Brewers call up prospect Jacob Nottingham, place Manny Pina on DL

With Manny Pina not playing for five games and Jett Bandy nearly getting thrown out of Sunday’s game for arguing balls and strikes, it became pretty clear over the weekend that the Brewers needed to do something to get an extra body — and preferably one that could catch — on the bench.

It looks like that’s happening, as Adam McCalvy is reporting that the team will call up top catching prospect Jacob Nottingham today.

It’s not yet known what the corresponding move will be. As McCalvy notes, the easy move would be to just put Pina on the DL and back date it. But manager Craig Counsell indicated Sunday that Pina wasn’t far off from returning despite missing the past week, even saying he could possibly start tonight to open the homestand.

If Pina truly is only a day or two away from returning, a different move could be made to make room for Nottingham on the 25-man roster. He would conceivably then be sent down again in the next few days once Pina is 100% and Christian Yelich is ready to come off of the disabled list.

The 23-year-old Nottingham hit his first home run of the season for Colorado Springs yesterday and is hitting .296/.345/.519 to start the year. The BCB community ranked him as the 25th-best prospect in the Brewers’ system this past offseason. MLB Pipeline has him ranked 27th after a couple years of disappointing offensive numbers.

UPDATE:

It is Pina going on the 10-day disabled list after all, retroactive to April 13th. Pina has been out longer than that, but rules put a limit on back-dating at three days. In another roster move, J.J. Hoover — who cleared waivers and was outrighted over the weekend — has elected free agency.