Electric Brewers pitching prospect continues to overpower Double-A hitters

If you take a look at the Milwaukee Brewers Top 30 prospects list, curated by MLB Pipeline, you will see four pitching prospects in the top 13 spots. Three of those pitchers have already made their respective MLB debuts: Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, and Robert Gasser. The fact that each of the Brewers' current top three pitching prospects debuted within one year of each other speaks to the ridiculous amount of talent that is bursting onto the major league scene for the Crew.

However, it's also difficult not to wonder what the next wave of pitching prospects will bring, and for the answer to that question, we turn to the highest-ranked pitching prospect in the Brewers organization that has yet to make their MLB debut: Brett Wichrowski.

The Milwaukee Brewers drafted Wichrowski out of Bryant University in the 13th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, and while his upside was apparent to some from the onset, his name was nowhere to be found on any top prospect rankings list. That is, until his breakout season in 2024.

After a 2024 season that began with the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Wichrowski earned a quick promotion to Double-A, appearing in games for the Biloxi Shuckers in just his fifth professional start. But the then-21-year-old responded adequately, posting a 4.12 ERA in 17 starts with the Shuckers a season ago.

However, what really caused Wichrowski to rapidly climb in the prospect rankings was the overpowering arsenal of pitches that he possesses; Wichrowski's four-seamer can touch triple digits, and he pairs it with an above-average slider that received a scouting grade of 60 (with 50 being the average on a 40-80 scale) from MLB Pipeline.

Brett Wichrowski is off to an impressive start in 2025 after losing the first month of the season to injury

Wichrowski is firing on all cylinders in the 2025, and his 4.12 Double-A ERA that he held a season ago is down to 2.45 through 10 starts this season. Oddly enough, despite Wichrowski's elite stuff, his strikeout numbers do not jump off the page. A season ago, he struck out just 61 batters in 74.1 innings pitched in Double-A, and while his numbers are slightly better this year (35 strikeouts in 40.1 innings), they are still slightly underwhelming for someone with Wichrowski's high-velocity fastball and wipeout slider.

While the Brewers and prospect analysts alike would love to see an increase in his strikeout rate, Wichrowski remains incredibly effective for the Shuckers nonetheless; he hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in a start this season.

Additionally, the Brewers' No. 13 ranked prospect is coming off his best start of the season, in which he tossed a six-inning two-hit shutout against the Columbus Clingstones, the Atlanta Braves' Double-A affiliate, on Friday night. His six strikeouts tied a season high, and he even included an impressive tag on a high-IQ defensive play (see video below).

Wichrowski will still require a bit more time in Double-A before earning a promotion to Triple-A Nashville, simply due to the fact that he just hasn't played much professional baseball to this point, especially given his injury troubles over the last year. As Shuckers play-by-play announcer Javik Blake explained in an interview with Reviewing the Brew in mid-May, “one of the big things for him is that he’s really consistently pitching for the first time since August. He got shut down and was on the IL last year and then missed a month this year. The big thing is just building back stamina. Last time out he didn’t walk anyone which was big for him.”

Wichrowski could spend the rest of the season in Double-A, begin the 2026 season in Triple-A, and still have a chance at debuting in MLB before the end of next year, as MLB Pipeline predicts. However, what matters most right now is that Wichrowski stays healthy and continues to string together more steady starts as he has so far this season.