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Rockies Option Chase Dollander

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The Rockies announced today that they have optioned right-hander Chase Dollander to Triple-A Albuquerque. Fellow righty Bradley Blalock has been recalled from Albuquerque as the corresponding move.

Dollander, 23, was called up to the majors in the first week of April. The ninth overall pick of the 2023 draft, he tore through the minors last year, posting a 2.59 earned run average, 33.9% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate in 118 innings. He was already a top prospect after being drafted but that performance shot him up even higher on the rankings. After just one Triple-A start this year, he was up in the show.

Thus far, he hasn’t been able to deliver on that prospect hype. Around a brief stint on the injured list due to forearm tightness, he now has 15 big league starts under his belt with a 6.68 ERA. His 16.8% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate are both subpar.

Not every prospect comes up to the majors and finds immediate success, so it’s not necessarily a concern that Dollander has struggled so far. On the other hand, Coors Field is a notoriously challenging venue to pitch in and that seems to be a factor here. Dollander has a 4.25 ERA on the road but a massive 9.37 mark in the mountains. His 20.3% strikeout rate on the road is much better than his 13.7% clip at Coors.

Getting major league hitters out is tough in any stadium but the Coors effect only heightens the challenge. Batted balls fly farther in the thin air but breaking pitches also move less, so there may be a steep learning curve as Dollander tries to make his stuff work at altitude.

Given his struggles, it’s not necessarily a shock to see the Rockies send him down. It’s also possible that the upcoming All-Star break will allow them to recall him fairly quickly without missing more than one or two turns through the rotation. With some upcoming off-days, the Rockies might just use a four-man rotation for a while, or perhaps give Blalock a spot start or two.

Though the decision is defensible, Dollander is likely to be personally impacted by the move. A baseball season is usually 186 days long but a player needs only 172 days of service to be credited with a full year of service time. Dollander was called up just ten days into the season, so he was on track to hit the one-year mark. That almost certainly won’t happen now as an optional assignment for a pitcher has a 15-day minimum.

The Rockies could technically recall Dollander in less than 15 days if someone else goes on the injured list, but barring that scenario, Dollander no longer has a path to one year of service. As a top prospect, he could also earn a full year by finishing in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting but it’s hard to fathom that possibility with his current stats.

Put it all together and Dollander’s path to free agency has almost certainly been pushed by a year. Had he stayed up, he would have been on track for free agency after 2030. It now appears that post-2031 will be the earliest he could hit the open market. His path to arbitration could also be impacted, depending on how long this optional assignment lasts.

Those are long-term questions which will be answered in time. In the shorter term, the focus will be on Dollander’s on-field abilities and figuring out how to reach his potential. The 2025 Rockies are one of the worst baseball teams of all time and there aren’t many reasons for long-term optimism either. If Dollander can start looking like a potential ace again, that would provide a glimmer of hope, but it’s not there right now.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Rockies Select Ryan Rolison, Transfer Kris Bryant To 60-Day IL

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The Rockies announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Ryan Rolison. Kris Bryant was transferred to the 60-day to make room for Rolison on the 40-man roster after he recently underwent an ablation procedure on his back. Colorado also announced that righty Anthony Molina has been recalled from Triple-A, while righties Bradley Blalock and Juan Mejia were optioned to Triple-A to make room for Rolison and Molina on the active roster.

Rolison, 27, was the Rockies’ first-round pick back in 2018 but has yet to make his major league debut. The southpaw’s career has been thrown off track by plenty of missed time. He missed the entire 2020 season due to the cancelled minor league season, missed multiple months in 2021 due to an appendectomy, and lost his entire 2022 campaign due to shoulder injuries. He returned in 2023 but once again battled shoulder problems, leaving him to make just four starts that season. Since then, he’s mostly pitched out of the bullpen for the Rockies, with a 4.67 ERA in 34 appearances at the Triple-A level over the past two years. That includes a solid 3.72 ERA with a 26.1% strikeout rate this year, however. With Rolison now finally in a groove after years of injury-marred campaigns, it seems the Rockies are going to take the opportunity to get their former first-round talent into a big league game for the first time in his career.

