Jacob Nottingham

Jacob Nottingham Undergoes Thumb Procedure

By Jeff Todd | December 30, 2020 at 11:57pm CDT

Brewers backstop Jacob Nottingham has undergone surgery on the radial collateral ligament of his left thumb, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets. The procedure is said to have gone as anticipated.

Nottingham, who was injured during the postseason, will have just over two months to heal up before camp opens. The hope is that he’ll be a full go at or near the start of Spring Training.

This malady likely won’t have a big impact on the Brewers’ plans, particularly given the promising prognosis. If anything, it could nudge the organization to gather up a bit more catching depth.

Nottingham, 25, hit for enough power (.458 slugging percentage) to make up for a miserly .278 OBP in a twenty-game stretch with the Milwaukee organization in 2020. He stepped into the MLB fold after Manny Pina went down with an injury.

The Brewers ultimately elected to tender Pina a contract, making him the odds-on favorite to serve as the #2 backstop. Presumptive starter Omar Narvaez scuffled with the bat in his first season with the club, but seems sure to get a chance to redeem himself.

That leaves the out-of-options Nottingham with a need to make an impression in camp. If he shows well enough, and/or there are cracks in the Narvaez/Pina pairing, the Brewers could carry three backstops. If not, Nottingham may end up being dangled in trade or placed on the waiver wire.

Brewers Designate Justin Grimm; Manny Pina To Undergo Knee Surgery

By Steve Adams | August 28, 2020 at 5:32pm CDT

5:32pm: Not so fast on Pina, who says he’ll require at least four weeks to recover from surgery and is hoping he’ll return if the Brewers make the playoffs (via Haudricourt).

4:21pm: Pina will undergo season-ending surgery, manager Craig Counsell told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters.

3:31pm: The Brewers announced that they’ve designated right-hander Justin Grimm for assignment and placed catcher Manny Pina on the 10-day injured list due to a torn meniscus in his right knee. Pina sustained the injury on a pickoff play last night, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets. Catcher Jacob Nottingham has been recalled from the alternate training site to replace Pina on the active roster.

Grimm, 32, has appeared in four games for the Brewers this year but surrendered multiple runs in three of those appearances. He’s been tagged for nine runs on nine hits (four homers) and four walks with six punchouts in 4 2/3 frames. Although he was once a quality relief option with the division-rival Cubs — 3.36 ERA and 3.20 FIP in 171 innings from 2014-16 — Grimm has seen his results decline precipitously since that stretch. He’s logged 77 1/3 innings in the Majors over the past four seasons and struggled to an alarming 7.33 ERA.

As for Pina, it’s a tough blow for the Brewers and the 33-year-old backstop alike. He’s out to a .231/.333/.410 slash to begin the season — solid production for any catcher, let alone a backup — but will now likely miss the remainder of the year. Even speedy recoveries from a meniscus tear can take a month, and for a catcher, any knee issue carries additional difficulty. Pina has been the Brewers’ backup catcher dating back to 2017, providing solid glovework and respectable OBP skills and pop for a reserve catcher. Since 2017, he’s a .257/.317/.411 hitter.

Nottingham has gotten brief looks in each of the past two seasons — nine games apiece — and will now step in as the primary backup to Omar Narvaez. He’s a .231/.355/.385 hitter in 31 MLB plate appearances and a .250/.326/.421 hitter in 528 PAs at the Triple-A level.

Brewers Option Five Players

By Jeff Todd | March 27, 2020 at 6:08pm CDT

The Brewers have answered the last call for optional assignments, sending down a handful of players to their top affiliates. Jim Goulart of Brewerfan.net tweeted the news.

Catcher Jacob Nottingham is on his way down, indicating he’s not expected to crack an eventual Opening Day roster. Soon to turn 25, Nottingham has seen brief MLB action in each of the past two seasons but faced an uphill battle to earn a job with Omar Narvaez and Manny Pina locked in behind the plate.

Also sent out on options were four hurlers: southpaw Angel Perdomo and righties Bobby Wahl, Eric Yardley, and J.P. Feyereisen. Only Perdomo has ever actually appeared in regular-season action with a Milwaukee affiliate. He worked to a 4.28 ERA with a hefty 13.9 K/9 but equally voluminous 6.0 BB/9 in 69 1/3 upper-minors innings last year.

Yardley received his first ten MLB appearances last year with the Padres. The Brewers claimed him off waivers in the offseason. Wahl also has seen the majors, receiving brief looks with the A’s and Mets. He came to Milwaukee in the Keon Broxton swap but ended up missing the 2019 season due to a torn ACL. As for Feyereisen, he landed with the Brewers in a rare September swap with the Yankees, who obviously didn’t expect to have room for him on the 40-man roster in advance of the 2019 Rule 5 draft.

