Milwaukee Brewers: Writers react to the mid season prospect rankings

Matt Yeazel’s reaction

There is just one Milwaukee Brewers player in the top 30 of the newest prospect rankings by MLB Pipeline, outfielder Lewis Brinson.

Brinson is the only Milwaukee Brewers prospect anywhere close to the top 30, despite the Brewers having six players in the top 100 in all of baseball.

Brinson did not have a good first callup to the big leagues, and he went back down to the minors with a .098 batting average. However, he has recently been called back up after raking in Triple-A, and has hit two home runs in his first two games back. This has a lot of Brewers fans excited despite the teams struggles against the Nationals.

Now in the 30-100 prospects, the Brewers own five. This includes two pitchers, Brandon Woodruff (94) who’s MLB debut was unable to happen due to injury, and Luis Ortiz (82). There’s also two infielders in Isan Diaz (99) and 2017 first round draft pick Keston Hiura (95).

Finally, there’s outfielder Corey Ray at rank #69. Ray has an interesting story, he was a first round draft pick of the Brewers in 2016 and is now with the High-A ball Carolina Mudcats. However, he is hitting just .237 with a .678 OPS, which has troubled some Brewer fans.

He is a member of a very deep organizational outfield, and he may feel as if his time with the Brewers is far away, which has sparked many trade talks. For a lot of Brewer fans, Ray would be a more acceptable trade piece than Lewis Brinson, and for some Brett Phillips, another young outfield prospect who has seen big league time this season. There are too many talented outfielders in this organization, so you have to think at least one will go, and it could be Ray.

The fear for GM David Stearns is that because of Corey Ray’s struggles, his trade value has went down. This years trade deadline is not the only time Ray can have value in a trade, especially with the Brewers recent struggles that have dropped them to second place. They may wait till the winter or even next seasons trade deadline to move Ray, and by then he hopefully will have improved his trade value.

As far as the pitchers go, Brandon Woodruff may be seeing his time in the major leagues very soon, especially with Chase Anderson still on the DL and multiple guys struggling. It will be very interesting to see how Counsell manages his rotation, but Woodruff should be getting an opportunity soon, and he could make a difference for this team down the stretch.

Finally, another guy who sticks out to me is recent draft pick Keston Hiura. Hiura clearly has all the hitting ability he needs, and he has absolutely raked in both low and now high-A ball. The only problem is that he working through an arm injury, and is mainly a DH. Which is obviously not going to work for a National League team.

However, there is always room for a guy who can rake, and he has the capability to play, at least a descent second base. Also for Hiura, there is a clear opening at second base a couple years down the road, at least for now.