Milwaukee Brewers: Is this the year Trent Grisham breaks out?

Milwaukee Brewers prospect Trent Grisham was drafted in the first round in 2015. Is 2019 the year he puts it all together?

Trent Grisham has been in the Milwaukee Brewers’ system for just over four years. He’s still only 22 years old, and has the impressive skillset that helped him go in the first round. However, he’s not on any of the top prospects lists. After a few up and down seasons in the low Minors, Grisham looks like he’s breaking out this year in Double-A. Is this a hot streak, or a tangible improvement?

What’s Grisham doing in Double-A?

Grisham owns a .267/.383/.529 slash line in 59 games at Double-A Biloxi. He’s mashed 13 homers, and stolen six bases in 10 attempts. He’s also walking at a 15.5% rate. Grisham as also driven in 40 runs, and scored 33 times.

What’s changed for Grisham?

Grisham has cut down on the strikeouts, while boosting his power output. He’s maintained a strikeout rate over 20% in each of the last three seasons, but he’s managed to cut down on the whiffs this year. His current strikeout rate sits at 18.2% with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate.

He’s also boosted his line drive rate by over 5%, and maintained his fly ball-first approach at the plate. The improvement in line drive rate combined with the reduced number of strikeouts indicates that he’s figured out how to really take advantage of his patience at the plate.

Can this continue or is it a hot streak?

Well, he’s hit seven homers in the past few weeks after having only six as of May 30th. It looks like a hot streak, but the underlying metrics indicate that this is for real. He might be getting the baseball over the fence a little above his career average, but his walk and line drive rates are up, and his strikeouts are down.

Grisham won’t turn 23 until after the 2019 season. It feels like he’s been around forever, but he’s essentially traded his college years for professional baseball. It took him time to figure out the jump from High School to professional baseball, but he has figured out how to adjust his skills to the pro game.

Grisham is behind Corey Ray on the organizational chart, but the the gap is a lot closer than it was. Grisham still has a chance to work his way into a starting role with the Milwaukee Brewers, and should make a jump up on the mid-season prospect lists update. He could also earn a promotion to Triple-A in the next month, or make the move to the second highest level next year. After that, he’s an injury away from a starting job.