2 Brewers rookies whose futures have been significantly impacted by recent moves

Two important MLB offseason deadlines arrived last week, and each one produced a significant roster move by the Milwaukee Brewers. First came the deadline for players to accept qualifying offers, at which Brandon Woodruff, Milwaukee's longest-tenured player, accepted the team's $22.025 million offer, rejoining the Brewers rotation for at least another season. Around the league, a record four players accepted qualifying offers, leading many to believe that baseball's potential lockout next season is already impacting decisions this winter.

At the end of last week was the deadline for teams to decide whether or not they were tendering contracts for the following season to all of their eligible players. The deadline often results in several teams cutting ties with talented, but increasingly expensive players, like the Texas Rangers did this year. However, the flip side is that teams will agree to contracts with players for the following season using the possibility of not tendering them a contract as a negotiating tool to reach an agreement. As was the case with Milwaukee's backup first baseman, Jake Bauers, who agreed to a one-year, $2.7 million contract for the 2026 season just hours before the non-tender deadline.

Both moves are bound to help the Brewers in 2026, with Woodruff serving as a strong No. 2 starter to team ace, Freddy Peralta, assuming health for Woody and another season in Milwaukee for Peralta, and Bauers, who caught fire at the end of the season, expected to be a platoon partner for Andrew Vaughn at first base while also seeing some playing time as a corner outfielder. But while the moves give Milwaukee an excellent chance of winning the NL Central for the fourth consecutive year in 2026, they also have a considerable impact on the futures of two prospects who already find themselves on the Brewers' 40-man roster.

2 Brewers rookies whose 2026 playing time was greatly impacted by last weeks roster decisions

Tyler Black

Less than two years ago, Black appeared on the upper half of MLB Pipeline's list of the Top 100 prospects in all of baseball. A former first-round pick out of Wright State, Black expertly navigated the pitcher-friendly Southern League while playing for the Biloxi Shuckers before continuing to hit in Triple-A following a late-season promotion to the Nashville Sounds' roster back in 2023. A strong start in Triple-A in 2024 led the Brewers to promote Black to the big leagues before the calendar flipped to May. His 2024 cup of coffee in MLB was underwhelming, with a .561 OPS in 18 games to prove it.

Then, a hand injury during Spring Training led Black to miss the first few months of the 2025 season, which was expected to come with more playing time at the big league level. In the end, Black appeared in just five games for the Crew in 2025, but there was reason to believe that more playing time was on the horizon. With Rhys Hoskins destined for free agency after the season, and Bauers being a non-tender candidate, some expected Black to form a platoon with Vaughn at first base and get his first extended look at the big leagues.

However, following the Brewers' decision to bring Bauers back on a one-year contract, Black's role on the 2026 roster is far murkier. A second baseman in college, who converted to a corner infielder in the minor leagues, Black's defense has been a large reason for his lack of opportunities at the big league level. He can, however, hold his own at the cold corner, but with Bauers and Vaughn both expected back next season, adding another first baseman to the roster feels redundant. Black may be relegated to the starting first base job in Triple-A to start the season, where he will serve as insurance in case of underperformance or an injury.

For the 25-year-old Black, who has very little left to prove on the offensive side of the ball in the minor leagues, such an assignment would certainly be a disappointment and one that strays from his expected path to a starting role on a major league squad.

Carlos Rodríguez

If there's one thing the Milwaukee Brewers proved during the first two months of the 2025 season, it is that you can never have enough starting pitching depth. Injuries forced the Brewers to turn to several arms who began the season at the bottom of the depth chart, exposing the need to have strong options throughout the organization. One such pitcher who was called upon, for the first time at the end of May, was prospect Carlos Rodríguez, who has twice been named the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

It wasn't Rodríguez's first taste of the big leagues; he made three starts for the Crew in 2024. However, it was an opportunity to prove that he had grown from the pitcher who posted a 7.30 ERA in those three starts during the previous season. Put in the nearly impossible situation of having to pitch on either side of a rain delay, Rodríguez performed admirably, but not well enough to become a mainstay on the big league roster. With the Brewers rotation initially expected to receive a shake-up prior to the 2026 season, Rodríguez was hoping for more opportunities next season, but now it looks as if Milwaukee's 2026 starting staff will bear a striking resemblance to their 2025 group.

With Woody back in a Brewers uniform and the odds of a Peralta blockbuster still far from a sure thing, Rodríguez may enter the 2026 campaign in a similar spot to where he ended the 2025 season: as valuable depth in Triple-A that can also serve as a big league multi-inning reliever. It's almost a certainty, given the high likelihood of injuries to starting pitchers in today's game, that Rodríguez, whose birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, impacts the big league roster at some point in 2026, but those opportunities will be fewer than the now-24-year-old initially expected this offseason.

That said, the offseason is still in its early days, and plenty of roster shuffling will occur before the 2026 campaign begins. Whether it be via a trade to a new organization or trades from the Brewers’ end, it's possible that more big league playing time could open up for both Black and Rodríguez, but as things currently stand, Milwaukee's latest roster moves will have a significant impact on their roles in next season.