5 Brewers Who Are Looking Over Their Shoulder At Jett Williams

[Harold Hutchison]

Image courtesy of © Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

New Brewers prospect Jett Williams brings versatility to the table, with some serious OBP skills, power, and speed and experience at shortstop, second base and center field. His versatility and upside are why the Brewers wanted him, but they make him an (almost) immediate threat to the playing time of some of the team's incumbents.

Williams might start the season in the minors, but he should be ready to play in the big leagues sometime this year. The Brewers usually keep all 13 allowed pitchers, so after accounting for the nine starters each day, they have just four spots for bench players, one of which will be held by the backup catcher. So, which Brewers could be bumped off, should Williams seize a job—be it off the roster, or out of the regular mix?

Andruw Monasterio
Monasterio has been an unsung cult hero for the Brewers since he came up in 2023, including being Brewer Fanatic’s top rookie that year as the team’s primary third baseman down the stretch. Since then, he’s been one of the top options off the Brewers bench, playing all four infield positions adroitly. His playing time has been sparser the last two seasons (251 at-bats total in 2024 and 2025, compared to 282 in 2023). Williams brings a similar type of versatility and a more potent bat. Monasterio is eligible for arbitration after this season, and while he’s solid, his time may be running out. It's possible for Monasterio and Williams to coexist on the 26-man roster, and even on the same bench, but it sure seems unlikely.

Joey Ortiz
Ortiz will get a shot to redeem himself after a horrid 2025 at the plate. His outstanding defense at short kept him in positive WAR territory, per Baseball Reference, but the leash will be justifiably short. He could lose out (directly or indirectly) to Williams if the offensive struggles continue. The direct path is Williams taking over at shortstop, though few see him as a shortstop in the majors. Indirectly, Williams could take over second base as Brice Turang slides to the other side of the keystone, displacing Ortiz.

Blake Perkins
Perkins has been the Brewers’ fourth outfielder since the 2024 season. He’s a pesky switch-hitter with some speed, a little pop, and Gold Glove-caliber defense. He’d be a competent starter on some teams, but in Milwaukee, he’s backing up Garrett Mitchell—which could still mean a lot of playing time—and jostling with Jackson Chourio. Williams has more pop, and also plays a pretty good center field, which could edge Perkins out of Milwaukee.

Garrett Mitchell
Mitchell has a dynamic bat, excellent speed, and is a skillful defender when he’s on the field. The big problem for Mitchell is a series of injuries that have kept him off the field for large portions of the past three seasons, meaning a lot of his service time has come on the injured list. Another injury that costs Mitchell significant time in the offseason, and Williams could take over, providing the same dynamism, albeit as a right-handed hitter.

Brandon Lockridge
For Lockridge, it’s not about being on the major-league roster; that is not his biggest worry. The Brewers' 40-man roster is also quite crowded, and if and when Williams is added, it could squeeze Lockridge. Williams is the team’s seventh non-roster invite, joining Eddys Leonard as an infielder, but he also plays a competent outfield, and his bat is more dynamic than Lockridge’s. Depending on injuries and offensive performance, Lockridge could be the odd man out for the Brewers, even though they appear to like him quite a bit.

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Which player do you think should be the most nervous about Jett Williams’ arrival? Let us know in the comments below!

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[Tedaldtada]

The beauty of Jett is that he could potentially be used to convert two roster spots into one allowing greater flexibility. 
His skillset could fill both the Mona/Perk roles immediately freeing up a roster spot for a more traditional bopper (like Wilken or some such) to hold down a bench job.

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 minutes ago, Tedaldtada said:

The beauty of Jett is that he could potentially be used to convert two roster spots into one allowing greater flexibility. 
His skillset could fill both the Mona/Perk roles immediately freeing up a roster spot for a more traditional bopper (like Wilken or some such) to hold down a bench job.

If he's as good of a prospect as advertised he'll settle into one spot eventually, but for now I agree the versatility could definitely play into his getting a roster spot. But as long as Perkins is in the organization I don't think he gets aced out due to his elite glove & ability to switch hit.

Of course if Mitchell can stay healthy, that could throw a monkey wrench into things for Blake. I'm still (slightly) leaning towards thinking Williams is in Nashville when they break camp.