Moving off the 40-man roster to make room for Rolison is Bryant. It’s hardly a surprise to see the 33-year-old transferred to the 60-day IL given the seriousness of the procedure he underwent this past week to try and alleviate the chronic back pain stemming from his chronic lumbar degenerative disc disease. Ablation destroys the nerves in an area causing pain in an effort to eliminate pain signals from that area. As Bryant told reporters (including Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball Media) yesterday, he won’t resume baseball activities for a “couple weeks” before beginning to ramp up as is feasible in terms of pain tolerance. That leaves him with no concrete timetable for his return, but he did make clear he hopes to return to the field during the 2025 season.

Regardless of when Bryant ultimately ends up returning, 2025 already appears to be the latest in a string of seasons where the former MVP has been derailed by injuries. The veteran was among the game’s perennial All-Stars as recently as 2021 and carried a .278/.376/.504 career slash line into the 2022 season. After signing a seven-year deal with the Rockies during the 2021-22 offseason, however, Bryant has appeared in just 170 games total while slashing a well below-average .244/.324/.370. With Bryant having returned -1.6 bWAR/-1.8 fWAR at the halfway mark in his contract, it’s hard to imagine the deal being anything other than a bust for the Rockies once all is said and done.

Even so, with three seasons and $81MM left on the contract after 2025, the Rockies are surely hoping that Bryant can eventually get healthy enough to be a legitimate contributor before his contract comes to a close. While the sort of production that earned him the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2015 and the MVP award the following season is unlikely to be in the cards at this point, it’s not impossible to imagine Bryant being able to get back to being an above-average hitter; after all, he did manage to hit a solid .306/.376/.475 in 42 games with the Rockies back in 2022.

As for the club’s other roster moves, Molina joins the big league roster for the first time this year after pitching to a 6.79 ERA in 35 relief outings for the Rockies last year. Mejia made his MLB debut earlier this year and sports a 4.70 ERA across six appearances, while Blalock is in his second MLB season but has struggled to a 12.94 ERA in 16 innings of work for Colorado this year.

Rockies Place Ryan Feltner On Injured List

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The Rockies placed Ryan Feltner on the 15-day injured list with back spasms. The placement is retroactive to April 29. Righty Bradley Blalock is up from Triple-A Albuquerque in a corresponding move.

Feltner has been the best pitcher in a floundering Colorado rotation. He owns a 4.75 earned run average through 30 1/3 innings over six starts. His 18.5% strikeout rate is middling, but he’s getting grounders at a 48.5% clip while showing solid control. Feltner posted similar numbers in 30 starts a year ago. He pitched to a 4.49 ERA with a near-20% strikeout rate in a career-high 162 1/3 frames. It may not be the most exciting profile, but the former fourth-round pick has been a rare source of stability at the back of Bud Black’s rotation.

Colorado did not provide a timeline for Feltner’s return. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, he felt continued soreness in his lower back during a game of catch on Thursday. He also missed a bit of time in the second half of last season, but he made it back within a few weeks of going down with a shoulder strain.

If he’s in for a similarly brief absence, Feltner could find his name in trade rumors this summer. Colorado has been reluctant to entertain offers on players with contractual control — and sometimes on rentals even in losing seasons — but they’ll again enter deadline season as a seller. Feltner is playing on a $2.275MM salary in his first of four years of arbitration. The Rox’s track record suggests a trade is unlikely, but GM Bill Schmidt should receive calls from teams seeking affordable back-of-the-rotation help if Feltner is healthy.

Blalock could step into Feltner’s rotation spot, which is scheduled for tomorrow’s game against the Giants. Blalock started six of seven big league appearances last year as a rookie. He has come out of the bullpen for two of three MLB outings this season, allowing eight runs in seven innings. Blalock has started all three appearances with Albuquerque, giving up six runs while managing only 8 1/3 frames with 10 walks and seven strikeouts. Colorado’s other four starters — Kyle Freeland, Germán Márquez, Antonio Senzatela and Chase Dollander — have each posted an ERA of 5.22 or worse this season.

Rockies Designate Lucas Gilbreath For Assignment

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The Rockies announced a series of roster moves this morning, including their previously reported trade for infielder Alan Trejo. Trejo has been selected to the roster, with catcher Braxton Fulford having been optioned to make room for Trejo on the active roster. Southpaw Lucas Gilbreath was designated for assignment to clear space for Trejo on the 40-man roster. Additionally, right-hander Jaden Hill was optioned to the minors while righty Bradley Blalock was recalled to the big league roster.

