Brewers' 2026 trade addition could miss out on September call-up due to service time considerations

On September 1, active rosters across Major League Baseball will expand from 26 to 28 players. In all likelihood, the Milwaukee Brewers will use one of those additional spots to activate JoJo Romero, the reliever they acquired at this year’s trade deadline, which will give them the maximum 14 pitchers on their roster. The bigger question, however, is whether or not fellow deadline addition Bo Naylor will join Romero on the big-league squad.

Since joining the Brewers as part of a trade that sent Blake Perkins and Craig Yoho to the Cleveland Guardians, Naylor has made an immediate impact across 14 games with Triple-A. The left-handed-hitting catcher is slashing .283/.353/.550 while recording eight extra-base hits and 17 RBI during that small sample size. Even more impressively, Naylor has driven in at least one run in eight of his 14 games with the organization.

Naylor’s production has clearly caught the attention of manager Pat Murphy. When discussing potential September call-ups, Murphy hinted that the Brewers could carry a third catcher, as reported by Reviewing the Brew's Owen Jonas, among others. Murphy's comments, which also hinted at the possibility of adding a right-handed-hitting outfielder -- almost certainly Brandon Lockridge -- suggest that Naylor is certainly a possibility to join the Brewers' roster during the final month of the season.

However, another consideration has recently emerged that could complicate the decision. The wrinkle could potentially allow the Brewers to gain an extra year of team control over Naylor, similar to how Milwaukee gained an additional year of control over Andrew Vaughn last season.

Service time considerations could hurt Bo Naylor's chances of joining Brewers' big-league club after September roster expansion

When the Brewers acquired Vaughn via trade a year ago, he was already in the minor leagues and remained there after joining the organization until Rhys Hoskins suffered a thumb injury. Due to that prolonged stretch in the minor leagues, Vaughn won't reach the six years of service time required for free agency by season's end, thus remaining under Milwaukee's control for the 2027 season as well.

Naylor is in a different spot in his career, currently sitting at 2.113 years of MLB service time, but the same principle applies. According to Brewers' minor league expert Spencer Michaelis, if Milwaukee calls him up for roughly 12-14 days this year, Naylor could accrue enough service time to leave the Brewers with just three additional years of control. If the team keeps him under that threshold, they would get him for four more years.

Whether service time is a factor in Milwaukee’s decision remains unclear. What is obvious, however, is how well Naylor has been swinging the bat. Combined with his postseason heroics a year ago, when he broke open Game 2 of the Guardians-Tigers Wild Card Series with a three-run home run, there is a strong case for the Brewers to give him an opportunity this season rather than worry about what his roster status might look like three or four years down the road. At the same time, is sacrificing a year of service time worth having third catcher on the squad for the final month of the season? This is the question the Brewers must answer before rosters expand tomorrow morning.

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