[GasserFace]

I don't think there is a clearly defined role for Jett yet.  I think that will be based on how he performs in ST and the health of his competitors for a roster spot.

Long term, I would say that Mona is the one that is in the most jeopardy since Jett can play SS.

 

[Brewersfan1]

2 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Of course if Mitchell can stay healthy, that could throw a monkey wrench into things for Blake. I'm still (slightly) leaning towards thinking Williams is in Nashville when they break camp.

It’d be awesome if he forced his way on the roster out of spring, but he’s not on the 40 man and he’s had 130 ABs in AAA. They can leave him off the 40 man, give Ortiz (and others like Lockridge) until the super 2 date and reevaluate. Even Durbin they waited on and there was a much clearer path for him at 3rd last spring (I think Durbin may have been banged up in spring, but don’t remember though). 

[Michael Trzinski]

1 hour ago, GasserFace said:

Long term, I would say that Mona is the one that is in the most jeopardy since Jett can play SS.

That's kinda what I was thinking...

[JohnBriggs12]

As I see it, all those guys were in some jeopardy already.  Backups are never really secure. Monasterio is probably the most secure backup.  If Mitchell starts out hitting like he did last April, he's in trouble, healthy or not.  Ortiz is a placeholder not for Williams but for Made.  Perkins has to hit some or he's purely a defensive replacement.  Another .647 OPS type season doesn't cut it.

I think the real battle is Bauers vs. Mitchell as the LH outfield platoon bat, but that was true before Williams showed up.  Mitchell's ability to play CF is less of an advantage if Williams sticks.  Bauers will also see playing time at 1B.  With Williams around to supplant Perkins in a platoon with either of those two, Perkins is in the most jeopardy in my opinion with Mitchell a close second.

[Snoebird]

He might not be a Brewer yet, but I would add light-hitting Luis Lara to the list. 

[endaround]

18 hours ago, Brewersfan1 said:

It’d be awesome if he forced his way on the roster out of spring, but he’s not on the 40 man and he’s had 130 ABs in AAA. They can leave him off the 40 man, give Ortiz (and others like Lockridge) until the super 2 date and reevaluate. Even Durbin they waited on and there was a much clearer path for him at 3rd last spring (I think Durbin may have been banged up in spring, but don’t remember though). 

Durbin wasn't held down, Brewer Plan A just collapsed. If Dunn and Capra were just bad instead of unplayable Durbin may have spent the entire year in AAA.

[Brewersfan1]

40 minutes ago, endaround said:

Durbin wasn't held down, Brewer Plan A just collapsed. If Dunn and Capra were just bad instead of unplayable Durbin may have spent the entire year in AAA.

Well that means he was held down, no? Lol. Williams is not plan A (He could become plan A if he’s put on the 40 man roster). Plan A, I’d imagine, is Ortiz SS, Turang 2nd, Mitchell CF. One has to bad or get hurt and Williams might get called up. Similar to how plan A failed and Durbin got called up. I think we are on the same page here. I’m incredibly confused!

[Turning2]

1 hour ago, endaround said:

Durbin wasn't held down, Brewer Plan A just collapsed. If Dunn and Capra were just bad instead of unplayable Durbin may have spent the entire year in AAA.

The only moves they typically make to "excite" the fan base is to trade for prospects. Its logical that they want to get the up as quick as possible. It helps sell tickets and merch. I think they don't force the prospects to the majors if they absolutely can't, but the guys ahead of them often have a short leash. In other words, they wouldn't have forced Durbin up just to force it. But I think they were pretty confident that Dunn / Capra were going to make it an easy decision to do so, Same will happen with Jett. He's the shiniest thing they have to offer to the fans at the moment. And, to be fair, he appears to have enough skillset to justify a quick callup. 

[Outlander]

I don't see a scenario where Williams is on the roster Opening Day unless there is a ton of injuries, the Brewers need to keep control as long as possible. Monasterio, Perkins and Mitchell better be productive from the get go or they will be heading to Nashville. Add Seigler, Lockridge and Black into the mix and there is quite a bit of flexibility with options among the position player group.