Brewers: 3 Prospects That Are Untouchable In Trade Talks This Offseason

If the Brewers want to make trades to improve their big league roster, they might have to dip into their farm system. These players should be off-limits.

No one is untouchable for the right price. That’s essentially been the philosophy of Brewers President of Baseball Operations David Stearns since he’s arrived in Milwaukee.

However, for certain players, that “right price” is ridiculously high on purpose. The Brewers would have an astronomically high price on key players to ensure that even if anyone was interested in acquiring them, they either wouldn’t be able to pay it or the Brewers would get way more in return value than the player was worth. In today’s age, those kinds of overpays rarely happen.

Those kinds of prices in effect make a player untouchable. No other front office would be willing to pay the price necessary to pry them away from the Brewers.

So which Brewers prospects fit that bill this winter? If the Brewers are going to make trades to improve their big league team, odds are they’re going to have to dive into their farm system. But there are some players that aren’t going anywhere.

Untouchable No. 1

OF Garrett Mitchell

The Brewers first round pick in 2020? Yeah, he’s untouchable.

MLB Pipeline had Garrett Mitchell ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the draft. The Brewers were able to select him with the 20th overall pick.

Mitchell is the Crew’s only current Top 100 prospect, he has the best group of tools in this farm system, and is likely to fast-track through the minor leagues. He could be up in the big leagues at some point in 2022 if all goes well.

If he stays on that track, he’s in line to take over the starting center field job right as Lorenzo Cain‘s contract expires, which would make for a smooth transition in the outfield to keep a strong offensive and defensive presence at that position.

The Brewers have a great relationship with Mitchell, having once had him on their Area Code team back when he was in high school. Mitchell also has Type 1 Diabetes, which is partly why he fell down to No. 20 in the Draft, and that’s something the Brewers are comfortable working with while other teams don’t appear to be.

While Mitchell has the highest value of any current prospect in the farm system, his value is due to get even higher once he starts playing in some real minor league games. Trading him now would really make no sense from the Brewers perspective.

Mitchell is the crown jewel of this farm system right now. He’s not going anywhere.

Untouchable No. 2

LHP Ethan Small

To make it a trend, the Brewers 2019 first round pick joins the Crew’s 2020 first round pick on this list of untouchable prospects.

Ethan Small was another polished college player coming into the Draft and is on the fast-track to the big leagues.

A 6’4″ left-hander, Small was the first of a heavy dose of left handed pitchers in that 2019 Brewers Draft class. It was a long overdue infusion of southpaws into this farm system and he’s the been the best of the bunch so far.

Small had a sub-1.00 ERA across Rookie ball and Low-A last year immediately after getting drafted. In 2020, he was likely to be in High-A and might have even been able to make Double-A before the year was out. Instead, he simply pitched at the Alternate Training Site and was able to work on refining his arsenal.

He came into spring training in 2020 with a new pitch, a slider, that gave him a four pitch mix to work with. Through his reps up in Appleton, Small has reportedly refined and improved his slider and the other pitches in his arsenal.

When the 2021 minor league season begins, Small is likely going to be in Double-A and he could be pushing his way to the big league roster sooner rather than later. Small can be a solid mid-rotation starter for several years in the big leagues with his stuff, deception, and pitching IQ.

For the Brewers starting pitching depth to remain strong, they need to keep Small in the system. Small would carry a lot of value in a trade, but he’s more valuable to the Brewers as a member of the team than as a trade chip.