Brewers Make Minor Trade With Pirates To Bring Back OF Troy Stokes Jr.

The Milwaukee Brewers announced shortly before the game on Friday a trade that brought back a former Brewers prospect.

In-division trades are pretty rare, but the Brewers and Pirates have made a few over the years. This one doesn’t have an immediate impact on the big league club, but it could provide some impact soon.

Troy Stokes Jr., 25,  was a 4th round pick by the Brewers back in 2014. He worked his way up the system and was added to the 40 man roster, but in the middle of a roster crunch in the outfield, Stokes was put on waivers and the Detroit Tigers claimed him.

Since then he’s bounced over to Pittsburgh, but they sent him off their 40 man roster as well.

The Brewers add some more Triple-A depth in both the outfield and in the bullpen.

Stokes will head to Triple-A along with RHP Jandel Gustave. Gustave, 28, has a 3.60 ERA this year in Triple-A for the Pirates. He last pitched in the big leagues in 2019 with the Giants, posting a 2.96 ERA.

Gustave made his big league debut back in 2016 with the Braves.

He still has a minor league option remaining, which was likely key for the Brewers in their acquisition of him. Gustave throws hard, averaging 96-97 MPH on his fastball, and he also possesses a wicked slider.

Who is Samuel Escudero, the player the Brewers sent back to Pittsburgh in the trade?

In return for two Triple-A players with big league experience, the Brewers sent out 16 year old catcher Samuel Escudero.

Escudero was just signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela this January. There’s not much information on him and he hasn’t played in any official games yet, although he’s been at the Brewers complex in Arizona playing in extended spring training before the Dominican Summer League season began. The DSL will start play in another week or two.

Escudero is a very raw player, considering he’s so young and just recently signed. There’s a lot of development ahead for him and he’s essentially a lottery ticket acquisition for the Pirates.

As of right now, it doesn’t look like the Brewers gave up much. They got back a player in which they’re extremely familiar, who can provide outfield depth and a reliever who throws hard and could provide some added depth in the bullpen.

Dylan Cozens, who was an outfielder in Triple-A, recently retired from baseball to pursue an NFL career. So the Brewers needed another outfielder in Nashville, and Stokes is someone they know that can fill it.

It’s a shrewd move by David Stearns and Matt Arnold. Both the players they received have big league experience and add needed depth at key positions while the cost to get them was not very high.