Key Brewers offseason acquisition finally gets called up to fix roster mistake

With the Milwaukee Brewers coming off a two-city West Coast road trip that saw them visit the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks, MLB schedule makers did not reward the team with an off-day, but rather matched them up with a 2024 playoff team in the Detroit Tigers. After an understandably uninspiring loss against one of the league’s best pitchers, Tarik Skubal, on Monday night, the Brewers bounced back with wins on Tuesday and Wednesday thanks to resurgent performances from two of their veteran leaders, Christian Yelich and Rhys Hoskins. However, despite the rebound, the team is still searching for more production from one position in particular: third base.

Opting for a platoon of Oliver Dunn and Vinny Capra to start the season, the Brewers have received a collective -0.6 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) from their third basemen in the young 2025 season. As the team waits for Dunn to get comfortable with his new torpedo bat in Triple-A Nashville, following his recent demotion, they've decided it's time to switch things up at the hot corner with the promotion of one of their key offseason additions.

According to Brewers' MLB.com beat writer, Adam McCalvy, Caleb Durbin has been promoted to the major league roster.

Brewers' insider announces Caleb Durbin promoted to the majors, set to make MLB debut

When the Brewers acquired Caleb Durbin in December of 2024, he was coming off an impressive display in the Arizona Fall League (AFL) — an offseason league for the game's top prospects. In 24 AFL games, Durbin slugged five home runs, five doubles, and drew 17 walks en route to an impressive slash line of .312/.427/.548. Perhaps most impressively, Durbin swiped 29 bags in those 24 games, breaking the AFL single-season stolen base record.

While his 60-grade run tool is certainly his best asset, Durbin does possess several other attributes that make him an attractive player to Pat Murphy's brand of baseball. In 90 games of minor league ball last season, Durbin posted an above-average out-of-zone swing percentage (O-Swing%) of 28.7% and an impressive 91.3% in-zone contact percentage (Z-Contact%), according to FanGraphs. Translation: he doesn't chase often and makes a lot of contact on pitches in the zone. The combination has led to Durbin posting a higher walk rate than strikeout rate in each of his last three seasons.

Though power will always remain his biggest question mark, Durbin did display an above-average pull-rate (55.3%) and a roughly league-average fly ball-rate (34.6%) in 2024, suggesting that he's making a concerted effort to pull the ball in the air to counteract the lack of raw power that he possesses. Durbin displayed this pull-side power in spring training with a towering home run against the Cincinnati Reds (see video below).

Defensively, Durbin has the ability to play almost anywhere. While he logged the most innings at second base throughout his minor league career, he predominantly played third base in the AFL and has remained at the hot corner in 2025 for the Nashville Sounds. He makes up for his below-average arm strength with impressive range, quick hands, and ridiculous athleticism. In the video below, notice how quickly Durbin is on his feet and throwing the ball to first base after the unbelievable stop that he makes to start the play.

A 14th-round pick out of Washington University in St. Louis, Durbin's success at the professional level is a testament to hard work and resilience, which was once again tested when he missed out on the Brewers’ Opening Day roster. Durbin now finally gets his shot at the big leagues, joining a Brewers team with high expectations and a need for stability at the hot corner.