The Milwaukee Brewers, at one point, had one of the best farm systems in baseball. Indeed, the Brewers drafted and developed stars like Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Yovanni Gallardo, and Lorenzo Cain. However, over the years, the farm system has fallen to the bottom ranks of baseball, with few prospects reaching star potential. There is, though, hope on the horizon, especially with the top nine prospects in the Brewers’ system. Here, we begin a breakdown of these prospects and when fans can expect to see them in Milwaukee. Be sure to check back every day for a new prospect spotlight.
*Note: These prospects are ranked based off of Keith Law’s rankings in his recent article for The Athletic.
Prospect #8- RHP Zach Brown
Keith Law rated right-handed starting pitcher Zach Brown as the Brewers’ eighth best prospect. According to MLB.com, Brown is the team’s 14th best prospect. That is quite a large difference. The question is what do some scouts see that others do not?
It would appear that Brown’s lower ranking according to MLB.com is due to his poor 2019 season. That year, his first in Triple-A, he was just 3-7 with a 5.79 ERA. In fact, he was so ineffective, that the Brewers sent him on hiatus in an attempt to get his mentality right. Previously, Brown had been known to attack hitters. In 2019, he tried to get too cute on the edges of the plate. He fell behind counts early and could not put away hitters.
There is hope, though, that this 2019 is an anomaly for Zach Brown. In 2018, at Double-A, Brown went 9-1 with a 2.40 ERA. He struck out 119 batters while walking just 37.
Zach Brown has a fastball that clocks in between 92-95 miles per hour. He also has a decent curveball and changeup, which can be very deceptive when he is at his best. Despite his poor 2019 season, the Brewers still have hope that he can develop into a good starting pitcher on the Major League level. At the moment, he is with the team at Spring Training in Arizona as a non-roster invitee. He could potentially reach the Majors as early as this year.
For More Thoughts on Zach Brown
Here at Wisconsin Sports Heroics, we have a great group of podcasts that cover all of your favorite Wisconsin sports. One of these is The Nasty Nine, a Brewers/Nashville Sounds podcast. On our latest episode, we broke down the top nine prospects according to Keith Law. You can listen to our complete analysis here.
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