:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53672653/usa_today_9880956.0.jpg)
We're about halfway through the spring schedule, and with pitchers starting to work deeper into games, the Milwaukee Brewers are trimming down the number of arms in camp.
After making their first round of cuts last week (most of whom were guys recovering from injuries), the Brewers sent another group of players back to minor league camp today.
LHP Josh Hader, RHP Jorge López, RHP Damien Magnifico and RHP Taylor Williams have been optioned to minor-league camp. #CactusCrew
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 13, 2017
LHP Andrew Barbosa, RHP Paolo Espino, RHP Stephen Kohlscheen and RHP Aaron Wilkerson have be reassigned to minor-league camp. #CactusCrew
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 13, 2017
As fun as it's been to see the likes of Josh Hader with the major league team, full squad workouts are beginning in minor league camp, and we're at the point on the calendar where minor league starting pitchers need to start getting stretched out. It's hard to get that work when the big league guys are starting to pitch into the 4th and 5th inning.
Lopez has been pitching well for team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, but with his team advancing to the second round, there likely wouldn’t have been enough available innings for him once he got back to Arizona. Between Hader, Lopez, Paolo Espino and Aaron Wilkerson, a good deal of the Triple-A rotation could possibly be penciled in right now.
46 guys remain in big league camp, 23 of them being pitchers. A total of 5 catchers, 10 infielders and 8 outfielders make up the rest of the bunch. It's a fair guess that the infielder group will get pared down once guys like Jonathan Villar and Hernan Perez return from the World Baseball Classic.