Milwaukee Brewers Activate Guerra, Barnes; Recall Ben Rowen

Yesterday was the first day of September, the date that teams can begin to expand their 25 man rosters with additional players from the 40 man roster. Since the Milwaukee Brewers were off yesterday, however, they didn’t make any call-ups. Instead those moves came earlier today in advance of tonight’s game in Pittsburgh:

The activation of Guerra and Barnes comes as no surprise, as both players have been out on rehab assignments within the last week. Guerra went on the DL on August 4th with elbow inflammation after posting a 2.93 ERA with a 90:37 K/BB ratio through his first 107.1 innings. He threw 3.1 scoreless innings last Saturday in a rehab start for AAA Colorado Springs.

Barnes went on the DL on July 27th with right elbow soreness. He made his big league debut this season and has worked to a 3.71 ERA through 17.0 innings out of Milwaukee’s bullpen with an 18:4 K/BB ratio. He threw 2.2 scoreless innings over three appearances on rehab for AA Biloxi before being activated.

Ben Rowen’s recall shouldn’t be surprising since he’s on the 40 man roster and was mentioned in my potential September call-ups post from earlier this week. He may not have been the first name I expected since there’s been chatter of bringing up a third catcher and there’s an open 40 man roster spot, however. Rowen came to the Brewers via waiver claim on August 4th and has since thrown 10.2 innings for Colorado Springs while allowing two runs with 12 strikeouts and three walks. The 27 year old has thrown 8.2 big league innings in his career, allowing four earned runs. You can read more about him here.

The Brewers now have 28 players on their active roster. We can probably expect another handful of call-ups next week after the completion of the minor league season.

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs