Milwaukee Brewers: Who makes it to the Major Leagues first?

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past two years, as a Milwaukee Brewers fan you should be aware that Milwaukee has commenced a very ambitious rebuilding process, but which of the current crop of prospects will arrive in the Majors first?

If you have not been rock dwelling, you are aware of the talent that the Milwaukee Brewers have in their deep farm system. We all know about Lewis Brinson, Ryan Cordell, Brett Phillips and Josh Hader, but what a lot of people do not see, is that there is much more underrated talent still to be uncovered.

The question is, out of this deep system, who will make the jump to the Major Leagues first? There is one name that people forget about since he isn’t as highly regarded as those mentioned above.

If you were to predict who gets to Milwaukee first this year, the best guess might be Kyle Wren. Some of you must be scratching your heads, right? We all know that Ryan Braun is dealing with an arm injury, and we have been told that everything is fine, but for how long will this diagnosis hold true?

At age 33, Braun is at the very edge of his prime years, and he can’t be counted on to play 150+ games in left field. Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell is not mismanaging Braun, but the Brew Crew will need to bring someone up when he inevitably hits the disabled list in 2017.

Why can’t that someone be Kyle Wren? A former Atlanta Braves farmhand, Wren came to the Brewers organization via trade because the Braves didn’t want him sticking around after firing Kyle’s father, former General Manager Frank Wren.

Since coming over to the Brewers, Wren has been an exceptional player at every Minor League level he has visited. He owns a career Minor League slash line of .298/.365/.379, giving him an OPS of .744. He does not hit for power, but he could be a solid left-handed bat off of the bench. Wren can also man all three outfield positions.

He could be what the Brewers are missing when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position. The Major League level is  a whole different story compared to Triple-A, but one aspect that Wren has going for him that might get him to Milwaukee ahead of other prospects is his ability to put the bat on the baseball.

He has accumulated 1693 at-bats in the Minors, and he has struck out only 261 times. Wren is already in his age 26 season, and there’s no better time than this year to see what the Brewers have in him. If he doesn’t arrive in Milwaukee this year, the future log jam of talent won’t allow Wren to crack the 25-man roster ever.

Next: Which Double-A Prospects Could Be Headed to Milwaukee?

It will be interesting to see how this whole Braun situation plays out. If he does hit the disabled list, at least with Wren, the Brewers have an option to fill his spot and they don’t have to make a rash decision with other prospects.