Brewers: 5 Top Prospects Who Didn’t Live Up To The Hype

MARYVALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 23: Hunter Morris #25 of the Milwaukee Brewers poses for a portrait on photo day at the Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training Complex in Maryvale, Arizona on February 23, 2014. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images)
MARYVALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 23: Hunter Morris #25 of the Milwaukee Brewers poses for a portrait on photo day at the Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training Complex in Maryvale, Arizona on February 23, 2014. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images)
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SAN DIEGO, CA – MAY 1: Mat Gamel #24 of the Milwaukee Brewers (R) hits the wall after chasing a foul ball as Rickie Weeks #23 looks on during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on May 1, 2012 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA – MAY 1: Mat Gamel #24 of the Milwaukee Brewers (R) hits the wall after chasing a foul ball as Rickie Weeks #23 looks on during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on May 1, 2012 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

The Milwaukee Brewers have had several hyped prospects come through their minor league system. However, there were a bunch that did not pan out. Here are five Brewers prospects who never saw the big league success most imagined.

Prospect hype is a dangerous game. You can look at the scouting reports and the video and think that your team has the next Clayton Kershaw or Mike Trout coming through the minor league system. You can imagine them having all sorts of success at the big league level, and in some cases, the team clears the way at the big league level for these prospects to take over. Look at what the Brewers did for Keston Hiura.

With Keston Hiura shooting his way through the minor league system, hype surrounding him grew almost every day. The Brewers cleared the way for him in the middle of 2019 and so far, he’s lived up to the hype.

But for every Keston Hiura that realizes his potential, there are at least five prospects who never come close. Let’s take a look at five Brewers prospects that never lived up to the hype surrounding them.

1. Mat Gamel

The elder brother of current Brewers outfielder Ben Gamel was the heir apparent at first base after Prince Fielder signed his massive contract in free agency. We knew Fielder was likely to leave, and it was finally time for Gamel to take over.

Mat Gamel had been making cameo appearances in the big leagues since 2008, including getting a 61 game stint in 2009. Primarily a third baseman, Gamel spent several years in Triple-A, just waiting for a big league opportunity. He started playing more first base in 2011, and became the starting first baseman in 2012 after Fielder left.

We had seen good things from him, and heard good things about his ability, and he was finally getting a chance to play every day. Then, on May 1, 2012 against the Padres, Gamel was chasing down a foul pop up and tore his ACL, which ended his season.

Gamel was hitting .246 with one homer and six RBIs at the time of his injury.

Then in 2013, as he was set to return from injury and take the starting first base job once again, he tore his ACL again in spring training. He never played another game in affiliated baseball.

He played in 2015 in independent ball with Somerset and Camden, but hit .185 that season and hung up his spikes after that.

Gamel was once thought to be the future at first base for the Milwaukee Brewers, and instead ended his big league career with just 240 at-bats and a .229/.305/.367 slash line. Injuries derailed his career before it could really get started.

MARYVALE, AZ – FEBRUARY 23: Hunter Morris #25 of the Milwaukee Brewers poses for a portrait on photo day at the Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training Complex in Maryvale, Arizona on February 23, 2014. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images)
MARYVALE, AZ – FEBRUARY 23: Hunter Morris #25 of the Milwaukee Brewers poses for a portrait on photo day at the Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training Complex in Maryvale, Arizona on February 23, 2014. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images) /

2. Hunter Morris

Right around the time Mat Gamel went down with an ACL tear the first time, Hunter Morris was accelerating his path to the big leagues. A fourth round pick by the Brewers out of Auburn in 2010, Morris was lighting up the Double-A Southern League.

In 2012, Morris hit .303/.357/.563 with a league-leading 28 home runs, 40 doubles, six triples, and 113 RBIs en route to the Southern League MVP award. He exploded onto the scene and was one of the top first base prospects in all of baseball.

With an abundance of raw power from the left side of the plate, Morris seemed like the perfect fit at first base moving forward, and the opportunity was right in front of him in 2013 with Gamel out with injury.

