Smith has been nursing a stiff neck for the past few days. He hasn’t played since Friday. The Dodgers can backdate his IL placement for up to three days, so he’ll be down until at least next Wednesday. Roberts downplayed the level of concern.

It has been a relatively slow start to the season for Smith. He’s hitting .249/.338/.382 with six home runs in 201 plate appearances. His plate discipline and batted ball metrics are mostly in line with those of previous seasons, so the Dodgers surely aren’t worried. Smith remains on the short list of the best catchers in the sport even if the slight dip may keep him from a fourth straight All-Star appearance.

Rushing, who is hitting .275/.352/.532 on the season, would be the #1 catcher on most other teams. He’s more than capable of holding the primary job for what should be a short-term absence. Rushing has started four straight around Monday’s off day. The Dodgers don’t have another day off until next Thursday, so they needed to get a healthy catcher up at some point.

That’ll fall to the 31-year-old Robinson, an organizational depth type. He played one game for the Dodgers last September and has had brief MLB stints with the Reds and White Sox. The Dodgers re-signed him on a minor league deal over the offseason and have kept him at Triple-A Oklahoma City. Robinson missed the first month of the season but has come back with a solid .274/.338/.466 start over 20 games. He’s a career .131/.169/.192 hitter at the big league level.

It’s the second time this year the Rox have gotten Thompson through waivers. He was designated for assignment at the end of Spring Training after failing to break camp. Thompson is out of options and can’t be sent down without going through waivers. The Rox selected him back onto the roster when Victor Vodnik went on the injured list in late May.

Thompson only got into five games over his three weeks on the MLB roster. He worked in mop-up relief and allowed 11 runs through 12 innings. Thompson had a solid enough 11:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio, but he allowed 19 hits and tossed three wild pitches. That was his first MLB work in two seasons. Thompson spent last year in Triple-A in the Cubs’ system.

The 31-year-old will likely return to Albuquerque. He has the right to elect free agency but would forfeit his split contract if he does so. Thompson is making $350K while in the minors and is paid at a prorated $1.3MM rate for any time on the big league roster. He presumably won’t walk away from that to pursue a minor league contract elsewhere. He has worked 32 1/3 innings in a swing role for the Isotopes, pitching to a 3.34 ERA despite a subpar 13.6% strikeout rate.

It’s another flier on a left-handed hitting outfielder for the Astros. They added LaMonte Wade Jr. on a big league deal last week, but he almost immediately went on the injured list with a hamstring strain. That moved Joey Loperfido back to the big league level. CJ Alexander and Zach Cole are on the Triple-A roster as lefty-hitting outfielders.

Brooks, 30, is back in affiliated ball after beginning this season in Korea. He signed with the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes on a $700K contract. Brooks didn’t perform as the team hoped, batting .217/.286/.259 over 41 games. KBO teams have a roster limit on foreign-born players, so they’re quick to move on from those who struggle. The Heroes waived him in mid-May to sign Keston Hiura.

A former 17th-round pick, Brooks has played 37 games at the major league level. He debuted with the Giants in 2024 and got some run with the Padres last year. Brooks has hit .136 with one home run and 19 strikeouts in 72 trips. As one would imagine, he has a much better track record against minor league arms. Brooks is a lifetime .279/.382/.472 slash line with nearly equal walk and strikeout rates in nearly 2000 career Triple-A plate appearances.

Pratto had spent the season on a minor league contract with Texas. The Rangers released him just yesterday and he quickly finds a new landing spot. Pratto had spent the first month of the season on the development list, which is a non-injury reserve list for minor league players. That’s typically used when a player is making mechanical adjustments outside of game action.

The 27-year-old Pratto reported to Triple-A Round Rock at the end of April. He appeared in 26 games and hit .237/.287/.473 across 101 plate appearances. Pratto slugged five home runs among 10 extra-base knocks but struck out 33 times while only taking six walks. The swing-and-miss has been an issue throughout his career.

A first-round pick of the Royals in 2017, Pratto hit .216/.295/.364 for Kansas City between 2022-23. He made one appearance as a late-game substitute in 2024 but has otherwise spent the last two and a half years in the minors. The former top prospect has a .226/.327/.430 slash line with a 30% strikeout rate over six Triple-A seasons.

