment, it would seem that Black probably has a better path to playing time at first base for now. Joey Ortiz has been the regular at third and is hitting a strong .279/.392/.426 so far this year, 134 wRC+. First base has been split between Rhys Hoskins and Jake Bauers, though the latter hasn’t been performing especially well. Bauers is hitting .200/.250/.383 while striking out in 37.5% of his trips to the plate this year.
Both Bauers and Black are left-handed hitters, so it seems Bauers is the player most likely to lose playing time with Black promotion. Bauers is out of options and would have to be designated for assignment if he is to be squeezed off the roster. Though if the Brewers want to keep him around as a bench bat, they could option someone like Joey Wiemer, Oliver Dunn or Owen Miller.
It’s late enough in the season that Black can’t earn a full year of service time, at least not the traditional way. A major league season is 187 days long but a player needs 172 days in the big leagues, or on the major league injured list, to get to the one-year mark. Since we’re over a month into the 2024 campaign already, Black can’t quite make it to that line.
The current collective bargaining agreement contains measures to disincentive service time manipulation, by rewarding clubs for promotion top prospects while also allowing such players a path to getting one year of service even if held down. If a player is on two of the three top 100 lists at BA, MLB Pipeline or ESPN, they are considered eligible for the prospect promotion incentive, which applies to Black since he’s on all three.
Had the Brewers promoted Black earlier in the year, they could have earned themselves an extra draft pick depending on how he performed in awards voting, but that won’t be in play now. Black will be able to earn a full service year if he can finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting, the other new measure in the CBA, though he will have an uphill battle in achieving that. Players like Shota Imanaga Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jared Jones, Jackson Merrill, Masyn Winn and others have already had a head start of over a month to rack up stats while Black is just getting started.
Even if he comes up short of the one-year mark here in 2024, he would be in line for Super Two status after the 2026 campaign if he can stay up in the big leagues from this point forward. He would be able to go through arbitration four times instead of three before being slated for free agency after 2030, though future optional assignments could delay either of those trajectories.
Liberalsteve
This guy is a future ace. I went 1 for 10 off him with 1 HR
rmcauliffe
Lol, I doubt he’s pitching ever unless they’re down by 10.
FartCopter
Maybe you are thinking of Mason Black in the Giants system?
Warden of the North(acoss13)
Those are some really good numbers. If they translate to the MLB level, Brewers are going to have a fantastic player that they might end up giving a nice extension to. Gotta prove it first, but Brewers are really good at player development.
Blackpink in the area
Once you go Black you don’t go back.
Electric Guy
About time, never understood the Bauers signing. With Yelli down they have nothing from the left side other than slap hitting Turang & spotty Perkins who is .167 the last 7 days
cwizzy6
Brewers arent the first team to fail at trying to fix this guy. They probably wont be the last either. I hope they realize soon and make the move.
marrtho
I agree dumb signing, but brewers love guys that can play multiple positions.
kripes-brewers
Bauers is my choice to go. Weimer needs to go too, but I doubt that happens until Yeli gets back in there. Sucks that the whole offense besides Contreras goes into a funk at the same time. Kripes
gbs42
A player’s batting average means little. A player’s batting average in a 7-day period means virtually nothing.
Chris Koch
Just glad they are giving him a chance. Offense has tanked with another 0run performance yesterday. Chourio’s rh man last season. Maybe impacts Chourio in a good way with familiarity.
marrtho
Now we go
ButchieYost619
Seth Rollins old Alter-Ego getting the call up??!!!
rdiddy75
He is gonna burn it down.
egrossen
Whoaaaah….WHOOOOOAH….whoooooah!
SkipperLou
Think he will start against lefties?
lefty on the mound tonight
jbeerj
Replacing Dunn. Ollie in over his head.
DonOsbourne
The rest of the division keeps promoting young players with promise. The Cardinals just recalled Kyle Leahy. Hold on to your hats St. Louis.
Congrats to the Brewers. They lost Burnes, Woodruff, and Counsell and still look like a better team than last year. They are doing something right.
Johnny utah
Is it me or does milwaukee have endless supply of great hitting prospects?
kripes-brewers
It’s just you. I wish you were correct, but no…
its_happening
His dad used to call Blue Jays games for TV.
kripes-brewers
Didn’t know that. They just had him on the broadcast during the 5th inning I think it was. Looked like he was comfortable on the air! Lol. Proud dad and his kid had a great start!
Edp007
The son of the great Canadian broadcasting legend Rod Black
Shawnpe
He’sa lot faster on the bars and out of the box than I thought. He was really really moving in that hustle double. I knew his speed was plus, but it’s better than I’d thought. He’s big in the box too. Great eye! Hope he can recognize Major League breaking pitches all year.