Your assessments of our minor league players

[Austin Tatious]

It's sort of the 1/4 mark of the season and not a bad time to take initial stock in our system during the 2017 season. No one is pretending that the sample size is large yet, but it's fun to see how guys are doing. I thought 2016 was a big year for many guys, and overall I hoped for more. But, I'm hoping some guys really start to surge.

 

Here are my thoughts, but I would like to hear more:

 

Surging

 

1. Jake Gatewood. He's going to soar back up the rankings. He's been a doubles machine, has improved his walks, and has a high average. He's turning himself into a huge story.

2. Lewis Brinson. He has been the real deal and can be a star.

3. Brandon Woodruff. Got roughed up a bit recently but has been off to a stellar start, which is even more remarkable because he's been at CS. Great strikeouts and control. He looks like a solid MLB starter.

4. Mario Feliciano. He's an excellent athlete for a backstop and knows how to hit. He's young for class A and hitting. He's been a huge plus. Will soar in our rankings.

5. Trey Supak. His peripherals are outstanding. He's a young pitcher who is really coming on. He's got my attention. The trade with Pittsburgh may turn out to be one of the best in team history.

6. Brett Phillips. This is a tough, competitive kid. He's been hitting in all phases and you know he can defend.

7. Ryan Cordell. This is a very athletic kid who has a good hitting toolbox. He can be a good major leaguer.

8. Isan Diaz. This kid can flat out hit and is a top five prospect in the organization for very good reason.

9. Taylor Williams. A few too many walks but he's been lights out.

 

 

Need to do more

1. Josh Hader. His numbers are comparable to Woodruff except for his walks. But that will kill you. We need to pump the breaks on his upside until he proves he can harness his command. I read somewhere that the organization wants him to work on some things that could affect his stats. He can be big time, but control needs to improve.

2. Josh Nottingham. The rose is coming off the bloom. The Brewers gave up a ton to get him. His defense was awful last year and I'd like to see whether he's improved. But the bat has been mediocre.

3. Lucas Erceg, a fan favorite, he got off to a rocky start. We want to see consistency.

4. Clint Coulter. He is what he is by now. A change in scenery may do him wonders. It's uncanny how many number one picks bomb for this franchise.

5. Trent Clark. He's in his third year in pro ball and has been average. I'd like to see the light switch turn on for this kid, who we drafted over the likes of Walker Buehler.

 

Neutral

1. Corey Ray. I'm not going to jump on the guy because he's adjusting from the knee surgery and is working back. The second half of the season will tell us more.

2. Cody Ponce. Decent control but hasn't been lights out.

3. Monte Harrison. Trying to shake the injury bug, he was hot initially and is essentially plagued with inconsistency.

4. Kodi Medeiros. His control looks to be improving but he just hasn't figured out how to pitch yet, in his fourth pro season.

[adambr2]

Agree with most of what you said, although to me Coulter isn't even really a prospect anymore and (Jacob) Nottinghamm is not someone who I would say we gave up a 'ton' for but I guess that's subjective.

 

The other guy in that trade, Bubba Derby, seems to get frequently overlooked. I know he was a disaster as a starter in Brevard but his jump to AA after being moved to the pen has been a success so far. The ERA is outstanding and the K/9 rate is good.

 

Like seemingly most of our farm arms, he was never going to stick in the rotation but may still have a shot to carve out a career as an MLB reliever.

[Never Outhustled]

I think it's important to remember that Trent Clark is 2 years and 2 months younger than Corey Ray, and Ray is just 4 months younger than Brinson and Phillips.

 

I'd like to add Freddy Peralta to the surging list. His strike out ability is unreal.

[Noche]

Clark and Ray have me brimming with excitement. Very solid thus far and in position to explode in 2nd half. Outstanding prospects.

[LouisEly]

I wouldn't call sub-.750 OPS in A-ball "solid". Yes, Clark is young for the league, but so was Tyrone Taylor (109 wRC+ as a 19-year old in low-A, 107 wRC+ as a 20-year-old in high A, eerily similar OPS as Clark) and he never amounted to anything.

 

Just because they are young doesn't mean they will progress. Just because they are 24/25 doesn't mean they won't progress.

 

Would also add Peralta and Corbin Burnes to the surging list. Lopez's peripherals (10.1 K/9, 3.77 K/BB, 7.4 H/9, 1.12 WHIP) have been much better than his ERA.

[BrewersAA]

I would put Dubon in the Surging category as well, he started slow, but like the rest of our AA roster has been hitting REALLY well since the Roach trade (starting the think that guy might have been bad for the locker room). Javi Betancourt has also been on fire in AA and is mostly forgotten coming off a tough year but was heralded in the tigers system when he came over for Franky.

[MrTPlush]

Happy overall with the minor league players. Most of the disappointments so far I expected before the season started(Erceg, Nottingham, and Hader) and outside of that guys are hitting as one would guess or better. Dubon hitting well is exciting, Diaz is doing solid, Gatewood blazing, and lots of success on the pitching side.

[Austin Tatious]

Clark and Ray have me brimming with excitement. Very solid thus far and in position to explode in 2nd half. Outstanding prospects.

 

No. They are underperforming. Badly.

[adambr2]

Clark and Ray have me brimming with excitement. Very solid thus far and in position to explode in 2nd half. Outstanding prospects.

 

No. They are underperforming. Badly.

 

They both have an OPS around . 750 in a pitcher favored league and Clark gets on base at a .368 clip. Neither is setting the world on fire but badly underperforming is overstating it.