Waguespack, 32, began the season with the Brewers on a minor league deal. Milwaukee granted him his release in early May. After exploring his opportunities for a little over a week, they re-signed him to a new minor league deal.

He has been having a good year on the whole, though with some important notes. He has tossed 21 2/3 innings over 16 Triple-A appearances, allowing 1.66 earned runs per nine. He has received some help from a .238 batting average on balls in play and 73.2% strand rate. His 16.5% walk rate is very high but he has also punched out 36.3% of batters faced. He has 105 2/3 innings of big league experience with the Blue Jays and Rays, posting a 5.11 ERA in that time. He struck out 18.9% of batters faced and gave out walks at a 10.1% clip.

The Tigers have been working through a huge number of pitching injuries this year, with nine arms currently on the big league injured list. Tarik Skubal, Justin Verlander, Casey Mize and Kenley Jansen are all expected back soon, which could lead to some roster shuffling.

As they sort things out in the coming days and weeks, Waguespack can give them some extra depth without taking up a roster spot, unless his minor league deal had some sort of contract provision that will lead to the Tigers adding him to their 40-man. If that is the case, Waguespack is out of options and will need to be added to the active roster.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Tromp, 31, has seen scattered big league playing time over seven seasons. He has stepped to the plate 205 times in 79 games. That includes six games with Baltimore last year. On the whole, he has a .218/.225/.371 line in his career. He has generally received solid grades for his glovework but the light offense has kept him in a depth role. He has exhausted his options over the years, which has led to him bouncing on and off rosters, mostly as an injury replacement.

The Orioles currently have a bit of uncertainty in their catching mix. Adley Rutschman has a left hamstring issue while Samuel Basallo is dealing with a left wrist ailment. Sam Huff was added to the roster recently and has started the three most recent games, including tonight. Rutschman hasn’t appeared in a game since Sunday, when he served as the designated hitter. Basallo hasn’t started since Sunday, though he has made pinch-hit appearances in the past two games.

Tromp will give the O’s some non-roster depth while they navigate those injuries. If Rutschman or Basallo ultimately need a stint on the injured list, or both, Tromp could be added to the roster. If both manage to get healthy in the coming days, Huff is out of options and could end up designated for assignment. Huff was designated for assignment earlier this year and cleared waivers, which allowed the O’s to re-sign him to a new minor league deal after he elected free agency. But there is no guarantee that the same thing would happen again, so there’s sense in having Tromp around as a contingency for various scenarios.

Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images

10:31am: The Angels are set to select the contract of catcher Logan Porter, reports Ari Alexander of 7News. He signed a minor league deal with them five days ago after choosing free agency over an outright assignment with the Giants. Porter hasn’t even suited up for a game with the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate yet, but he’ll jump right to the big leagues after backup catcher Sebastian Rivero exited last night’s game due to an apparent hand injury.

Porter, 30, is joining his third big league team. He has brief experience in the majors with both the Royals and Giants, for whom he’s totaled a combined 47 plate appearances. Porter is just a .184/.326/.289 hitter in that time, but he’s a .244/.359/.389 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons. He’s light on power but has walked at a gaudy 14.4% clip in more than 1200 Triple-A plate appearances.

Porter also gives the Angels a defensively sound backup to starting catcher Logan O’Hoppe. He’s thrown out a roughly average 22% of runners who’ve attempted to steal on him in the minors (33% dating back to last season) and drawn quality framing grades with slightly below-average marks for his blocking abilities, per Baseball Prospectus.

The Angels have already utilized four different catchers in 2026. Porter will be the fifth, joining the quartet of O’Hoppe, Rivero, Travis d’Arnaud and Omar Martinez. He has a full slate of minor league options remaining, so the Angels don’t necessarily need to designate him for assignment when d’Arnaud and/or Rivero get healthy. The Halos will need to open 26-man and 40-man roster spots for Porter, but that should be pretty straightforward. His selection to the majors seems to point to an IL trip for Rivero, and righty Jack Kochanowicz can be shifted to the 60-day IL after undergoing Tommy John surgery this week.

