Brewers: Ranking the Team’s Top 15 Prospects for 2021

6. LHP Aaron Ashby

The second of the trio of lefty pitchers on our list, Aaron Ashby had a similar story to his counterpart, Kelly. The Brewers also drafted Ashby as an intriguing junior college prospect, selecting him in the fourth round out of Crowder College in Missouri back in 2018.

Ashby has put up good numbers since making his pro debut in the Milwaukee organization and in his most recent season in 2019, he put up a 3.50 ERA and 1.278 WHIP while striking out 9.6 batters per nine and serving up just five long balls. That performance was good enough for him to be named the team’s minor league pitcher of the year after the season.

Ashby’s top tool in his arsenal is his slider, which at 65 is the highest graded slider of any of the team’s top 30 prospects on MLB Pipeline. Combine that with an above average fastball and changeup and it’s easy to see why he can have batters looking like this.

Even having not pitched above the High-A level, though a lost minor league season obviously plays heavily into that, Ashby may be one of the prospects closest to actually reaching the big leagues. Another good performance in the minors in 2021 could make that happen sooner rather than later.

5. OF Hedbert Perez

In the same 2019 international signing period that brought the Brewers the aforementioned Luis Medina, Milwaukee signed fellow outfielder Hedbert Perez for $700,000. When all is said and done, he may end up being the headliner of that signing class.

Though still just 17 years old, Perez appears to have the potential to be a true five-tool outfielder with MLB Pipeline giving him at least 55 grades to every tool except power (which still sits at 50). And by the time he is fully developed, his power may join the rest of his tools in their high grades.

Perez has so much potential that the Brewers even ended up inviting him to join the squad at the alternate training site last summer, easily making him the youngest player in Appleton. The next step is playing in actual games to continue showing off that full spectrum of talent.