Brewers To Place Manny Pina On IL, Recall Jacob Nottingham

By Jeff Todd | May 16, 2019 at 8:47am CDT

The Brewers announced after last night’s game that catcher Manny Pina will be headed to the 10-day injured list with a hamstring injury. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by fellow receiver Jacob Nottingham, per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (via Twitter).

It’s not clear how long Pina will be sidelined, but he’ll need to use his time away to work on more than just his hamstring. Soon to turn 32, Pina has struggled to a .133/.220/.244 slash to open the season — well shy of the palatable offensive numbers he carried over the prior two campaigns.

Pina’s role has unsurprisingly been reduced in the wake of the addition of Yasmani Grandal, who’ll continue to see the bulk of the action behind the dish. Grandal will now be supplemented by Nottingham, a 24-year-old who enjoyed a cup of coffee last season.

Nottingham originally came to Milwaukee in the swap that sent slugger Khris Davis to the A’s. (Before that, he landed in the Oakland organization in the July 2015 Scott Kazmir trade.) At the time, he was seen as a bat-first catching prospect with real potential. He has struggled at times in the upper minors, though he was productive last year at Triple-A and was graded by MLB.com as the Brewers’ 16th-best prospect over the winter. Nottingham is slashing .247/.351/.395 in 94 plate appearances at San Antonio thus far in 2019.

Call-Ups: White Sox, Rays, Brewers

By Kyle Downing | September 1, 2018 at 9:29am CDT

In an announcement that comes as a surprise to no one, Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports tweets that the White Sox will not call up top prospect Eloy Jimenez this September. By suppressing Jimenez’ service time until the third week of April 2019, the rebuilding South Siders can gain another year of team control over the power prodigy. Jimenez has dominated the minor leagues ever since joining the White Sox organization as part of a cross-town swap with the Cubs for left-hander Jose Quintana; the outfielder has hit at least .300 and slugged at least .550 at every level since that trade. At Triple-A, he’s managed an outstanding .368/.409/.618 batting line with a minuscule 12.7% strikeout rate.

Instead of giving Jimenez a September look, the club opted to call up right-hander Ian Hamilton in the wake of the trade that sent Xavier Cedeno to the Brewers, (h/t Scott Merkin of MLB.com). Merkin labels Hamilton as the club’s “closer of the future”; perhaps a fair designation considering he’s pitched to a 1.71 ERA at Triple-A this year with an eye-popping 7.00 K/BB ratio. Hamilton fired a perfect inning last night in his MLB debut.

A couple of other call-ups in the wake of last night’s trades and impending roster expansions…

The Rays selected the contract of catcher Adam Moore last night and added him to the MLB team, thus filling out their 40-man roster. The 34-year-old Moore cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Durham just a month ago after seeing his first major-league action since 2016. The veteran has also played for the Indians, Padres, Royals and Mariners throughout the course of his ten-year MLB career, but owns a lifetime batting average south of the Mendoza line and has only managed a 45 wRC+.
The Brewers are calling up catcher Jacob Nottingham, Robert Murray of The Athletic tweets. He’s ranked as the club’s ninth-best prospect by MLB Pipeline, owing to his power upside that hasn’t yet appeared at the major-league level. He has accrued just a single extra-base hit (a double) at the MLB level, but he managed to post a .281/.347/.528 batting line with ten homers in 196 appearances at the Triple-A level this season.
In addition to Nottingham, the Brew Crew will bring back another familiar face in the form of outfielder Domingo Santana (also per Murray). Santana enjoyed a breakout season last year, hitting .278/.371/.505 with 30 homers. However, an unsightly 29.3% strikeout rate and seemingly unsustainable .363 BABIP pointed to the likelihood of regression, which hit him hard this season as he saw his power disappear almost completely en route to a 78 wRC+. That led to a summer demotion, and while Santana’s power hasn’t entirely returned, he’s managed 8 homers in 227 Triple-A plate appearances. His walk rate in the minors (15.9%) is also nearly double what it was in the majors this season (8.5%).

NL Central Notes: Nottingham, Senzel, Harrison

By Steve Adams | April 16, 2018 at 11:12am CDT

The Brewers will recall catcher Jacob Nottingham from Triple-A Colorado Springs before tonight’s game, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports. It’ll be the first taste of the Majors for Nottingham, who was acquired by Milwaukee in the trade that sent Khris Davis to Oakland. The 23-year-old Nottingham has had two rough seasons in Milwaukee’s system, posting a sub-.700 OPS at Double-A in both 2016 and 2017. He’s off to a fast start this year, however, hitting .296/.345/.519 through a tiny sample of 29 plate appearances. The corresponding 25-man move for Milwaukee isn’t yet clear, though primary catcher Manny Pina is day-to-day at the moment, as are Eric Thames and Ryan Braun, McCalvy notes. Nottingham doesn’t figure to be a long-term add for the time being, as Pina, Jett Bandy and Stephen Vogt (who is working his way back from a shoulder injury) all come with more experience.

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