Milwaukee Brewers Non-Tender Fan Favorite First Baseman

In the many years of Milwaukee Brewers baseball, few players have ever embodied what a baseball player in Wisconsin should look like like Daniel Vogelbach has.

The Brewers have had a type when it comes to first basemen in recent years, and Vogelbach fit in perfectly. That quickly led to Vogey becoming a fan favorite in Milwaukee. He arrived in 2020 with no fans in the stands. But his productive bat and fun-loving nature endeared him to the fans watching at home.

When the 2021 season began, Vogelbach became a fan favorite even more so as he took over the starting first base job and played well, before an injury slowed him down.

Vogelbach became a permanent part of Brewers legend in September, when he slugged a walk-off Grand Slam against the Cardinals in probably the top moment of the entire season for Milwaukee.

And now his Brewers tenure comes to an end.

Ahead of the tender deadline on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Brewers non-tendered first baseman Daniel Vogelbach.

With both Vogelbach and Rowdy Tellez arbitration eligible, as well as Keston Hiura in the first base fold, it was pretty clear that the Brewers weren’t going to be able to keep all three of them. Earlier in the day, it was announced that Tellez agreed to a deal to avoid arbitration and return in 2022. That spelled the end for Vogelbach in Milwaukee.

Also in that announcement was the Brewers non-tendering John Curtiss, who struggled after coming to Milwaukee at the Trade Deadline and then underwent Tommy John Surgery.

The soon to be 29 year old Vogelbach will immediately become a free agent. With a lockout starting soon, he’s going to have some time to figure out where he wants to play next.

The Brewers gave Vogelbach an opportunity to take the first base job, and while he held onto it for a bit, he wasn’t able to keep it. He finished the 2021 season with a .219/.349/.381 slash line with nine homers and 24 RBIs in 215 at bats.

He would’ve been the third string first baseman in 2022 and there simply aren’t enough roster spots to keep a third string first baseman.

With a large arbitration class, Vogelbach was the only non-tender of note, with Curtiss only slated to earn league minimum in 2022 while on the IL all year. The 40 man roster currently stands at 36.

A lockout is pending, and there may not be any more additions to the 40 man before it happens. But this is the last roster move deadline before the lockout happens.