Milwaukee Brewers Arizona Fall League recap

The Arizona Fall League season is over after 29 games. The Milwaukee Brewers were represented by eight prospects on the Glendale Desert Dogs roster. Let’s take a look at how each player from the farm system performed in one of the premiere offseason developmental leagues.

LHP Clayton Andrews

11.2 IP || 3.09 ERA | 20 K | 1.11 WHIP
10 AB || .200/.200/.200 || 0 HR || 0 SB

Clayton Andrews is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting prospects in the system. After a great season on the mound and at the plate, the 5’6” left-hander went and continued it with the Desert Dogs. In nearly a dozen innings, he allowed just four earned runs with a 20:7 K/BB. Despite being 6th in innings pitched on the team, he was third in strikeouts.

He had more success as a two-way player during the regular season. He plays an acceptable center field and has shown that he can hit for average. I don’t believe the team sees him as a future two-way player, but the skillset will be nice for extending his relief outings and adding flexibility to how they use the bullpen.

LHP Quintin Torres-Costa

9 IP || 2.00 ERA || 15 K || 1.44 WHIP

QTC missed most of last season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery in 2018. Now healthy, he is one of the more talented pure relief prospects in the farm. He got some action in at the end of the year but continued shaking the rust with the Desert Dogs. His performance was good enough with two runs given up in 9 innings. His 15 strikeouts to 7 walks is pretty spot on, as like a lot of strikeout heavy relievers, Torres-Costa can be prone to giving up walks. He has proven hard to hit though, and it’s good to see him back and looking like the QTC that we knew before the surgery.

RHP Bobby Wahl

5 IP || 14.40 ERA || 7 K || 2.40 WHIP

The only top-30 prospect to appear on the AZFL roster, Wahl also spent most the season on the shelf after an ACL injury. These were his first appearances since being shut down, so there’s no reason to really judge the numbers. They were obviously awful, but the mid- to high-90s fastball and solid curve could be a big help in the bullpen in 2020.

RHP Victor Castaneda

22.2 IP || 1.99 ERA || 29 K || 0.84 WHIP

Victor Castaneda isn’t exactly what most people would call a noteworthy prospect, but he was one of the best pitchers for the Desert Dogs. He showed fantastic control with his 29:6 K:BB and allowed fewer than one base runner per inning. He was second on the team in innings and WHIP and first in total strikeouts. In a league with some of the top prospects in baseball, Castaneda earned some national recognition.

RHP Robbie Hitt

11 IP || 5.73 ERA || 14 K || 1.27 WHIP

The Brewers drafted Hitt in 2017 and he’s performed pretty well in relief since joining the organization. He topped out in Carolina in 2019 and was rewarded with a trip to the fall league. He struggled with control but still racked up the punchouts. Hitt is a little old at 23, but obviously the prospect is someone the Crew is interested in after him to Glendale.

1B David Fry

50 AB || .300/.375/.460 || 1 HR || 0 SB

David Fry also continued his solid 2019 with his trip to Glendale. The catcher/first baseman has shown an all around solid game since joining the organization in 2018. In the Fall League, Fry had the third-best OPS on Glendale among players with at least 20 ABs. Most of that was with his double power. He can send them over the fence, but the homers weren’t on display in his 13 games.

1B Jake Gatewood

42 AB || .143/.234/.167 || 0 HR || 0 SB

Gatewood has been awful since returning from ACL surgery, striking out even more than beofre and making next to no contact. Considering Gatewood’s best tool is his power, he’ll need to start having better ABs if he wants to become relevant in the org again. His empty at-bats continued with the Desert Dogs. We’ll just have to brush 2019 under the rug and hope it was rust/recovery from injury.

CF Pablo Abreu

41 AB || .146/.146/.171 || 0 HR || 0 SB

Abreu was turning his 2019 around at the end of the season. After recovering from an injury, he finally started finding success at Wisconsin. The talent level he faced with the Desert Dogs is a little advanced with him, but that doesn’t excuse his bad performance. He had 23 strikeouts in 41 ABs and one extra-base hit. He has a promising toolset, and with better health hopefully that will flourish more in 2020 than it did this season.