2 Brewers who could be surprising additions to the team's postseason roster

Just six games remain in the regular season for the Milwaukee Brewers, champions of the NL Central for the third straight season. While the Brewers still have a lot to play for in the final week of the season, as they have not yet locked up the top seed in the National League, they do know when and where their first playoff game will be.

Since the Brewers secured a first-round bye the second that they officially clinched the NL Central division title, the team will have five days off in between their final game of the regular season and their first game of the postseason. They wrap up the 162-game marathon on Sunday, September 26 with what could be a must-win game for the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field, and whether they are the one or two seed in the NL, the Crew will play their first playoff game on Saturday, October 4 at their home ballpark.

With the postseason just around the corner, the Brewers have several roster decisions to make before they embark on what is hopefully a deep playoff run. While there are some outstanding injuries that still have unclear timelines, most notably to starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff, which will certainly impact who the Brewers elect to carry on their 26-man postseason roster, there are also some players currently in Triple-A that could factor into Milwaukee's postseason plans.

The following two players might not be at the front of Brewers fans’ minds when they think about who will be in the dugout in October, but each of them has a case for Milwaukee's postseason roster.

1. OF Brandon Lockridge

When playoff baseball rolls around, the roster size shrinks back down to 26, two less than the 28-man rosters that teams are allowed during the month of September. The main restriction on the postseason roster is that teams aren't allowed to carry more than 13 pitchers. However, especially in a five-game set, teams elect to carry just 12 or sometimes even 11 pitchers, opting for extra bats on their bench rather than extra arms in the bullpen.

As such, teams will generally have a position player on their bench whose sole purpose is to pinch run, and perhaps enter the game as a defensive replacement in the later innings if their glove is also strong. Players like Billy Hamilton, who just joined the Chicago Cubs' organization right before the deadline to be postseason eligible, and Terrance Gore, who is a 2x World Series champion despite playing a total of 112 games throughout his eight-year career, are often added to contenders' playoff rosters simply to pinch run in an important situation.

The Brewers have plenty of speed throughout their organization, but the fastest of the bunch, with a sprint speed in the 99th percentile, is 2025 trade deadline acquisition Brandon Lockridge. Lockridge, who the Brewers acquired from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Nestor Cortes and prospect Jorge Quintana at this year's trade deadline, logged 20 games with the Brewers in August while fellow outfielder Jackson Chourio was on the injured list.

Despite swiping just two bags during his brief stint with the Crew this year, Lockridge has shown an elite ability to steal bases throughout his career in the minor leagues. In 196 minor league games between 2023 and 2024, Lockridge stole 86 bases and was caught just 11 times. Not only is that a 162-game pace of 71 stolen bases, but it's also a success rate of nearly 87%.

Lockridge is also an excellent defender in the outfield. In just 67 games played this season, Lockridge has collected 5 Outs Above Average (OAA), which, for reference, is the same amount of OAA that Isaac Collins, who MLB.com just predicted to be a Gold Glove Award winner in 2025, has collected in left field this season.

Should Lockridge be included on the postseason roster, don't expect him to start any games or even get more than a handful of at-bats, if that. However, his value as a pinch runner and a defensive replacement late in games is too great to pass up, especially if the Brewers elect to carry 14 or even 15 position players on their playoff roster.

2. RHP Craig Yoho

The Brewers have some decisions to make when it comes to their postseason pitching staff, that much is obvious. However, many of those decisions will be determined by the availability of some of their key pieces. As things currently stand, Woodruff, José Quintana, DL Hall, and Trevor Megill are all question marks to return from their respective injuries before the postseason begins. Certainly, if all of them are healthy for the Brewers’ first postseason series, which begins on October 4, the postseason roster will look much different than if only some or none of them are ready to return.

If the Brewers do need to fill a bullpen spot in October, consideration must be given to rookie reliever Craig Yoho. The 25-year-old right-hander, who possesses one of the best changeups in all of baseball, is currently pitching out of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds' bullpen, but has been up with the big-league club at various points throughout the season.

While Yoho's big-league tenure is off to a shaky start, his minor league track record is undeniable. After posting a 0.94 ERA in 48 appearances across three minor league levels a season ago, Yoho has ironically posted the exact same earned run average through 43 appearances out of the Sounds' bullpen this season. Back-to-back seasons with a sub-1.00 ERA suggest that Yoho is more than ready for the big leagues, but he has yet to replicate that success in his brief time at the major league level.

However, during his most recent big league outing, which came back on September 7, Yoho displayed the command that was missing from his repertoire during his first few stints in the Brewers' bullpen. The result was a dominant two-strikeout inning in which seven of the ten pitches that Yoho threw were strikes. The outing reminded Brewers fans of just how dominant Yoho can be when everything is clicking. His elite changeup makes big-league hitters look silly, and so long as he can locate it in the zone, along with his four-seamer, it's easy to see Yoho becoming an elite back-end reliever in the near future.

It's certainly a risk, asking Yoho to cover a postseason inning when his track record in the big leagues is dangerously inconsistent, but the reward, should Yoho's command hold up, is too great to ignore. While it likely won't be a consideration unless all of the Brewers' four currently injured pitchers are unavailable for the first postseason series, Craig Yoho at least deserves consideration for the playoff roster.