New Brewers fan needing some learning

[Born Sinner]

Wasn't sure where to post this, so I just figured OT would be the best spot.

 

To introduce myself, I'm a die hard Packers fan, born in Chicago. I guess I can say I turned my back on Chicago, and fell in love with Wisconsin, becoming also a Bucks and Badgers fan. After watch the World Series, and rooting for the Cubs to lose, I decided to do some research on the Brewers, and gained a ton of interest in baseball.

 

Just wondering where I can pick up from. For instance, our best players? Young players expected to become stars? Potential moves we're looking to make? Just anything any Brewers fan should know this day.

 

Also, I'd like to know how the MLB draft works and the minor leagues. That bit confuses me a little.

 

Thanks and I look forward to discussing the Brewers with you all.

[MrTPlush]

I guess that best way to learn is time watching the team and reading about them. I mean sure I could tell you, but I literally could go on forever. You can get a good idea who the best players are by just looking at last years stats and for upcoming players we always compile a Top25 Prospects list you can check out. Google is your friend. You can search and find a lot of the things you want to know. Maybe read through some of the threads on here.

 

You won't learn it all in a day. It takes time to puzzle everything together. In my opinion it takes years of following the team and minor leagues to truly understand everything.

 

Hopefully someone has the time to answer some of your specific questions. Welcome!

[LouisEly]

Take a good read through the top 25 prospects fan poll threads in the Minor League forum - that will give you a really good idea who the young players are who are expected to be stars. Another place to look is mlb.com's Top 30 team prospects page: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2016?list=mil

 

Also, the Rule 5/40-man roster threads will give you a good idea of perceptions of Brewers players.

 

Not sure if the Transaction Rumors/Proposals forum will be a good place to start off in - there are some good things in there, and some pretty wild things in there.

 

If there are specific players you are interested in, use the Search function on this forum and search on their name - you can read all of the posts that their name was brought up in.

 

Welcome aboad! Always glad to have anyone from Chicago defect to the Brewers.

[adambr2]

Brewcrewball.Com is a great source for Brewer talk, and here, of course.

 

Here is a link to the top 30 Brewer prospects. Louis also posted this above http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2016?list=mil

 

Most experts consider our list of prospects to be among the best, if not the best in all of baseball.

 

I'm not an expert on the draft, so I won't get into slot values and how that all works, but I'll just say there's many rounds in the draft, most of which won't produce future big league players, but we have the overall #9 pick in next year's draft, which should be high enough to add another top 100 prospect in all of baseball.

 

Some of these guys, like Brinson and Hader, at the AAA level, should be playing for the Brewers in the next year. There's so many different types and organizations of minor league ball, but for the basics, you've got Rookie ball in Helena, the A team in Appleton, High A in Carolina, AA in Biloxi, and the highest minor league team in our system is the AAA team in Colorado Springs. Arcia is our young hopeful star shortstop, he'd probably be at the top of our prospect list if he hadn't been promoted up to the Brewers already this season.

 

Jonathan Villar and Keon Broxton are also young players that may have very bright futures. Villar actually led MLB in stolen bases this year and nearly became the first 20 HR/60 SB player since Rickey Henderson, finishing with 19 HR. Broxton, after looking like he had no future in MLB in the first half, surged with a fatastic 2nd half displaying power, speed, and defense, before breaking his wrist on the Wrigley Field wall in September. Ryan Braun has long been our best player, but he may be traded soon as the team continues to rebuild. The team should be a lot of fun to watch in the near future with all the young talent, but probably won't be a playoff contender for a couple of years yet.

 

Hope this all helps.

[1992casey]

Welcome to the board.

 

Junior Guerra was the team's best starting pitcher this past year. He's a really odd case because he was s 31-year-old rookie who was a catcher in a past life. Generally, players' skills start to decline at Junior's age, and in some cases, they decline markedly. But because Junior doesn't fit any typical mold, it's really tough to tell what to expect over the next season or two.

 

Speaking of rookie starting pitchers, Zach Davies, age 23, has become a fan favorite. His pitches don't have a lot of velocity and he weighs about 155 pounds. Because of that, many have been skeptical of his chances for success. So far, the skeptics have been wrong.

 

Wily Peralta, age 27, came up to the Majors in 2012 and has been an up and down performer since then. He pitched really, really badly to start the 2016 season and was sent down to Colorado Springs, where he also sucked. He was recalled to the Brewers in August because they were shorthanded, and he suddenly started pitching really well. Go figure.