The Milwaukee Brewers made their first significant camp cuts this spring on Thursday, optioning right-handed starter Logan Henderson and center fielder Blake Perkins to Triple-A Nashville.
First baseman-outfielder Tyler Black was also optioned to Triple-A, with shortstop Cooper Pratt reassigned to Nashville. Perkins’ demotion means that center fielder Brandon Lockridge has likely made the Opening Day roster with Garrett Mitchell. The moves leave 34 players in major-league camp.
That means Henderson is out of the mix for the Opening Day rotation. Henderson reported a sore elbow last week and is scheduled to pitch two or three innings Friday, perhaps against the Arizona Diamondbacks or on the back fields. He has made just two Cactus League appearances thus far, with a 2.25 ERA in four innings, with no walks and one strikeout.
The Brewers still have plenty of competition for the three rotation spots after right-handers Jacob Misiorowski and Chad Patrick, who were previously named to the Opening Day rotation. Right-hander Brandon Woodruff could be in the rotation, but he hasn’t pitched in a game this spring since March 7, when he threw 32 pitches over two innings. Woodruff, still on the mend from the lat injury that sidelined him for the last two weeks of the regular season and the postseason, was scheduled to pitch four innings in Thursday night’s game vs. the Texas Rangers.
That leaves left-handers Kyle Harrison and Robert Gasser, as well as right-hander Brandon Sproat, as rotation candidates. In another possibility, Aaron Ashby, a valuable left-hander out of the Crew’s bullpen, could be in a starting role. Even with Ashby in the rotation, the Brewers could still have at least three lefties out of the ‘pen in Angel Zerpa, Jared Koenig, DL Hall, and Rob Zastryzny in contention.
Perkins’ demotion is surprising only in the fact that he returned from a fractured right shin in spring training to become the primary center fielder in the second half of last season. While defense is his forte, he put up only a .226/.298/.348 slash line last year with three homers, 19 RBIs, and seven stolen bases. He did strike out in 27.5% of his plate appearances. The left-handed hitter had been having a solid spring, with a .290/.343/.323 slash line in 35 plate appearances, with no homers, four RBIs, and one stolen base.
Lockridge, a right-handed hitter, made a nice debut with the Crew after being acquired from the San Diego Padres at the trade deadline in the Nestor Cortes deal. In 20 games, Lockridge had a .261/.308/.370 slash line, no homers, six RBIs, and two steals. The speedy outfielder showed up to camp this year looking to tap more into his power and has produced a .314/.442/.686 slash line with four homers, seven RBIs, and three steals.
Mitchell, a left-handed hitter, has had a slow spring, going just 2-for-25 for a .080/.233/.240 slash line. He has struck out 15 times in those 25 at-bats while drawing five walks. The 2020 first-round draft choice has put up some solid offensive career numbers (.254/.333/.433), but has only played in 113 games over the last three full seasons due to a variety of injuries.