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Brewers Recall Caleb Durbin For MLB Debut

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April 18: Milwaukee has made it official, announcing that Durbin has been recalled from Triple-A Nashville.

April 17: The Brewers are set to recall infield prospect Caleb Durbin tomorrow, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Milwaukee announced this morning that infielder Oliver Dunn had been optioned to Triple-A Nashville but did not provide a corresponding move. Durbin, whom the Brewers acquired in the trade sending Devin Williams to the Yankees, is already on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will not be necessary. He’ll make his MLB debut the first time he’s in the lineup (presumably tomorrow).

A 14th-round pick by the Braves in 2021, Durbin has already been traded twice in his career. He went from Atlanta to New York in exchange for lefty Lucas Luetge, and the Yankees coupled him up with Nestor Cortes in a trade bringing Williams to the Bronx this past offseason. He’ll now get the first big league opportunity of his career with his third organization.

The 25-year-old Durbin has hit at every stop in his minor league career. Listed at a stocky 5’7″ and 183 pounds, he has below-average power but plus contact skills and plus speed. The righty-swinging speedster is out to a .278/.316/.481 start in Nashville, where he’s already tallied a pair of homers, five doubles and three steals in 58 plate appearances. His premium contact ability has been on full display; Durbin has fanned only five times in those 58 plate appearances (8.6%). He’s walked more than he’s fanned (or posted identical walk and strikeout totals) and tallied at least 31 steals in every full season of his professional career thus far.

Second base has been Durbin’s primary position in pro ball, but he has 733 career innings at third base, which has been his most frequent position this season in Nashville. He’s also played 370 innings at shortstop and has a handful of appearances both in center field and in left field. He’s likely to slot in as a regular or semi-regular at third base in the short term, but depending on future acquisitions or player development success stories, Durbin has the skill set to be a versatile and valuable utility option.

Enough of the season has elapsed that Durbin can’t earn a full year of major league service time in 2025. If he’s in the majors to stay, he’d be controllable all the way through 2031. He’d finish out the current season with 150 days of service, putting him on pace for Super Two status and four trips through arbitration rather than the standard three (the first of which would come following the 2027 season).

Dunn, 27, is a quality defensive player but hasn’t provided value at the plate in parts of two MLB seasons with Milwaukee. He’s a .206/.260/.291 hitter in 145 big league plate appearances, including just a .167/.205/.222 output in 41 plate appearances this season. Dunn and journeyman Vinny Capra have handled all of the Brewers’ reps at third base this season, though the latter has struggled even more than Dunn (and is out of minor league options, meaning he couldn’t be sent down without being designated for assignment and clearing waivers). Brewers third basemen are batting a combined .150/.188/.233 on the season, placing them 29th in batting average, last in on-base percentage, 25th in slugging percentage and 29th in wRC+ (18).

Latest On Brewers’ Infield Alignment

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The departure of Willy Adames in free agency left the Brewers with a glaring hole at shortstop and multiple ways to address the issue. Given Milwaukee’s perennially low payroll, a costly acquisition to replace Adames felt every bit as unlikely as the team’s chances of retaining the former All-Star. Fellow infielders Joey Ortiz and Brice Turang are both shortstops who played different positions in deference to Adames last year; Ortiz at third base primarily and Turang at second base exclusively (save for one lone DH appearance).

While the final alignment will be contingent on health and spring performance, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio at least tipped his hand a bit with regard to his organization’s thinking. When asked about his lack of additions to the roster, Attanasio touted the young talent the Brewers have returning in 2025 and noted a desire to get prospect Tyler Black at third base, noting that Ortiz “can slide over” to shortstop (link via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

A move to shortstop would only be natural for Ortiz, who spent the bulk of his minor league career there. He only moved off the position due to the presence of Adames in Milwaukee. Lining up as the Brewers’ regular third baseman in 2024, Ortiz ranked as one of the top defensive infielders in the sport. Defensive Runs Saved (8) and Outs Above Average (11) both credited him with excellent totals at third base despite “only” logging about 82% of a season there. (Ortiz also played 10 games at shortstop and made six appearances at second base.)

Both Baseball America and FanGraphs labeled Ortiz a 70-grade defender (on the 20-80 scale) in his prospect days; MLB.com tabbed him with a 65 glove. Plus to elite defense was always expected from the 2019 fourth-rounder. So far, he’s made good on that billing. Ortiz also at least held his own at the plate, slashing .239/.329/.398 in 511 plate appearances — good for a 104 wRC+. He popped 11 homers, 25 doubles and six triples last year.

Turang could presumably handle shortstop as well, but it’s hard to displace a player who just took home a Platinum Glove for his superlative work at second base. The former No. 21 overall pick won his first of what will likely be many Gold Gloves in 2024 and was named the NL’s top overall defensive player as well. Defensive Runs Saved credited Turang with an outrageous mark of 22. Statcast wasn’t quite so over-the-moon but felt he was a clear plus, pegging him at 6 OAA.

A middle-infield tandem of Ortiz and Turang might be the best defensive pairing in all of baseball. That’ll be important, as the rest of the infield faces more questions about its glovework. Rhys Hoskins will be back for a second season after exercising a player option valued at $18MM. The Brewers still owe him that salary and a $4MM buyout on a 2026 mutual option. Hoskins has negative career marks at first base and struggled again in 2024 — his first season back from an ACL tear that cost him the 2023 campaign.

At the hot corner, it seems like the 24-year-old Black will get the opportunity to run with the position, though Dunn and trade acquisition Caleb Durbin could also factor in. Black is a bat-first prospect who’s hit at every minor league stop but has had a nomadic journey in pro ball with regard to his defensive home. He’s played third more than any other position but also has ample experience at second base, first base and in the outfield — including center.

The Brewers have tried playing Black all over the field, because the bat and the speed play even with a below-average arm and questionable footwork/instincts in the field. Black’s ultimate home might be at first base, but Hoskins has that locked down for now thanks to the aforementioned contract and salary. Black might push across the diamond in 2026, but there’s no everyday role for him at first right now. Hoskins can’t slide to DH full-time, as Christian Yelich will see a decent bit of time there.

Dunn and Durbin offer some interesting alternatives, but neither has Black’s upside at the plate. Dunn didn’t hit much in a 104-plate appearance debut last year, but he has a big track record in the upper minors. He’s been far more strikeout-prone than Black in the minors and generally lacks the hit tool and swing decisions Black boasts. Durbin, acquired in the Devin Williams/Nestor Cortes trade, has yet to make his MLB debut. He’s a contact, speed and OBP-oriented infielder who’s best suited at second base but has 660 professional innings at third base as well. Durbin’s bat-to-ball skills, plate discipline and speed are all strong, but he’s light on power and posted bottom-of-the-scale exit velocity and hard-hit numbers in Triple-A last year.

The Brewers’ Post-Adames Infield Options

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For the first time in three and a half years, the Brewers enter camp with a question at shortstop. Milwaukee was never going to make a realistic push to retain Willy Adames when he hit the open market. They’ll replace Adames internally, though doing so will open a camp battle at one of second or third base.

Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz manned those respective positions in 2024. They were each highly-regarded prospects whom scouts felt would stick at shortstop. They only moved off the position in deference to Adames. They each thrived at an easier spot on the defensive spectrum. Turang tied for seventh among second basemen with six Outs Above Average, according to Statcast. Defensive Runs Saved graded him at a much favorable +22 runs, earning him both the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove at the position. Ortiz’s third base work was just as highly-regarded. He tied with Matt Chapman for the league lead at the position with 11 Outs Above Average; DRS ranked him fifth with a +8 mark.

If the Brewers have a preference for one of those players at shortstop, they haven’t tipped their hand publicly. Turang played exclusively second base last season but started 10 games at shortstop in 2023. Ortiz started one game there last year, the only time Adames was not penciled into the lineup. (That came the day after Milwaukee clinched the NL Central.) Either player should be able to move back to their initial position, where there’s a good chance they’d still a plus defender.

