PHOENIX -- Assuming Mother Nature plays along, three-fifths of the Brewers’ potential pitching rotation will take the mound for an inning apiece Saturday against the Rangers in Surprise, Ariz. It’s the opener of a 32-game Cactus League schedule and a 34-game exhibition slate in preparation for the team’s March 26 Opening Day matchup against the Cubs at Miller Park.

The weather forecast is foreboding after two weeks of sunshine, but if the Brewers get the game in, they plan to send Josh Lindblom (the scheduled starter), Eric Lauer and Adrian Houser to the mound against Texas.

“Every year, everybody looks forward to the games getting started because you finally feel like you get back to baseball,” said Lauer, one of the players acquired by the Brewers in a pre-Thanksgiving trade with the Padres.

He’s one of the Brewers working on a new pitch. Lauer altered his changeup grip at the start of this camp and is eager to see if the promising early results in the bullpen translate to game situations as Spring Training rolls along.

So far, the data says he has something. But hitters’ swings will help tell the story.

“It’s a different feel, there’s different anxieties and different adrenaline in game situations,” Lauer said. “Even in live [batting practice], you don’t get that same feel for how things are coming out and how things are working against hitters who don’t know you.”

“I think everyone is excited to get a little competition going,” added Houser. “Especially after the ‘lives’ the last couple of days, you’ve got a little adrenaline flowing.”

Last year, Houser’s spring was clouded by uncertainty. He’d been saddled with a fourth Minor League option the previous offseason, so an Opening Day roster spot wasn’t assured. Neither was his role, and Houser indeed bounced between the rotation (18 starts) and bullpen (17 relief appearances).

This year, the Brewers enter the season committed to Houser in the rotation. Brandon Woodruff, Brett Anderson and Lindblom are also locked in. Lauer has a very good shot. The Brewers will also look at Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta as starters, plus non-roster invitee Shelby Miller. And left-hander Brent Suter will “stretch out” early in Spring Training in the event he is needed in the rotation.

“I wouldn’t say it changes my mindset so much,” Houser said of having a foothold. “I still want to go out and prove I can earn this spot in the rotation. There’s a little bit of a weight lifted, I guess you could say, off my shoulders. But I don’t want to just be like, ‘I’m in this spot’ and lollygag through the spring. I want to hit the ground running and be ready for the season.”

If rain impacts Saturday’s game, Monday’s scheduled split-squad games against the Angels at home and A’s on the road will help keep the pitchers on schedule, manager Craig Counsell said. Saturday’s scheduled pitchers could bump to Sunday against the Padres, and Sunday’s scheduled pitchers could move to Monday, when innings will be plentiful.

Saturday's game can be heard on the Brewers Radio Network, with first pitch set for 2:05 p.m. CT.

Narvaez easing in
The Brewers have been careful not to overload their new catcher, Omar Narváez, who is learning a new pitching staff after coming over in a trade with the Mariners. Narváez is scheduled to be the starting catcher for Saturday’s Cactus League opener, but the Brewers don’t plan to play him more than any other catcher in camp.

“We’ll catch him to get him ready for the season,” Counsell said. “There’s a finite amount that we can put on somebody’s plate. … We’re not going to be able to accomplish everything we want [all at once]. Every game you play accomplishes a little bit, and that’s how you roll with it.”

Much of Narváez’s work has been alongside incumbent catcher Manny Piña, who is entering his fifth season with the Brewers.

"Manny has been a real success for our system,” Counsell said. “Having a catcher in year five of what we do and who we work with, you can just tell Manny has been around for a while. He's so comfortable with everything. And he picks everything up so, so fast. And he knows what to expect. Manny has become a coach for us in a large sense. He's a coach for Omar, for sure.”

Last call
• Brock Holt’s one-year deal with the Brewers guarantees $3.25 million, according to a report from MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal. Holt gets a $2.5 million salary for 2020 with a $5 million club option for 2021 or a $750,000 buyout. The deal also includes incentives; $250,000 each for 400, 425 and 450 plate appearances.

• Counsell, on the plan for fifth outfielder Ben Gamel: “The opportunities that you could plan for Ben are not going to be there, necessarily. For Ben, I don’t know where the at-bats are going to come from. And I think when you’re adding a position player to a roster -- every team is essentially adding a position player -- somebody is going to lose at-bats, for sure. It’s not going to be those other guys. But I also think that through the course of injuries, there’s still going to be time for a guy to play outfield. Obviously, Ben’s defensive skills give him an advantage, and he is a left-handed bat, which I think is always valuable on the bench. So he’s got some things working for him.”

• The Mariners claimed right-hander Taylor Williams off the waiver wire on Friday, two days after the Brewers designated the 28-year-old reliever for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot for Holt. Williams was a fourth-round Draft pick in 2013 whose star was ascending before Tommy John surgery in 2015 cost him two full seasons and altered the course of his career. He pitched in the Majors for Milwaukee in each of the past three seasons but never gained a foothold, logging a 5.23 ERA. He did have a Minor League option remaining, but the Brewers needed space on their full 40-man roster.