Why Cooper Pratt's Unusual Extension Made Sense For Him and the Brewers

[Jack Stern]

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

After reports last week that the Brewers were nearing an eight-year, $50.75 million extension with shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt, the club announced the deal on Friday afternoon. Pratt’s deal also includes club options for the 2034 and 2035 seasons, which could keep the 21-year-old in Milwaukee for up to the next 10 seasons.

“There have been so many people that from our perspective have had nothing but positive things to say about Cooper throughout his tenure as a Brewer, and even before he was a Brewer,” president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. “So all of the arrows pointed in the right direction for us to commit to something like this.”

“We're super excited to be able to do this with the Brewers and to be able to hopefully be a longtime Brewer, for sure,” said Pratt, who rejoined the Nashville Sounds over the weekend after traveling to Milwaukee to complete his physical and sign the deal.

It’s the second investment the Brewers have made in Pratt, who is ranked by Brewer Fanatic as the club’s No. 4 prospect. Milwaukee crafted its draft strategy around him in 2023, saving its bonus pool money in the first few rounds and convincing him to forgo his college commitment with a $1.35 million bonus as its sixth-round pick.

This extension reaffirms what was true three seasons ago: the Brewers are high on Pratt’s makeup. Despite his youth, Pratt has a high baseball IQ and feel for the game, which he pairs with well-rounded athleticism, even if none of his tools have developed into standout skills just yet. He’s already a solid defender, baserunner, and contact hitter.

With that profile, it’s unsurprising the club sought to extend Pratt through his prime seasons. The timing, however, was unusual. Pratt was in just three games into his first stint at Triple-A, and the Brewers have a full big-league infield in front of him. He didn’t appear especially close to a promotion and did not need to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2027 season.

The extension forced the Brewers to select Pratt’s contract and option him to Triple-A. Arnold said the contract will not expedite his timeline to Milwaukee, which means Pratt will burn his first option season and spend most of the deal’s first year in the minor leagues. It’s an unusual upfront concession, but Arnold indicated that the length of the contract and Pratt’s potential make it worthwhile.

“I think when you talk about a deal that has a potential to last for 10 years, it’s not just something that we want to think about in the moment,” he said. “Certainly, there’s an opportunity there to bring a guy up if we want to, but we don’t have to force it. He hasn’t been in Triple-A that long. We want to continue to let him develop there at his own pace, but we want to take the long view here with Cooper.”

While Pratt’s glove at shortstop gives him a high floor and could make him a capable big-leaguer right now, more time in Triple-A may be best for his offensive development. His strong bat-to-ball skills helped him post a 123 DRC+ with Double-A Biloxi last year, according to Baseball Prospectus, but reducing his chases outside the strike zone and leveraging his 6-foot-4 frame for more power will make the difference between a glove-first infielder and one of the sport’s most well-rounded shortstops.

“I think that we believe in the bat,” Arnold said. “We believe in the glove, certainly. And again, this guy is really toolsy, too. He’s very athletic. He’s a big, physical kid, so we think there’s a chance to grow into some power, and he can really run. So when you have that kind of athletic foundation, it’s a really good thing.”

“There’s always something that you can get better at," Pratt said. "There’s always room to improve at some position of the game. And if I can improve every year at something, then I’ll be perfectly fine.”

It was also an unusual deal for Pratt’s agent Scott Boras. His clients are typically known for avoiding extensions, preferring to enter free agency as scheduled to pursue a market-value contract.

Pratt’s extension delays his free agency, but in this early stage of his career, he felt that squaring away the business side of the game for up to the next decade would help his on-field focus and development.

“That was one of the biggest reasons why I kind of decided to do this,” he said. “I can just play and not have to worry about other stuff, all of the transactional stuff, and just play. When I do get called up to the show, I can just be ready to play in the show and not worry about any other outside things.”

“For Cooper, how and why he played had a lot to do with this decision,” Boras said. “What it meant for him to move ahead and to advance to the big leagues, in his mind, quicker. What it meant for him to approach the game in a way that allowed him to develop appropriately.”

Boras believes the stability secured by this contract could better position Pratt for that payday down the line.

“We want to optimize Cooper,” Boras said. “And I felt after listening to him and his family that this was a deal that will allow him to be his best. And if we make Cooper his best, contractually, the risk on the back side of this will allow us optimization in the next contract. The risk of seven or eight years of play before [free agency] happens is immense. But I also know that the height of his performance, after listening to Cooper, will be enhanced because he made this decision.”

The Brewers want Pratt to be a linchpin in their infield for years to come, and Pratt wants to develop into the best player he can be. Both sides feel his contract accomplishes those goals.

“I feel like in my heart I made a good decision,” Pratt said.

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[dsid74]

Hopefully this will turn out to be a great deal for Cooper, the Brewers and us, the fans.

We have seen it over and over in sport, teams who sign high quality individuals are rewarded.  Everything we have seen/heard indicates the Brewers have done just that.

Good luck Cooper...GO BREWERS!

[rickh150]

It is SUCH a player friendly deal that EVEN Scott Boras tells him to take it!  Can’t get much more player friendly than that.  And I would love to know what deals the Miz and Made rejected before throwing this deal at Cooper.  Seems like a candy store deal where mom gives you $5 to spend money on something.  They were out of the jelly beans and the Cadbury eggs were too much so I got the M$Ms.

