What will Tyler Black's role be on the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers?

It's been just two short years since Tyler Black shared the company of Jackson Chourio and Jacob Misiorowski atop the MLB Pipeline's list of the top Milwaukee Brewers prospects. Heading into the 2024 campaign, the 33rd overall pick in the 2021 draft was not only a top prospect in the Brewers' farm system, but he earned the coveted title of "Top 100 prospect" by earning a spot on Pipeline's oft-cited list of the top prospects in baseball.

In addition to being a Top 100 prospect in Spring Training two years ago, Black was also on the doorstep of the major leagues. He had an incredible 2023 season split between the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers and the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, posting a .930 OPS with 55 extra-base hits in 123 games. His incredible plate discipline, evidenced by a 15.8% walk rate that he posted that year, and his knack for stealing bases, which he did successfully 55 times in 2023, had Brewers fans excited about what Black could add to the big-league roster.

Before the end of the first month of the 2024 season, Black got his chance to prove himself at the major league level. He was up with the MLB club for just over a week, during which he collected five hits in 22 at-bats. Black would return to the Brewers twice more in 2024, but only for brief stints, never earning a true opportunity to prove his value at the big-league level.

It appeared as if 2025 was going to be Black's year. Heading into Spring Training, Rhys Hoskins projected to be the Brewers' everyday first baseman, but with Jake Bauers on a minor league deal, Black had a real chance to emerge as the left-handed first base option, who could complement the right-handed Hoskins. Unfortunately, in late March, Black fractured his hamate bone and was forced to miss the first six weeks of the season as a result. It took him another month to build up to Triple-A, and Black didn't see a big-league plate appearance until July 22. Paired with the emergence of Andrew Vaughn and Bauers' late-season hot streak, there simply weren't opportunities for Black on the big-league squad last season.

So, where does that leave the former top prospect heading into the 2026 season?

Tyler Black represents the incredible depth that the Brewers currently have on their 40-man roster

Black reminded everyone just how much potential remains in the 25-year-old's profile with an exceptional performance in yesterday's Cactus League matchup with the Athletics. In the Brewers' 10-0 win, Black smacked a two-run homer in the second inning, a three-run single (yes, you read that right) in the third, and an RBI double in the fifth. All in all, Black finished a triple short of the cycle, despite collecting just three at-bats, while driving in six of the Brewers' 10 runs.

After falling out of Brewers' fans' favor in the last two years, while he battled a pair of disappointing seasons and a frustrating hand injury, yesterday's performance, though it was just a Spring Training game, was an important one for Black. Unfortunately, it remains an uphill battle for Black to carve out a role on the 2026 Brewers.

The biggest obstacle standing in Black's path to a productive big-league career is his lack of a clear defensive home. Despite being a second baseman at Wright State and a third baseman throughout his minor league career, it quickly became clear when Black reached the upper levels that his infield defense was shaky. As a result, the Brewers elected to convert him into a first baseman before also discovering that Black is a fine defender in a corner outfield spot.

Here's the issue: the Brewers are already set at both first base and in the outfield. A platoon of Vaughn and Bauers is set to hold things down at the cold corner, while in the outfield the Brewers have options like Garrett Mitchell, Brandon Lockridge, Blake Perkins, and Akil Baddoo to go along with Jackson Chourio and Sal Frelick, who are locked into starting roles.

As the roster currently stands, it's difficult to find a role for Black on the Opening Day roster. That said, should one or two of the names listed above suffer an injury, the Brewers have a strong insurance policy in Black. The fact that Milwaukee has a player like Black, who is filled with potential and has already made his MLB debut, at the lower end of their depth chart shows just how deep the Brewers' 40-man roster is. Ensuring that they have the guys to fill in when injuries inevitably occur, who won't cause the team to miss too many beats, is one of the reasons for the Brewers' sustained stretch of success.

Therefore, while Black might not appear on the Brewers' Opening Day roster unless a devastating string of injuries occurs over the next month, he is almost guaranteed to impact the big-league roster at some point in 2026. Whether it be as a first baseman or a corner outfielder, expect Black to get more big-league exposure this year than he has in each of the last two years.