Milwaukee Brewers: Is Christian Bethancourt an option when rosters expand?

Rosters to expand in just three days and the Milwaukee Brewers are in possession of an underrated performer in Triple-A. He’s a backstop, he’s raking, and his name is Christian Bethancourt.

Christian Bethancourt was signed to a minor league deal prior to the 2018 season. Few people thought the former top prospect had a shot at making the MLB roster out of camp. But depth is key to running a successful team.

Unfortunately for Bethancourt, Milwaukee Brewers had too many backstops on their roster. Manny Pina was guaranteed to make the Opening Day roster. Stephen Vogt was looking like the favorite for the backup job before a shoulder injury ended his season. We also cannot forget about Jett Bandy and Jacob Nottingham, who have both seen time in the big leagues this year.

Bethancourt’s 2018 season

In 95 games, Bethancourt is slashing .296/.325/.505. He has an .830 OPS to go along with 19 home runs, 20 doubles, and 66 RBIs. It’s entirely possible that Milwaukee could be enticed to give the 26-year-old a shot to help boost the offense but how much of his success will actually transfer over from Triple-A?

Bethancourt made the All-PCL team for the 2018 season because of his strong numbers. Bethancourt was also selected to be the starting catcher for the PCL All Star Team. His numbers have earned him a lot of recognition this season in Colorado Springs.

But how much of this offensive success could be attributed to playing in the high elevation in Colorado Springs?

Could he be called up in September?

The answer is, maybe. There are two scenarios where Bethancourt’s path to Milwaukee gets blocked again. The two scenarios are fairly obvious, being the Milwaukee Brewers decide to go with Jett Bandy or Jacob Nottingham instead.

Neither Bandy nor Bethancourt are on the 40 man roster. So an extra move would need to be made to bring either one up. Nottingham is the only one that is on the 40 man. But Nottingham has been injured lately, and should Milwaukee decide to go with three catchers, Bandy might make more sense to get the call due to the Brewers’ familiarity with him.

In order for Milwaukee to give him a shot, they would need to designate someone off of the 40 man roster and doing that could make this decision a pipe dream.