Milwaukee Brewers 2020 Top 25 Prospects List: Nos. 1-5

We’ve reached the end of our reveal of the Top 25 Milwaukee Brewers prospects heading into the 2020 season.

We’re finally here. The final five prospects on our list encompassing the top 25 prospects in the Brewers farm system. We started with the 21-25 group, followed by 16-20, 11-15, and most recently, 6-10.

Although the Brewers farm system is rated among the worst in baseball, they aren’t lacking talent in the system. There’s a lot of potential in this group, and these final five are the most promising prospects the Brewers have heading into 2020.

5. C Mario Feliciano

Ever since Jonathan Lucroy was traded to the Rangers in 2016, the Brewers have been searching for their next homegrown, long-term catcher. Manny Pina was solid. Yasmani Grandal came in and dominated in 2019, but that was a one-year thing, and now they have Omar Narvaez at the big league level.

Mario Feliciano is the Crew’s top catching prospect, not just on our list, but numerous others. In 2016, Feliciano was drafted in Competitive Balance Round B out of Puerto Rico by the Brewers and finally had a big breakout year in 2019.

After his offensive numbers took a dip in 2018 due to some injuries, Feliciano started to put it together in 2019 with the High-A Carolina Mudcats, then earning a late-season promotion to Double-A. In 452 ABs last year, Feliciano hit .270/.323/.473 with 25 doubles, 19 home runs, and a .796 OPS. He finally found his power stroke, hit for the best batting average of his pro career, and had his best OPS number by 130 points.

Defensively, there’s no complaints about Feliciano. He’s good at framing pitches, which is the big, new thing that teams are obsessed with about their catchers nowadays. His throwing arm is great, and he controls the running game well. Overall, Feliciano is a solid catcher defensively, and his offensive game is what will take him from a potential big league backup, to an everyday starter.

The offensive growth he showed last year was very promising for his future. Feliciano is still just 21 years old, and he’ll start the 2020 in Double-A Biloxi most likely. Once a player gets to Double-A, they’re just one phone call away from the big leagues. Although David Freitas and Jacob Nottingham will be the catchers in Triple-A and are higher on the depth chart, if there’s a long-term injury to one of the Crew’s primary catchers, they may opt to go with their top catching prospect for a higher ceiling out of the position.

Feliciano will continue to grow and improve on both sides of the ball, and he could be in Milwaukee sooner rather than later.

This year, Feliciano makes the jump all the way into the top 5 on our Top Brewers Prospects list.