Milwaukee Brewers: 28-Man Opening Day Roster Prediction 2.0

Last week, we took our first crack at predicting what the 28-man Milwaukee Brewers roster will look like come Opening Day 2022. And just like most years, based on the information at hand, it’s time to revise that prediction.

A few Brewers have caused the “injury ward” to fill up a little bit, and one of those injured players is the cause of one of the changes in our new roster prediction. We also have a dark horse candidate who may have played his way on to the team to start the season.

As a reminder, the 28-man roster expansion that MLB and the players union agreed to comes with no limit as to how many hitters or pitchers a team may carry. That means a roster, especially one led by Brewers manager Craig Counsell, can be built a number of ways. So what will Milwaukee’s look like?

Here is our second shot at predicting the 28-man Milwaukee Brewers roster for Opening Day 2022.

Brewers Projected Opening Day Catchers (2)

Omar Narvaez, Pedro Severino

Other Candidates: Mario Feliciano

There are no changes in the first part of our 28-man Opening Day roster prediction. The lefty, Omar Narvaez, who is in the final year of his contract with the Brewers, and the righty, Pedro Severino, who was signed as a free agent last offseason, will be Milwaukee’s catching duo to start the 2022 season.

Narvaez has continued his slow start in Cactus League play, sitting at 3-for-21 with eight strikeouts through Sunday. Severino, meanwhile, has stayed hot going 10-for 23 with a 1.306 OPS and nine RBIs, which place him second on the Brewers this spring.

Catching prospect Mario Feliciano is only noted as he would likely be the catcher to join the roster if Narvaez or Severino were to become injured between now and Thursday. That would be his only avenue to the Opening Day roster, though, since he and Brett Sullivan, the only other catcher on the 40-man roster, have both already been optioned to Triple-A for the spring.

Brewers Projected Opening Day Starting Rotation (5)

Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Adrian Houser, Eric Lauer

Other Candidates: Aaron Ashby

The starting rotation still projects to be the expected group of Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Adrian Houser, and Eric Lauer. There was just a bit of an injury scare with Lauer, who had to miss a start, but he is back on track to be fine for the beginning of the 2022 season.

There hasn’t been any confirmation one way or the other whether the Brewers will start the season with a six-man rotation, which would potentially add Aaron Ashby to the mix. With 14 straight days of games to start the season, not to mention 24 games in the first 25 days, it has to be an option that’s in play.

We mentioned pitching prospect Ethan Small as an extreme long shot candidate for the starting rotation. We’ll likely see him at some point in 2022, but it won’t be as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day roster.

Brewers Projected Opening Day Bullpen (9)

Josh Hader, Devin Williams, Brad Boxberger, Jake Cousins, Brent Suter, Aaron Ashby, Jose Urena, Trevor Gott, Luis Perdomo

Other Candidates: Jandel Gustave, Miguel Sanchez, J.C. Mejia, Hoby Milner, Angel Perdomo

Our top six of relievers of Josh Hader, Devin Williams, Brad Boxberger, Jake Cousins, Brent Suter, and Ashby is still set. But in our previous roster projection piece, we stated that the final three spots would be among the toughest on the roster to predict and that has definitely held true.

One player from that group that has held up is Trevor Gott. We already went over how his lack of minor league options made him a frontrunner to grab a final bullpen spot. He has been solid enough this spring and, as a result, has already been informed that he will be making the roster.

A surprise addition to the group is free agent pickup Jose Urena. The Brewers signed him to a minor league deal last Friday, then added him to the 40-man roster the next day. Since he also has no minor league options, he is a lock to make the roster as well.

That brings us to the final bullpen spot, and we’re going to go with the surprise pick in Luis Perdomo. We mentioned him last article as a pitcher to keep an eye on. Well, this spring he has given up just a run in 7.1 innings on four hits and no walks. He would have to be added to the 40-man roster, but the Brewers have one open spot there, so no problem in that sense.

The good thing about Perdomo is he has one minor league option left, so he still gives the team some roster flexibility. That will be particularly important after April when the rosters shrink back down to 26.

Don’t completely count out the possibility of the Brewers going with 15 pitchers and 13 hitters to start the season either. In that case, there’s a good chance we see Jandel Gustave or Hoby Milner make the Opening Day roster and Pablo Reyes start down in the minors.

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The Brewers will be taking on the Cubs in just three days for Opening Day of the 2022 season. There’s a good chance that this is the group of players that travel down to Chicago to fill the dugout and bullpen that day.