Brewers Opening Day Roster Projection 3.0: Outfield Surprise Ends Suspense

The Milwaukee Brewers made their big move on Thursday, and the rest of the roster picture is fairly straightforward.

By choosing Brandon Lockridge over Blake Perkins for the fourth outfielder spot, the Brewers eliminated most of the remaining suspense over the opening day roster, with the possible exception of the injury decision on Brandon Woodruff.

Has anything else changed from roster projection 2.0 outside of Lockridge taking over Perkins' spot? Read on to find out.

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Full Brewers roster projection, version 3.0

Starting lineup vs. White Sox RHP Shane Smith:
1. Jackson Chourio LF
2. Brice Turang 2B
3. William Contreras C
4. Christian Yelich DH
5. Andrew Vaughn 1B
6. Sal Frelick RF
7. Luis Rengifo 3B
8. Garrett Mitchell CF
9. Joey Ortiz SS

This group has been fairly set in stone since Rengifo arrived as a late free-agent signing about a week into spring training. He takes over for Caleb Durbin, who was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Kyle Harrison, who appears in our projected rotation below.

Meanwhile, it's a big year for Mitchell and Ortiz to prove that they belong in the Brewers' long-term plans. Vaughn proved himself to Brewers fans with a huge second half last year, but as an impending free agent, he'll be under the microscope as well.

Bench:
C - Gary Sánchez
1B/OF - Jake Bauers
INF - David Hamilton
OF - Brandon Lockridge

Lockridge was the big winner of spring training, as his 1.128 OPS and four home runs in 12 games earned him the final spot over Blake Perkins, who was on the postseason roster for Milwaukee. Bauers could get some extra looks in the outfield with Perkins in the minors as well.

Rotation:
1. Brandon Woodruff (R)
2. Jacob Misiorowski (R)
3.. Chad Patrick (R)
4. Kyle Harrison (L)
5. Brandon Sproat (R)

Brandon Woodruff's build-up from his lat injury has been slow, but he threw four innings in Cactus League play on Thursday, and righty Chad Patrick was optioned to Triple-A. The stage seems to be set for Woodruff to join the rotation right from the jump.

Harrison's blister issue should be cleared up by the end of next weekend, so that should enable the Brewers to carry their most formidable group possible when factoring in the injury setback for Quinn Priester.

Bullpen:
CL - Trevor Megill (R)
SU - Abner Uribe (R)
Jared Koenig (L)
Aaron Ashby (L)
Angel Zerpa (L)
DL Hall (L)
Grant Anderson (R)
Easton McGee (R)

Two changes happened here, as Rob Zastryzny and Craig Yoho both appear ticketed for the injured list to start the year. That opens the door for the lefty Hall and the righty McGee to claim spots. We continue to believe Uribe will eventually seize the closer job at some point this season, but Megill has to take preference for now.