Barring a miracle, Milwaukee will host a three-game NL Wild Card Series against the Diamondbacks, Mets, or Braves beginning a week from today
Brew Crew Ball’s Paul Dietrich detailed what a postseason pitching staff could look like for the Brewers earlier this month. Now that the Brewers have locked up the NL Central and it’s looking likely that they’ll be the No. 3 seed in the NL field, I’m here to predict how the roster will shape of for Milwaukee’s NL Wild Card Series at American Family Field, which would begin on Tuesday, Oct. 1, a week from today.
The first question is who will the Brewers play? I already detailed how Milwaukee matches up with potential wild card opponents last week, but their opponent could very well impact how the final roster lines up in terms of lefties vs. righties and prioritizing depth. With the Mets, Diamondbacks, and Braves all separated by just two games — the D-backs are currently the No. 3 seed but they’re only 0.5 games behind New York and 1.5 games ahead of Atlanta. Given how hard it is to predict how those three teams will finish the season, I won’t make this roster prediction specific to any of those matchups.
And as a reminder, this is how the 2023 wild card roster shaped up:
- Catchers (2): William Contreras, Victor Caratini
- Infielders (6): Carlos Santana, Brice Turang, Owen Miller, Andruw Monasterio, Josh Donaldson, Willy Adames
- Outfielders (7): Mark Canha, Sal Frelick, Christian Yelich, Tyrone Taylor, Blake Perkins, Joey Wiemer, Jesse Winker
- Starting Pitchers (3): Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, Wade Miley
- Relief Pitchers (8): Devin Williams, Joel Payamps, Abner Uribe, Hoby Milner, Trevor Megill, Elvis Peguero, Bryse Wilson, Colin Rea
Without further ado, here’s my prediction for this season’s wild card roster.
Position Players
As you’ll see above, the Brewers went with 15 position players and 11 pitchers for the short three-game series last season. I’d assume they’ll go with a similar ratio with Pat Murphy at the helm so I’ll keep it as a 15:11 ratio.
The obvious players to make it among the 15 position players are as follows:
- Catchers (1): William Contreras
- Infielders (4): Rhys Hoskins, Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz, Willy Adames
- Outfielders (4): Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Blake Perkins
That leaves us with six spots for the “role players” on the roster. Given that players must be on the 40-man roster or the 60-day IL as of midnight on Aug. 31, that leaves us with:
- Jake Bauers
- Tyler Black
- Vinny Capra
- Eric Haase
- Brewer Hicklen
- Andruw Monasterio
- Jeferson Quero
- Gary Sánchez
- Christian Yelich
It’s safe to immediately eliminate Yelich and Quero, who are both out due to injury. That leaves us with seven guys for six spots. Bauers is a safe bet as a first-base platoon for Hoskins, Haase and Sánchez are both near locks for catching depth, and Monasterio is the leading candidate for infield depth. Between Black, Capra, and Hicklen, I think Black has a leg up over Capra, and Hicklen is the obvious choice as a fifth outfielder, even with his struggles (no MLB hits in nine career at-bats). This is how we’re looking:
- Catchers (3): William Contreras, Eric Haase, Gary Sánchez
- Infielders (7): Rhys Hoskins, Jake Bauers, Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz, Willy Adames, Andruw Monasterio, Tyler Black
- Outfielders (5): Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Blake Perkins, Brewer Hicklen
Pitchers
Paul already made his predictions with his article last week, but I’ll provide an updated look. Once again, we’ll start with the locks.
- Starting Pitchers (2): Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers
- Relief Pitchers (3): Joel Payamps, Trevor Megill, Devin Williams
Here are the rest of the guys on the 40-man roster as of Sept. 1:
- Aaron Ashby
- Aaron Civale
- DL Hall
- Kevin Herget
- Bryan Hudson
- Tyler Jay
- Jared Koenig
- Nick Mears
- Hoby Milner
- Frankie Montas
- Elvis Peguero
- Colin Rea
- Carlos Rodriguez
- Joe Ross
- Abner Uribe
- Bryse Wilson
- Rob Zastryzny
That’s 17 guys for six spots. Much harder than the position players above. I think we can take out Jay, Rodriguez, and Uribe, as well as the injured Mears, Wilson, and Zastryzny. Now we’re at 11 guys for six spots. One of those spots will likely go to either Civale, Montas, or Rea as the third starter (like Paul, I’m leaning toward Montas).
In terms of long-relief options, I think Civale, Hall, Ross, Ashby, and Rea are all strong candidates. I’ll take Ashby and Ross as a lefty and righty option, mostly because Hall and Rea have shown flashes of struggles the last couple weeks, and Civale will probably be saved as a starter for any potential subsequent rounds.
Three spots left between Herget, Hudson, Koenig, Milner, and Peguero. This is tough mostly because Peguero has struggled and the three best names in that list (Hudson, Koenig, and Milner) are all lefties. I’d take two of them (leaning toward Hudson and Koenig) and another righty that isn’t Peguero — either Herget or another long-relief arm like Rea or Civale. I’ll go with Rea for simplicity sake.
This is what that leaves us:
- Starting Pitchers (3): Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers, Frankie Montas
- Relief Pitchers (8): Joel Payamps, Trevor Megill, Devin Williams, Aaron Ashby, Joe Ross, Bryan Hudson, Jared Koenig, Colin Rea
There you have it. Here’s my full roster prediction:
- Catchers (3): William Contreras, Eric Haase, Gary Sánchez
- Infielders (7): Rhys Hoskins, Jake Bauers, Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz, Willy Adames, Andruw Monasterio, Tyler Black
- Outfielders (5): Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Blake Perkins, Brewer Hicklen
- Starting Pitchers (3): Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers, Frankie Montas
- Relief Pitchers (8): Joel Payamps, Trevor Megill, Devin Williams, Aaron Ashby, Joe Ross, Bryan Hudson, Jared Koenig, Colin Rea
Looking at that team, I could see Murphy opting to drop one of the position players for an additional arm, but only time will tell. What would you change?