Brewers 2024 Opening Day Roster Projection 3.0: Final Bullpen Spots Up For Grabs

Infielders (6) - Rhys Hoskins, Brice Turang, Willy Adames, Sal Frelick, Joey Ortiz, Jake Bauers

Hoskins, Turang, and Adames are all locked in as the starting first baseman, second baseman, and shortstop respectively. As for how the rest of the infield shakes out, we got a lot of answers there with the last round of camp cuts.

Owen Miller, Oliver Dunn, and Vinny Capra were all optioned to Triple-A while Tyler Black was reassigned to minors camp. All four had outside shots of an Opening Day spot and Miller is the most notable name of the group because of his extensive big league time last year and first base availability. Miller's demotion all but ensures that Jake Bauers will make the Opening Day roster since he's out of minor league options and is the only potential backup to Hoskins at first.

That leaves third base and the utility spot left and Sal Frelick and Joey Ortiz I am projecting to earn those spots over the remaining candidate Andruw Monasterio. Frelick is essentially a lock to make this team and I'm listing him in the infield instead of the outfield because of his expected playing time at third. Ortiz can serve as the utility infielder, capable of playing all three positions outside of first base and a strong defensive skillset. Still, Ortiz is going to play a lot more often than your typical utility infielder.

The ceiling is just higher with Ortiz over Monasterio for that final spot. Monasterio is solid defensively and can play a good shortstop, but Ortiz is just better there and the offensive potential is much higher with Ortiz than Monasterio, making him the likely choice for Pat Murphy.

Outfielders (4) - Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer

The outfield group has some competition left but the top four are pretty well defined. Yelich and Chourio are locks with their contracts and Murphy has already stated that Chourio is on the roster. Mitchell is essentially a lock as well. All three will get regular playing time this season and are expected to be big contributors.

The final fourth outfielder spot though is up for grabs but Joey Wiemer has the inside track and I think he'll get it over Blake Perkins. Wiemer has that prospect pedigree and can be a true 30-30 threat at the plate. The power is real, the speed is real, and he's made some adjustments this offseason that should allow him to unlock his full potential.

While the Cactus League numbers haven't shown a big turnaround for Wiemer, his numbers have been better than Blake Perkins', who has struggled hard, and the potential for Perkins to be a threat at the plate isn't very high.

Keeping Wiemer will give the Brewers the ability to rotate with Mitchel in the outfield with Frelick in that mix as well. He brings power potential off the bench as well as speed and excellent defense.