Brewers news: Patrick and Megill debuts, Jett Williams injury, World Baseball Classic

Spring Training is in full swing for the Milwaukee Brewers; the calendar has officially flipped to March, the World Baseball Classic is on the horizon, and less than four weeks remain before the Crew will take on the Chicago White Sox at American Family Field on Opening Day.

Though a full week of Cactus League games is in the books for the Brewers, many of the Crew's major league arms have yet to make their 2026 Spring Training debuts. The delay is not brought on by injuries -- as is often the case at the beginning of Spring Training -- but rather is an intentional strategy from Pat Murphy and the Brewers' coaching staff. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reported from a recent interview with Murphy that Milwaukee's skipper is being cautious with his major league arms because of the team's deep postseason run in 2025.

The Brewers' 2025 campaign effectively extended a month longer than most teams' seasons, which no doubt takes a toll on the arms that got Milwaukee within one step of the World Series. While the Brewers' slow build-up of their pitchers is a wise move from a Milwaukee team that experienced a great deal of injuries at the start of the 2025 season, as week two of Cactus League games get underway, many familiar names are now making their first in-game appearances of the year.

Chad Patrick and Trevor Megill make their Cactus League debuts in Brewers' Sunday afternoon matchup with Kansas City

Two of those major league pitchers whose debuts the Brewers' have been slow-playing this spring are Chad Patrick and Trevor Megill. Both pitched in the postseason and reached new heights with their innings counts in 2025. However, on Sunday afternoon, both Patrick and Megill made their Cactus League debuts.

Patrick started the game and covered two innings for the Crew against Kansas City. He started his outing with a strikeout of former Brewer Isaac Collins before issuing two consecutive one-out walks. After getting the slugging Jac Caglianone to fly out weakly to left fielder Akil Baddoo, Patrick escaped the jam by inducing a fielder's choice with the slurve that he added to his repertoire in the middle of the 2025 season. Patrick did allow a run in his second inning of work due to a leadoff double that was followed by a wild pitch and an RBI groundout. Overall, Patrick tossed 41 pitches, collected a pair of strikeouts, issued a pair of walks, and surrendered a pair of base hits in his Cactus League debut.

Following Patrick's two-inning outing, Megill came out for the third frame. The towering closer induced a soft pop out from Jonathan India to start his lone inning of work and followed it by striking out the talented Vinnie Pasquantino looking with a fastball on the inner half. Megill walked the next batter, Caglianone, but promptly picked him off at first base.

All in all, it was a pair of encouraging debuts for both Patrick and Megill. Each struggled slightly with their command, but flashed the strikeout stuff that made them forces to be reckoned with in the 2025 postseason.

Brewers' offseason trade acquisition Jett Williams sidelined with minor quad injury

For the most part, the Brewers have been lucky with injuries during the early goings of Spring Training. While other teams have lost key major leaguers to frustrating injuries that are likely to cause them to miss the first few months of the regular season, the Brewers' biggest injury has been to offseason minor league free agent signing Gerson Garabito, who will miss the next four months after undergoing surgery to remedy a broken bone in his foot.

However, as announced by McCalvy earlier today, prospect Jett Williams, whom the Brewers acquired from the New York Mets in the Freddy Peralta blockbuster, is dealing with soreness in his left quad.

As McCalvy notes, the injury popped up during Williams' first-inning triple against the San Diego Padres on Monday. McCalvy also reports that the injury isn't thought to be a serious one, and Williams should be back in Cactus League games shortly. The top prospect faced an uphill battle in regard to making the Brewers' Opening Day roster, and while the injury doesn't help, Williams should have plenty of opportunities over the next two weeks with Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz heading to the World Baseball Classic.

Nine Brewers depart for World Baseball Classic, first games scheduled for Thursday March 5

Prior to the Brewers' contest with the Royals this afternoon, the team's players who have been selected to participate in this year's World Baseball Classic departed to join their respective teams, with games set to start on Thursday of this week. Nine members of the Brewers' 40-man roster are participating in this year's World Baseball Classic -- Carlos Rodriguez (Nicaragua), Abner Uribe (Dominican Republic), Rob Zastryzny (Canada), Ángel Zerpa (Venezuela), William Contreras (Venezuela), Tyler Black (Canada), Joey Ortiz (Mexico), Brice Turang (USA), and Jackson Chourio (Venezuela).

In addition, several Brewers prospects will participate in this year's World Baseball Classic, including 2025 first-round pick Andrew Fischer who will represent Team Italy.

With many of the Brewers' big-league stars away from the team for the World Baseball Classic, expect some prospects and non-roster invitees to see plenty more opportunities in the Cactus Leage in the coming weeks. This afternoon, five top prospects -- Brock Wilken, Jesús Made, Jeferson Quero, Cooper Pratt, and Luis Lara -- all found themselves in Murphy's Cactus League lineup. Before several of those players are reassigned to minor league camp, expect them to receive several more starting opportunities with the big league club.