We are officially nearing the end of the first month of January, which means it is prospect rankings and hype season across fan sites league wide. In this article I am going to examine three Milwaukee Brewers prospects whom we could see in the big leagues this upcoming season.
Let’s begin.
1) C Mario Feliciano
Hype has been surrounding Feliciano for quite some time now, in large part due to his stellar 2019 season with the Carolina Mudcats in which he slashed .273/.324/.477, clobbered 19 home runs, and had 81 runs batted in. Despite no 2020 minor league season he did spend his time at the alternative training site for the Brewers.
On Feliciano’s 22nd birthday this year he received a much anticipated phone call that informed him that he was being added to the Brewers 40 man roster. With being Rule 5 draft eligible this off-season, the Brewers felt it was necessary to protect Feliciano from potentially being drafted to another team.
As for what to expect from Feliciano, in a recent interview with MLB.com it was revealed that he has been training daily with long time rival catcher Yadier Molina. While hearing Molina’s name still makes me cringe, I do know that man is full of tons of baseball knowledge, tips, tricks, and Feliciano is getting to pick his brain daily!
In the video Feliciano’s addresses that in 2019 he was still striking out at a higher clip than the standard he holds himself to. In 2019, he struck out in 28.8% of his at bats. This will be one area to monitor in his offensive game moving forward.
The Brewers 40 man roster currently has a plethora of catchers on it, six to be exact. Manny Pina and Omar Narvaez likely will get the first opportunities at catcher in 2021. Pina is generally a solid player year in and year out, especially defensively but Narvaez may be on a short leash given his disappointing offensive performance in 2020. This could potentially open up an opportunity for us to see Feliciano with the Brewers if Narvaez does indeed struggle again.
In the end, the bat is definitely Feliciano’s calling card. As a high ranked prospect in the Brewers system, there is a chance that he does indeed make his MLB debut in 2021 and if depending upon how things go, he could stick around as well for many years to come.