The Brewers invited Morris to spring training in 2013, and perhaps the opportunity to win the Brewers starting first base job with a great spring put too much pressure on him, but he looked absolutely terrible at the plate that spring. In 12 games and 26 at-bats, Morris had only three hits and a .115 batting average. He missed his opportunity for that job and went to Triple-A for a little more seasoning.

While most were expecting Morris to light up the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League just like he did in the Double-A Southern League, he continued to take major steps backwards. In 2013, Morris hit just .247 with 24 homers and a .766 OPS. His OBP dropped 47 points and his slugging percentage dropped 106 points from 2012 to 2013.

In 2014, Morris continued to struggle, this time his power had left him, with just 11 homers in 103 games that year, dealing with an injury as well. In April 2015, the Brewers traded Hunter Morris to the Pirates for a PTBNL or cash.

It really was a disappointing turn for the Brewers as they were going to be initiating a rebuild shortly after that trade. The Brewers have had so much turnover at the first base position since Prince Fielder left after the 2011 season, and these first two prospects, Mat Gamel and Hunter Morris are a big reason why. They were the two big first base prospects in the minor league system at the time and neither could take over the starting job. That’s why we had to have a year of Yuniesky Betancourt and Juan Francisco at first base, and so many others since.

Morris had such a high ceiling and it was easy to dream on that raw power and ability. But he also had a low floor and he wasn’t able to get far off the ground. Morris never got a chance to make his major league debut.

MARYVALE, AZ – FEBRUARY 26: Jed Bradley #77 of the Milwaukee Brewers poses for a portrait during a photo day at Maryvale Baseball Park on February 26, 2012 in Maryvale, Arizona. (Photo by Rich Pilling/Getty Images)
MARYVALE, AZ – FEBRUARY 26: Jed Bradley #77 of the Milwaukee Brewers poses for a portrait during a photo day at Maryvale Baseball Park on February 26, 2012 in Maryvale, Arizona. (Photo by Rich Pilling/Getty Images) /

3. Jed Bradley

The Milwaukee Brewers had two first round picks in the 2011 MLB Draft, and they missed on both of them. The first was Taylor Jungmann out of the University of Texas, at 12 overall. The second was Jed Bradley out of Georgia Tech, at 15 overall. Bradley, the lefty, had a lot of exciting stuff to dream on.

Take a look at what MLB Pipeline wrote about him in their 2012 Prospect Watch:

Bradley struggled a bit right before the Draft, allowing him to slide out of the top 10 and to the Brewers at No. 15. There’s no question Milwaukee is happy to have Bradley and his four-pitch mix in the fold. His fastball can be plus at times, and he was throwing in the mid-90s at instructs last fall. His slider is another plus pitch at times and he also has a curve and changeup. All will be at least Major League average, and he he has the potential to command them well. Big and strong with an Andy Pettitte-like body, he should be an innings-eating workhorse in short order.

Jed Bradley reminded scouts of Andy Pettitte, in the way that he was big and durable and could eat up innings and be a workhorse. He was the 2nd best college lefty in that draft (behind Danny Hultzen, who went No. 2 overall) and was highly coveted. MLB Pipeline had him ranked as their 8th best draft prospect, ahead of Francisco Lindor, Sonny Gray, George Springer, and Javier Baez. That just shows how volatile prospects can be and how rankings are an inexact science.

Bradley, despite having a ton of potential, never seemed to get things going in the minor leagues, at least not as a starter. It took him three years to get out of the High-A Florida State League and move up to Double-A, which an extremely long time for a college pitcher and a first round pick, although he did deal with a few injuries. He struggled in the move up to Double-A in 2014 and was converted to a reliever the next season.

He saw some initial success in Double-A as a reliever in 2015 with a 3.31 ERA in 23 games, but when he was up in Triple-A, Bradley had a 9.00 ERA in 20 games. Bradley was back down in Double-A to start 2016 and struggled to a 6.20 ERA in 17 games before he was traded to the Braves as the Brewers had to give up on him.

Bradley was a September call up for the Braves that year, and made just six appearances with a 5.14 ERA. He never made it back to the big leagues and has retired.

