Four questions as the Brewers approach Cactus League play

We are less than a week away from baseball games!

The Brewers begin their Cactus League game against the Guardians on Saturday afternoon. It won’t necessarily be a typical spring training; the World Baseball Classic adds a (fun) twist to the proceedings, and several prominent Brewers will be away from camp for a week or two while representing their national teams.

We’re not exactly looking at a dramatic battle for roster spots either: the signing of Luis Rengifo last week seemingly answered the team’s most interesting question heading into spring training, and similarly, the signing of Gary Sánchez seems to have ended the backup catcher discussion for now.

So who should we keep an eye on? What’s interesting? Where are there still questions that need to be answered?

Who’s in the Opening Day rotation?

With the obvious injury caveat, it seems all but certain that Brandon Woodruff, Quinn Priester and Jacob Misiorowski will be in the Brewers’ starting rotation when they open the season on March 26. But they have a slew of intriguing options for who will fill those last two positions — or even whether they’ll go with some sort of piggyback system, given the array of options they have among starting pitchers.

Milwaukee’s two shiny new starter toys, Kyle Harrison and Brandon Sproat, will clearly be a big part of the rotation, but will either of them pitch right away at the start of the season?

The first question is whether it is worth it for the Brewers to start them in the minors to slow down the draft clocks. In Harrison’s case, this isn’t really a question: he’s already built up more than a year of service time, so holding him back won’t really make a difference. However, Sproat has only thrown 20 2/3 Major League innings, so it seems likely Milwaukee will try to hold him under a full year of service this season to delay free agency by a year.

For this reason alone, I would expect Harrison to be with the team after spring training and Sproat to spend some time at Triple-A Nashville. But it’ll also be worth seeing how both pitchers respond to the adjustments the Brewers’ pitching staff will surely throw at them; Both players still have several options left, so if they think they could both use a little more flavor, they can easily go that route as well.

Another part of the “opening day rotation” question relates to who starts and who relieves. The Brewers have been somewhat coy on that question and have repeatedly said they are open to bringing in several players who have primarily pitched in relief in recent years: DL Hall, Aaron Ashby and Ángel Zerpa. Also, there’s the question of where Chad Patrick is considered most useful: He appears to have the stuff to be a starter, but he came off electric out of the bullpen late last season.

Logan Henderson and Robert Gasser are also involved, and at some point we just line up a bunch of names. Especially if you think Harrison is a done deal for the rotation, we’re essentially looking at four spots that have already been talked about before we get to any of these other guys.

None of these players are particularly affected by the option question; they all have at least one option left. With Ashby and Zerpa, you would assume they are both in the bullpen if they don’t start. Hall is more of a question: the numbers are there, he’s getting older and it’s time for him to stay healthy and prove something.

OK, more like these numbers – if we say Woodruff, Priester, Misiorowski, Harrison, Sproat, Gasser and Henderson are likely to be in the rotation or in the minors, then the Brewers have to fill eight bullpen spots with the following twelve guys:

Applying the option question again, we see that it most heavily impacts one man on the 40-man roster: Rob Zastryzny. He – and maybe infielder Eddys Leonard, but not really – are the only players really in play for a major league spot who are out of minor league options. Now, the Brewers have previously designated Zastryzny for assignment, and he cleared waivers and returned to the team, but that was during the season when rosters weren’t as in flux as they were at the end of spring training. I’m not sure they can sneak him through again if he throws well and looks healthy all spring.

Everyone else has at least one minor league option left, though many of them only have one. Assuming Koenig, Uribe, Megill and Ashby are on the list for the Major League roster (a safe assumption, assuming good health), that leaves four spots for the rest. Patrick, I’d say, has a decent shot at becoming the fifth option in the starting rotation. Zerpa, for whom the Brewers traded two major league players, feels like he’s probably a lock.

Here we will see if the Brewers value flexibility. If they choose to give Zastryzny one of the final spots, it will be another lefty, joining Zerpa, Koenig and Ashby. Putting Hall in the bullpen at that point means more lefties than righties. Is that something Milwaukee is comfortable with?

I’m not making a prediction here, just throwing around some possibilities. But we know the Brewers value flexibility when building their roster, and if they think Zastryzny is a contributor, I’d expect him to make the team, even if it feels like another option might be a little more promising.

Is there anything left to be determined on the player side?

As mentioned above, the additions of Rengifo and Sánchez appear at first glance to leave the Brewers at thirteen position players on the roster, again assuming everyone is healthy (which is usually not the case). Those 13 would be:

Catchers (2): William Contreras, Gary Sánchez
Infielders (6): Andrew Vaughn, Jake Bauers, Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz, David Hamilton, Luis Rengifo
Outfielders (4): Sal Frelick, Jackson Chourio, Blake Perkins, Garrett Mitchell
Designated Hitter (1): Christian Yelich

It is conceivable that the Brewers could decide to have one of Mitchell, Perkins or Hamilton start the year in the minors; all three have minor league options remaining and have less than five years of service time accrued (which would allow them to decline an option). But it’s hard for me to imagine what scenario (again, barring injury) would have to play out for any of these three to give up a roster spot. In Hamilton’s case, there isn’t an obvious player to take the spot, assuming the Brewers plan to start Jett Williams in the minors to both get him more reps at Triple-A and delay his service clock. I think maybe Brandon Lockridge or Akil Baddoo could separate themselves from Perkins and/or Mitchell somehow, but teams put very little stock in spring training performance, so unless there was something that looked really broken, I don’t really see how that could happen.

Regardless, unless someone gets hurt, Lockridge and Baddoo are the only players on the outside looking in who I think have a legitimate shot at breaking camp with the team. Maybe they could find a way to sneak Tyler Black to the majors, but I don’t really see that happening unless at least two of the outfielders above him on the depth chart get hurt. If Yelich has to start the season on the IL for some reason, perhaps there could be a conversation about Black.

Which young players should we check?

There are a lot of interesting players the Brewers will have with them in spring training, and since several regulars will be out for the WBC, we’ll get to see them in action. Obviously we’re all excited to see Jesús Made get some runs against Major League pitchers, but I’m also excited to see if Cooper Pratt, Brock Wilken, and Jett Williams can get the ball on the ball. Luke Adams could hit a few. Luis Lara could make some incredible catches.

On the pitching side, it will be great to sink our teeth into Harrison and Sproat and the other new starter on the 40-man roster, Shane Drohan. Can Coleman Crow build on his excellent season at Double-A Biloxi? Will Sammy Peralta become another success story from nowhere? Can Craig Yoho get his mojo back?

The lead-up to spring training is usually very exciting, and then in the fourth inning of the second game you see nine players you’ve never heard of with numbers from the 70s on their backs, and it can be easy to lose interest. But the Brewers have one of the strongest farm systems in the league, if not the very best, so embrace the guy who wears No. 82 or 66 this spring: They could be a big part of Milwaukee’s future.