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Article: Brewers' Farm System Climbs Up MLB's Ranks

James Zumstein

By James Zumstein,
in Brewers Minor League Talk

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James Zumstein

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Now that both the draft and the trade deadline have come and gone, MLB.com has updated their rankings of all 30 teams' Minor League systems, their Top 100 overall prospects, as well as each team’s Top 30 prospects. Let’s take a closer look at what the unbiased experts have to say about the state of the Brewers farm system. 

 

Overall, the Brewers jumped from number 25 in the 2022 preseason poll all the way up to number 19 in their midseason rankings. This is a fairly significant leap, with a large chunk of that jump due to the emergence of OF Jackson Chourio (Brewers #1/MLB.com #11) and his meteoric rise in the individual rankings. However, the continued stellar play of OF Sal Frelick (#2/#49), OF Joey Weimer (#3/#89), SS Brice Turang (#4), OF Garrett Michell (#5), and others have also contributed to the climb. 

As for newcomers to the Crew, spots eight through 11 in the Top 30 are all recent additions to the system. At #8, OF Esteury Ruiz is yet another speedy outfielder on the verge of contributing at the major league level after coming over from San Diego as part of the Josh Hader trade. RHP Jacob Misiorowski (#9), drafted in the second round this year, is now our top pitching prospect, followed closely by #11 LHP Robert Gasser, who also came over from the Padres in the Hader deal. Sandwiched between these two hurlers at #10 is our first round pick this year, SS Eric Brown, Jr. 

While the immense talent currently present on the AAA Nashville roster is well-known, I believe that another reason that the Brewers climbed up six spots in the rankings is the promising amount of talent at the lower levels. Eighteen of the Top 30 have yet to make it to AA, with five of those still being in Rookie ball. Plus, if you read the incredible work done daily by Jim Goulart, Joseph Zarr, and Daniel Mueller (tip of the cap, my good sirs) on the Minor League Report, you know that there are multiple players at the lower levels not on MLB.com’s current Top 30 that easily could be, and likely will be soon. 

Several of those at the lower levels have been international signings, which the current Brewers front office has made a top priority in their efforts to help rebuild the farm system over the past few years. These efforts are shown by the fact that 11 of the Top 30 were signed by the Brewers during the players’ international signing periods. 

One potential “problem” (though it’s a good problem to have) is that, in recent drafts and international signings, the Brewers have focused on accumulating speed and athleticism, an increased emphasis on strong up-the-middle defense, as well as prioritizing bat-to-ball skills over power. Watch for my follow-up to this article with my thoughts on how that may play out in the future. 

While following the Brewers Major League team this year has definitely had its ups (the first 50 games) and downs (pretty much everything since then), it has been extremely gratifying watching the progression of the Minor Leaguers this year and dreaming of how they will be able to contribute to the Brewers in both the near- and long-term future. It is also exciting to see a minor league system objectively trending in the right direction, even as they continue to compete for a postseason spot in the majors. 

Want to keep up to date on all Brewers prospects? Check out the Brewer Fanatic Top 20 prospect list with stats and splits updated nightly and up-to-date scouting reports!


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Brewcrew82 ACL Brewers

Brewcrew82

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18 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I don't believe I've ever seen the system in better shape, and yes that includes the early 2000s, due to the overall depth. Right now, factoring in the OFs at N'ville (especially if you want to cheat & still include Mitchell) I'd say #19 is too low. Just a magnificent job of rebuilding.

Agreed. The depth and top-level talent is better imo than 2016 when we were briefly ranked the #1 farm system in baseball. 

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Brewcrew82

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18 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I don't believe I've ever seen the system in better shape, and yes that includes the early 2000s, due to the overall depth. Right now, factoring in the OFs at N'ville (especially if you want to cheat & still include Mitchell) I'd say #19 is too low. Just a magnificent job of rebuilding.

Agreed. The depth and top-level talent is better imo than 2016 when we were briefly ranked the #1 farm system in baseball. 

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NBBrewFan Draft Eligible

NBBrewFan

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27 minutes ago, Hopper said:

19 is too low for sure.

Still missing a legit option at 1B and 3B though, unless they think they can move one of our many SS to 3B.

I don't know if it's that low.  I tend to think overall ranking tracks with top 100 prospects and you need to have 4 prospects in the top 100 (and not all 50+) to be higher than 15th (since each team should have 3.3 on average and the middle is #15/16).  So I really don't think they are that far from #19 on mlb.com.  I think you could make the argument that we should be flipped with the Giants as 2 Top prospects (#17/#22) isn't necessarily that much better than Churio/Frelick plus Weimer (#11/49/89).  Hard to argue we should be higher than #18. Where they may get a bump is if Turang or Mitchel make it into the top 100 at the end of the year or next preseason plus where does Ruiz end up.

