Milwaukee Brewers First Half All-Organization Team

If you’re a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers, you should be quite familiar with the disappointment that has marred the first half of the 2015 season. Currently as of the All-Star break, the Brewers hold the second worst record in all of baseball at 38-52, and have dealt with injuries and ineffectiveness from several key players all throughout the year. Several trades will likely be forthcoming for the Brewers, painting a somewhat bleak picture for the rest of the major league season as the team embarks on some level of rebuild.

On the minor league level, however, the Brewers have been experiencing a banner year of sorts. Milwaukee had an incredibly strong draft and has seen breakout performances by several prospects. Filling out a lineup using the system’s top performers at each position is no easy task, so without further ado, here is the Brewers’ first half “All-Organization” team:

C Carlos Leal
A- Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
Leal was a 34th round draft pick as a pitcher in the 2014 draft, but converted to catcher before the season and has torn the cover off the ball ever since. At 24, he is a little older than his average competition in the Midwest League, but that doesn’t take too much of the shine off a .322/.384/.422 line with 16 extra base hits so far this season.

1B Nick Ramirez
AA Biloxi Shuckers
Ramirez has made a slow ascension through the system since being drafted in the 4th round in 2011, but he is having a stellar season in his second go-around at AA. The soon to be 26 year old is nearly a year older than league average, but he has put together a .278/.361/.461 slash in 84 games, slugging 12 home runs. Ramirez has also reduced his strikeout rate by over 7% this year.

2B Nathan Orf
AA Biloxi Shuckers
The Brewers signed Orf as an undrafted free agent in 2013, and the 25 year old has hit at every level since then. Orf has been an on-base machine with his .270/.368/.379 slash so far for Biloxi, and he has pounded out 24 extra base hits and stolen five bases. Orf is a versatile defender as well, and has appeared at five different positions this year.

3B Dustin DeMuth
A- Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
DeMuth was chosen by the Brewers in the 2014 draft after his senior season in college, and the soon to be 24 year old has been the Timber Rattlers’ most consistent hitter all year long. He has 20 extra base hits to go along with his .278/.358/.380 average.

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SS Orlando Arcia
AA Biloxi Shuckers
No player in the Brewers’ system has seen their stock rise more than Orlando Arcia. The 22 year old has long been considered a top prospect just based on his ability in the field, but his bat has taken a tremendous leap this season. Four years younger than league average, Milwaukee’s Futures Game representative has hit .313/.355/.458 for the Shuckers this year, adding 33 extra base hits and 12 stolen bases in 80 games. Ranked as Baseball America’s #94 prospect before the season, Arcia has risen all the way to the #8 ranked prospect in all of baseball in their latest ranking.

OF Clint Coulter
A+ Brevard County Manatees
Coulter won the organization’s minor league player of the year last season while playing in Wisconsin, and he has followed that up with another strong campaign this year. Playing in the notoriously pitcher friendly Florida State League, the former first round pick has hit .257/.346/.435 though 88 games, slugging 11 home runs among his 34 extra base hits. The 21 year old has also taken quite well to his new position in the outfield after being drafted as a catcher; he has 11 outfield assists on the season.

OF Victor Roache
AA Biloxi Shuckers
Roache, another former first rounder, started this season red hot while playing for the Manatees. The 23 year old has cooled a bit after a promotion to AA, but has still posted a solid .250/.320/.444 line across two levels this season. Roache’s calling card has always been his prodigious power, and he hasn’t disappointed while slugging 13 home runs this season. Concerning, however, is Victor’s 34.3% strikeout rate, which needs to come down if he wants to become a legitimate big leaguer.

OF Michael Reed
AA Biloxi Shuckers
Thee 22 year old Reed has never had a problem getting on base in his five year minor league career, but this season he has finally discovered the power stroke to make him an all around threat at the plate. He’s been a bit cold lately, but Reed has hit .273/.373/.412 in 80 games so far this season while 23 extra base hits. He’s walking in close to 14% of his plate appearances and has stolen 23 bases.  He has even added 8 outfield assists, for good measure.

SP Jorge Lopez
AA Biloxi Shuckers
Lopez has seen plenty of struggles since being drafted in the 2nd round in 2011, but the 22 year old is finally putting everything together this season. In 16 starts, he has thrown 90.2 innings while allowing just 26 earned runs (2.58 ERA). He has struck out 86 batters while walking just 35, and is inducing ground balls at nearly a 55% clip.

RP David Goforth
AAA Colorado Spring Sky Sox
The Brewers drafted Goforth in the 7th round in 2011, and the 26 year old has thrived since a switch to relief pitching in 2013. He was a Pacific Coast League All-Star for the Sky Sox this year, posting a 2.65 ERA in 34.0 innings (28 games). He has struck out 26 batters while walking 16 with a 58.2% ground ball rate. Goforth has also earned a couple brief callups to the big leagues this season, making four total scoreless appearances.

There you have it, the Milwaukee Brewers’ All-Org team for the first half of 2015. For this exercise, I chose not to include the Brewers’ short season rookie affiliates as they have only recently started play within the past few weeks. With plenty of young talent all throughout the system (especially a stacked AA team), a rebuild might not be as long and painful as fans in America’s Dairyland have come to expect. After years of hearing “the cupboard is bare,” that is simply no longer the case in Milwaukee. The future is starting to look much brighter for our beloved Brewers, all we have to do is wait.

Next: Five First Half Positives for the Brewers