Brewers sign three players to minor league deals, including a former Top 100 prospect

The Milwaukee Brewers have not made any free agent additions to the 40 man roster at all yet this offseason. Those will be coming, but the Brewers have been active in rounding up non-roster invites to big league camp and just inked three more of them on Monday.

Non-roster invites have an opportunity to impress in big league camp and perhaps earn a roster spot out of camp or be put on the short list for an early season promotion. Jared Koenig was one such player last year that came in on a minors deal, but showed enough to earn an early promotion and he earned a whole lot more after that.

Perhaps one of the three guys the Brewers just signed can be the 2025 version of Jared Koenig.

Brewers sign three players to minor league contracts

Thomas Pannone was the first signing the Brewers announced on Monday. Pannone was an NRI for the Brewers in 2023 and he ended up getting promoted for one game that season before being sent back out. Pannone spent the 2024 season in Triple-A for the Cubs and Yankees systems. Pannone had a 3.54 ERA making 30 starts across those two systems and covered 152.1 IP.

Pannone will come into camp as a depth starting rotation option. With question marks surrounding Brandon Woodruff's health and if DL and Aaron Ashby can stick in the rotation, there should be some opportunity for the 30 year old lefty to force his way into the conversation.

Righty Jon Duplantier was a Top 100 prospect for the Arizona Diamondbacks back in the day. He ranked 73rd on MLB Pipeline's list in 2019 on the strength of his sinking fastball, slider, and athleticism. Injuries have played a large part in Duplantier not being able to reach his ceiling. He's been moved to the bullpen mostly as well due to the durability concerns and command problems.

The Brewers have had success with reclamation projects on the mound and if they can keep Duplantier healthy and make some tweaks, there's a chance they could recapture the ceiling that he once had as a top prospect. He'll spend some time in the minors working on those changes, but a strong spring could show that he'd be ready for the majors again sooner than later. Duplantier hasn't pitched in the big leagues since 2021.

Milwaukee also signed outfielder Jared Oliva to a minors deal. Oliva was a 7th round pick of the Pirates in 2017 and had a couple of short stints in the majors in 2020 and 2021. He's put up some solid seasons in the upper minors the last few years, tallying some big stolen base totals, including 37 bags in 2024. Baseball America rated Oliva as the best defensive outfielder in the Pirates' system in 2019 and 2020.

All three of these players either have history with the Brewers or some high prospect pedigree. Spring training will help determine if any of these three players will be able to force their way into the conversation for a roster spot.