Milwaukee Brewers 2016 End of Season Top Prospects

A couple of days ago, I dove into analyzing the roster of the Milwaukee Brewers as currently constructed to make the case that a competitive ball club may not be all that far off. Our local nine has a bevy of players at the major league level who earned various roles this year and will likely be counted on to be positive contributors for the 2017 season. If any of those players should fall short of expectations, however, the Brewers are fortunate enough to have built one of the league’s top-rated minor league pipelines to dip into for replacements.

The purpose of this post is to provide an overall picture of the prospects that Milwaukee has currently down on the farm. Typically this would be provided through a numbered list; I have expressed previously how I don’t believe that those types of numerical rankings help to foster intelligent prospect discussions. So my prospect list will be a little different: a tiered categorizing of players with no numerical ranking. It’s not necessarily important or meaningful whether Player X ranks third or thirteenth or thirtieth on a specific list at a specific time. What is relevant are said player’s tool grades and projected future value. In my opinion that’s what the discussion should focus on, and that’s why my list should help steer the conversation in that direction.

My rankings are based on several scouting reports and tool grades from various outlets, age/risk, physical build/projection, and statistical performance. After taking all of those items under consideration I determined where I felt comfortable projecting each player’s future value to the organization. Here’s how it turned out:

Above-Average Position Players (55 or greater FV)

Lewis Brinson
Isan Diaz

Above-Average Starting Pitchers (55 or greater FV)

Luis Ortiz
Brandon Woodruff
Josh Hader

Everyday Position Players (50 FV)

Lucas Erceg
Brett Phillips
Trent Clark
Corey Ray
Jacob Nottingham

Average SP/High Leverage RP/Extreme Risk Arms (50 - 45+ FV)

Corbin Burnes
Marcos Diplan
Jon Perrin
Freddy Peralta
Phil Bickford
Miguel Diaz
Wei-Chung Wang
Devin Williams
Cody Ponce
Adrian Houser
Jorge Lopez
Nathan Kirby

Platoon/Bench Roles/Extreme Risk Bats (45+ - 45 FV)

Gabriel Garcia
Trey York
Mitch Ghelfi
Troy Stokes
Jay Feliciano
Dustin DeMuth
Michael Reed
Zach Clark
Franly Mallen
Max McDowell
Nathan Rodriguez
Blake Allemand
Nate Orf
Joantgel Segovia
Payton Henry
Mario Feliciano
Clint Coulter
Jake Gatewood
David Denson
Monte Harrison
Tyrone Taylor
Jesus Lujano
Demi Orimoloye
Gilbert Lara
Chad McClanahan
Javier Betancourt
Trever Morrison
Yadiel Rivera
Jose Sibrian
Wendell Rijo
Malik Collymore
Ryan Cordell
Rymer Liriano

Bullpen Arms (45 - 40 FV)

Nate Griep
Drake Owenby
Jon Olczak
Tyler Spurlin
Thomas Jankins
Trey Supak
Tristan Archer
Brent Suter
David Burkhalter
Josh Uhen
Jordan Yamamoto
Angel Ventura
Quintin Torres-Costa
Damien Magnifico
Kender Villegas
Zack Brown
Bubba Derby
Kodi Medeiros
Daniel Brown
Aaron Wilkerson
Gentry Fortuno
Karsen Lindell
Taylor Williams
Sean Nolin
Yhonathan Barrios
Braden Webb

Organizational Depth Bats

Ronnie Gideon
Tucker Neuhaus
Weston Wilson
Kyle Wren
Moises Perez
Garrett Cooper
Victor Roache
Ryan Aguilar
Jose Gomez
Nick Roscetti
Garin Cecchini
Johnny Davis
Javier Castillo
Bryan Torres
Yerald Martinez
Edwin Sano
Juan Ortiz
Luis Aviles
George Iskenderian
Gabriel Noriega
Marcos Pinero
Jonathan Oquendo
Cooper Hummel
Nicol Valderray
Julio Mendez
Caleb Whalen
Carlos Belonis
Angel Ortega
Nicolas Pierre
Tyrone Perry
Elvis Rubio
Dustin Houle
Omar Garcia
Jose Cuas
Brandon Diaz

Organizational Depth Arms

Chase Williams
Aaron Myers
Preston Gainey
Colton Cross
Dalton Brown
Gage Smith
Juan Diaz
Stephen Kohlscheen
Clint Terry
Blake Fox
Scott Grist
Blake Lillis
Alex Farina
Mitch Lambson
Conor Harber
Cam Roegner
Jordan Desguin
Emerson Gibbs
Austin Ross
Brooks Hall
Tayler Scott
Carlos Herrera
Jake Drossner
David Lucroy
Jorge Ortega
Santos Saldivar
Javi Salas
Nattino Diplan
Kaleb Earls
Shawn Clowers
Rodrigo Benoit
Michael Peterson
Scott Sergistad
Daniel Missaki
Nash Walters