The Brewers’ system is well below the median but on the way back after a couple of solid draft classes and the arrival of the prospects they signed in their last big international splash back in 2018. With the club still contending and some depth at shortstop and center field, they have a surplus from which to trade if they need something in July to bolster the big-league roster.
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To qualify for these rankings, players must still be eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award in 2022, which means they may not have more than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on an active roster heading into this season.
1. Brice Turang, SS (Top 100 ranking: No. 85)
Age: 22 | 6-0 | 173 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 21 in 2018
Turang was the Brewers’ first-round pick in 2018, a highly regarded high school shortstop with good actions and sure hands but some questions around what his offensive game might eventually look like. In pro ball, he’s shown an excellent approach at the plate but has yet to do much damage when working himself into good counts. Turang hit just six homers last year, but has more power than that, with 15-18 homer upside, needing to add a little strength but mostly to learn to put the ball in the air more often — he can hit the ball hard enough, but his groundball rate spiked to over 50 percent when he reached Triple A and faced the major-league baseball. In the field, he’s excellent on routine plays, a solid 55/60 overall, although I’ve had scouts suggest he might be a better defender in center than at short. He’s already reached Triple A and will play at 22 this whole year, with a core skill set that gives him a high floor as at least a great super-utility player, with above-average regular upside as a shortstop who gets on base with moderate power.
2. Sal Frelick, OF (Top 100 ranking: No. 88)
Age: 22 | 5-9 | 175 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 15 in 2021
Frelick started his spring at Boston College on fire, with talk that he might end up a top-six pick come draft day, but the power didn’t last through conference play, which in turn is probably how he ended up available to the Brewers at the No. 15 pick. Frelick is a high-contact centerfielder with more strength than you might guess from his 5-foot-9 frame, perhaps never getting to 10 homers a year but with plenty of power to make hard contact against big-league pitching. He walked more than he struck out in his three years at BC, and then drew 21 walks against 25 strikeouts in pro ball, finishing the summer in High A. His swing is compact and quick, he’s a plus runner, and he plays plus defense in center with some experience at second base from summer wood bat leagues. Garrett Mitchell might have more upside, but he has far more risk, making Frelick the Brewers’ more likely centerfielder and leadoff man of the future.
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3. Garrett Mitchell, OF (Just-missed list)
Age: 23 | 6-3 | 215 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 20 in 2020
Mitchell was the Brewers’ first-round pick in 2020 out of UCLA, a 70 runner and 70 defender in center who hit well in college. He has an unorthodox swing and ran into big trouble in Double A at the end of 2021, hitting .186/.291/.264 in 35 games for Biloxi, which would be less of a concern if the swing were more conventional. He’s also had trouble staying healthy, with a muscle strain in his knee that cost him three weeks, and missed the last week of the Shuckers’ season. He already faced some questions about his durability because he has diabetes, and combined with the below-average power projection and doubts about the hit tool, it was enough to keep him off the top 100. There’s at least an argument that he should be behind the Brewers’ second pick from 2021, infielder Tyler Black.
4. Tyler Black, 2B/3B
Age: 21 | 6-2 | 190 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 33 in 2021
Black was a first-round talent who was still available for the Brewers’ second pick at No. 33 overall after coming off a great spring for Wright State where he played second, third, a little shortstop and hit .383/.496/.683. The Canadian-born infielder is twitchy with good bat speed and solid plate discipline, getting under the ball sometimes as he tries to hit for power, but it’s a modest tweak for him to fix. He’s best suited to second base, but he’ll be an offensive second baseman. I like his chances to become a 55 regular thanks to his hit/on-base/run tools.
5. Joey Wiemer, OF
Age: 23 | 6-5 | 215 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 121 in 2020
Wiemer plays like his hair’s on fire, with some effort to everything he does, and yet he makes it all work, hitting .296/.403/.556 last year with 27 homers between both levels of A-ball. He was 22 and a four-year college product, so he was old for Low A in particular, but he kept raking in High A and in a brief run through the AFL. He has a cannon for an arm and plenty of power to be a regular in right, maybe even an above-average one. He’s already improved in so many little ways since signing that I don’t want to underestimate him.