For a long time, it seemed like the Brewers could never properly develop pitching prospects, and Bradley was just one in a long line of pitchers that never lived up to their potential.

MIAMI, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 11: Tyrone Taylor #12 of the Milwaukee Brewers looks on against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on September 11, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 11: Tyrone Taylor #12 of the Milwaukee Brewers looks on against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on September 11, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

4. Tyrone Taylor

In the 2014 edition of MLB’s Prospect Watch, Tyrone Taylor was the Milwaukee Brewers top minor league prospect, and he had reached Double-A that season. It took him until September 2019 to make his major league debut.

Taylor spent the next three years in Double-A and didn’t really get much traction as his batting average dropped down to .260 and then to .232. In 2017, injuries limited Taylor to just 32 games.

Finally getting up to Triple-A in 2018, Taylor had some improved offensive numbers as his power finally arrived, hitting 20 home runs with a .278 batting average, although this was Colorado Springs, so that needed to be taken with a grain of salt. His previous season high in home runs was nine, and that was in 2016.

Taylor had a pedigree of an above-average hitter that found ways to get on base and then use his speed to steal bags, but he hasn’t been able to quite put it all together. Now 26 years old, Taylor isn’t yet too old to find success, but his days as a prospect are probably behind him. By now, after eight years in the farm system, the Brewers know what they have in Taylor, and he could, at best, serve as a backup outfielder.

Taylor is currently the sixth outfielder on the depth chart, behind Avisail Garcia and Ben Gamel for the reserve spots.

For being a second round pick, and vaulting up to Double-A as quickly as he did, Taylor should be a big league regular by now, but instead he’s fighting for a 40 man roster spot and will start the 2020 season, whenever it does start, in Triple-A.

MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 04: Fans pose outside outfield Miller Park before Game One of the National League Division Series between the Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers on October 4, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 04: Fans pose outside outfield Miller Park before Game One of the National League Division Series between the Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers on October 4, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

5. Gilbert Lara

The Brewers gave young shortstop Gilbert Lara a $3.1MM signing bonus in July 2014, which is still to this day a record for the club. He was the 4th ranked international prospect for that signing period and the Brewers paid a heavy price to get him, and they were very excited about his bat.

He had 60 grade power as a 17 year old and while his defense was seen as a work in progress, his raw power and big size (6 foot 4) was plenty to dream on. He spent the first few seasons in rookie ball, and didn’t really have great numbers, hitting .240 with a .606 OPS and one home run in 2015 and then hitting .250 with a .613 OPS and two home runs in 2016.

It was finally time to send him up to Low-A Wisconsin in 2017 and continue his development. But he was not ready for full season ball, hitting just .193 with a .496 OPS and three home runs for the Timber Rattlers.

What was weird was that Lara’s bat was the reason the Brewers wanted to sign Lara, and his defense was considered subpar, but he actually was playing a good defensive shortstop and his bat was nowhere to be found. It had somehow switched on the Brewers.

In 2018, Lara returned to Low-A Wisconsin and did better, hitting .249 with five home runs and a .634 OPS, but it seemed clear at that point the Brewers would not be getting a good return on their investment at the big league level. In August 2018, the Brewers traded Lara to the Nationals in the Gio Gonzalez trade.

The Brewers probably paid Gio Gonzalez less money over the year-plus that he was a Brewer than they paid to get Gilbert Lara. But the Brewers certainly got more out of having Gio Gonzalez in their organization than they did with Lara.

Lara signed when he was 16, and is currently 22 years old, so there’s still a chance that he can turn into a solid big league player for the Nationals. In 2019, Lara hit 13 homers and made it up to High-A. There’s still time for him, but for the Brewers, the best thing they got out of signing him was trading him for Gio Gonzalez.

Negative Impact Of A Downsized 2020 MLB Draft. dark. Next

There are many more examples of Brewers prospects who never lived up to their hype or draft status. Just take a look at the Crew’s first round picks from 2009 through 2016 if you want to sadden yourself. There’s plenty of disappointing prospects to go around, and plenty of hype left unfulfilled.

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