Baseball Prospectus ranks Milwaukee Brewers farm system #29 overall

Tis the season for farm system rankings. Baseball Prospectus is the latest to put out their rankings, and the results are less than stellar. Guess what...the Brewers’ system stinks, at least according to Baseball Prospectus. Milwaukee ranked toward the bottom at number 29 out of 30.

Milwaukee no longer has a top tier farm system, but the players that made up that system in the last couple of years helped to make a top tier major league team. Still that is the worst ranking of Milwaukee’s farm system thus far. The likelihood is that scouting evaluations have most Brewers prospects below 50 on the scouting scale (Just 7 were at 50 or above). Compare that to the Padres system that has 20 prospects at 50 or above. It is no wonder the Brewers are ranking low.

Ultimately the Brewers depleted system is the result of graduations to the major league team as well as trades made to better the team going into 2018 and at the trade deadline. Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta lost their prospect eligibility by pitching at a high level that we hope will be the norm for years to come. Lewis Brinson, Monte Harrison, Isan Diaz, Jordan Yamamoto, KJ Harrison, Gilbert Lara, Luis Ortiz, Jean Carmona, Demi Orimoyoye, Kodi Medeiros, Jorge Lopez, and Brett Phillips were all part of the top 30 prospects lists at some point in 2018. If we do the math that is 3 prospect graduates + 12 traded prospects = 15 former top end prospects not on what was a highly regarded farm system just one year ago.

The good news is, there is talent in this system. Much of that talent is in the lower minors, so volatility is the name of the game, but Milwaukee does not have a barren system. Names like Brice Turang, Joe Gray, Pablo Abreu, Larry Ernesto, Micah Bello, Je’von Ward, Eduardo Garcia, and Carlos Rodriguez are just a few of the likely names to move up the scouting rating systems as they develop. By the way, everyone of these players are teenagers.

To illustrate my reason for optimism in the teenager crop of prospects in Milwaukee’s system, take a look at just some of these prospect reports courtesy of Prospects Live .

The Milwaukee Brewers are at the beginning of a competitive window that could become very special. Yes the farm system is not as strong as it once was, but the current major league roster is as strong as it is because of moves made to acquire players like Christian Yelich as well as prospect graduates like Corbin Burnes. Heck Baseball Prospectus will likely rank the Brewers’ system the worst in baseball once Hiura and Dubon join the team and acquire service time. That’s okay. Who wouldn’t trade that for the major league team in place now?