The Milwaukee Brewers have a crowded outfield situation. It’s no secret that Pat Murphy is going to have a difficult time dispersing playing time between Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, Joey Wiemer, Blake Perkins, and Christian Yelich. One possible scenario, per the request of Murphy, is to have one be able to play the infield.
Milwaukee Brewers first round pick Sal Frelick is learning the infield from Boston Red Sox legend Dustin Pedroia.
Sal Frelick, a Lexington, Massachusetts native who attended Boston College, actually played infield in college. He also grew up watching Dustin Pedroia play and idolized him. Both are similarly undersized when compared to most athletes. Pedroia told Ken Rosenthal, the first to report this news, that he is 5-7. Frelick comes in at 5-10 and 182 pounds.
When did Sal Frelick and Dustin Pedroia train?
In November of 2023 Frelick and Pedroia got together at the Brewers spring-training complex. They worked on infield play, angels, positioning, and preparation. By the time they were finished Pedroia said that, “it’s in his bag if the team needs him to fill an infield spot.”
Sal Frelick says his decision to accept this assignment is about being a “true ballplayer”.
As an outfielder Sal Frelick ranks well above average in his defensive abilities. He could have easily rejected the idea of learning a new position with the Brewers. Rather he said that, “I want to be a baseball player before I’m an outfielder or an infielder. I just want to be a true ballplayer.”
It will be interesting to see if Frelick debuts in the infield during spring training or not. Based on Ken Rosenthal’s reporting it seems likely that he will be in the dirt for some games.
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