The Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles shook the baseball world earlier this week as former Cy Young award winner Corbin Burnes was traded for DL Hall, Joey Ortiz, and a 2024 Competitive Balance Round-A draft pick. With Hall and Ortiz members of the O’s 40-man roster the Brew Crew had to make a corresponding roster move. Unfortunately a former first round draft selection ended up being the DFA (designated for assignment) casualty.
Milwaukee Brewers 1st round draft pick Ethan Small was DFA’d following the Corbin Burnes trade.
Ethan Small was selected 28th overall by the Brewers in the 2019 MLB Draft. The Mississippi State product had undergone tommy john surgery in college, but played an important role in a very good Bulldogs team. At the time that he was drafted scouts projected him to round out as a mid to back end of the starting rotation arm.
Initially Small progressed through Milwaukee’s system quickly. He got his feet wet in lower minor league levels after being drafted, was a part of the teams development camp in 2020, pitched in Triple-A in 2021, and made his MLB debut in 2022. Command struggles and confidence issues eventually plagued him enough that he was moved into the bullpen.
Why did the Brewers have to DFA Ethan Small?
With the Brewers acquired DL Hall and Joey Ortiz their 40-man roster would have been over the allowed limit. As a result one player had to be removed from the 40-man roster. It did not have to be Ethan Small, but the fact that they chose him over players like Clayton Andrews or J.B. Bukauskas gives you a good idea of where he stands in the organization right now.
What’s next for Ethan Small?
Over the next week the Brewers can either trade Small or see if he passes through waivers unclaimed. If a team is willing to claim him he could be placed in their minor league system off the 40-man roster and hold onto the one minor league option he has left. Should he go unclaimed the Brewers can assign him to the minor leagues and he cannot refuse that assignment because this is his first time being DFA’d and he does not have enough MLB service time to reject it.
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