Milwaukee Brewers Sign 3rd Baseman Zach Green to Minor League Deal

The Milwaukee Brewers have been busy this week after signing third baseman Zach Green to a minor league contract on Thursday.

Considering that it is the first week of December, David Stearns and the Milwaukee Brewers have been quite busy this week. On Tuesday, they signed catcher Luke Maile; on Wednesday, they had to make their non-tender decisions, and on Thursday, they agreed to a minor league deal with third baseman Zach Green that includes an invitation to spring training.

The 26-year-old Green was a former third-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies back in 2012, who has found decent success in the minor leagues. Over his career, which has spanned over 2,000 at-bats, he has a career slash line of .262/.331/.468 with 89 home runs. His best minor league season came in 2019 with Sacramento — a Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants — where Green posted a slash line of .282/.380/.659 and a wRC+ of 140.

Green spent 2020 at the Giants’ alternate training site but was never called up. His only action big league action came in 2019 with San Francisco, where he recorded a .143 batting average, an OPS of .464, and an OPS+ of only 26 (league average is 100) over 16 plate appearances. It’s also worth mentioning that over his career, Green has been prone to striking out and doesn’t draw many walks.

Defensively, Green has played a lot of third base as well as some first base over his career, which just so happens to be where the Milwaukee Brewers need some help. Not only is Milwaukee thin at the corner infield positions at the big league level, but also in the minors as well.

I don’t anticipate that this is the only addition Stearns and Matt Arnold will make at the corner infield position this offseason; rather, Green provides upside and depth at a position where that is lacking in the organization. Let’s see what he can do with this opportunity.