2 minor league free agents the Brewers should re-sign immediately

With the MLB offseason now in full swing, teams have begun making moves to bolster their rosters for the 2026 season. While blockbuster trades and big-name free agent signings have yet to occur, many teams have been making under-the-radar transactions to improve their roster depth and reinforce their farm systems.

One area where activity is expected in the coming weeks is the minor league free agent market. Players who have accrued six seasons of service time in the minor leagues immediately become free agents at the end of their sixth year, freeing them up to sign with a new organization where they might have a better opportunity to make it to the big leagues.

The Milwaukee Brewers have been especially successful signing minor league free agents in recent years. Back in 2022, they signed Blake Perkins, who was struggling to crack the New York Yankees' big league roster, to a major league deal, which was unique given the fact that he hadn't yet made his MLB debut. Last offseason, they signed minor league free agent Grant Wolfram to a major league deal as well, taking another gamble on a player who hadn't yet appeared in the big leagues. Wolfram was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Daz Cameron during the second week of the 2025 regular season.

While the Brewers will bring in several new players, likely not on major league deals, via minor league free agency, they are also set to lose some intriguing prospects of their own. 22 Brewers minor leaguers became minor league free agents last week; Biloxi Shuckers' Broadcaster and Director of Media Relations, Javik Blake, posted the list of said players on the social media platform X.

There are many players on the list above that the Brewers would love to keep in their organization going forward. Whether it was a matter of the team acquiring the player late in their minor league career or a player being just one season away from cracking the 40-man roster, the case can be made for several of these players returning to the Brewers' organization this winter. However, of the group, two names stick out as ones that Milwaukee's front office should prioritize bringing back this offseason.

1. RHP Alexander Cornielle

Alexander Cornielle signed with the Brewers as an international free agent back in the summer of 2019. Just 17 years old at the time of signing, Cornielle is still only 24 as he enters minor league free agency.

After spending two seasons with the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2023 and 2024 and producing solid, but not eye-popping results, Cornielle joined the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers to start the 2025 season. He got off to an incredible start in Double-A, maintaining a 2.05 ERA through his first 11 outings. Despite cooling off during the second half of the season, Cornielle still finished with a 3.88 ERA and nearly as many strikeouts (116) as innings pitched (123).

The Brewers promoted Cornielle to Triple-A when the calendar flipped to September, and the right-hander made three starts for the Nashville Sounds during the final month of the season. Despite the better competition and the more hitter-friendly atmosphere relative to the Southern League, Cornielle's introduction to the top level of the minor leagues went well; he covered 14 innings in his three outings and allowed just five total earned runs, good for a 3.21 ERA.

Cornielle's improvement from his two seasons in High-A was notable in 2025, and his better results against better competition suggest that he could impact a big league roster sometime in the near future. As such, keeping Cornielle in the organization and starting him in the Nashville Sounds rotation to begin the 2026 season should be the Brewers' decision this offseason.

2. RHP Justin Yeager

Justin Yeager joined the Brewers' organization in one of the best trades in franchise history. Alongside Yeager, Milwaukee acquired All-Star catcher William Contreras from the Atlanta Braves and set-up man Joel Payamps from the Oakland Athletics in a three-team blockbuster that landed catcher Sean Murphy in Atlanta. Yeager, who was on the Braves' Double-A squad at the time of the trade, became a minor league free agent last week after three seasons in the Brewers' organization.

Yeager's development in the minor leagues took a hit during his first season in the Brewers' organization, when injuries limited him to just three appearances in 2023. Had that one-season delay not occurred, it's likely that Yeager would have been added to the Brewers’ 40-man roster at some point during the 2025 season, meaning he would have avoided minor league free agency.

After a strong season in Biloxi in 2024, Yeager turned in his best season yet in 2025. He started the year with the Shuckers and held a 2.75 ERA after 31 appearances with the Brewers' Double-A affiliate. His performance led to a promotion to Triple-A on July 18, and Yeager was even better on the Sounds. He maintained a stellar 0.84 ERA through 18 appearances at the top level of the minor leagues. In a different situation, with a different team, Yeager likely would have been called up to the big leagues before the end of the 2025 season, but the Brewers simply couldn't find a spot for him on their 40-man roster.

Yeager's recent run of success, which includes a stellar season in the Puerto Rican Winter League between the 2024 and 2025 minor league seasons, may warrant the Brewers giving him a major league contract like they did with Perkins and Wolfram, to keep him from joining another organization with a clearer path to a big league role. However, with 38 players now on the 40-man roster after the Brewers added their 60-day IL players back to the roster as every team has to during the offseason, a major league contract, which would ensure Yeager a spot on the 40-man, may be unlikely.