Garrett Mitchell Has His Opening Day Roster Spot. What Will the Brewers Get From Him?

[Jack Stern]

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

For three straight years, the Brewers intended to start the regular season with Garrett Mitchell as their starting center fielder. Mitchell started up the middle on Opening Day in 2023 and 2025, and he would have in 2024, had he not broken his hand in the final days of spring training.

It became apparent that they wanted Mitchell to return to that spot for the 2026 opener. They've certainly given him every opportunity to claim the position. While Jackson Chourio, Blake Perkins, and Brandon Lockridge have all gotten starts in the outfield corners this spring, all eight of Mitchell's Cactus League appearances have come in center field.

The club has taken things slowly with the injury-prone Mitchell, though, and has only recently ramped up his playing time. Pat Murphy rehashed those durability concerns to reporters in Arizona earlier this week, officially raising the possibility that the 27-year-old might not make the Opening Day roster if the Brewers believed he was not ready for regular playing time.    

Ultimately, though, the Brewers did not reach that point. By optioning Perkins to Triple-A Nashville on Thursday, the club effectively locked Mitchell and Lockridge into its Opening Day outfield mix. While Mitchell could still receive frequent days off to manage his health, he'll presumably take most of the playing time up the middle to open the year.

The choice apparently came down to Lockridge vs. Perkins, but it arguably could have been Mitchell on the outside looking in. There are still concerns about how productive he'll be when healthy, given the flaws in his profile—concerns that have only been exacerbated by his frequent and extended absences and unsuccessful attempts to close those holes.

Because his playing time has been so disjointed due to injury, it's been impossible to determine whether Mitchell is actually a viable big-league hitter. His elite bat speed and swing decisions give him one of the highest offensive ceilings in the organization, but the holes in his swing have produced a bloated 33.9% strikeout rate in 443 career plate appearances. Mitchell has hit .254/.333/.433 (114 wRC+) in the big leagues, but with a far less inspiring deserved line of .208/.289/.355 (80 DRC+), according to Baseball Prospectus.

Mitchell can hit fastballs at or below the belt, and he has destroyed hanging breaking balls, but he's been a near-automatic out against anything elevated. For his career, he has whiffed on a whopping 52.1% of swings on fastballs within the top third of the strike zone or higher.

He'll never need to crush those pitches to succeed, and with a 39.1% swing rate against them (including just a 14.4% swing rate against fastballs above the zone), Mitchell has done a decent job of forcing pitchers back into his hot zones. However, he must prove he can make some contact with elevated velocity. He's made it a focus, but his efforts have not yielded much improvement.

Earlier this spring, Mitchell experimented with raising his hands in his stance before switching back to his usual setup. He's since looked caught in-between in many of his Cactus League plate appearances: gearing up for the fastball, but still missing it, while being ahead of softer stuff.

The sample is still very small, but Mitchell has whiffed on 37.5% of swings against fastballs this spring, including a 52.6% whiff rate against high heaters. For his career, Mitchell has posted a capable 79.6% contact rate against in-zone breaking balls, with most of his whiffs coming on pitches below the zone. In Arizona, he's whiffed on 53.8% of in-zone breaking balls. Most alarmingly, Mitchell has been hopelessly in front of slower pitches moving away from him, whiffing on 71.4% of swings against offspeed pitches.

In 30 Cactus League plate appearances, Mitchell entered Thursday hitting just .080/.233/.240 (24 wRC+) with a 50% strikeout rate. He's still flashed his upside when putting the ball in play, launching a 462-foot home run earlier this month for one of his two hits, but after sporadic time on the field last year, his bat does not look big-league ready with Opening Day approaching. Meanwhile, Lockridge has showcased tangible improvements at the plate.

Clearly, Mitchell can make an impact for the Brewers at some point in 2026, but between his uneven production, injury history, and how his bat currently looks, they should be prepared for other options to take a healthy share of reps in center field. For now, though, Mitchell has the opportunity to dial himself in by Opening Day and establish himself up the middle.

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[bensheeps]

I start by saying I'm a HUGE Garrett Mitchell fan and often evaluate on my heart rather than my head when predicting his outcomes.  There's just too much ceiling in there for him not to eventually "get it".

Got to hope that just as we can't read too much into great spring results, we can say the same on the other end of the spectrum.

Even with that all said, I expected him to be in Nashville for some consistent at bats early in the year with how his spring training has looked.

Will be interesting to see how many early at bats the combination of Lockridge and Bauers get in the outfield (playing the hot hands from spring).

[jay87shot]

He is way overdue for some luck in the health department. I am setting my hopes low (and high at the same time) at 100+ games, if the defense can be what it always has he should be able to make up at least what we got from Collins last year. Add in the likely better defense of having Chourio in LF over Collins and Mitchell in CF over Chourio and that will be a great group.

[Snoebird]

This is Mitchell's last shot at holding down a starting job, and the early season schedule is soft enough for him to find his stroke at the plate.  Lockridge could be the next in line for that job, and he'll be putting some competitive heat on Mitchell. 

[JohnBriggs12]

I don't get it.  He's not young anymore, has hardly played most years and has shown nothing in camp in 2026 after showing virtually nothing the first month of 2025.  I get that he passes the eyeball test.  Always has.  But why experiment with him finding it at the big league level at this point?  He's too old to be a prospect and it appears he's missed too much valuable time that he may never come close to the promise he had a half dozen years ago.

[Snoebird]

On 3/20/2026 at 8:14 AM, bensheeps said:

I start by saying I'm a HUGE Garrett Mitchell fan and often evaluate on my heart rather than my head when predicting his outcomes.  There's just too much ceiling in there for him not to eventually "get it".

Got to hope that just as we can't read too much into great spring results, we can say the same on the other end of the spectrum.

Even with that all said, I expected him to be in Nashville for some consistent at bats early in the year with how his spring training has looked.

Will be interesting to see how many early at bats the combination of Lockridge and Bauers get in the outfield (playing the hot hands from spring).

Pedigree matters. This is how you treat a first-round draft pick. Besides, center field in Nashville is going to be pretty crowded with Luis Lara and Jett Williams competing for playing time and Blake Perkins needing to stay sharp as well. 

[Rick Daltons Flamethrower]

His availability if it can be counted on would be like maple syrup ontop of a stack of pancakes...sweet :)

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Mitchell has incredible potential. You give that kind of talent multiple chances.