UPDATED: Brewers to promote top catching prospect

We are just one game into the regular season, but we’ve already seen the Brewers make one surprise IL placement and promotion with Jackson Chourio and Blake Perkins on Opening Day. Now it appears we’ll have another surprise move just ahead of the second game of the year.

Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reported that first baseman Andrew Vaughn is dealing with a hand injury suffered on Opening Day. Vaughn was pinch-ran for in the sixth inning after a single up the middle. But the pinch-runner didn’t come until the middle of the count two batters later. The Brewers have not yet confirmed the transaction.

The 23-year-old Quero will be making his MLB debut. Quero has been beset by injuries the last few years. He injured his throwing shoulder in his first game at Triple-A in 2024 and that required season-ending surgery. His return in 2025 from that shoulder surgery was delayed by a hamstring issue. Quero’s elite throwing arm was weakened by the shoulder surgery but appeared to be back on track as a big league-caliber arm this spring. Pat Murphy confirmed pop times in the 1.9-second range.

Quero is a career .275/.353/.452 hitter in the minor leagues and has quite a bit of pop. He slugged 16 home runs in 2023 in the pitcher-friendly Southern League. He’s routinely been viewed as a prospect with everyday potential and All-Star upside behind the plate. The bar for success for catchers is pretty low, but Quero has a well-rounded offensive game and approach at the plate.

Last season in Triple-A Nashville, Quero hit .271/.361/.478 with 17 doubles, 11 homers, and 32 walks to 40 strikeouts across 69 games.

The Brewers allowed Danny Jansen to walk in free agency this offseason and it seemed for most of the winter the Brewers might just simply allow Quero to backup Contreras this year. The late signing of Sánchez to a major league deal changed that calculus to allow Quero some more development time in Triple-A and more regular at-bats. Instead, after just one game, Quero is going to get his ABs in the major leagues.

With Quero coming up to replace Vaughn, it’s likely Gary Sánchez could see some time at first base and Quero provides some insurance behind the plate. We could also see some more of Christian Yelich in the outfield, which opens up a DH spot for Sánchez or Quero while still having a backup catcher.

In 2024, Quero played opening day for Nashville and was done for the year. In 2026, Quero played opening day for Nashville and is getting the call to Milwaukee.