Brewers: Not Done Adding Catchers, Crew Trades for Alex Jackson

Hold the phone, Brewers fans. Milwaukee president of baseball operations David Stearns apparently wasn’t satisfied adding one new catcher to the roster on Wednesday.

Earlier today, the Brewers address the hole at the catcher’s position that was created by the shocking 80-game suspension that was announced for Pedro Severino. To do that, they made a trade with the San Diego Padres for 28-year-old Victor Caratini.

The move gave Milwaukee a catcher to pair with 2021 All-Star Omar Narvaez behind the dish. But in plugging one hole with the trade, the Brewers opened up a new, albeit smaller, one at the Triple-A level.

Part of the package that was sent away for Caratini was Brett Sullivan, who was acquired last offseason and had started the season at Triple-A Nashville. With him gone, that left the squad with only Mario Feliciano, the team’s No. 21 prospect at MLB Pipeline, at catcher.

Well, it didn’t take Stearns long to address that need either.

On Wednesday, the Brewers announced a trade to acquire catcher Alex Jackson from the Miami Marlins.

To acquire Alex Jackson, Milwaukee had to part ways with infield prospect Hayden Cantrelle as well as pitching prospect Alexis Ramirez. The move was announced by the club early Wednesday evening.

Alex Jackson is a former 6th overall pick by the Seattle Mariners from the 2014 draft, who traded him to the Atlanta Braves two years later. That was where he had spent the bulk of his career before being traded to the Marlins at last year’s trade deadline in exchange for veteran outfielder Adam Duvall.

The 26-year-old has just 61 games of major league experience, slashing a career .132/.243/.225 with three homers, all with the Marlins. He has struck out in just shy of half of his career MLB plate appearances (47.4%).

Jackson’s numbers are a bit soft on the minor league side as well, as he has sported a career .236/.319/.448 slash line over eight MiLB seasons. He does have a 30.4% success rate in throwing out base stealers in his minor league career, however.

Cantrelle, the infielder the Brewers sent away in the deal, was a 5th round pick by the Crew in the 2020 draft. He slashed .171/.368/.307 across the High-A and Double-A levels in his first full season of professional ball last year. He had a 26.6% strikeout rate, but also a 21.4% walk rate.

Ramirez was an international signee by the Brewers back in 2018. Just 22 years old, he missed the 2021 season due to injury and had yet to make his full season professional debut with the team.

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Now the Brewers are likely to be done addressing their catching depth prior to Opening Day. I guess with Stearns, though, you never know.