Brewers prospects Payton Henry, Troy Stokes receive Minor League Gold Glove awards

The focus around Milwaukee is obviously on the captivating playoff run that the Major League team is making, but the organization has more to be pleased about beyond their upcoming berth in the National League Championship Series. Earlier today the individual winners of the Minor League Gold Glove awards were announced, and two Brewers prospects were among the honorees:

Stokes, 22, was a fourth-round pick by the Brewers back in the 2014 MLB Draft and currently rates as the club’s #19 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. He spent the entire year with AA Biloxi in 2018 and enjoyed a fine season with the bat, hitting .233/.343/.430 (121 wRC+) with 19 home runs and 19 steals in 551 plate appearances. Defensively, Stokes made 114 appearances in left field and nine in center and was charged with only one error all season. Advance fielding metrics for minor leaguers are scarce, but Fielding Runs Above Average rated him at +2.1 runs during the most recent campaign. Stokes doesn’t possess the strongest arm (and recorded only two assists on the year), but he uses his plus speed to chase down plenty of balls in the outfield:

Payton Henry, a sixth-round pick by Milwaukee in 2016, turned 21 this past summer while spending his season with Class-A Wisconsin. His offense tailed off a bit towards the end of the year and he struggles with some swing-and-miss issues, but Henry still ended his first year of full-season baseball with a solid .234/.327/.380 slash (104 wRC+) and 10 long balls. The org’s #14 prospect was considered something of a defensive liability when he was drafted, but Henry has reportedly made tremendous strides behind the plate since joining the professional ranks and should not have an issue sticking at the position. He threw out a whopping 44% of the baserunners who tried to steal against him this year, committed only three errors, and was valued at +1.4 FRAA:

Statistics courtesy of Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs