Perkins, Henderson and Black optioned

[markedman5]

Good news for Lockridge

 

[Bulldogboy]

Lockridge activated

[MoreTrife]

I wonder how Murph broke the news to him

[markedman5]

8 minutes ago, MoreTrife said:

I wonder how Murph broke the news to him

By telling him the truth……you’re 1 injury away from being right back up.

Perk will be ok…….this isn’t his first rodeo.

I’m a little surprised with how bad Mitchell has struggled that they didn’t just let him gain some confidence in Nashville. 

[duewizard]

Aw man I was hoping Hendo would make the rotation. Long shot, but still

[Outlander]

Mitchell is the strong side of the platoon and Lockridge weak so don't think it was ever Lockridge vs Mitchell. With Perkins na 

[markedman5]

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Seems like Black has added some pop to his skillset. Looks to me like he'll have some headlines this year, either here or (more likely) by being involved in a trade.

[Jopal78]

3 hours ago, markedman5 said:

By telling him the truth……you’re 1 injury away from being right back up.

Perk will be ok…….this isn’t his first rodeo.

I’m a little surprised with how bad Mitchell has struggled that they didn’t just let him gain some confidence in Nashville. 

He’s 27 and has made the team out of spring since ‘23, what confidence is there to gain in AAA? It’s do or die time for Mitchell. If he plays well he probably has a future in MLB; if his season is over again by the 4th of July he’s likely looking at an NRI in ‘27.

[endaround]

41 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

He’s 27 and has made the team out of since ‘23, what confidence is there to gain in AAA? It’s do or die time for Mitchell. If he plays well he probably has a future in MLB; if his season is over again by the 4th of July he’s likely looking at an NRI in ‘27.

The ability to hit a baseball, something he hasn't done well since 2024.

[wallus]

It will be interesting to see if it's a straight platoon or a soft platoon with Mitchell.

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, endaround said:

The ability to hit a baseball, something he hasn't done well since 2024.

 You’re drawing conclusions on 78 PAs in 2025, and 25 spring training PAs this year? Tough crowd

[long ball]

I’m surprised that they decided to option Perkins. I think there’s a very strong case for Lockridge being a better roster fit right now, but I was leaning on what Murphy has said in the past about Perkins and just that Perkins has been on the team and Lockridge is the new guy. Kinda felt like Perkins had the seniority to break camp with the team. 
 

perkins will play plenty of baseball for the brewers this year, but I do feel a little bad he won’t get the symbolic note of being on the opening day roster. 

[Thurston Fluff]

10 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

 You’re drawing conclusions on 78 PAs in 2025, and 25 spring training PAs this year? Tough crowd

It's because he only has 78 PA's in 2025 N 25 in spring. I don't know if it's his confidence or the Brewers that needs to be satisfied but it's been a long time since he's had regular playing time. It's not unreasonable to think a little doubt about being rusty can creep in.

[jay87shot]

12 hours ago, wallus said:

It will be interesting to see if it's a straight platoon or a soft platoon with Mitchell.

I would think at least to start the year they go straight platoon which would allow Mitchell a few days of rest here and there. Maybe after a couple weeks if one guy is clearly hitting better they start gaining more pt.

[Jopal78]

53 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

It's because he only has 78 PA's in 2025 N 25 in spring. I don't know if it's his confidence or the Brewers that needs to be satisfied but it's been a long time since he's had regular playing time. It's not unreasonable to think a little doubt about being rusty can creep in.

Eh, Mitchell is not some doe-eyed youngster just getting his feet wet where the Brewers need to treat him gently.

Rather, Mitchell will be 28 before the season is over and have 4+ years of major league service time. It’s put up or shut up time. Had he not been their own first round pick, they likely would’ve cut bait by now. Thus, additional AAA games aren’t going to help him or the Brewers determine his future role in Milwaukee going forward. 

[gregmag]

I’m a huge Perkins fan, but I think this is the right decision. In the statcast era, some aspects of spring performance mean more than they used to. Lockridge has clearly figured out how to tap into some power. It makes sense to see if he can actually sustain that at the highest level. I’m glad Murphy can make these decisions based on indicators of performance rather than seniority.

