Brewers Promote Key Prospect As Part Of 2022 September Call Ups

The Milwaukee Brewers have finally reached September, or Craigtember as it’s well known. That means rosters have expanded by two and the organization has made their decisions on who gets those extra roster spots.

Starting this year, there is a maximum amount of pitchers team can have on the roster, capped at 13. In September, it expands to 14. With the max pitchers going up by one and the rosters increasing by two, generally teams will call up one extra pitcher and one extra position player.

The extra bullpen arm the Brewers promoted is Luis Perdomo, who has been up and down all season and has dealt with some injuries. He’s had 10.1 IP under his belt with the big league Brewers this season and the 29 year old has a 1.74 ERA.

The extra position player the Brewers called up is one of the key players the Brewers acquired at the Trade Deadline, outfielder Esteury Ruiz.

The Milwaukee Brewers promoted outfield prospect Esteury Ruiz and reliever Luis Perdomo as their 2022 September call ups.

The Brewers acquired Esteury Ruiz in the Josh Hader trade at the deadline. He had been getting some big league experience with San Diego but the Crew assigned him to Triple-A to start out. That was rather puzzling considering they wanted to acquire other hitters at the Deadline but struck out on all of them and Ruiz was the only hitter they acquired.

Why he wasn’t promoted earlier is a mystery, but the good news is Ruiz has finally arrived. This season, across two organizations, Ruiz is hitting a cool .332/.450/.523 with a .973 OPS, 70 stolen bases, 29 doubles, and 13 homers. His big tool is his speed as shown by his 70 stolen bases. He has gotten on base at a very high clip, makes good contact, and has some pop. If his breakout this year is legit, Ruiz is a potential impact player at the big league level.

He will now get a chance to earn some playing time alongside Garrett Mitchell and Tyrone Taylor in centerfield. Taylor has had his chances all season to secure the starting centerfield job, but it looks like the speedsters in Mitchell and Ruiz will get their chances now. Mitchell has already provided a spark for this team and Ruiz should be able to do the same.

Ruiz’s arrival should also help the sting from the loss of Josh Hader in the clubhouse. He was traded last month and Taylor Rogers was the only big league piece who came back and stuck around past the first 48 hours. Now that he’s up with the club, it feels a bit more like the Hader trade could end up helping the team this year.

It makes for a somewhat crowded outfield picture, one that might see more DH opportunities for guys like Andrew McCutchen and Christian Yelich, and fewer chances for Tyrone Taylor to get into the lineup. Ruiz is a right-handed hitter and could take a bunch of Taylor’s ABs.

Luis Perdomo makes a lot of sense as a bullpen addition, although Milwaukee could’ve gone any number of routes, with Justin Topa and Jake Cousins as viable options as well as Ethan Small.

With two more weapons at Craig Counsell’s disposal, perhaps the Brewers can go on a Craigtember run and push themselves to a fifth straight postseason.