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Milwaukee Brewers sign Christian Bethancourt to minor-league contract

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Though the Brewers did not get Shohei Ohtani this offseason, they are bringing a two-way player into the mix this spring. The Brewers Twitter account announced that they have signed Christian Bethancourt to a minor-league deal with a spring training invite. The release noted him as a catcher, where he has spent most of his career. A former top prospect in the Braves system, Bethancourt has not produced at the major league level, recording a .222/.252/.316 career slash line. He has spent the last two years with the Padres, and last year was spent split between catching and pitching. He caught 31 games for the Padres Triple-A team and 8 for the MLB team last season, but also worked on converting to a relief pitcher. That also did not go well. In 34 games for Triple-A, he recorded an 8.21 ERA and 7.85 FIP, and those numbers jumped to 14.73 ERA and 12.16 FIP in 4 appearances at the major-league level. He is coming into camp as a catcher, where he looks to have a tough road to earning time. With Manny Pina, Stephen Vogt, Jett Bandy, and Andrew Susac already on the roster, he will need a great spring to stick with the Brewers. Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.