This is the second time this year that Brash has landed on the IL because of his lat. Inflammation in that muscle put him out of action for roughly the first three weeks of May. He came back for a few weeks but has evidently strained the muscle this time. The M’s haven’t yet provided any updates about his expected absence but it seems fair to expect an even longer absence than when he was just dealing with inflammation.

For however long he’s out, it’s an unfortunate blow for the Seattle bullpen. He has been a key setup arm for them throughout his career, with a 3.06 earned run average in 185 1/3 innings. That includes an ERA of 0.54 ERA in 16 2/3 innings around his injuries this year. He wasn’t going to maintain that kind of run prevention all year but his longer track record shows what he is capable of.

Seattle is working with a short bullpen since they are running a six-man rotation right now, leaving them with just seven relievers while most other clubs have eight. The one upside of Brash’s injury is that it allows the M’s to bring up a fresh arm at a time when the relief group is fairly taxed. Andrés Muñoz, Jose A. Ferrer, Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier have all pitched in two of the past three days.

Zulueta, 28, has never pitched for the Mariners in the big leagues. He was acquired from the Reds in January and has been on optional assignment this year. He has thrown 20 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 5.75 ERA. That has come in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but Zulueta hasn’t helped himself by walking 16.3% of batters faced. His 21.4% strikeout rate isn’t awful and his 56.9% ground ball rate is quite good but that poor control is hard to work around in any setting.

That has generally been the issue with Zulueta throughout his career. He has big stuff, with his fastballs both averaging in the upper 90s, but he hasn’t been able to harness it. He now has 203 1/3 Triple-A innings under his belt with a 3.94 ERA and 26.9% strikeout rate but a big 14.3% walk rate. He has only walked 10.9% of batters faced in the majors but in a much smaller sample of 23 2/3 innings.

He is now in DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mariners could take as long as five days to explore trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that. He can still be optioned for the remainder of this year, so perhaps some club with an open roster spot will be intrigued enough to stash him and hope he reins things in a bit more.

He has never been outrighted in his career and has less than three years of service time, meaning he does not have the right to reject an outright assignment. If he is passed through waivers unclaimed in the coming days, the Mariners could keep him as non-roster depth.

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Seabold, 30, began the year with the Jays on a minor league deal. They had planned to have him serve as multi-inning depth piece until his velocity ticked up a bit in camp, which caused them to try him in more of a traditional relief role.

They couldn’t find a spot for him on the Opening Day roster, so he triggered an opt-out and signed with the Tigers. He posted a 3.45 earned run average for Detroit, spending about two months on the roster before getting squeezed into DFA limbo. At that time, the Jays had suffered a number of injuries and had room for Seabold, so they sent minor league pitcher Juanmi Vasquez to the Tigers in a DFA trade.

Seabold has made five appearances for the Jays in the past two weeks, allowing three earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. That gives him an 8.10 ERA in that tiny sample of work. Looking at his season as a whole, he has a 4.26 ERA in 19 innings. His 17.2% strikeout rate is subpar but his 8% walk rate and 42.9% ground ball rate are decent figures.

Ultimately, that’s not enough for him to keep his roster spot. The Jays have been getting healthier of late, with Tommy Nance, Dylan Cease and now Scherzer coming off the IL this week. Seabold is out of options, so he has been pushed into DFA limbo yet again. That can last as long as a week, though the waiver process takes 48 hours. The Jays could take five days to see if Seabold has any trade value but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that.

If Seabold were to clear waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. However, since he has fewer than five years of big league service time, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in exercising that right. His deal with the Tigers in March was a split deal which came with an $800K salary in the majors. The minor league salary on that deal was not publicly reported. Perhaps it’s healthy enough that he would not want to walk away from it and would accept an outright assignment.

The returns of both Cease and Scherzer give the Jays the healthiest rotation they’ve had in months. Their starting group has really been decimated by injuries this year. José Berríos, Cody Ponce and Bowden Francis are done for the year. Cease, Scherzer and Trey Yesavage all spent time on the IL for lesser injuries. Shane Bieber and Lazaro Estrada are currently on the IL. Jake Bloss is on the minor league IL, still working his way back from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Despite all the injuries, the Jays gave up on Eric Lauer earlier in the year, trading him to the Dodgers.