In either case, the trickle-down impact of Adames’ departure will be felt somewhere other than shortstop. If Turang moves to the left side of the infield, the Brewers will need someone else to step up at second base. That’d be true of the hot corner if Ortiz kicks over. Someone will be in line for an uptick in at-bats. While the Brewers could theoretically still address this via free agency, the remaining infielders beyond Alex Bregman (e.g. Jose Iglesias, Paul DeJong, Yoán Moncada, Enrique Hernández) aren’t especially exciting.

Let’s run through the internal options who could earn themselves regular playing time once camp gets underway this month.

Sal Frelick

The most intriguing move would be to bring Frelick into the infield. Last winter, Milwaukee considered moving the speedy outfielder to either second or third base. That was in recognition of their somewhat crowded outfield depth chart and the risk of relying on a then-unproven Ortiz at third base. Ortiz’s excellent year meant Milwaukee wouldn’t have had many infield at-bats to offer Frelick even if they wanted to commit to him at the position.

In the end, Frelick didn’t start a single game in the infield. He played four innings at third base over two late-game substitutions. Frelick played mostly right field, where he continued to demonstrate elite range. He won his first career Gold Glove while receiving plus grades from Statcast (7 Outs Above Average) and DRS (+16). Frelick has the arm for third base, but his speed would be less impactful on the infield. Skipper Pat Murphy said at the beginning of the offseason that the Brewers were open to the possibility of continuing the third base experiment. Is it worthwhile to cut his innings in right field to give him regular infield run?

Tyler Black

The 24-year-old Black probably has the highest offensive upside of anyone in this competition. He earned some Top 100 prospect buzz going into last season. That came on the heels of a huge .284/.417/.513 showing between Double-A Biloxi and Triple-A Nashville in 2023. Black didn’t quite replicate those numbers over what was closer to a full season with Nashville. The lefty hitter posted a .258/.375/.429 slash with 14 homers across 462 plate appearances at the top minor league level. He struggled in his first MLB cameo, hitting .204 with only two extra-base hits (both doubles) in 18 games.

While Black’s stock is down slightly from where it stood 12 months ago, he still has clear offensive promise. He walked at an excellent 13.2% clip while keeping his strikeouts to a modest 18.8% rate in Triple-A. Baseball America ranked him the #5 prospect in the Milwaukee system this offseason, writing that he still possesses the best strike zone discipline of any of the organization’s prospects.

Black’s minor league exit velocities were middling, though, raising some questions about how much power he’ll bring to the table. The biggest issue is where he’ll land defensively. BA grades him as a below-average defender with a subpar arm. That makes him a tough fit at the hot corner. The Brewers seem to agree, as he only played 79 innings at third base in Triple-A last season after logging more than 800 innings there in 2023. He hasn’t played second base since 2022. Milwaukee seems to prefer Black at first base, but they’d need to offload the Rhys Hoskins contract to play him there regularly. He could bounce around the infield while seeing action at designated hitter, but he’s not a typical player for a Milwaukee team that strongly values infield defense.

Caleb Durbin

The Brewers landed Durbin alongside Nestor Cortes in this offseason’s Devin Williams trade. New York had added the 24-year-old (25 this month) to their 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. The 5’6″ infielder had a breakout season between three minor league affiliates. Durbin hit .275/.388/.451 with more walks (13.1%) than strikeouts (9.9%). He stole 31 bases while bouncing between second base, third base and shortstop. He spent more than half the season in Triple-A, where he hit .287/.396/.471 across 375 plate appearances.

Before the trade, Yankees manager Aaron Boone had at least paid lip service to the idea of Durbin being in the mix for their starting second base job. He could be in a similar position in Milwaukee. The bottom line results in Triple-A certainly suggest he’s ready for an MLB look. Still, most scouting reports feel Durbin projects as a slap-hitting utilityman rather than a true regular. Baseball America ranks him 23rd among Milwaukee prospects, praising his contact skills and speed while writing that he can play an average second or third base. He’s not expected to provide much in the way of power. While he managed 10 homers in 82 Triple-A contests, he did so with a paltry 83.8 MPH average exit velocity and 25% hard contact rate. Both marks would’ve landed in the bottom 10 qualified major league hitters.

