The Brewers got through the 2025 season relying on only three catchers. William Contreras was second in MLB with 128 starts behind the dish. Eric Haase backed him up for the first half of the season. Milwaukee acquired Danny Jansen at the deadline and outrighted Haase off the 40-man roster in the corresponding move.
Haase elected minor league free agency at the end of the season. Jansen returned to the open market when the Brewers declined their end of a $12MM mutual option. He officially signed a two-year, $14.5MM deal with Texas last week. That leaves Milwaukee with only two catchers on the 40-man roster: Contreras and 23-year-old prospect Jeferson Quero, whose contract was selected over the 2023-24 offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
The Venezuelan-born Quero suffered a labrum tear in his throwing shoulder one game into the ’24 Triple-A season. He underwent surgery and missed the rest of the year. Quero missed the first couple months of the ’25 campaign because of a hamstring strain. He didn’t return to Triple-A action until the beginning of June. The right-handed hitter turned in a league average .255/.336/.412 batting line in 250 plate appearances the rest of the way.
At the moment, Quero stands as the favorite for the #2 catcher job by default. Contreras is the only catcher in the organization who has played in an MLB game. Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Brewers have evaluated the market for a veteran backup but aren’t closing the door to Quero potentially breaking camp in that role. Assistant director of baseball administration Brenton Del Chiaro told Hogg that the young catcher is “pretty close” to big league readiness.
Quero showed promising contact skills against Triple-A pitching, albeit with a tendency to expand the strike zone. His combination of bat control and average pop gives him a reasonably high offensive ceiling for a #2 catcher. Quero’s calling card as a prospect had been his defense, particularly an arm that had been a weapon before the labrum injury. Baseball America’s scouting report notes that Quero’s pop times suffered in his first year back from the surgery. That’s reflected in an 18.9% caught stealing percentage that is well below the fantastic 34.6% mark he posted in Double-A in 2023.
The Brewers can option Quero to Triple-A for at least one more season. He’d be a candidate for a fourth option year as well because of the missed time in 2024. If they feel he’d benefit from more minor league time to hone his approach (or they want to see how his arm strength looks another year removed from the injury), they’d need to add someone from outside the organization. It’s not a position to which they’ll devote many resources given Contreras’ durability, but a player like Reese McGuire, Christian Vázquez or old friend Luke Maile could sign for slightly more than the league minimum. They’ll at least bring in an experienced catcher on a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.
Quero isn’t the only prospect who’ll be looking to establish himself in camp. Right-hander Logan Henderson impressed over his first five MLB starts but suffered a season-ending elbow injury in August. Henderson was able to resume throwing bullpen sessions by the postseason and did not require surgery. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com writes that he’s following a normal offseason plan and will return to working off a mound within the next couple weeks.
Henderson will enter camp battling for a spot at the back of the rotation. Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff are lined up for the top two spots, barring a trade of the former. Quinn Priester is locked into the #3 role. Jacob Misiorowski, Chad Patrick, Robert Gasser, Tobias Myers and potentially Angel Zerpa could be in the mix for back-end jobs. Zerpa would be in the bullpen if he doesn’t win a rotation role. Everyone from that group aside from Woodruff and Peralta have minor league options remaining, so the Brewers have a lot of flexibility in moving pitchers up and down from Triple-A Nashville.
I would bring McGuire and:of Vasquez into camp if either/both woukd basically accept a veterans’ minimum deal.
Vazquez makes a lot of sense.
That’s fine, but I would expect Quero to end up as the backup catcher. The Brewers aren’t afraid to roll with the young guys. That’s one reason they’re such a great organization.
Barring injury or workload concerns, Miz has to be in the starting rotation doesn’t he?
Like you said, “barring injury”, I would think so. Patrick and to a lesser extent Myers, have shown the ability to work out of the pen. They may give Ashby another crack at starting, but my guess is he winds up back in relief. One of Henderson, Gasser and/or, dare I say Montgomery (still a free agent I think) could get that 5th spot in the rotation. Regardless they have some depth to work with. And you know someone will get hurt or suffer a setback in spring training.