[Austin Tatious]

I wouldn't call sub-.750 OPS in A-ball "solid". Yes, Clark is young for the league, but so was Tyrone Taylor (109 wRC+ as a 19-year old in low-A, 107 wRC+ as a 20-year-old in high A, eerily similar OPS as Clark) and he never amounted to anything.

 

Just because they are young doesn't mean they will progress. Just because they are 24/25 doesn't mean they won't progress.

 

Would also add Peralta and Corbin Burnes to the surging list. Lopez's peripherals (10.1 K/9, 3.77 K/BB, 7.4 H/9, 1.12 WHIP) have been much better than his ERA.

 

Good post. I meant to include Burnes too. Good peripheral stats as you pointed out. He could darn well be the next Woodruff. He was a steal for where we got him.

[Austin Tatious]

Clark and Ray have me brimming with excitement. Very solid thus far and in position to explode in 2nd half. Outstanding prospects.

 

No. They are underperforming. Badly.

 

They both have an OPS around . 750 in a pitcher favored league and Clark gets on base at a .368 clip. Neither is setting the world on fire but badly underperforming is overstating it.

 

They may have brought their numbers up recently. But in three years in the system, Clark has underperformed relative to where he was drafted. He does not project to be as good as Santana, Broxton, Brinson, Phillips or Cordell.

 

With Clark, the opportunity cost to draft a pitcher instead of a middling outfielder is what just kills you. Walker Buehler was a major talent coming off an arm injury where he'd have been a steal at 15. A smart organization like the Dodgers, scooped him up. Look at him now. Instead of daydreaming of trading for a guy like that, we need to draft our own.

 

I hope Clark and Ray turn into championship players. Let's hope for the best. I pull-up their stats regularly, hoping to see something. It happened with Gatewood, maybe it will with them too.

[CheeseheadInQC]

I know that his numbers aren't quite as gaudy as some on the list, but I'd toss Demi Orimoloye into the surging category. After last season, I was afraid that his line would be closer to what Lara is putting up. Instead, he is leading off and his OPS just topped .800. That is definitely boding well.

[MKEguy]

I'd put Corbin Burnes towards the top of the list. With all the discussion of our failures at growing our own starting pitching, his performance this year is very exciting.

[Austin Tatious]

Agree on Burnes. He may be in double A before long. He's fast tracking it.

 

Another guy who has been pretty solid is Luis Ortiz. He very well may be solid as a 3-5 starter in good time. Woodruff, Ortiz and Burnes as starters may be pretty nice with Hader, Taylor Williams, Wang, and Bickford being good relievers coming. If Hader gets control, he could be a very good starter but we will need to see proof on that. Ponce is in there too. Nate Kirby is someone I've been excited about but it will take patience and time.

 

There are some guys giving us pitching hope, but what I'd like to invest in are the elite arms with power, control, and secondary pitches. They are hard to come by but we need to try.

[FVBrewerFan]

Add Dustin Houle to surging list.

[brewmann04]

Dubon and Burnes are other surging players

[MilwaukeeBeers]

Really don't think Erceg is as disappointing as a lot of you think. Sure you would love a bit more consistent contact, but I don't see a whole lot of red flags.

[Oxy]

what I'd like to invest in are the elite arms with power, control, and secondary pitches. They are hard to come by but we need to try.

 

Yeah. There are like 6 of them in the world. It would be nice to have one.

[FVBrewerFan]

Luis Ortiz. Interesting, #2 pitcher in the org, and not mentioned by anyone for any category. Which sums it up I guess, not surging but not sure where he would fit.

[brewmann04]

We seem to have a lot of potential arms for the bullpen. But they need to find at least two potential guys for the major league rotation.

[adambr2]

Yeah Dubon definitely belongs in the surging category. I know Phillips is there but I still think he's being a little overlooked. He's really having a big bounceback year, and it's not all Colorado Springs, he's showing a strong OPS and power both at home and away.

[Austin Tatious]

what I'd like to invest in are the elite arms with power, control, and secondary pitches. They are hard to come by but we need to try.

 

Yeah. There are like 6 of them in the world. It would be nice to have one.

 

Nah. Not really.

[CheeseheadInQC]

Really don't think Erceg is as disappointing as a lot of you think. Sure you would love a bit more consistent contact, but I don't see a whole lot of red flags.

 

I will say perhaps the whole intensely hyping a Brewers prospect during spring training thing should just stop. It's approaching Madden cover levels. At least if past experience holds true, he'll break out four or so years and two trades later.

[adambr2]

If Erceg is our biggest disappointment this year, we're in good shape. We have Brinson, Phillips, Cordell, Woodruff, Gatewood, T. Williams, Burnes, Supak, Feliciano, and Ortiz performing at very high levels and the rest of our top 30 healthy players are more or less at or near expectations. It's been a very nice yesr for the farm so far.

 

Really, Nottingham and Lara are my biggest disappointments of the top 30, but that's just something you'll have in any farm. Not all of these guys will pan out. But I'd say there's a lot more successes than failures in the top 30 so far this year.

 

A lot is made of Ray and Clark, but really, these guys are fine. Not everyone will follow a Ryan Braun like path to the bigs.

[adambr2]

Clark in particular I'm more impressed than worried. He's 20, we drafted him as an 18 year old kid, and he's on the cusp of AA. We talk about him like he's struggling and he's got a .371 OBP! If he ends up as a .371 OBP leadoff man in Milwaukee, I think we'd gladly take that and at his age there's still plenty of room for growth.

 

When I look at Clark's upside, I see a possible rich man's Keon Broxton, and I'm a big Broxton fan. Some pop, a lot of speed, glove, the strikeouts will be there but so will the OBP. If he can stay at his current pace and have a completely healthy year, that will be just fine.