3 Brewers with a golden opportunity to prove themselves as teammates depart for WBC

The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is set to begin later this week, and most participants have already left their respective MLB clubs to begin training with their international teams. Such is the case for the nine members of the Milwaukee Brewers' 40-man roster who are participating in this year's WBC. Prior to the Brewers' Sunday afternoon tilt with the Kansas City Royals, Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz, William Contreras, Jackson Chourio, Tyler Black, Abner Uribe, Ángel Zerpa, Rob Zastryzny, and Carlos Rodriguez departed Brewers' camp to join their WBC teams for a few days of practice and exhibition games before pool play starts at the end of the week.

Regardless of whether or not each of their teams makes it out of pool play, these nine Brewers will be away from Spring Training for at least a week and a half. However, MLB Spring Training doesn't simply stop while the WBC is occurring; the players who aren't participating in the international tournament still need to ramp up to the 2026 MLB season. As a result, the absence of the nine players listed above from Brewers camp over the next few weeks inevitably creates opportunities for players that otherwise wouldn't have existed without the presence of the WBC.

Players who may not have seen as much playing time with the big league team, or maybe would have been reassigned to minor league camp at an earlier date, are now bound to earn a few more opportunities to prove themselves in big league Spring Training. Here are three names who could benefit the most from their teammates participating in the WBC.

3 Brewers who should earn more opportunities while their teammates are away participating in the World Baseball Classic

1. INF/OF Jett Williams

Top 100 prospect Jett Williams, who the Brewers acquired in the Freddy Peralta trade with the New York Mets back in January, has been a popular topic when it comes to projecting Milwaukee's 2026 Opening Day roster. Shortly after the Brewers' Caleb Durbin trade with the Boston Red Sox, before the team signed free agent Luis Rengifo to a one-year deal, many thought that Williams could slot in as the Brewers' Opening Day third baseman. It was an aggressive assignment for a couple of reasons -- Williams has never played third base in his professional career, isn't on the 40-man roster, and has played just 40 games in Triple-A -- but at the time the Brewers didn't have many other options.

The presence of Rengifo and utility infielder David Hamilton, who the Brewers acquired in the Durbin deal, makes it rather unlikely that Williams will crack the Opening Day roster, but the talented prospect, who can also man all three outfield spots, is nevertheless expected to be a part of the major league roster at some point in 2026. While Williams' Spring Training has gotten off to a slow start -- the 22-year-old is currently mending a sore left quad -- with both Ortiz and Turang away from the team for the next few weeks, he should have plenty of opportunities to man a middle infield position in the Brewers' upcoming Cactus League games. It's unlikely that those opportunities will change Williams' Opening Day status, but they will serve as a chance for him to prove just how close he is to his MLB debut.

2. C Jeferson Quero

The Brewers were always going to give catching prospect Jeferson Quero plenty of opportunities in Spring Training, seeing as the 23-year-old backstop is on the verge of his MLB debut and entering a season where Milwaukee needs to decide whether or not he can be their catcher of the future. Add the fact that Quero needs to prove he's fully recovered from a shoulder injury that kept him off the field for the 2024 season and the first few months of the 2025 campaign, and there's plenty for the Brewers to figure out with their talented young catcher this spring.

However, with the Brewers signing veteran Gary Sánchez in early February and Reese McGuire on a minor league pact in late January, finding Cactus League playing time for all three and ensuring Contreras has a proper ramp-up to the regular season could have been difficult, especially considering Quero needs plenty of opportunities to prove he's healthy. While Contreras is away with Team Venezuela, the calculus becomes slightly easier, and Quero will have more opportunities to prove that he's ready for big-league action in 2026. Sánchez is still the leading candidate to back up Contreras on Opening Day, but a strong Spring Training performance from Quero that seeps into the regular season could result in an early-season promotion for the top prospect.

3. RHP Peter Strzelecki

Four pitchers on the Brewers' 40-man roster are headed to the 2026 WBC, and three of them are true relievers: Zerpa, Zastryzny, and Uribe. While Spring Training is a time where pitchers' roles don't matter much -- Trevor Megill pitched the third inning in yesterday's game -- the absence of those three relief arms theoretically opens more opportunities for players who otherwise might not have gotten an extended look this spring. Most pitchers on the Brewers' 40-man roster would have seen plenty of innings regardless of whether or not it was a WBC year, but non-roster invitee Peter Strzelecki could be one of the arms who benefits from there being slightly more innings to go around this spring.

Strzelecki, who the Brewers reunited with on a minor league deal in early February, is out to prove that he belongs in a big-league bullpen. The 31-year-old right-hander has made three appearances this spring, two of which were excellent, and the other saw Strzelecki allow two earned runs in one inning of work. Milwaukee doesn't have a ton of right-handed relief arms on their 40-man roster, so there's certainly a path for Strzelecki to be a meaningful part of the Brewers' bullpen this year. It's unlikely that path starts on Opening Day, but with his added opportunities in Spring Training, Strzelecki can prove that he should be one of the first names the Brewers call when injuries inevitably pop up in their bullpen group during the 2026 season.