Milwaukee Brewers place Omar Narvaez and Mike Brosseau on injured list, announce series of roster moves

The roster carousel continues for the Brewers.

Injuries and heavy bullpen usage necessitated frequent roster moves during the Brewers’ recent road trip, and the start to their current homestand has been no different.

The latest round of turnover began shortly before first pitch on Thursday evening when the Brewers placed Omar Narvaez on the COVID-19 injured list. In need of a backup catcher just hours before their series opener against the Padres, they were forced to select Alex Hall from the Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, who were playing 90 minutes north in Appleton.

Now that they had more time to transport reinforcements to Milwaukee, the Brewers announced a handful of additional moves this afternoon.

Triple-A backstop Alex Jackson was recalled and is in Milwaukee for tonight’s game. He will serve as the Brewers’ backup catcher until Narvaez is ready to return.

Now that Hall is no longer needed, the club designated him for assignment to remove him from the 40-man roster. He will presumably clear waivers and return to the Timber Rattlers.

Mike Brosseau, who sat out last night with a sprained right ankle, has been placed on the 10-day injured list. Pablo Reyes was recalled to replace him as a right-handed infield option off the bench.

The slick-fielding utility man provided the Brewers with solid plate discipline and an 87 OPS+ in 53 games last season, but this will be his first big-league action of 2022. Reyes has posted a serviceable .794 OPS in 33 games with the Nashville Sounds this year.

Finally, the Brewers swapped reliever Peter Strzelecki for Luke Barker, optioning the former and recalling the latter from Triple-A. Strzelecki struck out three over two innings in his major league debut last night, picking up the win after the Brewers came back to walk off the Padres in the bottom of the ninth.

Strzelecki’s demotion is not based on his performance but rather on his availability. Because he would not have been able to pitch tonight, the Brewers replaced him with a fresh arm in Barker. The 30-year-old was previously selected during their last series in Chicago, but he did not make an appearance before being optioned out.