The offseason is just about over as the Brewers are back in action on Thursday in New York
The long offseason is officially over, as regular season baseball begins later today when the Brewers battle the Yankees in New York. After three games in The Big Apple, the Brewers will head to Milwaukee for their home opener on Monday as baseball returns to American Family Field. If you’ve been tuned out during the winter, we’re here to get you up to speed on the Brewers’ offseason moves, the roster, the farm system, and the coaching staff. But first, let’s start with a look at what’s happened to American Family Field and the Brewers’ broadcasting situation.
American Family Field
The biggest change at the stadium this season is MLB’s new “Go-Ahead Entry” system. Available at the Home Plate West and Third Base Gates, the system allows fans with a photo in the MLB Ballpark app to enter hands-free at the stadium. Per MLB, Go-Ahead Entry technology uses a camera that authenticates fans, automatically scanning tickets once identified. Fans must be 18 or older to use the system. More information can be found here.
Another major addition is a new indoor food truck park, named “The Alley,” located on the left-field loge level. Vendors at The Alley include Chuchos Red Tacos, Hidden Kitchen MKE, Nadi Plates, and Baron’s Gelato Cart. Chuchos will serve tacos, burritos, quesitacos, and churros; Hidden MKE will serve a grilled ham and cheese, a Cubano sandwich, Reuben rolls, and a steak sandwich; Nadi Plates serves parmesan truffle fries, pepperoni and sausage calzones, and a hot Italian beef sandwich; and Baron’s Gelato Cart serves, well, gelato.
The 3rd Street Market Hall Annex, which debuted on the right-field loge level last season, also adds Creta Mediterranean Grill as a new vendor, joining Anytime Arepa, Kawa Ramen & Sushi, Kompali Taqueria, and Smokin’ Jack’s BBQ. J. Leinenkugel’s Barrel Yard in left field also boasts new food and beverage offerings.
Other changes around the stadium include a refreshed home plate team store that features a “Customization Corner” for personalized jerseys; a move for the rideshare lot, which is now located in the Molitor Lot on the other side of I-94, “exchanging a longer walk for increased capacity and quicker entry/exit for vehicles;” and a block of approximately 1,600 seats in the right-field terrace level being retired from service as the Brewers expand the front office. Per Adam McCalvy, when complete, the Brewers expect to install a new video board at that location.
Lastly, the Brewers are offering another loaded lineup of promotions, giveaways, and theme nights. For more information on those, check out our article here.
FanDuel Sports Network & Broadcasting
After being in limbo for much of the offseason, the Brewers announced a new partnership with FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports) for the 2025 season, ensuring another year of Brewers’ baseball over cable TV. All 162 games will be televised and available on the radio in 2025, with the entire lineup of TV broadcasters returning. That includes Brian Anderson, Jeff Levering, Bill Schroeder, Tim Dillard, Vinny Rottino, Sophia Minnaert, Craig Coshun, and Stephen Watson.
With the death of Bob Uecker, the radio broadcast team now consists of Levering, Lane Grindle, and Josh Maurer, who all return from 2024. For more details on the broadcast situation, click here.
Offseason Moves
The Brewers’ offseason was quiet when compared with other teams around the league, but there are still quite a few changes. Departures include Wade Miley (signed with Reds), Willy Adames (signed with Giants), Joe Ross (signed with Phillies), Owen Miller (traded to Rockies), Gary Sánchez (signed with Orioles), Devin Williams (traded to Yankees), Bryse Wilson (signed with White Sox), Colin Rea (signed with Cubs), Frankie Montas (signed with Mets), and Hoby Milner (signed with Rangers).
In the additions department, the Brewers added Connor Thomas (Rule 5 pick from Cardinals), Grant Wolfram (signed), Nestor Cortes (trade with Yankees), Caleb Durbin (trade with Yankees), Grant Anderson (trade with Rangers), Jorge Alfaro (minor league contract), Elvin Rodriguez (signed), Tyler Alexander (signed), and Jose Quintana (signed).
The Crew additionally signed Manuel Margot and Mark Canha to minor league deals, though Margot was later released and signed with the Tigers, while Canha was traded to the Royals for cash or a player to be named later.
Roster
The Brewers haven’t officially announced their roster just yet, but with the announcement that Chad Patrick would make the Opening Day roster, this is what it’s unofficially looking like heading into the regular season.
Catchers (2): William Contreras & Eric Haase
Infielders (6): Jake Bauers, Vinny Capra, Oliver Dunn, Rhys Hoskins, Joey Ortiz, & Brice Turang
Outfielders (5): Jackson Chourio, Isaac Collins, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, & Christian Yelich
Starting Pitchers (3): Aaron Civale, Nestor Cortes, & Freddy Peralta
Relief Pitchers (10): Tyler Alexander, Bryan Hudson, Jared Koenig, Trevor Megill, Chad Patrick, Joel Payamps, Elvis Peguero, Elvin Rodriguez, Connor Thomas, & Abner Uribe
Injured List (7): Aaron Ashby, Robert Gasser, DL Hall, Nick Mears, Tobias Myers, Blake Perkins, & Brandon Woodruff
Farm System
The Brewers’ farm system is ranked seventh overall by MLB Pipeline. Baseball America has them ninth, while FanGraphs has them all the way down at 17.
