Yesterday, the Brewers made a pair of signings as they welcomed 1B/DH Luke Voit and OF Tyler Naquin to the organization. Both of these veteran players are on Minor League contracts with invites to Major League camp. Given their experience level, it’s possible that at least one may find themselves on the Brewers opening day roster.
Currently, the Brewers 40-man roster is full. They made room for their most recent Major League signing in Justin Wilson by placing Jason Alexander on the 60 day IL. Wilson is not expected to be ready until July, so once he is placed on the 60 day IL another spot will open up. Depending upon how spring training games go, Luke Voit or Tyler Naquin could potentially take this spot.
Another potential scenario to open up a roster spot would be if the Brewers elect to move on from Keston Hiura prior to the start of opening day. Hiura is out of Minor League options and has not found consistent playing time over the past two seasons. At this point, both Voit and Naquin could be upgrades at the plate.
In my updated projected Brewers opening day lineup, I selected Voit to make the opening day roster. The 32 year old has hit 20+ home runs in three out of the last four seasons and also has very good statcast metrics in regards to exit velocity, hard hit percentage, and barrel percentage. Not to mention he has been shifted upon 76% of the time over the past two seasons and may benefit from the new shift limitations.
Potential Brewers 2023 Opening Day Lineup.
- Left Field- Christian Yelich
- Shortstop- Willy Adames
- First Base- Rowdy Tellez
- Right Field- Jesse Winker
- Catcher- William Contreras
- Designated Hitter – Luke Voit
- Second Base – Luis Urias
- Third Base- Brian Anderson
- Center Field – Garrett Mitchell
There are a few caveats with this projected lineup for the Brewers.
As mentioned in the beginning of this article, one stipulation here is that Luke Voit would need to be added to the Brewers 40-man and active roster for this lineup to even be possible. A second thing worth mentioning is that Brewers manager Craig Counsell has indicated that Jesse Winker will likely start off as the designated hitter and be eased into playing in the outfield. This could potentially take Voit out of the lineup as the designated hitter, at least to begin with.
It will be interesting to see what happens with both Voit and Naquin. Both veterans will be itching to get back to the Major League level. Minor League contracts often times include an opt out date, so the Brewers may elect to give one of them a shot sooner rather than later.
Follow me on Twitter @tylerkoerth. Follow us @WiSportsHeroics for more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin sports, click here!
