The Milwaukee Brewers have a very deep minor league farm system and one of the names to watch for in the minors in 2024 is first baseman/third baseman Brock Wilken. He was the 18th overall selection (first-round pick) in the 2023 MLB Draft out of Wake Forest.
He is 21 years old and will turn 22 on June 17. Wilken is currently a non-roster invitee for the Milwaukee Brewers spring training. He played for three different teams in the minor leagues last season. Brock Wilken played in 47 games and had a .285 batting average with five home runs and 29 RBIs, along with four stolen bases and zero caught stealing attempts.
Wilken’s on-base percentage was .414 and his slugging percentage was .473. His OPS was .887 last season. Wilken is going to have a lot of room to grow in the minors this season. It will be interesting to see which league he will start the 2024 minor league baseball season. It will most likely be in Double-A with the Biloxi Shuckers. Brock Wilken will no doubt be a name to watch for in the farm system.
He is a right-handed hitter and a right-handed fielder. Wilken is 6’4″ and weighs 220 lbs.
Keith Law of the Athletic Has a Positive Attitude Toward the Future of Milwaukee Brewers Prospect Brock Wilken
Keith Law of The Athletic was writing about the Brewers’ top prospects for the upcoming 2024 season. He had a positive outlook on Wilken’s future by writing:
“Wilken was the Brewers’ 2023 first-round pick from a loaded Wake Forest team that had two first-rounders and three more guys taken in the second/third rounds last year, and that might have as many as five first-rounders this upcoming year. Even with a big slump in the middle of last spring, Wilken still hit 31 homers for the Deacons — whose home park is homer-friendly — and shows 55 power right now, with excellent balance and hip rotation that point to the potential for more down the road. He’s a hitter first with very high barrel rates in college and solid ball/strike recognition, so he’s comfortable running deep counts. I’m not saying he’s Jeff Bagwell, but that’s the archetype of the young hitter who hits the ball pretty hard, knows the strike zone, and has to grow into more power, so I could see Wilken becoming a 25-homer guy who still posts high OBPs. He’s a solid-average defender at third with a 55 arm, capable of making some difficult plays but needing more consistency on routine ones, with some concern that as the game speeds up he might have trouble maintaining the glove. Even at first base, where the Brewers do have a long-term need anyway, his bat should still make him a solid regular or more.”
Brock Wilken can very well take the track of top prospect outfielder Jackson Chourio this season in the minors. Chourio played all of last season in Double-A with the Biloxi Shuckers and ended the season in Triple-A with the Nashville Sounds.
It will be interesting to see what approach general manager Matt Arnold will take with Wilken in the minors this season. Brock Wilken has all of the tools to be a very good hitter in the big leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee won’t be good this season, but having Jackson Chourio and Wilken as the primary hitters in the lineup for years to come will help them starting in 2025 and beyond.
