Brewers: Three Prospects Who Could Be Traded This Offseason

2. LHP Aaron Ashby

Another area in which the Brewers have focused some of their restocking efforts within their farm system in recent years is left-handed pitching. Of those who could be future starters, Aaron Ashby is probably the most advanced candidate in the Milwaukee organization.

Ashby was taken by the Brewers out of Crowder College in the 4th round of the 2018 draft. This was after the Texas Rangers had selected him in the 25th round the year before and he returned to school for one more year of seasoning.

2019 saw Ashby split time almost evenly between Low-A Wisconsin and High-A Carolina as he made 10 starts in 11 games with the former and 13 starts in 13 games with the latter. The increase in competition had little effect as his numbers stayed consistent from location to location.

Overall, Ashby finished the 2019 season with a combined 3.50 ERA and 1.278 WHIP with a ration of 135 strikeouts to 60 walks. His performance earned him a Midwest League All-Star nod as well as being named Milwaukee’s 2019 minor league pitcher of the year.

After initially being left off Milwaukee’s 60-man player pool in 2020, Ashby was added to it in late August as the MLB trade deadline began to grow near. The timing led some to speculate that he might be a trade candidate, though the Brewers would not end up dealing any prospects before the deadline.

Left-handed pitching isn’t generally something that a team is often willing to part with unless they have an over-abundance of it. That said, the Brewers do have a good trio of lefty pitchers at the top of their top 30 prospects list.

Ashby himself sits at No. 6 on the Brewers’ top 30 prospects list per MLB Pipeline, but he is joined in the top 10 by the team’s top two 2019 picks, respectively, Ethan Small (No. 3) and Antoine Kelly (No. 7). Of the three, Ashby is likely the furthest along in his development.

Potential lefty starters are always coveted by other teams, especially ones with tools like Ashby’s, tools that include the highest graded slider in the organization (65). If the Brewers actually find themselves willing to part with one if there top left-handers, Ashby would be a leading candidate to go.

3. SS Brice Turang

Let me preface this by saying that the Brewers trading away the player who was their top-ranked prospect prior to the 2020 drafting of Garrett Mitchell is highly unlikely. But if Stearns is eyeing up a big splash that requires them to send one of their top guys, there are reasons why Brice Turang could be movable.

The Brewers selected Turang out of high school as the 21st overall pick in the 2018 draft, luring him away from his commitment to Louisiana State University. Turang got right to work at rookie ball and showed off his impressive hitting ability early.

Turang slashed .283/.396/.352 across 42 games of rookie league ball in 2018 and continued his success to start 2019. With the Low-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Turang slashed .287/.384/.376 with 21 steals and just 54 strikeouts to 49 walks over 82 games.

A late-season promotion to High-A Carolina saw him struggle a bit to the tune of a .200/.338/.276 slash line and an increased strikeout rate of 47 Ks in as many games. But adjustment periods after a promotion are never unheard of for prospects.

With his solid hit tool and excellent defensive abilities, many fans saw him as the heir apparent to current Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia, who had mostly struggled offensively in the majors. But that was before some developments over the last year or so.

For one, the team traded for another young, major league-ready shortstop in Luis Urias last offseason. Not only did he become a new potential replacement at shortstop, but he also added to the general mix at middle infield as well.

Additionally, the acquisition of Urias seemed to provide a little motivation to Arica in 2020 and he ended up turning in possibly his best offensive season to date. As a result, the Brewers essentially have two shortstops on the big league roster.

Add to this the fact that Milwaukee drafted two college shortstops this past June in Freddy Zamora and Hayden Cantrelle and it leaves the Brewers pretty well-stocked at the position.

Of course there’s a reason why Turang was the top-ranked prospect for the Brewers and even floated in and out of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 overall prospects for a brief period. That’s why any team hoping to pry him from Milwaukee would need to make a trade well worth it.

This offseason will be one of the hardest ones to predict based on everything that happened in 2020 and continues to happen going forward. But Stearns likes making offseason trades, and if he does again, there’s a good chance one of these three is involved.