Cubs prospect wins Arizona Fall League award Brewers have been very interested in

The Arizona Fall League (AFL) wrapped play on Friday night, with the Surprise Saguaros, the team that the Milwaukee Brewers' prospects represented this season, defeating the Peoria Javelinas in the title game. It was another highly successful season for the AFL, which gives prospects more opportunities to prove themselves against some of the best talent in the minor leagues during the offseason.

Ahead of the league's championship last Friday, MLB Pipeline announced the award winners for the 2025 AFL season. Infielder Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers was named the league's Most Valuable Player, while James Hicks of the Houston Astors took home the Pitcher of the Year honor. The Brewers, despite having several players who enjoyed impressive success during this year's iteration of the AFL, including head-turning performances from Luke Adams and Josh Adamczewski, came up empty-handed during the awards distribution process.

Meanwhile, the Brewers’ heated division rivals, the Chicago Cubs, went home with an award that has seemingly caught the attention of Milwaukee's front office in each of the last two seasons. Should a curious trend continue this year, the Brewers will be acquiring a catching prospect from the Cubs before the end of the offseason.

Cubs' catching prospect, Owen Ayers, follows Oliver Dunn and Caleb Durbin as Arizona Fall League Breakout Player of the Year

Back in 2023, then-Philadelphia Phillies prospect Oliver Dunn took home the Arizona Fall League's Breakout Player of the Year Award after slashing .342/.455/.616 with 12 extra-base hits in 19 games in the offseason prospect league. Shortly after the league ended, the Phillies traded Dunn to the Brewers in exchange for prospects Hendry Mendez and Robert Moore. When the 2024 season rolled around, Dunn was the Crew's Opening Day starting third baseman.

Then in the fall of 2024, New York Yankees prospect Caleb Durbin took the Arizona Fall League by storm, slashing .312/.427/.548 with five homers and an AFL record-breaking 29 steals in just 24 games en route to his own Breakout Player of the Year Award. About a month after the 2024 league ended, the Yankees traded Durbin and Nestor Cortes to the Brewers for Devin Williams. While Durbin wasn't the team's Opening Day third baseman in 2025, he was the primary defender of the hot corner and ended up being a finalist for the National League's Rookie of the Year Award.

Fast forward to 2025, and the winner of the AFL's Breakout Player of the Year Award is Cubs' catching prospect Owen Ayers. Ayers, who doesn't appear on MLB Pipeline's list of the Top 30 Cubs prospects, suffered a broken hand that limited him to just 65 games during the 2025 regular season. A 19th-round pick out of Marshall University, many Cubs fans were surprised to see Ayers sent to the AFL, but the decision turned out to be an excellent one for both parties involved. Ayers slashed .379/.539/.591 with 22 walks and just 10 strikeouts in 20 games played for the Mesa Solar Sox.

If history is any indication, the Brewers will trade for Ayers in the coming days, just as they did after Dunn and Durbin won the Breakout Player of the Year Award, and he will be the Crew's primary catcher in 2026. Well, that isn't likely to happen for several reasons. For one, the Brewers look pretty set at the major league catching position with William Contreras and Jeferson Quero, though it is ironic that Milwaukee was reportedly exploring the catcher trade market during the GM Meetings last week. Additionally, unlike Dunn and Durbin who were already at the upper levels of the minor leagues, Ayers participated in Single-A during the 2025 regular season.

Regardless, it's an intriguing trend that will almost certainly come to an end this year. Was it simply a random coincidence that the Brewers acquired the AFL's Breakout Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons or does it reveal that Milwaukee's front office puts more weight into AFL performances than other organizations do?