If Cooper Pratt was truly nervous heading into his major league debut on Tueday night, June 16, he sure was putting up a good façade.
The 21-year-old prospect was officially recalled from Class AAA Nashville and immediately placed in the starting lineup at shortstop as the Milwaukee Brewers opened a three-game interleague series against the Cleveland Guardians.
Infielder Luis Rengifo was designated for assignment to clear space for Pratt on the 26-man roster.
“I’m excited, man,” Pratt told a gathering of reporters in American Family Field’s media auditorium, answering questions with the ease of a 10-year veteran in a 12-minute news conference. “I wasn’t like expecting to sleep, but I slept fine. Probably some of the better sleep that I’ve had. Everyone’s like, “Oh, did you sleep last night?
“Like, ‘Yeah, I slept pretty good, actually.'”
Truth be told, Pratt knew this moment would be coming probably sooner than later ever since he signed an eight-year, $50 million contract extension in early April.
His placement on the 40-man roster in the wake of that move, combined with the continued offensive struggles of incumbent shortstop Joey Ortiz, had been anticipated by most ever since Pratt put pen to paper. And indeed, Pratt is now the man, with manager Pat Murphy explaining Ortiz will remain in the mix at shortstop, second base and third base.
“The pieces fit easily,” he said. “This is a kid we signed for long term in Cooper. We feel confident that he will be our shortstop in the future. He’s going to play now. We’re well aware of a guy making his first trip into big leagues, that could go many different ways. ‘When are they ready? When is it a perfect time?’
“Right now, in my opinion, it doesn’t really matter. It matters that he gets comfortable in the big leagues, understands it, starts to make his adjustments he needs to make, and then we roll from there. Joey is a huge part of our organization and has been. We will never forget what he’s done for us at shortstop, and can do at shortstop again. But he also can play third, he can play second.
“We’ve got to think of ways to get (Brice) Turang more breathers. (David) Hamilton can go play second. We’ve got a pretty good combination there. We can play Joey at third against lefties, we can play Hamilton against righties, we can give Pratt a rest and go Hamilton at short that we have a cadre of people that can play third.”
Pratt arrives on the scene having hit .241 with six home runs, 32 runs batted in and an OPS of .735 with 17 stolen bases in 58 games at Nashville, where he also forged a .991 fielding percentage in 479 ⅔ innings as the Sounds’ primary shortstop.
News of Pratt’s impending callup broke on Sunday, June 14 when he was shown being congratulated by teammates in Nashville’s dugout during the Sounds’ game, and he had a day to settle in and let it marinate a little with the Brewers being off on Monday.
“It didn’t really quite hit me until like later that night,” said Pratt. “I was like, ‘Dang, it’s going to be a little bit different than Nashville. Nashville still gets a lot of fans, and I remember playing in the Futures Game, and there were a lot of fans there. I’m going to look around for a second and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is pretty amazing,’ but then it goes back to baseball.
“Once the once the game starts, everything kind of starts to slow down, and it’s been like that with every level.”
Pratt’s ascent has been a quick one; it’s been just under three years since the Brewers drafted him in the sixth round out of Magnolia Heights in Senatobia, Mississippi, and eventually convinced him to forego a scholarship to Ole Miss for a well-over-slot sum of $1.35 million.
“I was thinking about it,” said Pratt. “Like, I was in high school three years ago.”
In a total of 286 minor-league games since then Pratt forged a .256 average and .733 OPS while rating out as a plus defender. His swing decisions have improved and his power continues to develop (22 total homers to date) with his 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame making him one of the bigger shortstops physically in the majors.
The sum of his talents made him a fast riser on prospect lists as well; Pratt was ranked as the Brewers’ No. 2 minor-leaguer in December by the Journal Sentinel.
“Really confident he can play defense,” said Murphy. “It might take him a week or two to get adjusted, but I think we’re very confident in what he can do. It’s baseball IQ, just ‘Give a crap,’ and his competitiveness. I’m confident he can play. It might take a while, but we’ve got Joey right there, we’ve got Hamilton right there.
“We’ve got three guys that can play short pretty well, and we’ve got a number of guys that can play third. Yeah, I think we’re strong when Cooper’s at full strength and Cooper’s doing his thing.”
Pratt, the first of two Brewers prospects to sign long-term extensions in the past two months – outfielder Luis Lara did so last week as well – admitted to pressing a bit in the aftermath of locking in his deal.
“I mean, at the beginning I was trying to do probably more than I should have,” he said. “I was trying to get five hits every game. Obviously, I’m still trying to get five hits every game. That would be pretty fantastic. But no, it was a different kind of pressure.
“Once I finally started to play more games, it was like, ‘Oh man, it’s baseball. Who cares? I’m going to have bad games. I’m going to have good games.’ And then, when I started to realize that, I started to see success, and I started to play better baseball and be more consistent.”
Pratt stepped into familiar environs when he arrived at the ballpark having been in major league camp each of the last two springs and also having played a couple exhibition games here in late March just prior to the Brewers’ season opener.
Now, he hops onto a train that’s already well down the tracks with Milwaukee playing once again like one of the best teams in baseball and sitting in first place in the Central Division standings.
“I mean, you always want to play meaningful baseball,” Pratt said. “Play in the playoffs, where every game is meaningful. You want to win a World Series, and this team’s won the division three in a row. They know how to win, and I just want to be a small part of that in any way that I can.”
Murphy has known Pratt’s family for many years – his uncle, Trent, played for Murphy at Arizona State and is currently head coach at BYU – and he feels more than comfortable with his new shortstop’s competitiveness and reputation as a gamer.
Even still, he delivered a strong message to Pratt in advance of his debut.
“I don’t candy coat it. I’m not trying to look for a soft landing,” said Murphy. “I said, ‘Coop, if you’re looking to take the pressure off, go someplace else, because there’s pressure and there’s standards here to play winning baseball. So, if you’re not ready for that, this is going to be a lost cause.
“‘I don’t care about anything else. You’ve got to understand that. Then, offensively, you can’t leave the zone. We don’t leave the zone. So, if you’re going to do that, you’re going to find yourself back in Triple-A. You have to understand how we play the game, and the standards are high.'”
Rengifo, meanwhile, departs Milwaukee having been a major disappointment after signing for $3.5 million early in spring training.
He accounted for minus-4 Wins Above Replacement after hitting .205 with an OPS of .574. He failed to homer and drove in 19 runs in a total of 57 games as the primary third baseman.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: No sign of nerves for Cooper Pratt as he makes his MLB debut for Brewers
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
