Milwaukee Brewers: Should Corey Ray get called up?

Milwaukee Brewers prospect Corey Ray needed an awesome year to get his career back on track. He delivered an AWESOME year. Should he get called up when rosters expand on September 1st?

There is exactly one player in all of baseball who has 25 homers and more than 30 steals. It’s Milwaukee Brewers prospect Corey Ray. He’s reestablished himself as a top prospect after as shaky 2017, but has he done enough to earn an end of the year call up?

How awesome has Ray been this year?

Ray has flashed the power, speed, and athleticism that made the Milwaukee Brewers take him with the sixth overall pick in 2016. Ray owns a .246/.335/.497 slash line in 122 games at Double-A.

He’s drawn walks in 10.5% of his plate appearances, and owns a strike out rate of 29.0%. Both numbers are an improvement over last year. However he’s shown the most development in the power department. He has more than twice as many homers this year as he did in the past two years combined. His .251 ISO is what the team expected when he was drafted.

Can he get called up?

Sure, he CAN get called up, but he has to get added to the 40-man roster first. He’s also never been above Double-A. Even the most polished hitters spend a few weeks in Triple-A before getting added to a roster at the Major League level.

Paul Goldschmidt skipped Triple-A. Jose Altuve never played in Triple-A until he had to rehab from an injury this year. The Minnesota Twins were notorious for having hitters skip Triple-A. It has happened before, but the Milwaukee Brewers aren’t likely to call up Ray this year.

Why won’t Ray get the call this year?

Ray still has another year of eligibility before he has to get added to the 40-man roster to avoid the Rule V draft.

It’s also clear that the Milwaukee Brewers want their top prospects to get a taste of Triple-A before arriving in the Majors. While there isn’t a ton for Ray to gain from teeing off on Triple-A pitching in Colorado Springs, he would face pitching similar to what he’ll see in the Majors. Most Major League teams use Triple-A to stash extra arms that they know are good enough for a 25-man roster, but they just don’t have room for. Ray has faced his peers in Double-A and High-A, but it makes sense to give him at-bats against players who wouldn’t look out of place on a Major League roster.

Ray will arrive in the Majors soon, but he’s going to need a few months in Triple-A, and the Brewers will have to find a spot for him. If Domingo Santana or Keon Broxton finally move on during the coming off-season, Ray won’t stay in Colorado Springs for long.