[dsid74]

You are probably right that Made didn't want to sign for what the Brewers were offering and that influenced this deal.  I've been saying for a while I'm concerned they won't be able to get him signed to this type of deal.

But I disagree that "It is SUCH a player friendly deal that EVEN Scott Boras tells him to take it!"

This deal is most likely at worst a break even deal for the Brewers.  Cooper's defensive floor means he only needs to be an average offensive player to make this a steal for the Brewers.  It is a calculated risk based on what the PD personnel have witnessed during the past 3 seasons.  It looks to me that they expect an offensive breakout and wanted to sign him before the price goes up 50% or more.

Boras said this was the right deal for Cooper based on his makeup, his desires and of course the security it brings Cooper.  I'm no fan of Boras, but I do believe he wants the best for his clients.  Cooper could have made more money by waiting but it's what he wanted.

Even if he 100% flames out and never makes it to the ML, the downside averages out to $6-7M per year.  And in the highly unlikely event this happens, even the Brewers can afford that.  But if he becomes an average or better offensive player, the Brewers will have tremendous excess value and all the upside in this deal swings to the Brewers. 

Anything can happen, but I see this as a deal with minimal downside and HUGE upside.

[sveumrules]

1 hour ago, rickh150 said:

And I would love to know what deals the Miz and Made rejected

Made and his reps would probably need something approaching the nine years $140M that Konnor Griffin just got.

Misio and his reps would likely be looking for something in excess of the six years $75M that Spencer Strider extended for over three years ago now.

[Austin Tatious]

Another stealthy guy to extend is Uribe.  He’s still young and I think will pitch well with his stuff for years to come.  

[Brewcrew82]

6 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Made and his reps would probably need something approaching the nine years $140M that Konnor Griffin just got.

Misio and his reps would likely be looking for something in excess of the six years $75M that Spencer Strider extended for over three years ago now.

Also, Chourio didn't get extended until after he had spent an entire season in AA and AAA. 

Made is 18 and has only about a week's worth of ABs in AA. 

I'd venture to say this deal has next to nothing to do with Made or his proclivity to sign an extension. 

[BallFour]

Jesus Made may or may not sign an extension but it has 0% to do with Cooper Pratt signing.

[Michael Trzinski]

18 hours ago, dsid74 said:

I'm no fan of Boras, but I do believe he wants the best for his clients.  

Good for his clients and great for himself. If baseball ever fails because of financial problems, put him #1 on the list of why...

[Team Canada]

I'm no fan of Boras, but he's not making owners give out contracts. If anything, I think his comments around the Pratt contract demonstrate that while he is going to give advice to his clients and may have his particular preferences, ultimately the client decides what they want to do. 

[CheezWizHed]

I posted this in another thread, but want to highlight how we often see a large pile of money being given to an unproven player (when we can’t spend money on FAs) and struggle to see the risk/benefit the team is actually taking.  Plus, the CBA changes will most likely only make this deal look better in the long run.

########################################################################

I was curious how Pratt's extension might compare to his theoretical path through arbitration.  So I compiled a list of shortstops that have been in arbitration over the past 5 years (AI technically, so I'm sure I've missed a few players, but have enough of a sample to be in the ballpark).  I calculated their Average WAR/year (this I did by hand) so I could put them in MIN, MID, and MAX tiers. 0-2 WAR=MIN, 2.1-4 = MID, 4.1+=MAX. 

So that gives me a potential list of salaries for Pratt if he takes one of those three paths.  For the "normal" path, I assumed he would be in AAA this year and gave him a max AAA salary. Then for the FA year, I dumped what was left of the $50.75M "budget" (his contract amount) to see how good of a deal this would be.  

I used a 5% inflation for all numbers (salary and cost of WAR) to project out for 7 years.  So, for today's FA cost of $8M/WAR, I used about $11.4M.

Year	Min	Mid	Max
AAA	$      100,000	$     100,000	$      100,000
1	$       863,718	$      863,718	$       863,718
2	$    1,300,059	$   1,300,059	$    1,300,059
3	$     1,591,457	$    1,591,457	$      1,591,457
Arb 1	$     3,707,294	$    4,791,120	$   10,924,362
Arb 2	$     5,661,106	$  11,103,650	$   23,383,026
Arb 3	$    6,834,488	$  13,484,712	$   28,142,008
FA 1	$  30,691,878	$  17,515,283	$ (15,554,631)
WAR	2.7	1.6	-1.4

1.      Bust: Brewers take on all the risk if Cooper doesn’t play well enough to even make arbitration (without the contract). 

2.      Min: Cooper is producing as a 0-2 WAR/year player, so it would be the equivalent of playing Joey Ortiz over $30M for one season – 2.7 WAR cost. Brewer failure for this outcome.

3.      Mid: Cooper is producing 2-4 WAR/year (Willy Adames), so it would be equivalent to playing a FA SS $17.5M/year – 1.6 WAR cost.  Adames got far more than that two years ago. Though that isn’t our normal mode of operation, we still find value.

4.      Max: Cooper producing 4+WAR/year means that we actually pay $15.5M less through arbitration than the equivalent SS that is going through arbitration.  And the one FA year is “free”.  The next two option years are almost certainly used here too.

I see Cooper’s floor to be a “Min” player given his defensive capabilities, so there really isn’t a huge risk for Brewers with a lot of upside possibilities.