Due to all those issues, the Jays have effectively been running a three-man rotation while Cease and Scherzer have been out, with Yesavage, Kevin Gausman and Patrick Corbin being the three. The Jays have been patching things together around those three, with bullpen games featuring guys like Spencer Miles, Chad Dallas and Simeon Woods Richardson in bulk roles.

Ideally, things stay healthy from here with Cease, Scherzer, Gausman, Yesavage and Corbin in the rotation. Dallas has been optioned to the minors and can be in the Triple-A rotation while Miles and Woods Richardson are still in the big league bullpen. Bieber, Bloss and Estrada are on rehab assignments right now and could be factors in the future. On the position player side, catcher Alejandro Kirk is also rehabbing and could be back with the big league club soon.

The defending American League champions probably hoped to be better than 33-35 at this point in the season but probably don’t feel too bad about how they weathered all those injuries. The weak performance across the A.L. means they are tied for a Wild Card spot with the Rangers, despite their losing record. With the injury situation leveling off, perhaps they can post better results going forward.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Not so long ago, Fitzgerald seemed to be on the verge of a breakout. With the Giants in 2024, he hit 15 home runs in 341 plate appearances and slashed .280/.334/.497 for a wRC+ of 132. Since he has the ability to play any spot on the infield or in the outfield, that was tremendously valuable. There were some yellow flags, since his .380 batting average on balls in play was helping him out a lot and he worked around a 31.7% strikeout rate, but it seemed like he could be a solid utility guy even if the offense backed up a bit.

Last year, even those who were expecting some regression were probably surprised by how far he fell. He finished the year with a .217/.278/.327 line and 72 wRC+, struggling enough to spend most of the second half on optional assignment in the minors. He also didn’t perform in Triple-A, slashing .246/.321/.379 for an 84 wRC+.

The Giants held him on the roster through the offseason but designated him for assignment in late March, just after the 2026 season began. He was traded to the Blue Jays for cash, with that club keeping him in the minors as depth. He hit .150/.150/.200 in a small sample of six Triple-A games before the Jays designated him for assignment and flipped him to the Dodgers in another cash deal.

With the Dodgers, he seemed to bounce back a bit, hitting .293/.400/.598 in 24 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, as mentioned, his progress was interrupted by injury. It’s not publicly known what injury Fitzgerald is dealing with but it has nudged him off the roster regardless. The Dodgers have Tommy Edman on a rehab assignment at the moment and he is currently on the 60-day IL, so perhaps this helps them to clear a spot for Edman’s return.

Regardless of the reason, Fitzgerald is sure to find a landing spot somewhere. Though he wasn’t good in the majors last year, his 2024 showing, his versatility and his recent form since joining the Dodgers are all intriguing. The nature of his injury will determine whether he can help any club in the short term or if he would be more of a long-term play at this point.

Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images

It’s already the second time this year that Acuña’s left hamstring has sent him to the IL. He spent a little over two weeks there from early- to mid-May. He has been back for a few weeks but the injury has flared up again and sent him to the IL once more.

Around the injuries, Acuña has been performing well but not up to his own standards, currently sporting a .251/.373/.421 line. That translates to a 125 wRC+, indicating Acuña has been 25% better than league average on the year, but he has a career wRC+ of 142 and was at 161 last year.

It doesn’t appear the injury is serious but Atlanta can afford to be cautious. They have the best record in baseball at 45-22. They have a nine-game lead over the Phillies in the National League East. Given their strong short-term position, they should be thinking about the long term and making sure Acuña is healthy for October.

They will still have Mike Yastrzemski and Michael Harris II in two spots. With Acuña on the shelf, Mauricio Dubón and Eli White will probably step in for more outfield work. If Dubón is spending more time on the grass, that could open up more shortstop playing time for Jorge Mateo or Ha-Seong Kim.

Tellez, 31, will probably just be serving as a bench bat. He has only been a first baseman throughout his career and won’t help in the outfield. Matt Olson is the club’s first baseman and hasn’t taken a day off in years. Dominic Smith is the regular in the designated hitter spot. He has a strong .292/.331/.458 line and 118 wRC+ on the year.

