Mark Rogers becomes one of the few, the proud, the Maine natives to play major league baseball.

The Milwaukee Brewers have added the Orr’s Island native to their 40-man active roster, according to multiple published reports.

Rogers, 24, is expected to be in uniform for this weekend’s home series with the Chicago Cubs.

“He’ll be a starting pitcher for them,” Rogers’ mother, Stephanie, told the Times Record of Brunswick. “We’ll be there when he does pitch … I’m not going to miss that.”

Although the Brewers have not officially announced the move yet, general manager Doug Melvin confirmed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Rogers’ late-season promotion is “a strong possibility.”

“If he can get a few innings in, he can benefit from it,” Melvin added. “The work he gets in isn’t as important as the experience of seeing what it’s like in the big leagues for the first time. His pitch counts and walks were high (in the minor leagues). That’s what he has to work on. But his stuff is good.”

It has been a rocky ride for Rogers, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound righthander, since he turned pro at 18.

Rogers was named Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2004, when he led Mt. Ararat High School of Topsham to an Eastern Class A championship. Relying heavily on a fastball clocked in the mid-90s, Rogers was 9-1 and racked up an astonishing 164 strikeouts in 67 innings.

The Brewers selected Rogers with the fifth overall pick in the first round of the amateur draft that June. His initial signing bonus topped $2 million.

But Rogers struggled early as the Brewers addressed some issues with his mechanics that they believed were dangerous to his long-term health.

Shoulder problems set in, anyway. Milwaukee shut down Rogers’ 2006 season early. Rogers underwent multiple surgeries and missed all of 2007 and 2008.

“It was tough sitting back hurt and watching players you were drafted with advance and make it to the major leagues,” Rogers told MLB.com earlier this year. “But I had to get over feeling sorry for myself real quick. That was my situation, and I had to deal with it.

“I wasn’t on the mound for two years, but it wasn’t all lost time. I learned a lot about pitching, and I think that has really helped me.”

Rogers returned to high Class A Brevard County in 2009, making 22 starts but working on a strict pitch count. He was 1-3 with a 1.67 ERA, averaging more than a strikeout per inning.

Milwaukee moved Rogers to Double-A Huntsville of the Southern League this year. In 24 starts, Rogers was 6-8 with a 3.71 ERA. He hurled 111 innings, accumulating that same number of strikeouts while allowing only 86 hits. Opponents batted under .200, and Rogers allowed only three home runs.

In a spot start at Triple-A Nashville, Rogers allowed only one run and three hits over 4 1/3 innings.

Rogers is said to have thrown as hard as 101 mph this season.

“He’s come back from the calamity with his arm as well as you could have ever imagined,” John Curtis, Rogers’ pitching coach at Huntsville and a former major league pitcher, said to MLB.com. “After a couple of debilitating injuries, he’s back to where you would never know it happened. It’s great to see. He’s worked his butt off.”

Milwaukee is currently 64-74, 15 games behind the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central.

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