Bedford's Wiemer could make Milwaukee Brewers roster

PHOENIX – Bedford graduate Joey Wiemer has a chance to make the opening day roster for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Milwaukee has a need in the outfield with Tyrone Taylor hurt and Jesse Winker playing in the field on a part-time basis, Christian Yelich and Garrett Mitchell are the only outfielders outside of Frelick and Wiemer who project to play in the field regularly.

This spring, Frelick is batting .313 in Cactus League play and also excelled for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic. Wiemer is among the team leaders in games played with 16 and has a .682 OPS with two homers.

Both Frelick and Wiemer tore up Class AAA after being promoted to the level last August. Frelick reached base in 38 consecutive games and, overall, had a .365 average and .847 OPS, while Wiemer had a .888 OPS with six homers while cutting down his strikeout rate from 30.2% at Class AA to 19.5%.

Frelick is ranked as Milwaukee's No. 2 prospect and Wiemer is No. 3.

Wiemer has played more innings than anyone for the Brewers this spring.

“He’s playing because he has a chance to be here,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s why he’s playing. Obviously, he’s close. We have uncertainty in the outfield right now and that’s created some opportunities for guys.”

The opening day roster is indeed a possibility for Wiemer, who is hitting .231/.300/.762 with two homers while starting 11 games across all three outfield positions. Wiemer’s 64 innings in the field entering Saturday’s game against the Padres were the most on the Brewers.

“He’s here. He’s here and he’s playing,” Counsell said. “If you’re in the lineups at this point as regularly as he is, you can read into that he’s a candidate, absolutely.”

Teams will say anyone still in the big-league clubhouse at this point of camp has a chance. But considering the injury to Taylor and Garrett Mitchell’s current absence, is it more true now than it was at the beginning of spring that Wiemer has a chance to crack the roster?

“Yes,” Counsell responded.

Milwaukee general manager Matt Arnold also recently had some encouraging words for Wiemer.

"We’ve seen Joey Wiemer get an extended look here in camp and he’s done a really nice job," Arnold said. "We all knew Joey coming in but I think his maturity has shown up, his athleticism continues to show up.

"He keeps hitting the ball hard everywhere.”

It still might be an outside shot for Wiemer to make the team, so what’s the path for him?

The Brewers are already down one outfielder from their expected opening day roster as Taylor recovers from a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right elbow.

A setback to Mitchell, who is on the mend from a hamstring tweak March 9 but says he expects to be back in the lineup early next week as the team handles his injury with caution, is one possibility for Wiemer to make the team. Another top prospect, Frelick, may be more of an apples-to-apples tradeoff for Mitchell, however, as a left-handed hitter whose primary position is center field.

Milwaukee is in need of another right-handed outfield with Taylor on the mend, although it appears that question may be answered by Owen Miller, whose experiment in the outfield has gone positively and the team would be comfortable playing him there in the regular season.

Tyler Naquin was the favorite to start in right field when spring training started, but hit just .150. The non-roster invitee was told Friday that he would not make the team. He would have had to be added to the 40-man roster if the Brewers wanted to keep him ahead of his opt-out next weekend.

Milwaukee still may be hesitant to start Wiemer’s service time clock on opening day.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bedford's Wiemer could make Brewers