The Brewers signed left-hander Wade LeBlanc, infielder Logan Forsythe and catcher Christian Kelley to minor league contracts, per a team announcement. All three will open the season with their top minor league affiliate in Nashville.
LeBlanc, 36, began the season with the Orioles but was designated for assignment after six appearances. He spent the 2020 season with Baltimore as well, but the overall results weren’t pretty. The soft-tossing southpaw logged 29 frames with the Birds and was clobbered for 27 runs on 38 hits and nine walks with 19 strikeouts.
That said, LeBlanc has a pretty lengthy track record at the big league level and was particularly effective from 2014-18, when he tallied 321 2/3 innings of 3.92 ERA ball spread across stints with the Angels, Yankees, Pirates and Mariners. He notched a career-high 162 innings with the 2018 Mariners and turned in a very solid 3.72 ERA in that time.
Forsythe, 34, brings a solid track record of his own to the Brewers. He’s spent parts of 10 seasons in the majors and is experienced at all four infield positions. His peak came with the 2015-16 Rays, when he slashed a combined .273/.347/.444 as the team’s primary second baseman. He’s struggled at the plate and bounced around the league in journeyman fashion since that time. Overall, Forsythe is a career .244/.326/.369 hitter. He’s a versatile right-handed bat who’ll give the Brewers a depth option with a similar skill set to that of 2020 utilityman Jedd Gyorko (albeit without as much success at the plate).
The 27-year-old Kelley has never appeared in the majors. He’s spent his career to this point in the Pirates organization, topping out with a rough Triple-A showing in 2019. Kelley was an 11th-round pick by the Bucs back in 2015 and carries only a career .229/.311/.306 batting line as a professional. However, he’s regarded as a sound defender, rating as the best defensive catcher in Pittsburgh’s system from 2018-20, per Baseball America. He’ll give the Brewers some depth with both Omar Narvaez and Manny Pina on the injured list.
More must-reads: