Brewers: 26 Man Opening Day Roster Prediction 2.0

We’re about halfway through the games in spring training, which means that Opening Day is just about two weeks away. What could the Brewers roster look like on that day?

Our initial projection for the Opening Day roster is guaranteed to be wrong as it was written before the Brewers signed free agent outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. But it appears now that the offseason acquisitions are finished for Brewers president David Stearns, so perhaps this has a chance of being completely correct.

There are some jobs to be won still, and some surprising candidates have emerged as legit contenders for these jobs. Let’s try to build the Crew’s 26 man roster for Opening Day 2021.

Brewers Projected Opening Day Catchers (2)

Omar Narvaez, Manny Pina

Other Candidates: Luke Maile, Jacob Nottingham

The depth chart hasn’t changed much when it comes to the catching corps. Mario Feliciano was optioned to Triple-A and sent to Minor League camp, so he’s officially out of the running now. Luke Maile has been fine in his spring training performances, but nothing eye-opening enough to challenge for an Opening Day spot.

Meanwhile, Jacob Nottingham has yet to get into game action after offseason thumb surgery. The Brewers are taking it slow with Nottingham, perhaps in an effort to delay a decision on his roster status. Nottingham is out of minor league options this year and thus would be subject to waivers if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster.

If they slow play his recovery long enough, he could start the year on the big league injured list, and then when he’s ready to come off, they can sneak him through outright waivers in mid-April as every other team would have their catcher situation settled by then and they would be unlikely to put in a claim.

Barring an injury to either Narvaez or Pina, they’re going to be the two on the Brewers Opening Day roster.