The Brewers have signed outfielder Jonathan Davis and right-handers Trevor Kelley and Jason Alexander to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Davis, 29, has spent parts of four years in the big leagues — all with the Blue Jays except for a brief 12-game stint with the Yankees late in the 2021 season. He’s never received regular playing time in the big leagues, as evidenced by the fact that last year’s 64 games played and 103 plate appearances were both career-high marks. Davis, often used as a late-inning pinch runner and defensive replacement by the Jays over the years, is 11-for-13 in stolen bases attempts at the MLB level but just a .171/.272/.248 hitter in 259 plate appearances. He’s been better in Triple-A, where he’s a .249/.356/.416 hitter in 640 trips to the plate.
The 28-year-old Kelley also comes to the Brewers organization with some big league experience, albeit a good bit less. He tallied 11 2/3 innings between the Red Sox and Phillies in 2019-20 but was tattooed for a dozen runs on 17 hits (four homers) and six walks with 11 punchouts. It’s not a great big league track record, but Kelley also posted a microscopic 1.52 ERA in 41 1/3 frames with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate last season and carries a lifetime 1.66 ERA in 130 innings at that level. Kelley has fanned 24.8% of his opponents in Triple-A and posted a 9.1% walk rate.
Alexander joins the Brewers after parts of four pro seasons split between the Angels and Marlins organizations. An undrafted free agent out of Cal State Long Beach, the now-28-year-old righty has a pedestrian 4.87 ERA in 281 minor league innings but much more encouraging rate stats. While Alexander’s 20.6% strikeout rate is below average, he’s walked only 6.1% of his career opponents and tallied a huge 56.2% ground-ball rate since turning pro. Alexander didn’t pitch much with the Marlins organization last year, but in 19 2/3 frames across three levels (including 14 2/3 innings in Triple-A), he logged a 1.37 ERA with a 22-to-3 K/BB ratio and an enormous 67.3% grounder rate.