Montgomery won’t be able to pitch until July due to TJS in late March last season. Assuming he follows the normal timeframe and there are no setbacks. He is still a FA too.
Especially if/when Freddy P is traded.
Considering how much the Rays got for Baz, I’m not sure anyone out there will meet the price. Brewers price may actually be a tad more .
The price is less for Freddy than Baz since Baz has more years of control.
If they keep him, that’s going to be a very nice rotation they have.
Sad news on Quero losing some defensive arm ability. He was ML arm ready 4 years ago and they kept him in the minors to season his bat. Injured something every year.
According to BA’s brewer guy, his arm was looking better towards season’s end, still a ways away from the cannon he had pre injury, but not the 35 grade arm he had when he first came back.
His shoulder injury was the same as Jimmy Nelson. Hurt the same way too. I’m not optimistic.
It’s the same injury, but he’s not being asked to throw nearly as much and the difference of a couple of MPH isn’t as important as it is for a SP.
So I wouldn’t get too worried about it. He does need to start throwing a bit harder to be a good C again.
The difference of a couple of MPH is the difference between throwing out 35% of base stealers and 19% of base stealers. 35% is elite (only two catchers in MLB that played in more than 80 games threw out 35% or better last year). 19% means you better be hitting 20+ home runs a year. Which Quero won’t..
His throwing and defense are the only things that are going to get him to the majors, much less play for a long time. He is not going to hit enough to make it on his bat.
Hopefully I’m wrong. But I’m not including him on any of my projected future lineups/rosters, except being a place holder starting next season after we trade Contreras.
That’s an interesting take on Quero’s power but I’m afraid it’s not supported by Fangraphs who said “We think he’ll be a useful, power-over-OBP kind of bat.” just last month and Baseball America who said “He has average raw power that gives him a chance to be a 20-plus home run threat.” earlier this month.
There’s also a lot more to playing catcher defensively than throwing out runners, and Quero has long exceled at all of it. According to BA: “He remains a skilled receiver, blocker and earns high marks for his intangibles behind the plate.” and Pat Murphy was effisive in his praise for how he worked with their pitchers and handled himself generally last spring.
The arm is a legit concern, and if he doesn’t gain back some of the lost velocity at some point it’s going to limit his upside behind the plate, for sure. But there is a lot more there to work with and you would be wise not to write him off.
A catcher that can’t throw out baserunners isn’t going to be catching in the majors very long, regardless of his other defensive skills. Stealing bases is one of the main aspects that the Brewers have as an advantage over other teams. I hate to give that up.
20+ home run power seems really optimistic. He hasn’t really shown that in the minors, especially above A ball. Pedro Pages with better defense, except the arm.
At least he’ll be league minimum for a few years. Save a couple bucks.
The Brewers also have Siegler on the 40 man, he was catching a good bit in Nashville. With the Brewers catching lab, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Seigler handle backup duties for 3 weeks to gain the extra year over Quero.
A split contract guy would be ideal, but seems like they are confident enough in Quero that a fully guaranteed deal on a non optionable vet would be wasting money, they just need someone to hold the fort long enough to manipulate Quero’s clock.
The Brewers have a (good) mess with pitching: they have way too many guys who have proven they can start at the big league level. However outside of Peralta and Woodruff, few of those guys have substantial experience. There’s plenty of depth for guys to get optioned or put in the bullpen but IMO if they’re gonna flip Peralta, the time is now. Let spring training sort out the rotation and get some prospects to keep this contention window open.
Backup catcher is anybody’s guess. They (and most scouts) view Quero as a top catching prospect whose future is behind the dish in Milwaukee. With Contreras’ arbitration price going up and free agency nearing after 2027, I could certainly see a situation where they either let Quero back up Contreras or give him more time in the minors and flip Contreras in his last contract year after 2026 as the Brewers so often do, again trying to keep that contention window open. Regardless, again, it’s a good problem to have.