Looking at Brewers September Callups

Photo: Mike Strasinger/Nashville Sounds

With the minor-league season largely done, the Brewers added a few players to their roster this morning. Pitchers Wily Peralta and Tyler Thornburg, as well as outfielder Logan Schafer, were recalled from AAA Nashville, while right-hander Josh Stinson was purchased from AA Huntsville. The call-ups pushed the Brewers’ active roster to 30 players.

The front office was relatively quiet about any possible call-ups, but Peralta, Thornburg, and Schafer were all more or less locks to be recalled. (Outfielder Caleb Gindl would have also made sense had he not gotten injured recently.) Stinson was more of a surprise, as he didn’t appear to be on the club’s radar at any time this year – he’s 24 and spent the whole season in AA, where he posted a 1.28 K/BB ratio – but it’s hard to be unhappy about a young man getting another shot in the majors. (Stinson got a September call-up with the Mets last year, only to be claimed off waivers by the Brewers this spring.)

Peralta, who had a brief stint with Milwaukee in April, is going to take place of Mark Rogers in the starting rotation. The 23-year old righty has had an up-and-down year at Nashville, struggling with his command (4.8 BB/9) and seeing his numbers decline from 2011, though he did improve somewhat after a very rough April and May. The next few starts figure to be an audition of sorts for Peralta, who is almost certainly going to be a candidate to fill one of the looming vacancies in next year’s rotation.

Thornburg has had a couple turns with the big-league club as a reliever, but has been starting in Nashville since going back down and, according to Tom Haudricourt, is expected make a couple starts this September. It wasn’t mentioned in the article, but I’d assume that Thornburg will take the place of Mike Fiers, who, after throwing 160 innings already this year and seemingly hitting a wall in his last few starts, will probably be shut down at some point in the next couple weeks. Thornburg could also potentially slide into the 2013 rotation, but a lot of people who know more than me still think he will be a reliever when all is said and done.

It was good to see Schafer get a call-up, as he has had another solid year at AAA (.278/.332/.438), but was blocked due to the relative consistency of the post-Hart Brewers outfield. With Carlos Gomez and Norichika Aoki both firmly entrenched in their respective roles, it’s hard to see Schafer getting much playing time beyond some pinch-running opportunities, but that could change next year: The Brewers probably won’t have much use for Nyjer Morgan next year, and it would make sense for Schafer, who is both younger and cheaper, to slide into the fourth outfielder role.

Peralta, Thornburg, and Schafer all have experience with the Brewers and a roughly discernible role (both now and with the 2013 club), but that isn’t the case with Stinson. He’ll presumably work out of the bullpen, perhaps taking some of Livan Hernandez’s low-leverage innings, but nobody seems to know much at this point. Similarly, he doesn’t seem to fit in the club’s 2013 plans besides the fact that he will probably compete for a job in spring training. However, in the spirit of #Brewers2012, there’s a decent chance that a disgruntled Ron Roenicke decides to make him the closer before the end of the season.