Brewers designate Luke Voit for assignment
Luke Voit’s tenure with the Brewers has ended — and his post-Yankees career, once again, will lead him to a different team.
Milwaukee designated Voit for assignment Monday, according to multiple reports, after he hit .221 with a .548 OPS across 22 games in the majors this season.
He didn’t hit any homers, one of his featured contributions with the Yankees for parts of four seasons.
In the shortened 2020 campaign, Voit led the majors with 22 homers, and he hit 68 across his tenure in The Bronx, which started in 2018 after a trade from the Cardinals.
His DFA is the latest for a number of ex-Yankees who the franchise had hoped would be key cogs in title runs.
Catcher Gary Sanchez was DFA’d by the Mets last week after previously failing to turn a minor league shot with the Giants into a major league deal.
Luke Voit was designated for assignment by the Brewers on Monday. Getty Images
Similarly, Clint Frazier is attempting to find his way back to the majors with the White Sox organization and center fielder Aaron Hicks received his outright release from the Yankees on Friday.
Unless Voit accepts an outright assignment to the minors, the 32-year-old will likely play for his fourth organization in the two seasons since the Yankees sent him to the Padres in March 2022 for pitching prospect Justin Lange.
He played in 82 games for San Diego to start 2022 and was included in the trade with Washington that sent All-Star Juan Soto to the Padres in exchange for a handful of prospects and veterans. Voit hit nine homers and drove in 21 runs in 53 games with the Nationals.
Luke Voit, pictured in 2021, led the majors in homers the previous season while with the Yankees. Getty Images
He signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in February, and Voit then opted out of that deal to secure a one-year contract, with a club option for 2024, following a strong spring training.
“I like this opportunity,” Voit told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in March, after pushing the opt-out date back a week. “You put the early [opt-out] in, obviously, in case something else happens. Maybe another guy gets injured or something, some other spot opens up for you. It’s there for their sake, too, to know it’s early but put pressure on them.”
Voit told the Journal Sentinel that he was “raking right now,” but that success from the spring didn’t translate to the regular season.
He struck out in 27 of his 68 at-bats while playing at first base in 11 games when not serving as the designated hitter.
The Brewers placed Voit on the 10-day injured list with a neck strain May 15. Five days later, he started a rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville.
He played in eight games with the Sounds, and Sunday night, the day before the Brewers decided on his future with the club, Voit went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.
Luke Voit has played for three teams since the Yankees traded him to the Padres. Getty Images
It marked the second time in three games that Voit had driven in three runs after starting his rehab assignment 0-for-7.
Source: New York Post
