Crew's No. 3 prospect cracks MLB Top 100

ST. PETERSBURG -- Less than a week after Brewers outfielder Joey Wiemer graduated from MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects list, catcher Jeferson Quero cracked the list.

Quero, 20, checked in at No. 100 after the Orioles' Grayson Rodriguez amassed sufficient service time to shed prospect status. Quero (Brewers No. 3) is one of three Brewers on the Top 100 with outfielders Jackson Chourio (No. 2) and Sal Frelick (No. 22), and with Chourio represents two of the 12 hitters in the Double-A Southern League who are 20 years old or younger.

“A 20-year-old in Double-A, crushing it on both sides of the ball, that kind of says it,” said Walker McKinven, the Brewers’ associate pitching, catching and strategy coach. “One, the confidence to put him at that level, and two, for him to do it. We had him in big league camp for the first time and he more than held his own there.

“It was incredibly valuable to integrate him with our staff and our big league catchers. And from a physical standpoint, there’s incredible life in the body. The throwing stands out first and foremost for everyone. But he has really good hands. He checks all the boxes. He’s capable of a lot, so we can ask him to do a lot.”

In his first 26 games for Biloxi this season, Quero has hit .286 with an .885 OPS, nine home runs -- including a three-homer game last week and two more on Sunday in Chattanooga -- and threw out 39 percent of baserunners. His season began in January, when the Barquisimeto, Venezuela native was part of the Brewers’ offseason camp for catchers in Phoenix.

Then the work continued in big league camp.

“You could see him processing information, and he was quiet,” McKinven said. “By the end of it, he was part of the group. William [Contreras] and Victor [Caratini] took him under their wing, and I think it was hugely valuable for him. Then for us, it’s the confidence looking forward like, ‘We can trust this guy.’ That’s what we’d heard, but it was different to see it up close.”

Said Caratini after hearing of Quero’s rise to the Top 100: “He earned [a spot] on the list. He’s really young to be in Double-A. He does a really good job receiving. I think he’s in a good place. He takes control and he looks calm. Now, it’s all about experience.”

Here’s more from around the system this week:

Triple-A Nashville

Left-hander Robert Gasser (MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 Brewers prospect) is coming off a season-best 6 2/3 innings in a win over Durham on Friday. Gasser allowed just one hit through his first six innings before running into some trouble in the seventh, when he loaded the bases and allowed a two-out, two-run single before departing. He finished with eight strikeouts, matching the team high for this season, a mark Gasser had previously hit twice. Command remains his final hurdle; Gasser walked four batters against Durham and has walked at least three in each of his last four starts.

Double-A Biloxi

Nineteen-year-old Brewers top prospect Chourio is still the youngest player in the Southern League, yet remains impressively consistent. He went into Sunday’s series finale in Chattanooga having reached safely in 10 straight games. He didn’t have a hit Friday or Saturday, but that two-game skid represented his longest hitless streak all season.

“Just the fact he’s competing there and improving, the contact is getting better,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold said. “He’s done a really good job. The reports on him are really good.”

High-A Wisconsin

After a slow start to the season, Timber Rattlers second baseman Robert Moore (Brewers No. 8) hit his third home run of the year on Saturday and went 8-for-21 with five extra-base hits in the first five games of a series against Quad Cities. Moore was one of Milwaukee’s two second-round Draft picks last year.

Low-A Carolina

Top Brewers pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers No. 4) surrendered a season-high four runs and four walks in a three-inning outing on Friday, but Arnold said the rainy conditions played a role. Another 2022 second-round pick, Misiorowski has a whopping 16.3 strikeouts per nine innings through seven limited starts so far. He has topped out at 72 pitches.

“I think the way we looked at it was, he was going to go to LSU [had he not signed with the Brewers], and I think if he’s doing what he’s doing right now, you’re talking about a top five pick in the country,” Arnold said. “I really believe that. He has all the ingredients to be a 1.1 [first overall pick] kind of guy, he really does.”