Mitchell’s obviously a weird player. I take Jopal’s point that he’s a vet and needs to perform now at the major league level, but he just hasn’t played much the last couple of years, and clearly he’s still figuring stuff out that a lot of guys get past (if he’s going to get past them at all) at a younger age. I could definitely see the wisdom in sending him to AAA for a month to get more swings in. OTOH, I think it would suck more for Perkins to get sent down after making the opening day roster.

[Playing Catch]

Perkins is the only known quantity of the 3. As others have alluded, Spring Training isn't going to tell you squat.

Lockridge and Mitchell need to play NOW, so that the Brewers know if they need to find a new CF or two before August.

[Thurston Fluff]

5 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Eh, Mitchell is not some doe-eyed youngster just getting his feet wet where the Brewers need to treat him gently.

Rather, Mitchell will be 28 before the season is over and have 4+ years of major league service time. It’s put up or shut up time. Had he not been their own first round pick, they likely would’ve cut bait by now. Thus, additional AAA games aren’t going to help him or the Brewers determine his future role in Milwaukee going forward. 

 

What does age have to do with knowing how much time it will take to knock the rust of not playing more than a handful of ab's in a year and a half? He's never had more than 224 ab's in a season since 2022 and never had more than that in the majors. He always had a problem with high fastballs. That didn't change in the majors. He was not a finished product when he got here. Just getting older doesn't help improve that without playing.

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, Thurston Fluff said:

 

What does age have to do with knowing how much time it will take to knock the rust of not playing more than a handful of ab's in a year and a half? He's never had more than 224 ab's in a season since 2022 and never had more than that in the majors. He always had a problem with high fastballs. That didn't change in the majors. He was not a finished product when he got here. Just getting older doesn't help improve that without playing.

I don’t know what your point is. Yes, injuries have derailed his career no question about it.
 

If he was a 6th round pick instead of a first rounder with a multimillion dollar bonus, the Brewers likely would have dropped him already.

He made the team because he has more physical talent than the players they optioned to AAA. Now Mitchell has to go out and perform. There’s no purpose in sending a 28 year old arbitration eligible player to AAA for “finishing school” as if he is going to find that edge or extra gear at 29? 

[Thurston Fluff]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

I don’t know what your point is. Yes, injuries have derailed his career no question about it.
 

If he was a 6th round pick instead of a first rounder with a multimillion dollar bonus, the Brewers likely would have dropped him already.

He made the team because he has more physical talent than the players they optioned to AAA. Now Mitchell has to go out and perform. There’s no purpose in sending a 28 year old arbitration eligible player to AAA for “finishing school” as if he is going to find that edge or extra gear at 29? 

I disagree it wouldn't help a person who's missed as much time as Mitchell has, and wasn't a finished product before losing time to injury, wouldn't benefit from some time in AAA. In a perfect world AAA is where he should be intil he proves himself major league ready again. We are not in a perfect world so we have to hope he can regain his career trajectory while in the majors. 

In truth I think it's as likely Lockridge or ends up taking a step forward and displaces Mitchell or that neither do and we see Churio shift to center as it is to see Mitchell resume where he left off.

[Jopal78]

Just now, Thurston Fluff said:

. In a perfect world AAA is where he should be intil he proves himself major league ready again. 

Mitchell is closer to 30 than 20. Like it or not his prospect days are long gone. If not for his pedigree, he’d be “just a guy”.  If he can’t prove himself in the majors in his 4th season, he probably never will. 

[JohnBriggs12]

On 3/19/2026 at 9:26 PM, Jopal78 said:

 You’re drawing conclusions on 78 PAs in 2025, and 25 spring training PAs this year? Tough crowd

Well drawing conclusions that he's capable of hitting well enough to play regularly in the big leagues after not playing a full season anywhere the last 5 seasons is even more of a stretch.  He's averaged about 220 plate appearances per season in his 5 pro seasons.   That's 2 years of actual playing experience at any level spread over 5 seasons.  Hard to work on making yourself better when you're so rarely able to play.  It may not be fair to judge him on small samples, but that's all there is to go on.  Relying on 5 year old scouting reports at this point is wishful thinking at best. 

The opening day outfield should be Frelick in right, Chourio in center and Bauers in left.  The LF platoon should be Bauers/Lockbridge not Mitchell/Lockbridge.  Bauers will likely start a game per week at 1B against a tough RH.  Maybe you can stick Mitchell in there on those days.  I don't see how Murphy can justify playing Mitchell more than once or twice a week and say with a straight face that he's giving his team the best chance to win.