Nick Bucci added to Milwaukee Brewers' 40-man roster – MLB News
The Milwaukee Brewers’ move on Tuesday, November 20, to add five Minor-League prospects to the 40-man roster might not have come as a surprise to many. Tuesday, after all, was the deadline to protect these Minor Leaguers from the Rule 5 Draft in December.
Those who got their names added to the Brewers’ roster – which now stands at 39, are Nick Bucci, Hiram Burgos, Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett and Josh Prince. Two of them, Bucci and Burgos, are pitchers.
At a time when the Brewers need a few strong arms in both the rotation and bullpen, the two could prove to be instrumental for the club given their record in the Minor League. Take for example Burgos who has remained the Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Bucci, on the other hand, is known to be one of the dependable pitchers in the farm system. The 22-year old pitcher had 3-3 with a 1.90 ERA in the 10 starts that he made between the Arizona Rookie League and Brevard County.
Assistant general manager, Gord Ash had his views to share about this particular move.
"I wouldn't put much emphasis at the level he pitched at. That was mostly a rehab assignment," said Ash. "He's young and has a good arm, and a team could keep him as the 13th pitcher on the staff (if taken in the Rule 5 draft). For $50,000 (the draft price), you can't replace that kind of arm.”
While speaking of the five additions, Ash emphasised there have always been surprises in the Rule 5 Draft.
"We had some other guys we liked as well," said Ash. "We did our due diligence. We started with a list of nine or 10 names and whittled them down. There are surprises (in the Rule 5 draft) every year. You can't protect everybody."
The Brewers, as was mentioned before, are short of a player to complete the 40-man roster. It is not known at this point in time as to what their next move will be. But with today’s additions, the Brewers have protected some of the valuable and talented young players.
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