Brewers add Voit, Naquin on minor-league deals

The Milwaukee Brewers are adding first baseman Luke Voit and outfielder Tyler Naquin on minor-league contracts that include invites to spring training.

Voit, 32, is coming off a down year in which he hit .226/.308/.402 with 22 home runs and 69 RBIs over 135 games split between the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals.

"Luke's been a really good hitter in this league, and he's a bat. He's a hitter," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday, according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "And not long ago, he put up some very, very good seasons. So, it's another option with the bat, and we'll kind of see how that shakes out."

Voit was part of the blockbuster deal that sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to the Padres before last year's trade deadline. He struggled with an uncharacteristically low .676 OPS after joining Washington.

The former 22nd-round pick boasts an .818 OPS (124 OPS+) with 95 homers in 486 games over six years with four clubs. Voit broke into the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals before they traded him to the New York Yankees in exchange for Giovanny Gallegos and Chasen Shreve. He spent three-and-a-half years in the Bronx, earning downballot MVP consideration in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign after hitting an MLB-best 22 round-trippers.

Naquin hit .229/.282/.423 with 11 homers and four stolen bases over 105 games between the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets in 2022. A relatively productive lefty hitter, the 31-year-old is a veteran of seven MLB seasons and boasts a .765 OPS (100 OPS+) in 557 career games while primarily playing center and right field.