Poll: Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the Year

Baseball season has officially come to an end for fans of the Milwaukee Brewers, so let’s take some time to review the year that happened in 2019. We’ll be focusing on the minor league level, where the franchise’s affiliates combined for a .475 winning percentage during the past season. Milwaukee’s two top-level clubs both won 80+ games but the San Antonio Missions and Biloxi Shuckers were the only affiliate teams to post winning records for the year. Milwaukee’s farm system is generally considered to be one of the lowest rated in all of baseball, thought of as depleted by graduations and the team’s many trades trades over the past few seasons.

In today’s environment, though, farm system rankings seem to matter less than ever. Teams continue to become smarter in how they identify players with specific traits and the ways they develop those players to take advantage of their best tools. It is becoming less and less surprising to see players that come from humble backgrounds — low-round picks, undrafted free agents, independent league players — use technology to spur significant developmental gains and create previously unthought of ceilings.

So with that in mind, take a look at the organization’s top pitchers of 2019. Some of them are high draft picks or ranked among the top-30 prospects, and some are not. But all stood out for their excellent statistical performances — so which one deserves to be Minor League Pitcher of the Year? Cast your vote below!

RHP Luke Barker (AA/AAA)

40 G || 60.1 IP || 1.34 ERA || 2.85 FIP || 9.85 K/9 || 2.24 BB/9 || 0.65 WHIP

RHP Max Lazar (Rk/A)

22 G || 85.0 IP || 2.33 ERA || 2.14 FIP || 12.60 K/9 || 1.59 BB/9 || 1.01 WHIP

RHP Noah Zavolas (A+)

22 G || 133.0 IP || 2.98 ERA || 3.19 FIP || 6.90 K/9 || 1.56 BB/9 || 1.14 WHIP

RHP Drew Rasmussen (A/A+/AA)

27 G || 74.1 IP || 3.15 ERA || 2.76 FIP || 11.62 K/9 || 3.75 BB/9 || 1.18 WHIP

RHP Dylan File (A+/AA)

26 G || 147.0 IP || 3.24 ERA || 2.93 FIP || 8.33 K/9 || 1.35 BB/9 || 1.14 WHIP

RHP Alec Bettinger (AA)

26 G || 146.1 IP || 3.44 ERA || 3.13 FIP || 9.66 K/9 || 2.15 BB/9 || 1.07 WHIP

LHP Aaron Ashby (A/A+)

24 G || 126.0 IP || 3.50 ERA || 3.40 FIP || 9.64 K/9 || 4.29 BB/9 || 1.28 WHIP

RHP Trey Supak (AA/AAA)

27 G || 152.2 IP || 3.60 ERA || 3.70 FIP || 6.96 K/9 || 1.89 BB/9 || 1.03 WHIP

RHP Bowden Francis (A+/AA)

28 G || 142.2 IP || 3.97 ERA || 3.66 FIP || 10.41 K/9 || 3.47 BB/9 || 1.25 WHIP

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference