The Milwaukee Brewers minor league system has been getting stronger and stronger in recent years. With that, their highest rated prospects have been getting more and more talented thanks to recent drafts and international signings.
Prospect ranking sites have agreed with that notion and perhaps the best evidence of that has been shown in the MLB top prospect lists that have been coming out over the last few weeks. On Thursday, another one appeared relatively favorable to Brewers fans.
MLB Pipeline came out with their Top 100 Prospects list yesterday after finishing their Top 10 rankings at each position. And after the Brewers placed two prospects on that list to start 2022, Pipeline upped the ante for the organization here in 2023.
Yesterday, MLB Pipeline named three Brewers minor leaguers to their Top 100 Prospects list to start 2023.
It should be no surprise to Brewers fans which prospect debuted highest up the list to start the year. Outfielder Jackson Chourio, the 18-year-old phenom who took the minors by storm last season, was rated the 8th best prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, which is two spots higher than he finished last season.
After not even starting 2022 in affiliated ball, Chourio made his way all the way up to Double-A Biloxi by the time the season was over. All in all he batted .288 with a .880 OPS, 30 doubles, and 20 homers. He made an MLB Futures Game appearance and was named the organization’s minor league player of the year.
A few of the prospects rated ahead of him, such as 3B/SS Gunnar Henderson and RHP Grayson Hernandez of the Orioles as well as OF Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks to name a few, will likely make Opening Day rosters in 2023, making it even more impressive to see Chourio ranked so highly among them.
The Brewers’ next Top 100 prospect is fellow outfielder Sal Frelick, who ranks as the 30th best prospect in baseball. That continues his climb up MLB Pipeline’s charts as they ranked him 70th best to start last season and 46th to end it.
Frelick, the Crew’s first rounder in 2021, has also done nothing but impress since joining Milwaukee’s system. Last year, he topped out in Triple-A Nashville in a season in which he hit .331 with a .403 OBP and 24 stolen bases. He could even be considered a dark horse candidate for an Opening Day roster spot, although it would take a very strong spring to make it there.
Rounding out the Top 100 list members is, yes, another outfielder in Joey Wiemer, who comes in at No. 90. Like Frelick, he also started last season as a MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospect, landing at No. 100 and had risen to No. 84 by the time the year ended.
After bashing his way to a Brewers minor league player of the year award in 2021 and starting off 2022 hot, Wiemer struggled for the first time in the middle of last season while with Biloxi. Still, he would be promoted to Nashville along with Frelick and eventually, things started clicking again.
He would end the season with a very impressive .256 average, .801 OPS, 34 doubles, 21 homers, and 31 steals. He had a particularly good September in which he slashed .302/.425/.476 while walking 15 times to just 10 strikeouts, temporarily alleviating some of the strikeout fears that were starting to concern prospect watchers.
There’s a good chance that one or more members of this trio could find their way to the majors in 2023. If that happens, the Brewers might not have a repeat performance in next year’s initial Top 100 Prospects list. However, would that end up being such a bad problem to have considered the possible reason why?
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