How five former Brewers are doing on their new teams

The Milwaukee Brewers of 2022 look a lot like the 2021 version of the club. Nearly the whole pitching staff as well as the vast majority of the everyday starting lineup are the same faces from last season.

Minor contributors to the 2021 Brewers including Derek Fisher, Tim Lopes, Orlando Arcia, Luke Maile, Jacob Nottingham, Manny Pina and Travis Shaw all have found new homes for this season but have not experienced anything in the way of regular playing time at the big league level.

There are, however, five names that we saw on last year’s Milwaukee Brewers roster that have carved out regular playing time on their new clubs. Whether they’re performing well or not remains to be seen.

Let’s take a look at five former Brewers and how they’re doing with their new teams.

Note: stats are current as of the morning of May 11th, 2022.

5. 1B/DH Daniel Vogelbach – Pittsburgh Pirates

Big Dan Vogelbach, best known for his clutch “ultimate grand slam” in a Brewers uniform, got pushed off of the Crew’s roster with Rowdy Tellez in line for more playing time. Tellez and Vogelbach are essentially the same player in that they are both lefty power bats that are both defensively limited to first base. With the universal DH not yet a sure-thing at the time, the Crew elected to non-tender Vogelbach in favor of Tellez.

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Vogelbach to a one-year, $1MM contract in March. The deal contains $400K in incentives and comes with a club option for a second season should he succeed in Pittsburgh.

Serving as the club’s primary cleanup hitter and DH, Vogelbach has 24 appearances under his belt for the Buccos, hitting four home runs and driving in 11 runs, posting a 118 OPS+ as well. He is not in line to see much time against lefties this season (he is hitting just .188 in 19 plate appearances against southpaws so far) but continues to be a huge power threat when he makes contact.