The Milwaukee Brewers had a farm system that got a lot of attention a season ago. Despite players like Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer, Sal Frelick, and Abner Uribe all graduating out of prospect status, MLB Pipeline had the Crew jumping up to third overall after including their selections from the 2023 draft.
Milwaukee’s current top six prospects are young and well known. They include outfielder Jackson Chourio, catcher Jeferson Quero, pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, infielder Tyler Black, southpaw Robert Gasser, and right-handed starting pitcher Carlos Rodriguez. All of these players could make their Major League debuts in 2024.
Related: Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio being over looked as 2024 rookie of the year candidate.
This off-season they have also parted ways with a few top 30 prospects. Both Hendry Mendenz and Robert Moore were packaged together for Arizona Fall League breakout player Oliver Dunn and Jace Avina was packaged away in order to acquire Jake Bauers.
Throughout all of this movement and excitement surrounding phenomenal teenagers some of the “older” prospects may be getting overlooked. Here we will take a look at three of them within the current top 30 rankings.
Three current “older” Milwaukee Brewers prospects who could make an impact at the major league level in 2024.
- SS Eric Brown Jr
Selected 27th overall in 2022 Eric Brown Jr unfortunately battled injury last year during his first full big league season. He logged just 263 at-bats in 2023, but did manage to work his way up to Double-A and swipe 39 bases along the way.
Brown Jr ended up playing in the Arizona Fall League this year where he had a strong showing. At 23 years old it’s not impossible to think of him making his MLB debut in 2024, especially if a situation presents itself where Willy Adames is out of the picture.
- RHP Bradley Blalock
23 year old Bradley Blalock was acquired last summer in the trade that sent Luis Urias to the Boston Red Sox. 2023 was his first season back post tommy john surgery and the starting pitcher posted a 2.83 ERA over 67 innings pitched. Velocity wise his fastball returned to the 93-96 MPH range.
As for his secondary pitches Blalock has a power curveball that drops off the table. His slider has a substantial amount of horizontal movement and then his splitter has been used primarily against left-handed hitters. He was added to the Brewers 40-man roster this off-season due to being Rule-5 draft eligible and it’s possible that we see him in the big leagues sooner rather than later.
- 1B Wes Clarke
After being selected in the 10th round of the 2021 draft Wes Clarke has managed to find his footing in affiliated baseball. The 24 year old belted 26 home runs in Double-A last year and 21 a season before that. On top of that he walked at a great clip and posted an on-base percentage of .392 in 2023.
Defensively the Brewers had Clarke at first base last year. He has experience catching, but between the rise of William Contreras and Jeferson Quero he is now viewed long term as a first baseman. Between the assumption of him starting 2024 in Triple-A,and Milwaukee’s current need of a right-handed hitting first baseman, there’s the potential of him being a dark horse to make the big league roster this spring.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Did Joey Wiemer play football?
Yes, Joey Wiemer did play football. Prior to focusing on his baseball career, he showcased his athletic talent at Bedford High School in Michigan, where he participated in both football and basketball, alongside his achievements on the baseball diamond.
Is Joey Wiemer a rookie?
Yes, Joey Wiemer is considered a rookie for the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2023 MLB season. He made his debut with the team, marking the beginning of his major league career and establishing his rookie status according to MLB guidelines.
1 Comment
TBH, I like the 6 you cited as reaching the next level better than the 4 you mentioned from last year (while I think MItchell will be the only true success, on a Kris Bryant level, Wiemer and Turang were terrible and Frelick only fits on a team with some pop). Other rooks from last year, like Monasterio, look strictly like utility players (and not as good as Hernan, lacking that kind of power or semi consistent hitting).
I’ve always liked Brown a lot (and he could play 2B if they retained Adames). If Clarke could become even a reasonable player, I also think Black could finally fill the void at the other corner, solving the team’s two biggest problems that haven’t worked out in FA or trades for quite some time.
I do think that Chourio will be the highest payed AAA player in history and not even close to a ROY candidate. A 19 year old cannot be better than Tyrone was for the last 2 months, which I think is who he really is, not the player who was below average to start his career (mostly due to sporadic playing time). Yeli, Mitchell and Frelick to start and Joey off the bench as the 4th.
So many think the Crew can compete, can control the trade market with their high value players, and might even hang on to them. I have no confidence in the rotation at this time. Freddie was dominant in the second half last year, but Burnes starts slowly now and gets crushed in the play offs. Miley does not replace Woody. Houser is a huge loss. We have no idea if Ashby will produce, or in what role.
I saw a good piece on trading from the depth at reliever and like the idea of Wilson and one of Peguero or Payamps being traded to improve the starting depth. So many who might fill innings next year are totally unproven.