4 Difficult Roster Decisions The Brewers Front Office Must Make Before The End Of June

3. Promote Sal Frelick and option Blake Perkins to Triple-A

The most difficult part of this decision is deciding how soon they can do it. If it weren't for an unfortunate thumb injury suffered on the same night as Garrett Mitchell's shoulder injury, Sal Frelick would have been up in Milwaukee by now. Instead, the Brewers outfield has been short-staffed since mid-April.

In Frelick's absence, the Brewers had to rely on Blake Perkins, who they signed to a major league deal over the offseason despite his lack of MLB experience. The switch hitting Perkins is hitting just .160/.222/.320 in his 29 PAs in Milwaukee.

Right now, Frelick is down in the Arizona Complex League getting some at-bats under his belt on a rehab assignment before he returns to Triple-A Nashville. According to Craig Counsell, Frelick will then have to get a solid base of at-bats under his belt there and force his way onto the big league roster.

Considering how poorly Perkins has been playing and the pedigree that Frelick has a first round pick and a top prospect, it likely won't be long before Frelick is considered a better option than Perkins.

The difficult part is, what qualifies as "plays for a while" at Triple-A? How long do they wait with Frelick in Triple-A before they call him up to the big league roster? Frelick will give the Brewers a better chance to win than Perkins. They know that. But also they don't want to rush Frelick up, considering this would still be his MLB debut and even with a top prospect pedigree, you don't want to rush him back from an injury and call him up before he's fully ready.