Dubón, White, Mateo and Kim are all right-handed hitters and Tellez is a lefty, so perhaps he will be called upon to pinch-hit for those guys in some key spots against tough righty arms. Tellez doesn’t have a strong walk rate against righties in his career but has done most of his damage with the platoon advantage, leading to a .236/.299/.452 career line against righties. He signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in the offseason and has been hitting well in Triple-A this year, with a .259/.367/.483 line, including a 308/.406/.608 slash against righties.

Lara, 23, was added to Atlanta’s roster in September of last year but never got into a game. He was optioned a few days later and has been on optional assignment for all of this season as well. He has elite stuff, with his fastballs averaging in the upper-90s, but atrocious control. He has walked 17.5% of batters faced in his minor league career, which is about double a normal rate. That includes an ugly 33.3% walk rate in 15 Double-A appearances this year, helping him produce an 8.22 earned run average.

He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Atlanta could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. If Lara garners any interest, it would be as a project, since the results certainly aren’t there right now. But since he has natural talents and still has options, perhaps some club with roster space will look to stash him. If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he would stick in Atlanta’s system without using up a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel, Imagn Images

Brennan, 28, was a free agent this offseason after being non-tendered by the Guardians. The Giants scooped him up by signing him to a major league deal, a split contract that paid him $900K in the majors and $400K in the minors. He is still optionable and the Giants have made use of that, as he has already been optioned four times this year.

He has performed well in the minors but not the majors, which continues a trend for him. He has been sent to the plate 23 times at the big league level this year, with just two hits, both singles. Dating back to his time with Cleveland, he now has a .263/.301/.365 line in 889 major league plate appearances. That leads to an 86 wRC+, indicating he has been 14% below league average offensively.

He has taken 117 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this year and produced a .364/.393/.467 line and 126 wRC+. That’s propped up by an unsustainable .396 batting average on balls in play but is nonetheless a much more encouraging performance than what he has done in the big leagues. He now has 745 Triple-A plate appearances dating back to 2022 with a .324/.368/.464 line and 122 wRC+, though that is bolstered by a high .355 BABIP.

Brennan has some wheels and could have some appeal as a speed-and-defense depth outfielder, though the bat is more of a question mark. Even when he puts up good marks in the minors, he does so with a low walk rate and generally relies on batted-ball luck.

He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Giants can take as long as five days to see if there’s any trade interest. Since he is still optionable, perhaps he would hold some appeal to a team looking for extra outfield depth.

If he were to clear waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency but probably wouldn’t exercise that right. Players with at least three years of service have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of the open market but have to forfeit their salary commitments unless they have at least five years of service. Brennan is just a bit over that three-year line and would have to walk away from the remaining money on his deal if he elected free agency.

Sanmartin, 30, was claimed off waivers from the Reds in November. He suffered a hip flexor strain in March that was expected to cost him about three months, a timeline that has proven to be pretty accurate. He logged 84 1/3 innings with the Reds from 2021 to 2025, allowing 5.66 earned runs per nine. His 19.2% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate in that span were subpar but he induced grounders on 53.6% of balls in play. He’ll be making his debut as a Giant as soon as he gets into a game.

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Delgado, 26, has yet to reach the big leagues. A Havana native who moved to Florida as a child, he was a sixth-rounder by Cleveland in 2018. Delgado played in their system until 2024, topping out at Triple-A Columbus. He qualified for minor league free agency after that season when the Guardians elected not to add him to the 40-man roster.

The lefty-hitting Delgado spent 2025 in Triple-A on a minor league deal with Milwaukee. He hit .281/.363/.378 and didn’t get a major league look. Tampa Bay added him on a non-roster invitation early last offseason. Delgado has struggled offensively with their top affiliate in Durham, hitting .250/.320/.362 with three home runs in 253 plate appearances.