Oliver Dunn

Milwaukee acquired Dunn from the Phillies last offseason. The Brewers were intrigued by the left-handed hitter’s massive .271/.396/.506 showing in Double-A in 2023. The 27-year-old Dunn got a chance to make his major league debut last year. He struggled in a relatively small sample, hitting .221/.282/.316 while striking out 38.5% of the time. Whiffs have been an issue throughout his career. Dunn has fanned at a 28.1% clip in parts of five minor league seasons. He has walked at a massive 15.6% rate over that stretch, but that’s a tough approach to pull off against major league pitchers who have far better command than most arms he has seen in the minors.

A back injury ended Dunn’s season in the middle of June. That cost him a chance to play regularly in Triple-A for the first time in his career. He still has only 15 games at the top minor league level. Dunn has multiple options and is probably ticketed for Nashville to start the year.

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Andruw Monasterio and Vinny Capra are the other multi-positional infielders on the 40-man roster. They’re each in their late 20s with modest offensive upside. They project more as fringe roster types than candidates for regular playing time, though Monasterio made it into 59 MLB games last season. He hit .208/.303/.272 with one home run.

Brewers Select Brewer Hicklen

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The Brewers have selected the contract of outfielder Brewer Hicklen, though he has been optioned and will stay at Triple-A Nashville. Infielder Oliver Dunn was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. The moves were relayed on X by Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.

Hicklen, 28, signed with Milwaukee in the offseason in a textbook case of nominative determinism. Since signing that deal, he has been having a great year in Triple-A. In 72 games for the Sounds, he has been struck out at a high rate of 26.5% but has also drawn walks 13.1% of the time and hit 19 home runs. That’s led to a .270/.383/.571 slash line and 139 wRC+, indicating he’s been 39% better than the league average hitter. He’s also stolen 26 bases in 30 tries while lining up at all three outfield spots.

When a player is selected to a 40-man roster but then immediately optioned, it’s usually a sign that his contract contains some kind of opt-out provision. Per McCalvy on X, Hicklen did indeed have a such a clause in his deal. The Brewers aren’t going to bring him up to the majors but have given him a roster spot because they didn’t want him to get away after that strong performance in the first few months of the 2024 season.

It will be difficult for him to crack the outfield at the big league level, as Milwaukee has a fairly crowded group of guys competing for playing time on the grass. As of right now, Christian Yelich is serving as the designated hitter fairly regularly but also with some outfield time mixed in there. Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Jackson Chourio and Blake Perkins are splitting the rest of the time out there. With those five guys on the active roster, Joey Wiemer has been on optional assignment for much of the year. The club toyed with using Frelick at third base earlier this year but Joey Ortiz has firmly taken over that spot.

Hicklen has a full slate of options and can be kept around as depth for quite a while, if the Brewers keep him on the 40-man. Speculatively speaking, it’s also possible that the club’s relative strength in the outfield could be used to address their need for pitching, which could perhaps change the outfield picture in the coming weeks.

Whenever Hicklen is back up in the majors, he can add to a track record that currently consists of just six games with the Royals in 2022. He only got four plate appearances in that time and is still looking for his first major league hit, as he struck out in all four of those trips to the plate. He’s generally hit well in the minors, with a slash of .244/.348/.469 and 113 wRC+ from 2021 to 2023 and has been in even better form this year.

As for Dunn, he was placed on the 10-day injured list on June 19 due to a back strain. He’s now ineligible to return until 60 days from that date, which would be in the middle of August. On June 29, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed on X that Dunn was expected to miss more than a month due to a disc issue in his back.

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 Promote Chris Roller For Major League Debut

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The Brewers announced that they have recalled outfielder Chris Roller from Triple-A Nashville. He will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Infielder Oliver Dunn was optioned to Nashville in a corresponding move. Prior to the official announcement, Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed that Dunn didn’t have a locker in the Brewers’ clubhouse.