Trejo, 29 next month, returns to the organization for whom he was a 16th-round pick in 2017 draft. The infielder debuted with the club in 2021 and has appeared in 173 major league games since then, all of which came as a member of the Rockies. He’s hit just .228/.276/.334 in that time, though he’s been a serviceable depth option for the club’s bench over the years thanks to strong defense all around the infield. Still, Trejo’s lack of offense led the Rockies to designate him for assignment in June of last year. He promptly cleared waivers and elected free agency. Since then, he’s played for the Dodgers and Rangers in the minor leagues but will now make his return to both the Rockies and the majors in general as an infield bench option now that Kyle Farmer has been pushed into an everyday role by an injury to Ezequiel Tovar.

Making room for Trejo on the 40-man roster is Gilbreath, a seventh-rounder selected by Colorado as part of the same draft class as Trejo. The southpaw also made his big league debut during the 2021 season, and he enjoyed a solid rookie campaign out of the bullpen with a 3.38 ERA in 42 2/3 innings of work. That’s a particularly impressive figure for the player who calls Coors Field home, though he walked a worrisome 12.4% of his opponents while striking out 23.8%, leaving him with a less impressive 4.32 FIP. Even so, he was able to build on his success in 2022 and deliver another solid year of work when he pitched to a 4.19 ERA (111 ERA+) with a much stronger 3.53 FIP in 43 frames, though his strikeouts and walks were largely unchanged from the year prior.

Despite the shaky command, Gilbreath looked like a bullpen piece with real potential for the Rockies headed into the 2023 season. Unfortunately, he underwent Tommy John surgery and wound up not only missing the whole year, but nearly the entire 2024 season due to his rehab. Gilbreath returned to the majors in August of last year but was torched to the tune of a 54.00 ERA across three appearances that totaled just one inning of work. He remained with the Rockies after signing a pre-tender deal back in November, but he’ll depart the roster without making a big league appearance this year. In seven appearances at Triple-A this year, Gilbreath has posted a solid 2.70 ERA but has struck out just 14.7% of his opponents while walking 11.8%.

Making room for Trejo on the active roster is Fulford, who made his big league debut earlier this month. He went 1-for-8 with a home run and five strikeouts in his four-game cup of coffee in the majors and is now ticketed for Triple-A, where he’ll serve as optionable catching depth for the time being. Joining him in the minors is Hill, who has looked solid with a 3.38 ERA in three appearances for the Rockies this year, while Blalock rejoins the pen after surrendering two runs in three innings of work earlier this year.

Rockies Place Kris Bryant On Injured List

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The Rockies made a few moves before tonight’s series opener in Arizona. Most notably, Kris Bryant is headed back to the injured list. Colorado placed the former MVP on the 10-day IL, retroactive to August 11, with a back strain. Colorado recalled rookie outfielder Jordan Beck in his place. The Rox also brought up righty Bradley Blalock, whom they acquired from Milwaukee in the Nick Mears trade, while optioning southpaw Josh Rogers to Triple-A Albuquerque.

Bryant goes on the injured list for the eighth time in his Colorado tenure. It’s his third such stint of the season. Bryant lost a month last year to a different back strain. He dealt with another core issue this summer, as an internal oblique strain kept him out between June 3 and July 23. Bryant hit .277/.352/.340 over 13 games before landing back on the shelf.

Since signing with Colorado on a seven-year free agent deal, Bryant has hit .250/.332/.382 across 671 plate appearances. He has appeared in 159 of the Rox’s 443 games (just under 36%) since signing. That’s not the only reason that Colorado is headed for a fourth consecutive last place finish, yet it’s hard to envision a much worse start to the biggest free agent investment in franchise history.

Colorado has alternated Bryant and Charlie Blackmon between right field and designated hitter over the last few weeks. Blackmon is at DH with Jake Cave and Sam Hilliard splitting the corner outfield work tonight. The 23-year-old Beck — a former top 40 draft pick out of Tennessee — rejoins the group and should probably get regular playing time down the stretch. Beck hasn’t hit over his first 23 major league games, but he’s raking at a .319/.402/.558 clip over 39 contests in Albuquerque. That’s excellent production even in an extremely hitter-friendly setting.