Delgado has posted league average strikeout and walk rates at the Triple-A level for the past couple seasons. He has middling power but can steal a few bases and move around the infield. Delgado is more of a second/third base type than a true shortstop, but he has more than 500 minor league innings at all three positions. The Astros have lost depth infielders Braden Shewmake and Nick Allen to the injured list over the last couple weeks.

Readers should be plenty familiar with the cycle at this point. Carrasco, 39, can’t be optioned and thus must be designated for assignment any time the Braves want to send him down to the minors. At this stage of his career, the former Cleveland ace is amenable to functioning as an effective 41st man on Atlanta’s 40-man roster. The team regularly selects his contract to the majors, designates him for assignment, passes him through waivers and re-signs him on a new minor league deal once he elects free agency. He’s then summoned the next time Atlanta’s bullpen needs some length.

The cycle will very likely repeat itself again several more times this season. Atlanta has now designated Carrasco for assignment five times dating back to last August. He’s re-signed a new minor league deal after each prior DFA and also signed a minor league contract with the Braves as a free agent over the winter. The setup clearly works for both parties.

Carrasco has pitched well overall with the Braves this year, though he’s been tagged for runs in each of his past two appearances. He’s still held opponents to a total of three runs on 10 hits and a walk with four strikeouts in nine big league innings. His work in Gwinnett has been even sharper. In 30 frames with the Stripers, he has the exact same 3.00 ERA but a much stronger 21% strikeout rate against a tidy 5.6% walk rate.

The 30-year-old Karinchak, a former Cleveland teammate of Carrasco, will be returning to the majors for the first time since 2023. Karinchak looked like a potential bullpen monster for the Guardians at one point, pitching to a 2.51 ERA with a preposterous 46.6% strikeout rate through his first 32 1/3 MLB frames from 2019-20. Injuries and poor command have since derailed him. He still posted a 3.24 ERA in 133 1/3 innings from 2021-23, but Karinchak did so while walking more than 14% of his opponents and with a lesser (albeit still excellent) 33.9% strikeout rate.

Karinchak spent nearly the entire 2024 season on the minor league injured list due to a shoulder issue, pitching only 6 2/3 innings that year. A fastball that averaged 97 mph during his MLB debut was sitting at 92.1 mph during that injury-ruined season. Cleveland outrighted him off the 40-man roster that offseason, and he signed a minor league deal with the White Sox. He pitched 29 1/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA for the South Siders’ Triple-A club in Charlotte, but Karinchak also walked nearly 17% of his opponents there and sat 92.7 mph on his heater. He was released in June and didn’t latch on with another club until the Braves signed him this past December.

Thus far in 2026, Karinchak has pitched 25 2/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA that matches his mark from Charlotte last season. He’s toned his walks down, relatively speaking, issuing a free pass to exactly 10% of his opponents. He’s punched out a gaudy 38% of the batters he’s faced. His fastball velocity still isn’t nearly back to its peak levels, but this year’s 93.8 mph average is up noticeably from his 2024-25 levels.

Karinchak still has a minor league option remaining, and if he can carve out a role in the Atlanta bullpen, he’d be controllable through the 2027 season via arbitration. That’ll depend on whether he can continue to show improved command/velocity and whether he can stave off further injuries.

Lara will remain in Triple-A on optional assignment. The Brewers needed to add him to the 40-man roster to finalize the Major League contract. Left-hander Brian Fitzpatrick has been moved from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. The rookie reliever suffered a partial UCL sprain and is going for a second opinion, relays Todd Rosiak of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

It has become more common in recent years for clubs to commit to their young players before the make it to the majors, or perhaps after just a handful of games in the big leagues. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, from 2006 to 2016, there were six extensions signed by players with less than a year of service time. From 2017 to the present, that number is 25, with 15 of them being inked in the past four years.

Milwaukee has played a notable role in that data set, particularly in signing pre-debut deals. In 2023, they gave Jackson Chourio an eight-year, $82MM pact when he was considered one of the top two prospects in the league. That was the record deal for a pre-debut player at the time, though Colt Emerson later broke that record when he signed a $95MM deal with the Mariners. Earlier this year, the Brewers signed another pre-debut deal, though on a lesser scale. They and Cooper Pratt agreed to an eight-year deal worth $50.75MM back in April, though Pratt has remained in the minors on optional assignment since signing that deal.

