Brewers promote reliever who barely missed out on Opening Day roster to big leagues

Just days before the Milwaukee Brewers kicked off the 2026 regular season with a three-game set against the Chicago White Sox, the Opening Day roster appeared set in stone with right-hander Easton McGee among the team's group of eight relievers.

However, on the Tuesday before the Brewers' opening matinee against the White Sox, the front office swung a trade for versatile right-hander Jake Woodford. The acquisition pushed McGee out of the Opening Day bullpen and sent him to Triple-A, where he opened the 2026 campaign with the Nashville Sounds.

Now, just a short two weeks later, McGee's time has come. In need of a fresh arm in their bullpen, the Brewers have recalled the 6'7" McGee from Triple-A and added him to their major league roster ahead of this weekend's series with the Washington Nationals. McGee's promotion is the delayed corresponding roster move for Shane Drohan's demotion to Triple-A, which was announced by the Brewers yesterday afternoon.

Brewers quickly promote right-hander Easton McGee to big-league bullpen after he narrowly missed out on the Opening Day roster

Drohan was never going to be up for very long. The Brewers needed a spot start in Wednesday's series finale against the Boston Red Sox after their rotation got pushed back by a rainout last Friday and called upon the rookie left-hander's services at Fenway Park. The 27-year-old Drohan struggled in his MLB debut, allowing three earned runs in just 2.2 innings of work, but it wasn't difficult to see the potential that the Brewers' offseason acquisition possesses. He will almost certainly be back with the big-league club at some point this season.

As for McGee, who made nine appearances out of the Brewers' bullpen last season, the early season promotion must be a relief after his frustrating start to the 2026 season. After narrowly missing out on his first Opening Day roster, McGee had to wait just two weeks to have his name called by the big-league coaching staff.

I asked manager Pat Murphy about the roster move ahead of Friday night's series opener, and he said, "Happy for him [McGee]...like I told guys in Spring Training, 'you're going to get a shot. If you're in this clubhouse in Spring Training, you're going to get a shot.' Great kid."

Murphy and the Brewers are holding true to their Spring Training motto and the philosophy of a fluid roster picture that has led them to success in recent years. Obviously, that philosophy is to some degree influenced by injuries, of which the Brewers are suffering from several right now, but it also means that players on the 40-man roster who narrowly missed out on the Opening Day roster, like McGee, need to always be ready for their name to be called.

The 28-year-old McGee is hoping for better results at the big-league level than the numbers he produced in four appearances out of the Sounds' bullpen over the last two weeks. McGee surrendered six earned runs in 5.2 innings of work across those four outings, producing an uninspiring 9.53 ERA. However, in his nine appearances in the Brewers' bullpen last year, McGee looked solid with one five-run appearance against, ironically, the Nationals, heavily skewing his 5.52 season ERA.

McGee won't immediately slot into the back-end of Murphy's bullpen, but with the ability to cover multiple innings, he remains a valuable addition to the Brewers' relief corps. Additionally, his underlying metrics from a season ago, highlighted by a stellar 35.1% chase rate and a decent 47.7% groundball rate, suggest that better days are ahead for the towering right-hander.