The Brewers have chosen the contract of outfielder Brewer Hicklen, although he has been optioned and can keep at Triple-A Nashville. Infielder Oliver Dunn was transferred to the 60-day injured record to open a 40-man roster spot. The strikes had been relayed on X by Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.

Hicklen, 28, signed with Milwaukee within the offseason in a textbook case of nominative determinism. Since signing that deal, he has been having a fantastic yr in Triple-A. In 72 video games for the Sounds, he has been struck out at a excessive fee of 26.5% however has additionally drawn walks 13.1% of the time and hit 19 house runs. That’s led to a .270/.383/.571 slash line and 139 wRC+, indicating he’s been 39% higher than the league common hitter. He’s additionally stolen 26 bases in 30 tries whereas lining up in any respect three outfield spots.

When a participant is chosen to a 40-man roster however then instantly optioned, it’s normally an indication that his contract accommodates some sort of opt-out provision. Per McCalvy on X, Hicklen did certainly have a such a clause in his deal. The Brewers aren’t going to deliver him as much as the majors however have given him a roster spot as a result of they didn’t need him to get away after that robust efficiency within the first few months of the 2024 season.

It is going to be tough for him to crack the outfield on the massive league degree, as Milwaukee has a reasonably crowded group of fellows competing for taking part in time on the grass. As of proper now, Christian Yelich is serving because the designated hitter pretty repeatedly but additionally with some outfield time blended in there. Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Jackson Chourio and Blake Perkins are splitting the remainder of the time on the market. With these 5 guys on the lively roster, Joey Wiemer has been on non-obligatory task for a lot of the yr. The membership toyed with utilizing Frelick at third base earlier this yr however Joey Ortiz has firmly taken over that spot.

Hicklen has a full slate of choices and may be saved round as depth for fairly some time, if the Brewers maintain him on the 40-man. Speculatively talking, it’s additionally potential that the membership’s relative energy within the outfield could possibly be used to handle their want for pitching, which might maybe change the outfield image within the coming weeks.

At any time when Hicklen is again up within the majors, he can add to a monitor document that at present consists of simply six video games with the Royals in 2022. He solely bought 4 plate appearances in that point and continues to be in search of his first main league hit, as he struck out in all 4 of these journeys to the plate. He’s typically hit nicely within the minors, with a slash of .244/.348/.469 and 113 wRC+ from 2021 to 2023 and has been in even higher type this yr.

As for Dunn, he was positioned on the 10-day injured record on June 19 on account of a again pressure. He’s now ineligible to return till 60 days from that date, which might be in the course of August. On June 29, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed on X that Dunn was anticipated to overlook greater than a month on account of a disc challenge in his again.