As for Blalock, he’s in position to make his team debut. He has made two starts with Double-A Hartford since the trade. Blalock made his big league debut with Milwaukee in June. He has otherwise spent the season in Double-A, turning in a 4.36 ERA over 18 starts. He could work as rotation depth or in a long relief capacity for whatever time he’s on the MLB roster.

Brewers Acquire Nick Mears From Rockies

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The Brewers acquired reliever Nick Mears from the Rockies. Colorado gets right-hander Bradley Blalock and minor league pitcher Yujanyer Herrera in return.

Mears is third among Colorado relievers with 45 1/3 innings. His 5.56 earned run average makes him an odd trade pickup at first glance, but Milwaukee is intrigued by his swing-and-miss ability. Mears has fanned more than 28% of batters faced and gotten whiffs on nearly 12% of his offerings. His fastball averages 96.7 MPH, while opponents have had very little success against his slider. While batters have teed off on his curveball, the fastball-slider combination makes him an interesting upside play.

If not for a .366 average on balls in play against him, Mears’ bottom line numbers would be a lot more impressive. ERA estimators like SIERA (3.37) and FIP (2.59) are a lot more bullish on his performance. While Mears has excellent stuff, his command is questionable. He has walked 10.3% of batters faced this season and an even 13% of opposing hitters in 95 career innings. Throwing strikes consistently is probably his biggest hurdle to assuming a high-leverage role.

Milwaukee placed late-inning southpaw Bryan Hudson on the 15-day injured list this afternoon. He’s dealing with an oblique strain that’ll keep him out for an unknown amount of time. Manager Pat Murphy told reporters that the team would have a clearer picture of Hudson’s timetable after he goes for imaging (X link via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). The team expects him back this season, but that’s a hit to their relief group in the short term.

Mears slots in alongside Joel Payamps, Trevor Megill, Elvis Peguero and Hoby Milner in the relief corps. The Brewers could welcome star closer Devin Williams back in a few weeks — he’s on a rehab stint with Triple-A Nashville — and should have a fairly strong setup corps. The 27-year-old Mears will qualify for arbitration for the first time next winter and comes with three additional seasons of club control.

Colorado initially grabbed Mears off waivers from the Rangers during the 2022-23 offseason. That proved to be a nice pickup for GM Bill Schmidt and his front office. They’ve cashed him in for a pair of pitchers who could factor into the rotation or long relief roles in the future. Blalock, 23, has a decent chance to pitch at Coors Field this year. He’s already on the 40-man roster and made a brief big league debut last month, tossing a scoreless inning against San Diego.

The 6’2″ righty has otherwise worked out of the rotation for Milwaukee’s Double-A team in Biloxi. He carries a 4.08 ERA in 75 innings spanning 16 starts. His 20.2% strikeout rate is below average, but his 8.5% walk percentage is solid. The Brew Crew acquired Blalock from the Red Sox for Luis Urías last summer. He’s in his first of three option years and could be a back-end starter.

Herrera, a 6’3″ right-hander, ranked 28th among Milwaukee prospects at Baseball America. The outlet credits him with a mid-90s fastball and an above-average slider. A subpar changeup could point to a bullpen future. The 20-year-old Venezuela native has started nine of 16 outings between the two A-ball levels this season. He owns a 2.91 ERA with an above-average 27.2% strikeout percentage and an 8.1% walk rate. He’d be eligible for the Rule 5 draft next offseason if not added to the 40-man roster. There’s a good chance the Rox select his contract next offseason.

Colorado prioritized starting pitching in their trades last summer. They could do the same this year if they move players like Cal Quantrill, Jalen Beeks, Austin Gomber, Elias Díaz and Jacob Stallings.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the terms of the trade. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Brewers Designate Elieser Hernández For Assignment

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The Brewers announced a few roster moves before tonight’s game in Anaheim. Milwaukee recalled rookie infielder Tyler Black and right-hander Bradley Blalock. They optioned infielder Oliver Dunn to Triple-A Nashville and designated righty Elieser Hernández to open spots on the active roster. The Hernández DFA drops the 40-man roster tally to 39.

It’s the first major league call for Blalock, whom Milwaukee added to the 40-man last offseason. Blalock was drafted by the Red Sox out of high school five years ago. Milwaukee acquired his at last summer’s trade deadline in the deal sending struggling infielder Luis Urías to Boston. Blalock finished the season in High-A, yet the Brewers were still concerned another team would pluck him away in the Rule 5 draft.

Milwaukee optioned the 6’2″ righty to Double-A Biloxi to start this year. Working from the rotation, he has pitched to a 4.24 ERA through 51 innings. Blalock’s 18.9% strikeout rate is modest, though he has only walked 7.8% of batters faced. The Georgia native has shown advanced control in his minor league career. Baseball America ranked him as the #22 prospect in the Milwaukee organization heading into the season, while he checked in 15th in the system on Keith Law’s list at The Athletic. Both outlets suggest he has a chance to stick in the rotation behind a low-mid 90s fastball and decent secondary offerings.

For the time being, Blalock could step into the long relief role which Hernández had filled. Milwaukee has enough rotation questions to potentially give the 23-year-old a starting look at some point. The recently promoted Carlos Rodríguez has allowed seven runs in 8 1/3 innings over his first two big league starts.

Hernández spent less than two weeks in Milwaukee. The Brewers signed him to a major league contract on June 8, two days after he elected free agency upon being outrighted by the Dodgers. The Venezuelan-born righty pitched four times, tossing six innings of two-run ball with a pair of strikeouts and walks apiece. Hernández had made five appearances with Los Angeles and owns a 6.32 ERA in 15 2/3 big league frames this year. The former Marlins starter will probably end up on waivers in the next few days and could return to free agency if he again goes unclaimed.

Black, one of the game’s better offensive prospects, steps back into the MLB infield mix. The Brewers called up the Wright State product for the first time in late April. Black only got into seven games before being optioned back to Nashville. He has turned in strong numbers there, hitting .275/.374/.483 with nine homers in 243 plate appearances.

Brewers Select Enoli Paredes

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2:30pm: The Brewers have made it official, selecting Paredes and optioning right-hander Bradley Blalock as the corresponding move.

2:10pm: The Brewers are calling up right-hander Enoli Paredes, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X. The righty is not currently on the club’s 40-man roster, but the Brewers are only at 39 at the moment. They will need to make a move to open a spot on the active roster.

Paredes, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in the offseason. He’s been with Triple-A Nashville so far this year with excellent overall results, though some slight control issues. He has tossed 20 2/3 innings for the Sounds over 18 appearances, allowing 1.31 earned runs per nine frames. 56.8% of the balls in play he’s allowed have been on the ground and he has struck out a massive 41.5% of batters faced.

His 11% walk rate is on the high side but he’s obviously been able to work around that with those strikeouts and grounders. It will likely be something to monitor going forward, however, as the free passes have been a problem for him before. He pitched 32 1/3 innings in the majors for the Astros over the 2020-22 seasons with a solid 3.90 ERA. In that time, he had a 23.6% strikeout rate and 44.7% ground ball rate but also gave out walks to 19.7% of batters that stepped to the plate. In 141 1/3 minor league innings from 2021 to 2023, he punched out 31.4% of opponents but gave out walks at a 15.7% clip.

The Astros outrighted him off their roster at the end of last season, which allowed the Brewers to land him on a minor league deal. Paredes exhausted his final option last year, which likely played a role in Houston moving on from him.

His strong performance this year will now get him another chance in the big leagues. If he can keep the walks under control, as he has been doing in Triple-A this year, he could be a nice find for the Milwaukee bullpen. He has less than two years of service time and could be kept around for years to come if things click for him. But since he’s out of options, he’ll need to pitch well enough to justify his spot on the active roster.

Brewers Designate Thyago Vieira For Assignment, Promote Bradley Blalock

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The Brewers announced Monday that right-hander Thyago Vieira has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Bradley Blalock, who’s been called up from Double-A Biloxi for what will be his MLB debut. Milwaukee also optioned outfielder Chris Roller to Triple-A Nashville and reinstated fellow outfielder Joey Wiemer from the injured list.

Vieira, 30, is one of the game’s hardest-throwing pitchers, averaging 98 mph on his heater this season and frequently touching triple digits. However, he’s been scored upon in nine of his 16 appearances this season, resulting in a 5.64 ERA over 22 1/3 innings. While Vieira has fanned a solid 23.6% of his opponents, he’s also walked 12.3% of the batters he’s faced. Even more troublesome has been his penchant for loud contact. Opponents have belted six homers off him already this year — an average of 2.42 round-trippers per nine frames.