Roller, now 27, was acquired from the Guardians in a cash deal in August. The Brewers then added him to their 40-man roster in October to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency. A 30th-round pick of the Dodgers back in 2017, Roller had gone to the Guardians in the Triple-A portion of the 2020 Rule 5 draft.

He’s never really been a prospect of note but was in good form last year. In 92 games with Triple-A Columbus, he hit 12 home runs and drew walks in 16.8% of his plate appearances. That led to a .222/.373/.412 batting line and 102 wRC+. He also stole 13 bases while playing all three outfield slots. After the trade, he got into 16 more Triple-A games with Nashville and hit .364/.493/.618 while swiping another six bags. Here in 2024, he got out to a slow start and landed on the minor league injured list. He was only recently reinstated, getting into just five games since coming off the IL.

Though he hasn’t launched out of the gates this year, the Brewers may have called him up for his right-handed bat. Between the two Triple-A clubs he played for last year, he hit .228/.388/.411 against righties but .296/.411/.546 against lefties.

Jake Bauers has played first base regularly against right-handed opponents but has largely been shielded from lefties. Rhys Hoskins had been moving from designated hitter to first base with lefties on the mound but he’s now on the injured list with a hamstring strain. Brice Turang has also been shielded from a few lefties, with Joey Ortiz, Owen Miller and Andruw Monasterio helping to cover second base.

There’s a few lefties in the outfield mix as well, with Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick both hitting from that side. Blake Perkins is a switch-hitter but he’s been better against southpaws in his career thus far.

By swapping out Dunn’s left-handed bat for Roller, the Brewers will give manager Pat Murphy another option for playing the matchups while Hoskins is out of action, while Roller will get a chance to play in a big league game for the first time.

Brewers Acquire Oliver Dunn From Phillies

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The Brewers have acquired infielder Oliver Dunn from the Phillies, per an announcement from the latter club. Dunn has been added to Milwaukee’s 40-man roster, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, bringing their count to 37. In exchange, the Phillies receive outfielder Hendry Mendez and infielder Robert Moore. Notably, Dunn was set to be Rule 5 eligible but the other two players were not. Today is the deadline for selecting players to prevent them from being eligible in the Rule 5 draft.

Dunn, 26, was an 11th-round selection of the Yankees in 2019 but went to the Phillies last year. He was the very last pick in the minor league phase of last year’s Rule 5 draft, with the Phils making three more selections after every other team gave up.

He then played 119 Double-A games in the Phillies’ organization in 2023, hitting 21 home runs and stealing 16 bases. He struck out in 27.5% of his plate appearances but also walked 16.2% of the time. His .271/.396/.506 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 148 while playing second base, third base and left field. He then went to the Arizona Fall League and hit .343/.455/.616 in 88 plate appearances there.

Dunn would have been Rule 5 eligible again next month but it seems the Phils didn’t have a spot for him, or perhaps were debating the decision until they were able to work out this deal, nabbing a couple of guys who won’t be Rule 5 eligible until 2025.

Mendez, 20, was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic, getting a bonus of $800K from the Brewers in 2021. Prior to this deal, he was considered the #25 prospect in the Brewers’ system by Baseball America, who note that he has strong approach at the plate but a concerning lack of power. He has nine home runs so far in his 856 minor league plate appearances, including three this past season.

Moore, 22 in March, was just selected 72nd overall in the 2022 draft. The son of executive Dayton Moore, he got into 123 High-A games in 2023 and hit .233/.321/.361 for a wRC+ of 94. He played second base, third base and shortstop. BA has him ranked #20 in the system.

For the Brewers, they’re giving up a couple of long-term prospects coming off underwhelming seasons in order to add a guy who can bolster their infield depth immediately. They are set to have Willy Adames at shortstop, though his name has come up in trade rumors. They also have Andruw Monasterio, Brice Turang, Rowdy Tellez, Abraham Toro, Owen Miller, Jahmai Jones and Vinny Capra as options on the 40-man to cover the infield spots, with Dunn now added into that mix.

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