Milwaukee Brewers have three prospects ranked in Baseball Prospectus Top 101

Baseball Prospectus has been slowly releasing their organizational top prospect lists throughout the winter, including the one ranking Milwaukee’s top minor leaguers back in November. That list became outdated when David Stearns raided the farm to bring in Christian Yelich from Miami in late January, but according to BP the Brewers still have three prospects ranked in their overall top 101 list that was published earlier this morning. They are:

32. 2B Keston Hiura

OFP - 70; Likely - 55

80. RHP Corbin Burnes

OFP - 60; Likely - 50

81. OF Brett Phillips

OFP - 60; Likely - 50

Milwaukee’s farm system was considered one of the top in the league when the winter started, but that’s no longer the case after the price they paid to the Marlins for their star outfielder. Still, with one top-50 overall prospect, two other prospects in the top-101, and a plethora of solid depth prospects who look like they have could have MLB outcomes, the Brewers should still have a system that ranks somewhere in the middle-third of the 30 MLB franchises. This is the first time making the list for both Hiura, who was Milwaukee’s 1st-round pick in 2017, and Burnes, who was a 4th-rounder in 2016.

Last year, the Brewers had seven players ranked in BP’s top-101 preseason prospects. One of those players - Josh Hader (#19) - graduated into an integral role with the big league bullpen last season. Three others - Corey Ray (#41), Luis Ortiz (#68), and Trent Grisham (#99) - fell off the list completely after each player failed to live up to expectations in 2017. Brett Phillips (#75) is the only holdover from last year that made the list once again as a Brewer in 2018.

Getting back to that Yelich deal, three of the four prospects that Stearns sent Miami’s way wound up getting ranked in BP’s top-101. Lewis Brinson led the trio at #18, followed by Monte Harrison at #49 and finally Isan Diaz at #85. At the time of the deal they were ranked as #1, #3, and #6 within Milwaukee’s system, and the group now occupies three of the top five slots in Miami’s new-look top 10 list.