Milwaukee Brewers: Ranking The Possible September Call Ups

The September roster expansion is coming up soon, and there are a number of players the Milwaukee Brewers could call up.

For one final time, active rosters across MLB will expand to the full 40 man, allowing teams to call up a large number of minor leaguers to help with the playoff push. Starting next year, new roster rules will go into effect, with teams having a maximum of only 28 players in September instead of 40. The Milwaukee Brewers intend to fully utilize the 40 man roster while they can.

For most of the season, this Brewers team has had it’s depth tested with various injuries and players not being as productive as they had been in the past i.e. Travis Shaw. With only 25 roster spots, this caused a lot of shuffling between Milwaukee and San Antonio.

With Jeremy Jeffress and Brandon Woodruff on the 10 day IL, there are 13 minor leaguers on the 40 man roster that could get the call. Last year, the Brewers used 37 active players in September to win the division. This year could be similar. Let’s group the players into their likelihood of being called up.

The Obvious Choices

Travis Shaw, Ben Gamel, Freddy Peralta, Jake Faria, Aaron Wilkerson

For whatever reason, Travis Shaw has seen success in Triple-A this year, but has struggled in the big leagues. His last two seasons of high productivity are no fluke. He’s still a good hitter and he’s going to get another chance to earn some at bats, but he’ll be mostly a bench option and pinch hitter.

Ben Gamel was optioned the other day to make room for Cory Spangenberg, but it wasn’t meant to punish Gamel. Trent Grisham had surpassed Gamel for most of the fourth outfielder at-bats, and Gamel’s option gives him a chance to get some every day, regular at-bats in Triple-A so he can get into a groove offensively coming into September. He’s going to be an important bench bat and late game defensive substitution for Milwaukee.

The bullpen always gets supplemented with fresh arms with September roster expansion. It should be no surprise to see some familiar arms down there with Freddy Peralta, Jake Faria, and Aaron Wilkerson.

Call up chances: 95-100%