Eric Haase Has Impressed but Faces Uphill Battle for Roster Spot

If you ask around about players who have made an impression in Brewers camp, you’ll find that catcher Eric Haase is a popular answer.

“He’s been as good as anybody in camp,” Pat Murphy said.

The Brewers inked Haase to a one-year deal in December. This spring, he has posted gaudy numbers at the plate, slashing .409/.480/1.207 with a pair of home runs.

After a challenging 2023 season, Haase trained over the offseason at 108 Performance in Knoxville. The goal was to get back to punishing fastballs.

Haase slugged .529 against fastballs during a productive stretch with the Detroit Tigers in 2021 and 2022. During that time, his work against fastballs was worth 15.4 runs, according to Statcast. Last year, his production against them cratered to a .300 slugging percentage and -11.1 runs.

One of the adjustments he made was backing off the plate.

“I was right on the dish, and it kind of led to a little bit of topspin,” he explained.

Topspin fly balls die in the air instead of carrying. They’re bad news for a power bat like Haase, who relies on driving the ball in the air for extra-base hits. His average exit velocity on fly balls fell from 93.8 mph in 2021-22 to 89.6 mph last year. The average distance of those balls dropped from 316 feet to 298 feet.

“I backed off the dish [to] give myself a little bit of space,” Haase said. “Just trying to be really simple back up through the middle, and it’s really showing. I’ve been able to hit balls with good spin to every part of the field.”

The 31-year-old has also drawn rave reviews for his work behind the plate. Murphy praised his game calling in Robert Gasser’s start on Thursday.

“Behind the dish, he continues to impress me,” he said. “He really gets it.”

In Murphy’s eyes, Haase has done everything anyone can do to crack the big-league roster out of camp. The problem is there may not be a spot for him.

William Contreras was arguably the best catcher in baseball last year, and the Brewers signed Gary Sanchez to complement him as part of a catching and designated hitter carousel.

Would the Brewers consider rostering three catchers to keep Haase?

“I don’t like it,” Murphy said generally about carrying three backstops concurrently. I think there’s a stretch you can carry three at any given time of a season. I just don’t think that it makes a lot of sense for a lot of teams to carry three catchers.”

Tag-teaming Contreras and Sanchez at catcher and DH leaves some at-bats open in the latter spot for other players. Adding Haase to the equation would fill it every day with a catcher. Murphy doesn’t want to lose that flexibility.

Murphy said of his tentative plan for the DH role, “I think what best serves us is a rotation of [Christian] Yelich, Contreras, and [Rhys] Hoskins.”

Rostering three catchers also comes at the expense of another position player. Keeping Haase would force them to demote another right-handed bat, such as Joey Wiemer, Andruw Monasterio, Joey Ortiz, or Owen Miller. That would suddenly leave Murphy with limited reinforcements in the outfield or the middle infield.

Despite turning heads this spring, it’s clear that Haase faces an uphill battle to make the roster. He’s impressed his skipper enough to make it a challenging decision.

“I can appreciate what Haase is doing so much, so he’s made this so difficult,” Murphy said.

If Haase doesn’t make the roster, the Brewers would have to expose him to waivers, allowing other teams to claim him under his current contract. They could also release him, giving him the freedom to choose his next team.

Haase’s best path to breaking camp with the Brewers may be if the club decides Sanchez’s defense is not yet up to par. He allowed three passed balls in his first start behind the plate on Wednesday. Still, preferring Haase behind the plate doesn’t change the fact that the club will have to decide on its catching mix sooner rather than later.

Haase knows that he can only keep working to help a big-league team this year.

“Just try to handle my business every day,” he said. “If the opportunity’s there, then we go forward. If not, then keep it going. Just try to do what I can do.”