Building the best Brewers all-rookie team of all-time

The Milwaukee Brewers find themselves at the top of a division that's soon going to be full of contenders. Like the Brewers, the Cubs and Cardinals are firmly in their contention windows with the Reds and Pirates slowly assembling teams that are going to be dangerous for years to come.

This year's Brewers relied heavily on the young crowd like Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Brice Turang and Tobias Myers. Myers and Chourio were especially impressive because this season was the first of their big league careers. As rookies, they carried the team on both sides of the ball.

To start your career in the major leagues on a note like these two did is extremely impressive. As it turns out, the Brewers actually have a pretty solid history of rookies coming up and performing at a high level right out of the gate. In their storied history, the club has spawned three winners of Rookie of the Year Awards.

Let's take a trip back in time and assemble a starting lineup (and starting pitcher ... and relief pitcher...) full of the best rookies in Brewers history.

Here is the best Brewers all-rookie team of all-time

Catcher - Darrell Porter

There's not much to go off behind the plate for Brewers rookies, as this race came down to Porter or BJ Surhoff. Porter gets the edge here, as he hit 16 home runs and drove in 67 across 117 games back in 1973. This performance resulted in a rock-solid .820 OPS and 133 OPS+, and was more than enough to earn him a third-place finish in that year's ROTY voting.

First base - Prince Fielder

One of the most popular players in Brewers history, Fielder got a 39-game cameo in 2005 before playing 157 games as a full-season rookie in '06. He hit 2 home runs with 81 RBI, posting an .831 OPS and 110 OPS+ along the way. He outperformed Porter in nearly every category as a rookie, but Fielder wound up with a seventh-place finish in ROTY voting. That speaks volumes to the quality of these young players in the modern era.

Second base - Keston Hiura

While he never quite panned out like he was meant to, Hiura burst onto the scene with an incredible 84-game run in 2019. He recorded a whopping 44 extra-base hits with 49 RBI and 51 runs scored in this short stretch of play. He hit .303 and had an outstanding .938 OPS that year, but he didn't gain any votes in the ROTY race, largely in part to his small sample size.

Third base - Ryan Braun

Braun makes the cut as a third baseman because he spent the first year of his big-league career there before making a permanent move to left field. Braun is one of the three rookies to win ROTY thanks to a campaign in which he hit 34 home runs and drove in 97 runs across 113 games. His .634 SLG led the National League and his 154 OPS+ put him a smooth 54 percent above league-average at the dish. Not too shabby.

Shortstop - Pat Listach

Listach is another one of the former ROTY winners in Brewers history. But unlike Braun, Listach probably didn't deserve to be the winner (see: Kenny Lofton in 1992). Yet, here we are. As we'll come to in a bit, Listach actually wasn't even the best rookie on his own team that year. He is easily the most successful rookie shortstop in the club's franchise history. In 149 games, he recorded just one home run but stole 54 bases and hit .290 while playing solid defense at shortstop.

Left field - Danny Walton

Unless we get creative and put Braun here with someone else at third base, Walton is the best option in left field. He entered his 1970 rookie year with a bit of experience in each of the two seasons prior, but this was his first significant go-round. The outfielder hit 17 home runs with a .790 OPS and 117 OPS+ across 117 contests.

Center field - Scott Podsednik

While he finished second in the ROTY voting back in 2003, Podsednik became just the fourth rookie ever to hit .300, steal 40 bases and score 100 or more runs. He did it all for the Brewers in his two season there, including stealing a ton of bases, drawing his fair share of walks, hitting for high average (at least in his rookie year) and taking the field nearly every single day.

Right field - Jackson Chourio

Chourio is one of the best rookies in Brewers history, but he's not going to finish first or even second in the 2024 NL ROTY race, which is a travesty. Again, that just speaks volumes to the quality of rookies we're dealing with nowadays. Chourio instantly became a fan favorite in Milwaukee when he hit 21 home runs, stole 22 bases, posted a .275 average and a .791 OPS in 148 games. He's locked up for the foreseeable future and is likely only just beginning a decade-long peak that should come fully in a Brewers uniform.

Starting pitcher - Cal Eldred

Remember how we said Listach wasn't the best rookie on his team? That honor would belong to Eldred, who tragically made just 14 starts in that 1992 season. He was electric every time he took the mound, ultimately posting a miniscule 1.79 ERA and equally-impressive 2.81 FIP in 100.1 innings of work. Eldred was never a strikeout pitcher through his 14-year career, but that 217 ERA+ put him 11 percent (yes, you read that right) above league-average on the mound that year. Unreal stuff.

Closer - Devin Williams

Williams is the third and most recent Brewers player to take home ROTY honors. He didn't stop at that award though, as he also earned votes for Cy Young and even MVP in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. He made just 22 appearances, but he allowed just one earned run (yes, really) in 27 innings of work while punching out 53 and walking only nine. Yes, the sample size was small, but he legitimately had one of the best runs by a relief pitcher ever. That's just all the more impressive seeing as how he had just 13.2 innings under his belt entering that season.

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