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6. Jeferson Quero, C
Age: 19 | 5-10 | 165 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Injuries — including a concussion, a hamstring pull and a shoulder dislocation — limited Quero to 23 games, although now that I write that it’s surprising that he finished the year in one piece. He’s a potentially plus defender behind the plate with a slashing swing that will produce a lot of contact, perhaps not with power. It’s early and we don’t have a lot of game performance to go on, but premium defensive catchers who can hit are worth a ton, as you can see from the top 100 this year.
7. Aaron Ashby, LHP
Age: 24 | 6-2 | 181 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Left
Drafted: No. 125 in 2018
Ashby was awful in his major-league debut, and in his last game of the season; between those two appearances, he threw 24 1/3 innings in the big leagues, striking out 33, walking six, with a 2.22 ERA, mostly working in relief. He’s a four-pitch guy, sitting mid-90s without much life or movement, with a plus slider that kills right-handed batters. It’s largely a matter of command and control for Ashby — he doesn’t repeat his delivery that well, and while he didn’t walk many guys in the majors, he has had consistently higher walk rates in the minors. If he can get to 50 control and 45 command, he might be able to start. He should be very effective in a swing or relief role if he can’t.
8. Jackson Chourio, OF
Age: 18 | 6-1 | 165 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Chourio was a shortstop when the Brewers first agreed to terms with him, but they’ve since moved him to center field in response to an elbow issue he had when he first signed, and he’s taken to the position extremely well. He’s a plus runner with quick hands, setting up with a wide stance and no stride. So while he should get to harder contact as he fills out, I’m not sure how much game power we’ll see until he lets his legs play more.
9. Hedbert Perez, OF
Age: 19 | 5-10 | 160 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
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Signed for just $700,000 in 2019, Perez hits the ball extremely hard, and is confident enough that he can do so that he hasn’t developed much selectivity, which cost him in a brief late-season promotion to Low A. He’s very strong and has tremendous bat speed, so the ball just flies off his bat, but in rookie ball he was able to make hard contact on some out-of-zone pitches, like fastballs up, that won’t fly at higher levels; he was just 18, so young for full-season ball, but pitchers there exploited his free-swinging habits, striking him out 25 times in 68 PA. He’s 5-10 with a thicker body for his age, so he doesn’t have a lot of projection, although there’s probably 20-25 homer power in here right now, which will play just fine in a corner.
10. Freddy Zamora, SS
Age: 23 | 6-1 | 190 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 53 in 2020
Zamora can flat play shortstop and showed last year he could control the strike zone enough to put the ball in play consistently, which should be enough to make him at least a utility guy in the big leagues. He had no homers through July 6 but hit six the rest of the way. And if he’s really a 10-12 homer a year guy, he’s got a chance to be a solid regular.
11. Ethan Small, LHP
Age: 25 | 6-4 | 215 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
Drafted: No. 28 in 2019
Small comes straight over the top with a 90-93 mph fastball, 12-to-6 curveball and above-average changeup, and had been a command/control guy prior to 2021. He struggled with both last year, with a 13 percent walk rate, and between that and the high slot it seems more likely he’ll end up in the pen than in a rotation. He missed about six weeks with a strained tendon in a finger on his right hand but has altered his slider grip to try to prevent that from recurring.
12. Antoine Kelly, RHP
Age: 22 | 6-6 | 205 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
Drafted: No. 65 in 2019
Kelly had surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome in November of 2020 and was not good when he returned late in the 2021 season, so we’ll call it a wash and hope he starts fresh this year. Kelly has been up to 99 mph in the past with an improving changeup that I thought last year would get to plus, and the Brewers had been working with him on a slider. He’s super-athletic and fairly inexperienced, so there seemed to be a lot of untapped upside here.
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13. Felix Valerio, 2B
Age: 21 | 5-7 | 165 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Valerio is 5-7 with outstanding plate discipline and hits the ball hard for a fun-sized guy — or any guy, really, with 51 extra-base hits (31 doubles, 3 triples, 11 homers) last year in both levels of A-ball at age 20. Acquired from the Mets in January of 2019 for Keon Broxton, Valerio’s main issue is the lack of a position — he’s not a shortstop, he doesn’t throw that well even from second, so perhaps he can handle center given his plus speed? Anyone who hits like this at 20 while rarely striking out (he walked almost as often as he punched) is interesting, but he needs a place to play.