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NBBrewFan Draft Eligible

NBBrewFan

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27 minutes ago, Hopper said:

19 is too low for sure.

Still missing a legit option at 1B and 3B though, unless they think they can move one of our many SS to 3B.

I don't know if it's that low.  I tend to think overall ranking tracks with top 100 prospects and you need to have 4 prospects in the top 100 (and not all 50+) to be higher than 15th (since each team should have 3.3 on average and the middle is #15/16).  So I really don't think they are that far from #19 on mlb.com.  I think you could make the argument that we should be flipped with the Giants as 2 Top prospects (#17/#22) isn't necessarily that much better than Churio/Frelick plus Weimer (#11/49/89).  Hard to argue we should be higher than #18. Where they may get a bump is if Turang or Mitchel make it into the top 100 at the end of the year or next preseason plus where does Ruiz end up.

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Joseph Zarr ACL Brewers

Joseph Zarr

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Here's a take:

Who cares where these prognosticators rank us when we have Jeferson Quero in our system? Yeah, that's right. I'm coming at you with some catching beef. No RHP Stiven Cruz on their so called 'Top 30'? Meh. ?

Here's a stat to fire at y'all:

Carolina (even though they're trailing 8-0 tonight in the middle innings - yikes) just threw out their 81st runner of their season. That leads all the Minor Leagues. Last team in any level to do that? 2016. 

?

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Joseph Zarr ACL Brewers

Joseph Zarr

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Here's a take:

Who cares where these prognosticators rank us when we have Jeferson Quero in our system? Yeah, that's right. I'm coming at you with some catching beef. No RHP Stiven Cruz on their so called 'Top 30'? Meh. ?

Here's a stat to fire at y'all:

Carolina (even though they're trailing 8-0 tonight in the middle innings - yikes) just threw out their 81st runner of their season. That leads all the Minor Leagues. Last team in any level to do that? 2016. 

?

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Jim French Stepstool Draft Eligible

Jim French Stepstool

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4 hours ago, NBBrewFan said:

I don't know if it's that low.  I tend to think overall ranking tracks with top 100 prospects and you need to have 4 prospects in the top 100 (and not all 50+) to be higher than 15th (since each team should have 3.3 on average and the middle is #15/16).  So I really don't think they are that far from #19 on mlb.com.  I think you could make the argument that we should be flipped with the Giants as 2 Top prospects (#17/#22) isn't necessarily that much better than Churio/Frelick plus Weimer (#11/49/89).  Hard to argue we should be higher than #18. Where they may get a bump is if Turang or Mitchel make it into the top 100 at the end of the year or next preseason plus where does Ruiz end up.

Using that system, I suppose so. But the strength with Milwaukee is in the depth beyond the top 100. I think MLB.com basing it primarily on that is dare I say a little lazy.

Plus, I wonder if their rankings (in some cases) lean towards certain organizations. Like in college basketball, a kid is ranked as a 3-star recruit. He gets recruited by Duke & is suddenly a 4-star.

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Jim French Stepstool

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4 hours ago, NBBrewFan said:

I don't know if it's that low.  I tend to think overall ranking tracks with top 100 prospects and you need to have 4 prospects in the top 100 (and not all 50+) to be higher than 15th (since each team should have 3.3 on average and the middle is #15/16).  So I really don't think they are that far from #19 on mlb.com.  I think you could make the argument that we should be flipped with the Giants as 2 Top prospects (#17/#22) isn't necessarily that much better than Churio/Frelick plus Weimer (#11/49/89).  Hard to argue we should be higher than #18. Where they may get a bump is if Turang or Mitchel make it into the top 100 at the end of the year or next preseason plus where does Ruiz end up.

Using that system, I suppose so. But the strength with Milwaukee is in the depth beyond the top 100. I think MLB.com basing it primarily on that is dare I say a little lazy.

Plus, I wonder if their rankings (in some cases) lean towards certain organizations. Like in college basketball, a kid is ranked as a 3-star recruit. He gets recruited by Duke & is suddenly a 4-star.

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CheeseheadInQC Draft Eligible

CheeseheadInQC

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It is tough to give much perspective to rankings because I don’t have more than a cursory knowledge about any of the systems other than the Brewers and to a lesser extent the Royals with the River Bandits being in town. I do think, though, this is the best the Brewers system has been in recent years.

Looking ahead to next season, there are going to be very few spots in the full season starting lineups that aren’t filled by at least moderately intriguing prospects. Partly this is because of probably the two deepest international signing classes in recent team history. I don’t know if that level of success is sustainable, and the most recent DSL class, while it has its bright spots, doesn’t look to be quite at the same level. They have to keep having some success there, though. Also, since they invest more in position players, they need to keep having pitching breakthroughs with mid-to-later round picks and lower dollar signings. More years where you have low-A trios like Rodriguez, Cruz and Cornielle break out will make the current trajectory much more sustainable.

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