Milwaukee Brewers add left-hander Aaron Ashby to 60-man player pool

The Milwaukee Brewers announced the addition of yet another exciting, young prospect to their 60-man player pool yesterday, with left-hander Aaron Ashby reporting to the alternate training site in Appleton. The move was originally noted by the incomparable Jim Goulart of Brewerfan.net late last week and was made official on Tuesday, likely after he passed through initial COVID-19 intake testing.

Ashby was a 4th-round pick by the Brewers back in 2018 out of junior college and has seen his prospect stock rise considerably since then. Last year in his age-21 season, the southpaw posted a 3.50 ERA across 135.0 innings split between Class-A Wisconsin and Advanced-A Carolina. He struck out 150 batters versus 60 walks and allowed only five home runs all year. After the season, Ashby was recognized by the organization as the Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2019.

Ashby was ranked as Milwaukee’s #5 overall prospect in the latest update from Baseball America. “Ashby boosted his stock more than any player in the Brewers’ system in 2019 and was named the organization’s pitcher of the year. The reason was he gained better command of his pitches,” their scouts write. “Ashby doesn’t throw overly hard, with a fastball that sits in the 92-95 mph range. What separates him is a devastating curveball. It’s a true plus-pitch he sometimes throws tight and hard to give the appearance of a slider, and lefthanded hitters in particular are helpless against it.” They go on to describe the strides he has made with his changeup as it becomes a reliable third pitch, and note that while his delivery gives him deception, it also hinders his control to fringe-average. The overall package could become a mid-rotation starter, in the eyes of BA.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference