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Tom Haudricourt of JSO reports:
Just talked to #Brewers catcher Manny Pina, who has tightness in his right calf. He doesn't think it's a DL situation. Won't play today, then team is off tomorrow. He thinks he'll be OK for weekend series in NYC.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) April 11, 2018
This isn’t the definitive “I’m fine” answer I was hoping for, and leaves the team pretty thin at catcher for today’s finale of the three game set in St. Louis. Pina’s replacement Jett Bandy appeared to foul a ball off of his foot in last night’s extra inning game, and if Pina is indeed “out” for today’s game the Brewers will be very exposed. They begin the game with just Jesus Aguilar and Eric Sogard on the bench anyways, with Lorenzo Cain and Pina are both out.
Milwaukee has Christian Bethancourt and Jacob Nottingham at catcher on their AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox roster, but neither is coming up just yet. Nottingham has three hits in nine at bats with two doubles for the Springs in their young season, while Bethancourt is a lofty 8-for-15 with a homer (and a stolen base!). Bethancourt has slashed .533/.533/.733 for an OPS of 1.267.
Nottingham is in his first season of AAA ball while Bethancourt has 489 plate appearances across parts of five major league seasons with a slash of .222/.252/.316 for an OPS of .567. He has also pitched in six major league games with rather unspectacular results, having walked eleven in 5.1 innings and posting an FIP of 11.22 and a WHIP of 3.375. He’s clearly no Hernan Perez on the hill.
Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference