The Brewers promote several players to the big league active roster for the September 1st roster expansion.
The reality of the Brewers minor league system is that they have a good number of big league ready players at the top of the system and not a great deal of talent further down the organization.
The bullpen is one interesting area where a good number of pitchers will be jostling for limited open spots next season. Two left-handers get the call up from Chester in the recently acquired Eric Marino, who appeared in 15 games with Oklahoma City earlier in the year with mediocre results, and Brewers 1967 supplemental 1st round draft pick Jeremy Walker, who appeared in 3 games for the Brewers last September. (Walker joins Joe McPhillips and Josh Schaeffer on the team from that 1967 draft class which is starting to look like the Brewers best yet.)
Veteran reliever Antonio Rojas, who the Brewers signed to a minor league free agent contract in early July, was brought up to give some veteran presence to the 'pen. Rojas has control issues but features a great cutter, impressive movement, and is an extreme groundball pitcher.
Eric Johnson also returns to the team, having gotten off to an impressive start in 1973 for the Brewers but then struggling and being sent back to Chester.
Among position players called up, first baseman Greg Tietz, who hit so well, and with power, in his 21 games in a Brewers uniform earlier in the season, returns. Joe Willemse, getting a bit of a longer audition (he was with the team for 3 games earlier in the year) to join Oscar Vargas as a utility infielder and defensive specialist, is called up. Like Vargas, Willemse can play pretty much any infield position at near gold glove levels (or better). Unlike Vargas he doesn't have much power and won't draw many walks, but he is a much better contact hitter than Oscar and has better foot speed (though he isn't a very good base stealer.) Plus, he is a good left-handed compliment at the plate to Vargas right-handed bat.
Perhaps the most intriguing call-up is 23-year old catcher Zacharias Martell. This is Martell's first taste of the bigs but the thought among the Brewers scouting staff is that he is ready to stick at the WPK level. He has the potential to deliver Kevin Curtis-type defense (which is to say, gold glove level) though with a bit of a weaker arm. And while he isn't likely to be a star at the plate, he looks solidly average to even a bit above average as a hitter. The real question is whether this will mean the beginning of the end for Spencer Wilson in a Brewers uniform. Like Wilson, Martell is a left-handed hitter and while Wilson is a hard-working player, Martell profiles even better in terms of makeup which could bode well for his future development. He is also a little more than a year younger than Wilson. The thought is that Wilson could be a starter elsewhere and might make for good trade bait in the off-season, should it appear that Martell is ready to back-up Curtis in 1974.