14. Mario Feliciano, C
Age: 23 | 6-1 | 200 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 75 in 2016
Feliciano makes a lot of hard contact without much selectivity, but he’s also had a ton of trouble staying healthy since the Brewers took him in the second round out of Puerto Rico in 2016. If he could play 120 games, he could hit 20 homers with a sub-.300 OBP and adequate or fringy defense.
15. Eduardo Garcia, SS
Age: 19 | 6-2 | 160 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Garcia is a projectable shortstop who should stay at the position but needs more reps at the plate as well as some more strength, as he struggled both with making contact and with contact quality. It’s a noisy approach with excess movement, yet his hands are quick and loose enough to make up for it against lower-level pitching. He’s still got a ways to go physically and in baseball skills, but there’s clearly everyday upside here.
16. Joe Gray, OF
Age: 22 | 6-1 | 195 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 60 in 2018
Gray was so raw as an amateur that despite first-round tools and athleticism for days, he went in the second round in 2018, then struggled horribly in two years in short-season leagues. He’s already made some great adjustments, maintaining his body without becoming too big and working to get to pitches he can crush. His contact rate hasn’t changed much since before the pandemic, but he’s doing far more damage when he does make contact. He faded in September and looked tired in the Arizona Fall League, which might have masked some of his progress. He still has a lot of work to do at the plate, but a year ago I would have said he had no chance to be a big-league regular, and that’s clearly changed, with a low-OBP 20/20 sort of ceiling.
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17. Hendry Mendez, OF
Age: 18 | 6-2 | 175 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
Mendez was just 17 but played a few weeks in the Arizona Complex League to close out last summer, hitting extremely well in a tiny sample. He has a very quick, buggy-whip swing, but it’s wild and he overstrides, something pitchers will see and exploit pretty easily. He does hit the ball very hard, and if the Brewers can quiet down all that leg movement he has a chance to get into 55 or better power depending on how much he fills out his 6-foot-2 frame. He’s going to play a corner, so he’ll have to hit.
18. Russell Smith, RHP
Age: 23 | 6-9 | 235 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
Drafted: No. 51 in 2021
Smith is a 6-f00t-9 strike-thrower with average stuff who pitches backward, using his slider and changeup more than his 91-94 mph fastball, with good deception from his delivery. The lack of anything plus limits him to a back-end starter ceiling, but he might move very quickly to the high minors.
19. Korry Howell, OF
Age: 23 | 6-3 | 180 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 365 in 2018
Howell might be the best defensive outfielder in the system, with plus speed and much-improved reads in the field and on the bases thanks to his work with coach Quintin Berry. But so far he’s been overmatched by decent pitching, including a 40 percent strikeout rate in 28 games in Double A to finish last year. He has enough pop to be a 20-HR/30-SB guy if he can hit enough to get to it, but it’s a longshot.
20. Logan Henderson, RHP
Age: 20 | 5-11 | 194 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 116 in 2021
Henderson is a sub-6-foot right-hander who led all two-year college pitchers in strikeouts last spring, with a three-pitch mix but a ton of effort, including a big head-whack when he releases the ball, which points to a reliever future.
Others of note
Right-hander Abner Uribe reaches 100-plus with a plus slider and more or less no idea where the fastball is going — he has more command of the slider, which is odd — walking one of every six men he faced during the regular season and then walking two men per inning in the AFL. I mean, that’s not going to fly, but it is some kind of arm. … Zavier Warren, the Brewers’ third-rounder in 2020, was a catcher-infielder at Central Michigan and at the start of last year, but the Brewers are backing off him behind the plate; he caught just three games after a mid-August promotion to High A, playing mostly third and first. There’s a little something here with the bat, especially if he can play second base (he did some in college, as well as shortstop), and maybe he’ll progress at the plate now that he’s not also trying to be a part-time catcher.
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2022 impact
Ashby should be on the roster from Day 1, although I suppose he could go to Triple A to resume starting. Small isn’t far behind. Feliciano should get some time behind the plate in the majors.
The fallen
Corey Ray got to the big leagues last year, but his all-or-nothing approach led to another underwhelming year in Triple A when he wasn’t on the injured list. The former fifth overall pick hasn’t progressed at all since signing and might not even be an extra outfielder.
Sleeper
The offensive bar for catchers isn’t very high anyway, and Quero looks like he’ll exceed it with great defense — we just have to see him do it over the course of a full season.
(Photo of Brice Turang: Rob Leiter / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