This deal with Lara comes in at an even lower level. The guarantee is barely a third of what Chourio received and just a bit more than half of Pratt’s deal. Coming in well shy of Chourio is no real surprise. As mentioned, Chourio was one of the top prospects in the league at that time. Lara is a solid prospect but is perhaps more of a borderline top 100 guy right now. Pratt and Lara have some similar prospect rankings but the Pratt deal was seen by some as a bit of an overpay.

Lara, now 21, was an international signee of the Brewers back in 2022. Milwaukee gave him a $1.1MM signing bonus at that time. Lara’s size is notable, as he is listed at 5’7″ or 5’8″, depending on the source. As you would expect for such a player, there’s not a ton of power, but he does have speed. He has 447 minor league games under his belt to this point with just 17 home runs but 144 stolen bases. On account of that speed, his defense also receives high praise, with some evaluators considering him a future Gold Glover.

The offense is more of a question. As mentioned, the power is light, though perhaps Lara is building strength as he ages. He never hit more than four homers in any previous season but is already up to seven in 2026, in just 247 Triple-A plate appearances. The plate discipline appears to be strong, however, as he has often posted strong walk and strikeout rates. This year, his first at the top level of the minors, he has a 15.8% walk rate and 13% strikeout rate. Those are both excellent figures.

Baseball America currently lists Lara as the #5 prospect in the system, a couple of spots behind Pratt. That outlet has Pratt #44 on their Top 100, with Lara in the #50 spot. FanGraphs had Lara #11 in the system back in the winter, before he started putting up good numbers at Triple-A here in 2026. ESPN bumped Lara up to #5 in the system in a recent system update. MLB Pipeline has Lara listed #91 overall and the #5 Brewer.

The Brewers presumably feel good about Lara coming up and being a major league contributor. It seems that Lara’s speed and defense would give him a solid floor even if he doesn’t hit much. If he can maintain his strong approach at the plate and add a bit of power as he gets deeper into his 20s, then that just makes the deal all the more attractive for them.

From Lara’s perspective, he is cutting off the most extreme edges of his earning abilities, as is the case for any prospect signing an early extension. If he hadn’t been able to hit in the majors, he could have ended up in the role of a speedy fourth outfielder, which likely wouldn’t have paid him much. Accepting this deal allows him to bank more money than he would have in that scenario. But if he turns into an All-Star caliber regular, he won’t have as much ability to cash in on that. This deal will lock in his age-21 through age-27 seasons, with the three club options taking him through age-30. He could still theoretically get a nice deal at that point, going into his age-31 season, but could have had more earning power if he managed to hit the open market in his late 20s.

As mentioned, Lara is going to stay in the minors for now. At the major league level, Milwaukee has an outfield group consisting of Chourio, Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick, with Christian Yelich, Jake Bauers and Blake Perkins chipping in on occasion. They also have Brandon Lockridge on the injured list, Tyler Black and Akil Baddoo on optional assignment, and Jett Williams in Triple-A in a non-roster capacity.

In the long run, it’s fair to wonder if the Brewers will trade from that group in order to open up playing time. Bauers is an impending free agent but everyone else is under club control for a while. Yelich’s deal is guaranteed through 2028. Chourio is signed through 2031 with two club options. Mitchell can be retained via arbitration through 2028, Frelick and Perkins through 2029.

For now, the Brewers have enviable outfield depth on a club that has few obvious holes. They have a 41-23 record which is second-best in the National League, behind only Atlanta. Though they will undoubtedly be looking to add to the roster ahead of the trade deadline, perhaps they could do so while flipping out an outfielder from their big league roster as they look for more pitching or help on the left side of the infield.

Spencer Michaelis of the Brewers Fanatic Podcast first reported that the sides had agreed to a deal of roughly $30MM over eight years with two club options. Jon Heyman of The New York Post clarified that it’s actually a seven-year deal worth $31MM. Jeff Passan of ESPN confirmed the 7/$31MM framework and noted there are three club options, with a $79MM max. Passan also added that Lara will be staying in the minors for now. Photos courtesy of Dave Kallmann, Imagn Images.