Here are the Brewers' 2023 Top 30 prospects
Sam Dykstra
@SamDykstraMiLBThere’s playing to your strengths, and there’s what the Brewers did in the first game of Cactus League play this year. Going from left to right, the club started Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer in its spring-opening lineup. Put another way, Milwaukee’s No. 2, 4 and 3 prospects, respectively, were part of the same outfield group.
“Looking at the lineup card and seeing they’re on my left and my right was really cool,” Mitchell told reporters, including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, after the Feb. 25 contest, in which he homered twice. ... I feel like it’s something the Brewers should be excited for as an organization. Hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later.”
Intentional or not, the message was clear – the Brewers' farm system is loaded on the grass as MLB Pipeline’s updated Top 30 prospects list makes clear.
The organization’s top four prospects, including all three Top 100 representatives, play the outfield, headlined by 2022 breakout star Jackson Chourio. The Venezuela native surged three levels in his age-18 season, showing off plus power and 70-grade speed on his way to becoming the No. 8 prospect in the game. Frelick also climbed three levels in his first full season, and the 2021 first-rounder may have saved the best for last at Triple-A Nashville, where he hit .365 with just a 7.4 percent strikeout rate in 46 games. Wiemer started to tap more into his prodigious pop back in 2021, and despite some hit-tool questions stemming from his noisy swing, the 24-year-old still profiles as a potentially prototypical right fielder with an absolute cannon of an arm.
All that said, it’s Mitchell who is looking like he’s in pole position to be the Brewers’ Opening Day center fielder. The UCLA product shows top-of-the-line speed and can be a special defender in the middle of the grass, but his Major League strikeout rate and continual issues with elevating contact kept him out of the Top 100 for now. No. 5 prospect Brice Turang, whose athleticism has been on display at multiple spots, could be another MLB option in quick time.
The Crew is a bit light on pitching, but there’s hope on the horizon there too. Jacob Misiorowski – the organization’s second-round pick last year – can touch triple digits and has some feel for spin with an above-average slider he displayed at the junior college level.
Here’s a look at the Brewers’ top prospects:
1. Jackson Chourio, OF (MLB No. 8)
2. Sal Frelick, OF (MLB No. 30)
3. Joey Wiemer, OF (MLB No. 90)
4. Garrett Mitchell, OF
5. Brice Turang, SS/2B/OF
Complete Top 30 list »
Biggest jump/fall
Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the 2022 preseason list to the 2023 preseason list.
Jump: Chourio (2022: No. 9 | 2023: No. 1)
An eight-spot jump might not seem like the biggest leap in an entire Top 30, but consider that Chourio wasn’t even in Top 100 consideration a year ago and is now a universal Top 10 prospect. The right-handed slugger hit .288/.342/.538 with 20 homers and 16 steals in 99 games at Single-A, High-A and Double-A, and his speed helped ease his transition into becoming an impressive defensive center fielder. As loaded as this outfield group is, no one else comes close to Chourio’s immense ceiling.
Fall: Joe Gray Jr., OF (2022: No. 13 | 2023: NR)
After missing significant time early in his career, Gray enjoyed a 20-20 season in 2021, though concerns about his penchant for strikeouts held him back from being a Top 10 talent entering ’22. Those worries were validated last season when he hit just .193 with a career-high 33.6 percent K rate and 76 wRC+ in 123 games at High-A Wisconsin. He enters his sixth year in Minor League Baseball without experience above A-ball.
Best tools
Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses have the same grade.
Hit: 70 – Sal Frelick
Power: 60 – Jackson Chourio (Joey Wiemer, Jace Avina)
Run: 80 – Garrett Mitchell
Arm: 70 -- Garrett Mitchell
Defense: 60 – Mitchell (Brice Turang, Jeferson Quero, Robert Moore, Eduardo Garcia)
Fastball: 80 – Abner Uribe
Curveball: 65 – Joseph Hernandez
Slider: 60 -- Abner Uribe
Changeup: 60 – Ethan Small (Logan Henderson)
Control: 55 – Janson Junk
How they were built
Draft: 16 | International: 9 | Trade: 4 | Free agent: 1
Breakdown by ETA
2023: 12 | 2024: 6 | 2025: 8 | 2026: 3 | 2027: 1
Breakdown by position
C: 2 | 1B: 0 | 2B: 3 | 3B: 0 | SS: 6 | OF: 9 | RHP: 8 | LHP: 2