One of just five Brazilian-born players in big league history, Vieira had a nice run with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball from 2020-22. He’s been with the Brewers since returning stateside and had brief looks with the Mariners (one inning in 2017) and White Sox (24 2/3 innings from 2018-19) prior to that. Overall, the flamethrowing righty has pitched 51 MLB frames and surrendered a 6.18 ERA with a 21.2% strikeout rate and 11.6% walk rate. The Brewers will have a week to trade him, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

Blalock, 23, was a 32nd-round pick by the Red Sox in 2019 who was traded from Boston to Milwaukee in last year’s Luis Urias swap. The right-hander has elevated his status considerably since that humble draft selection, never more so than in 2024, when he’s opened the season with seven starts of 2.27 ERA ball at the Double-A level. That marks Blalock’s first action above A-ball. He’s fanned a below-average 20.6% of his opponents this year but posted an excellent 5% walk rate and roughly average 43.1% ground-ball rate.

Entering the 2024 season, Blalock ranked 13th among Milwaukee farmhands at FanGraphs, 17th at MLB.com and 22nd at Baseball America. The righty draws praise for his above-average command, a fastball that sits 92-96 mph and a smattering of average or nearly average secondary offerings (slider, split-change, curveball). FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen likens his upside to that of a Jose Urquidy type of back-end starter who could shift to a long-relief role on a playoff roster.

The Brewers don’t need a starter in the coming days, but Blalock will be on hand to give them some length in the event of a short start from righty Joe Ross today. It’s also possible he could slot into an injury-plagued staff within the next few days. Ross is slated to pitch today, with rookie Robert Gasser on the mound tomorrow and Freddy Peralta to follow Wednesday. Milwaukee is off Thursday and then set to go Bryse Wilson, Colin Rea and Ross again for their upcoming weekend slate in Boston, where Blalock could potentially face the organization that drafted him.

With Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, Jakob Junis and DL Hall all on the injured list at the moment, the Brewers have been patching things together in the starting staff. Even if he’s not stepping into the rotation right now, it’s possible Blalock could eventually be called upon to start some games later in the summer.

Brewers Select Jeferson Quero, Bradley Blalock

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The Brewers announced to reporters, including Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, that they have selected catcher Jeferson Quero and right-hander Bradley Blalock to the 40-man roster. Tomorrow is the deadline to select players eligible for the Rule 5 draft in order to protect them from being selected. The 40-man roster count is now at 36.

Quero, 21, was an international signing out of Venezuela, getting a $200K bonus in 2019. The minor leagues were canceled in 2020 but Quero has since made up for lost time by going through Rookie ball, Single-A, High-A and Double-A.

He spent all of 2023 with the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers, getting into 90 contests for that club. He walked in 10% of his plate appearances while also limited his strikeouts to a 17.8% rate, hitting 16 home runs and stealing five bases. His .262/.339/.440 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 107, indicating he was seven percent above league average.

Quero is considered an excellent defensive catcher, so that ability to also provide some offense makes him a very exciting prospect. He’s currently ranked #29 in the entire league by Baseball America and #32 at MLB Pipeline. Back in July, Keith Law of The Athletic had him up in the #11 slot. Given that lofty reputation, it’s unsurprising that the Brewers didn’t want to risk losing him in the Rule 5 draft. It will be hard for him to get regular playing time at the major league level with William Contreras taking the bulk of it, so Quero will likely head to Triple-A next year and continue to develop towards his eventual debut. The Brewers don’t have any other catchers on the 40-man roster at present but could sign a veteran backup in the offseason.

Blalock, 23 on Christmas, was a 32nd round pick of the Red Sox in 2019 but came to the Brewers a few months back in the Luis Urías trade. He wasn’t able to pitch very much between his draft and this past year since the minors were canceled in 2020 and he missed all of 2022 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. In 2023, he was able to make 15 minor league starts between the two clubs with a 2.82 earned run average. In his 67 innings, he struck out 27.7% of opponents while issuing walks at a 7.4% clip.

The righty has yet to reach Double-A but it seems the Brewers were nonetheless concerned that he could get picked up in the Rule 5. For now, he’ll add some long-term starting depth as he looks to take the next steps towards his major league debut. BA currently has him as the #24 prospect in the system while FanGraphs has him at #15.

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