MILWAUKEE -- Cooper Pratt, the 21-year-old shortstop whose promise was evident when the Brewers signed him to an eight-year contract in April, is set to take the next step.
The Brewers are expected to promote Pratt (Brewers No. 4 prospect, MLB No. 63, per MLB Pipeline) from Triple-A Nashville for Tuesday’s series opener against the Guardians at American Family Field, a source told MLB.com.
Pratt was seen hugging and high-fiving teammates during the sixth inning of the Sounds’ Sunday finale against Durham.
“It looks like we are all finding out together that Pratt is going to the big leagues,” said Sounds broadcaster Jeff Hem. “It is all smiles and high fives and hugs in the Sounds dugout. Pratt, it certainly looks like, is headed to the Brewers.”
The Brewers haven’t confirmed the promotion and probably won’t until Tuesday, as is customary.
Milwaukee will have to make a corresponding move, and the most likely odd man out is infielder Luis Rengifo, who was visited by athletic trainers twice after getting banged up in the field and at the plate during Sunday’s 4-0 win over the Phillies. Rengifo remained in the game, but finished the day hitting .205 with a .534 OPS and no home runs this season.
He inked a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Brewers in February that has not paid dividends thus far. Notably, Tuesday is the first day that teams are allowed to trade players who are in the first year of free-agent contracts.
Brewers officials have been plotting the timing of a Pratt promotion for some time, and if Rengifo is indeed the move, either via injured list or a DFA, the club could play Pratt at shortstop. That’s his natural position and one the team has in mind for the long term, and would move Joey Ortiz to third. Ortiz has been great defensively, but is in the midst of a multiyear offensive outage, with a .561 OPS despite better production recently.
Why move a player who has been so terrific in the field for an unproven prospect? Pratt has a reputation as a standout defender, and teams typically wait to promote prospects of his caliber until they are ready to install the player at one position and play him regularly.
Pratt wasn't the only top Brewers prospect on the move Sunday. Third baseman and 2025 first-round Draft pick Andrew Fischer confirmed via his Instagram that he was headed to Double-A Biloxi after hitting a club-record 20 home runs for High-A Wisconsin.
Pratt is hitting .244/.353/.392 at Triple-A this season with six home runs and 17 stolen bases. He is one of three Brewers prospects in recent years to sign mega-contracts before stepping foot in the Major Leagues, joining outfielder Jackson Chourio in December 2023 (eight years, $82 million) and outfielder Luis Lara just last week (seven years, $31 million).
Chourio was in the Majors months later. Now Pratt is, too.