That being said, Milwaukee’s farm system is generally considered one of the best in the majors. The Brewers have four top prospects who appear on basically every list of MLB’s top 100 prospects: Jesus Made, Jeferson Quero, Cooper Pratt, and Jacob Misiorowski. A brief profile on each prospect can be found here.
Quero (the Brewers’ No. 1 overall prospect) and Misiorowski (No. 4) will start the season in Triple-A, but both should be ready for the big leagues before long. Quero is still rehabbing a torn labrum suffered after his first plate appearance of the 2024 season. He was expected to make his debut with Milwaukee sometime last season, but the injury pushed back his timeline. Quero is a defensive stud whose bat was starting to come around quite nicely in his last full season in 2023.
Misiorowski didn’t have quite the spring that some might have hoped for, ending spring training with a 9.39 ERA. A couple of his outings were pretty good, while a couple were pretty bad. There’s some question as to whether Misiorowski’s eventual home will be in the rotation or the bullpen. His biggest issue right now is his command — if he can control his pitches consistently, he could eventually stick in the rotation.
Made (No. 2) and Pratt (No. 3), both shortstop prospects, are still years away. Pratt did have a great spring training, hitting .381, which indicates he could be ready sooner than expected. This year is probably still too soon, but he could break camp with Milwaukee next year if he performs well in the upper levels of the minors. Made is still 17, but he arguably has the highest ceiling out of any Brewers’ prospect. He has all the tools, he just needs to put them together against better competition.
Infielder Tyler Black (No. 6), who has graced Milwaukee’s top prospect lists over the last few years, will also start the season in Triple-A. He’s played well in the minors throughout his career but has performed significantly worse upon getting the call to the bigs. Black hit .204 in 57 plate appearances with Milwaukee last year and didn’t have a great spring training.
Patience might be wearing thin at this point for the 24-year-old Black, especially considering the glut of corner infield options that Milwaukee has in the lower levels of its farm system. We’ll probably see him in the bigs at some point this season, especially if one of Bauers or Hoskins goes down. The same goes for Mike Boeve (No. 5), another corner infield prospect known for his contact abilities. Boeve is currently at Double-A, but a strong season could very well lead to a September call-up.
Other top prospects you could end up seeing on the Brewers this season are pitchers Robert Gasser (No. 12), Logan Henderson (No. 13), and Craig Yoho (No. 19). Gasser underwent Tommy John surgery last summer — he should be ready for minor league action by August, but it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll make it back to Milwaukee this season.
Henderson, a former fourth-round pick, might start the season with the Brewers because of the myriad injuries to the Brewers’ starting rotation. He has a shot to be the fifth starter out of the gate, although manager Pat Murphy has yet to announce anything officially. Yoho, a reliever, is a converted shortstop and one of my favorite Brewers’ prospects. He’ll most likely be coming out of the bullpen for Milwaukee by the time the summer rolls around. You can read more about him here.
Relief pitcher Sam McWilliams, infielder Caleb Durbin (part of the Yankees’ package for Devin Williams), and 1B/DH Ernesto Martinez Jr. are all lesser-heralded prospects that could also realistically make an impact for Milwaukee in 2025.
Further coverage of the Brewers’ minor league system, including prospect updates and analysis from the staff here at Brew Crew Ball, can be found here.
Coaching Staff
The majority of Milwaukee’s coaching staff is returning in 2025, with Pat Murphy still at the helm after winning NL Manager of the Year in 2024. Rickie Weeks Jr. remains the associate manager, with Néstor Corredor (field coordinator), Connor Dawson (hitting coach), Matt Erickson (infield coach), Chris Hook (pitching coach), Jim Henderson (assistant pitching and strategy coach), Charlie Greene (bullpen coach), Daniel de Mondesert (assistant coach), and Jason Lane (third base coach) also returning.
The key departures on the coaching front are first base coach Quintin Berry, who left to join Craig Counsell with the Cubs; Ozzie Timmons, who served as a hitting coach alongside Dawson; and Walker McKinven, who served as a run-prevention coordinator but took the bench coach job with Will Venable as manager for the White Sox. To replace Timmons, the Brewers brought in Al LeBoeuf as lead hitting coach and Eric Theisen as an additional hitting coach, giving the Brewers three hitting coaches in total. Julio Borbón replaces Berry as the first base coach.
Bullpen catchers Christian Correa (second season) and Adam Weisenburger (fifth season) also return.
Season Outlook
Depending on who you ask, you could get a very different outlook on the 2025 season for the Milwaukee Brewers. They didn’t do much this offseason besides the loss of Williams and Adames, but then again, neither did most of their competition in the NL Central. The Cubs and Reds made the biggest moves, trading for Kyle Tucker and hiring Terry Francona as manager, respectively, but we’ll see just how much that moves the needle for those clubs.
Coming off a 93-win season after most picked the Cubs to win the division, I’d say the Brewers are just fine with being doubted. We’ll see what the season turns into, but another playoff appearance very well could be in the cards.