Infielder Luis Rengifo has agreed to a one-year Major League deal with the Brewers, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand on Friday. Rengifo will get $3.5 million guaranteed and can earn another $1.5 million in incentives, and the deal includes a $10 million mutual option for 2027, per source. The club has not confirmed the deal.
The 28-year-old figures to become a front-runner to land the starting third-base job on Opening Day, as the Brewers traded away their entire depth chart at the hot corner to the Red Sox on Monday for left-handers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan and infielder David Hamilton.
From 2022-24, Rengifo established himself as a very useful utility player, producing above-average offense while playing multiple positions. Unfortunately, Rengifo experienced a down 2025 season, going from a .754 OPS from 2022-24 to a .622 OPS last season in a career-high 147 games (he had never appeared in more than 127 games in a season before last year).
The biggest culprits in his decline were a jump in strikeout rate (up to 19.2 percent, his highest since 2021) and a decline in power. After slugging above .400 in each year from 2022-24, Rengifo’s slugging percentage dropped to .335 last season, the fourth-lowest mark among all qualified hitters.
Rengifo’s quality of contact, for what it’s worth, didn’t actually fall off, though. His barrel rate, hard-hit rate and average exit velocity were essentially the same as they had been the previous three seasons. That means there’s some hope that Rengifo, who will only be 29 next year, could find his previous form.
Rengifo’s skills are mostly still intact and even with the jump in strikeout rate, his whiff rate was largely the same. If the bounceback does happen, look for a 1.5-2-WAR player that fills an important utility role. When Rengifo was at his best with the Angels, he was one of their most valuable players and was constantly viewed as a trade target given his usefulness in many regards.