Milwaukee Brewers faithful, rejoice! Pitchers and catchers report to camp in just three weeks, the first spring game is in a month, and Wisconsinites can turn their attentions from the Packers’ sour ending to the hopes of another successful baseball season and third consecutive division crown.
Which players should fans monitor, and who is projected to lead the team in ’25? Lineup projections are here–well, they have been for a while, but the nearer spring training, the closer the roster to its Opening Day shape–and with them, the ability to digest and disagree. Who’s who in Brewtown?
Who Will Man the Field for Next Edition of the Milwaukee Brewers
Here is Fangraphs’ projected lineup, starting rotation, bullpen and bench for the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers.
Lineup
- Jackson Chourio RF: 27 HR 80 RBI 26 STL .270/.327/.469 3.3 WAR
- Christian Yelich DH: 17 HR 65 RBI 22 STL .266/.362/.429 2.5 WAR
- William Contreras C: 24 HR 83 RBI 128 wRC+ .276/.357/.466 5.0 WAR
- Garrett Mitchell CF: 16 HR 60 RBI 20 STL .236/.318/.402 1.7 WAR
- Rhys Hoskins 1B: 27 HR 76 RBI 106 wRC+ .224/.311/.431 0.9 WAR
- Sam Frelick LF: 6 HR 45 RBI 13 STL .263/.330/.373 1.3 WAR
- Brice Turang 2B: 10 HR 58 RBI 37 STL .254/.322/.371 2.5 WAR
- Joey Ortiz ss: 14 HR 69 RBI 13 STL .253/.325/.403 2.3 WAR
- Oliver Dunn 3B: 6 HR 24 RBI 5 STL .210/.399/.360 0.5 WAR
Rotation
- Freddy Peralta 11-10 3.78 ERA 10.4 K/9 3.1 WAR
- Brandon Woodruff 11-9 3.79 ERA 9.6 K/9 2.6 WAR
- Nestor Cortes* 9-9 4.02 ERA 9.1 K/9 1.9 WAR
- Aaron Civale 8-9 4.45 ERA 8.5 K/9 1.5 WAR
- Tobias Myers 8-9 4.48 ERA 8.0 K/9 1.2 WAR
*Cortes switched from projected 5th spot to 3rd on the assumption that Milwaukee did not trade Devin Williams for their 5th best starter.
Closer & Setup Arms
- Trevor Megill Closer 3.41 ERA 28 SV 11.1 K/9 1.1 WAR
- Jared Koenig Setup 3.61 ERA 2 SV 9.1 K/9 0.6 WAR
- Joel Payamps Setup 3.86 ERA 2 SV 8.9 K/9 0.4 WAR
Bench
Eric Haase, Blake Perkins, Caleb Durbin, and Tyler Black are penciled in as reserves. 1B Jake Bauers is not projected to get at bats, but having garnered 300 last season for the Brewers, he could certainly see major league playing time in 2025 despite being signed to a minor league deal–especially if Hoskins gets injured.
Bullpen
Bryan Hudson, Elvis Peguero, DL Hall, Nick Mears, Connor Thomas all feature in pen member projections.
Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, and prospect Jacob Misiorowski are also named as potential contributors.
Reacting to Projections for Chourio, Peralta and Others
If Chourio didn’t build on his superb rookie campaign, Brewers fans would be disappointed. 21 HR, 79 RBI, 22 STL and a .791 OPS, in addition to plus defense and a 3.8 WAR, got him balloted as a ROY-finalist.
In centerfield, Mitchell is promising but somewhat of a question mark given that he has only 322 career at bats. While pitchers could exploit his weaknesses over the course of a full season, his projected .720 OPS seems a bit low compared to his career .805 mark. Milwaukee is counting on him to provide starting-caliber production.
One of the lineup’s biggest questions is whether Hoskins can return to his Phillies form. After missing all of 2023 with a torn ACL, he showed solid pop in his first year as a Brewer (26 HR, .205 isolated power), but hit just .214 with a .303 OBP–both career lows. As he has reached base at a .346 clip over eight MLB seasons, returning to the .245/.330 range would mean a lot for the middle of the lineup.
In the starting rotation, Milwaukee countered the loss of Colin Rea by trading for Cortes, giving them a solid five-man crew led by Peralta. While Fangraphs awards the Brewers ace a projection similar to his excellent 2024 numbers, it would be great to see him reclaim his 2021 peak, when he posted a 2.81 ERA and struck out 195 in 144 1/3 innings.
While Rea supplied dependable innings last season, Cortes is a clear upgrade with high-level potential. Owner of a 3.77 ERA in ’24, just two years ago he held batters to a .189 batting average en route to a 2.44 ERA in 28 Yankees starts.
Avoiding arbitration with closer Megill, via a $1.94 million salary agreement for 2025, was also important. Contract controversy is not what the bullpen needs after sacrificing Williams in the Cortes trade. Between Megill, Peguero, Payamps, Hudson and Koenig, Milwaukee owns a strong reliever core. No one recorded higher than a 3.05 ERA last season.
Hole at the Hot Corner
The positions that stand out most as weak spots in Milwaukee’s lineup are right field (Frelick) and third base (possibly Dunn). With his defense and speed, Frelick carries deceptive value, but ideally, the Brewers could do better than starting a zero-threat bat (2 HR in 2024) in an outfield corner spot. Free agency is ticking along and they haven’t made a move, so fans may have to wait until the trade deadline for a potential upgrade.
As for third base, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter suggests adding free agent Paul DeJong as a cheap, veteran option who can provide power in the latter third of the lineup. If the Brewers don’t do that, they will have to rely on Oliver Dunn, who has crushed in the minors since 2022 but has just 95 career at bats (.221/.282/.316) or prospects Caleb Durbin and Tyler Black. Alternatively, they could allot hot corner starts to Ortiz and slide Turang to shortstop.
Predictably, losing Willy Adames to the Giants in free agency has left a chasm in the infield. Last season, Adames led the team with 32 HR and 112 RBI at a position where that kind of production is not easily replaceable–to say the least.
Other than DeJong, few viable infielders remain in free agency. Alex Bregman offers the most upside (.768 OPS, 4.1 WAR in ’24), but he also wants a long-term contract and high pay. Last season, the Astros paid him $30.5 million. Ha-Seong Kim, who plays stellar defense at all infield positions, is another available free agent; however, offseason shoulder surgery means that he will probably miss Opening Day. Though far more valuable when healthy (15.4 WAR in 540 career games), he is also more expensive than DeJong, earning $7 million in 2024 whereas DeJong made $1.75 million.
Depending on where they are in the standings and how their prospects pan out, it would be nice to see Milwaukee make a move by the projected July 31 deadline.
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