Getting into 2025, the Milwaukee Brewers’ catching corps could also be one of many smallest areas of concern, particularly with William Contreras because the on a regular basis man. Even so, the query of who will get the majority of the backup duties is up for debate.
The Brewers led MLB with 4.1 wins above alternative from the catcher place in 2024, only a tick forward of the Phillies (4.0) and Dodgers (3.9) for the league lead. A lot of that may be attributed to beginning Contreras, who completed the 12 months with 4.9 WAR, although not all of that comes because the catcher (531 of 679 whole plate appearances). Gary Sánchez and Eric Haase rounded out the catchers for 2024, ending with 107 and 63 plate appearances on the place, respectively.
Contreras shall be in his first arbitration 12 months in 2025 and received’t be a free agent till 2028, so he looks as if the one recognized amount of that group heading into the offseason. Haase can also be in his first arbitration 12 months, and his estimated wage for 2025 is $1.4 million (per Spotrac), a bounce from his $1 million wage in 2024. Sánchez has a $4 million mutual possibility for 2025, which not often get exercised.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s simply assume Sánchez walks and Haase and the Brewers attain an arbitration settlement. That leaves Milwaukee with two strong catching choices.
Contreras, barring an damage, will probably play ~120 video games at catcher, as he did in 2024, whereas Haase may fill in for the remaining ~40 video games. That’s what most groups would do, however on condition that the Brewers carried three catchers for an excellent chunk of 2024, that might be the case once more in 2025.
In-house, the Brewers have high prospect Jeferson Quero, who missed all of 2024 with a shoulder damage he suffered on opening day with Triple-A Nashville. Quero was anticipated to make the bounce to the bigs sooner or later in 2024, so that very same expectation shall be in play in 2025 if he stays wholesome. Quero can be an improve defensively from Contreras, as he was awarded a MiLB Gold Glove in 2023 with Double-A Biloxi.
In components of 4 seasons within the Brewers’ minor league system, he’s hit .278/.350/.445 with 28 homers, 114 RBIs, 116 runs, and 19 steals throughout 209 video games. Defensively, he’s made 19 errors over 1,596 whole probabilities (.988 fielding share) with 74 caught stealing to 157 steals (32% caught stealing charge).
Former high prospect Francisco Mejía — who hit .274/.348/.428 with 11 homers and 55 RBIs in 90 video games with Nashville this 12 months — can also be an possibility, although he must re-sign as he was on a minor league contract.
Per MLB’s offseason record, different impending catching free brokers embody Kyle Higashioka, Travis d’Arnaud, Danny Jansen, Carson Kelly, Austin Hedges, Elias Díaz, Jacob Stallings, James McCann, and outdated pals Yasmani Grandal, Omar Narváez, and Martín Maldonado (although the latter two each struggled in 2024 and Grandal shall be 36).
As I mentioned on the high, the Brewers are fortunate to have a relentless in Contreras behind the dish. Nonetheless, how Matt Arnold and the entrance workplace view the catching corps coming into this offseason will impression who Contreras shares time with in 2025.
