Everything Brewers fans need to know about top prospect call-up Cooper Pratt

The Milwaukee Brewers are reportedly promoting their No. 4-ranked prospect, shortstop Cooper Pratt, prior to tomorrow's series opener with the Cleveland Guardians at American Family Field. It's a move Brewers fans have been calling for ever since Pratt signed an eight-year, $50.75 million contract back in early April. Those calls grew louder as infielders Joey Ortiz and Luis Rengifo continued to struggle at the plate, and Pratt started to catch fire in Triple-A.

Yesterday afternoon, MLB.com Brewers' beat reporter Adam McCalvy officially confirmed that Milwaukee is promoting Pratt, though it's not yet known who the top prospect will be replacing on the major league roster. The assumption is that Rengifo will either land on the injured list after several consultations with the athletic trainers in Sunday's series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies or be designated for assignment. There's still an outside chance that Rengifo is traded ahead of Tuesday's game against Cleveland, but such a scenario feels unlikely. The Brewers could also option Ortiz to Triple-A, but seeing as the team has been hesitant to do so up to this point, even when it meant taking away Ortiz's everyday opportunities, such a move seems unlikely as well.

News on the corresponding roster move should arrive shortly, but one way or another, Pratt will be up with the big-league club and presumably starting at shortstop on Tuesday night. While Pratt has gained plenty of attention in recent months due to his contract extension and ever-approaching MLB debut, let's take a closer look at everything Brewers fans need to know about their new starting shortstop before he officially joins the major league roster.

Everything Brewers fans need to know about Cooper Pratt before he makes his MLB debut

The Brewers' 2023 draft strategy was largely built around picking Pratt in the sixth round

Let's start with how Pratt first arrived in the Brewers' organization. Back in 2023, Pratt was coming off an impressive senior season at Magnolia Heights High School in Senatobia, Mississippi. He led his high school team to their 11th consecutive Midsouth Association of Independent Schools 5-A title and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Mississippi. Pratt was committed to play college ball at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), but was also named MLB Pipeline's No. 45-ranked draft prospect for the 2023 class and was already drawing comparisons to Baltimore Orioles' shortstop Gunnar Henderson.

However, when the draft rolled around, Pratt, who was projected to be a late-first or early-second-round pick, fell to the sixth round due to teams not believing they could lure the young shortstop away from his commitment to Ole Miss. In an interview with Jake Davis of the Oxford Eagle back in 2023, Pratt said, "I want to go play at Ole Miss and it’s going to take a lot for me not to play at Ole Miss just because I live super close, my family can come, 10,000 fans doesn’t hurt and the coaching staff is awesome." As a result, teams shied away from Pratt for the first five rounds of the draft, believing they wouldn't be able to sign him and would therefore "waste" a pick by selecting the prep shortstop.

As they so often do, the Brewers thought outside the box. Knowing it was going to take a sizable signing bonus to convince Pratt to forgo his college commitment, Milwaukee made sure to select players they knew they could sign with below-slot signing bonuses in five of the six picks they made prior to Pratt, giving them extra bonus pool money to throw at the high school shortstop. The strategy worked. Milwaukee signed Pratt for roughly $1 million more than the value of his sixth-round pick and added a top-tier talent to their farm system with the 182nd overall pick.

Pratt comes from a family of ballplayers, one of whom played for Pat Murphy in college

There's no denying that having baseball "in the blood" is an encouraging sign for a rising prospect, and it's safe to say that the Pratt family lives and breathes baseball. Pratt's father, Russell, played baseball at the University of Utah, and his mother, Dr. Heidi Pratt, was an All-American softball shortstop at Nova Southeastern University and was named the Florida Sun Conference Player of the Year in 1997.

In addition to his parents, Pratt has several uncles who played college baseball, one of whom, Trent, played for Pat Murphy while the now-Brewers manager was the skipper at Arizona State University. Trent is now the head coach of the BYU baseball team -- a role he's held since April of 2022. Trent also spent four seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies organization back in the early 2000s, reaching Double-A in the '05 campaign. Another one of Pratt's uncles, Scott, spent time with Cleveland and Atlanta's respective Triple-A affiliates around the same time.

One of the reasons the Brewers have so much confidence in Cooper and were willing to agree to a long-term extension prior to his MLB debut was the work ethic and determination that the young shortstop exhibits. Those traits are no doubt reinforced by a family who understands just how much hard work and time is required to be a successful ballplayer.

Pratt's minor league career is highlighted by an elite glove, excellent baserunning ability, and a mature approach at the plate

In addition to his character, the Brewers felt comfortable giving Pratt more than $50 million over the next eight seasons because of the high floor that he possesses as a baseball player. Pratt is an elite defender at a premium position, which, as Brewers fans have seen with Ortiz, can make up for a lack of value in other areas of the game. However, Pratt is by no means a "one-tool" player. In addition to his elite glove, which earned him a minor league Gold Glove Award back in 2024, Pratt is a strong baserunner. Throughout his minor league career, Pratt has stolen 79 bases in 285 games, which is a pace of about 45 stolen bases per 162 games. Pratt doesn't possess elite speed, but he's an opportunistic runner who has excellent instincts on the basepaths.

While Pratt has a high floor as an overall ballplayer, he also has an encouraging baseline at the plate due to his mature understanding of the strikezone. Over the last three seasons -- Pratt's three full campaigns in the minor leagues -- his strikeout rate has consistently decreased while his walk rate has steadily increased, despite Pratt facing tougher and tougher competition. In Triple-A this year, Pratt maintained a 13.2% walk rate and a 14.3% strikeout rate, both of which are well above average. He rarely expands the zone and has the bat-to-bat skills to extend at-bats when he falls behind -- two traits that perfectly align with the Brewers' approach at the plate.

Given his excellent glove, his strong abilities as a baserunner, and his strong plate discipline, Pratt is bound to give the Brewers a baseline level of production that should immediately exceed what Milwaukee is currently getting from the left side of their infield.

Pratt's ceiling should continue to rise as he develops in the major leagues

The one area in which question marks still remain for Pratt is the power department. The 21-year-old shortstop has a career slugging percentage of .380 in the minor leagues, has never exceeded eight homers in a single season, and doesn't consistently post eye-popping exit velocities like some other Brewers prospects.

However, there's reason to believe that more power is on the horizon for Pratt. For one, the Brewers' new shortstop is still just 21 years old and has been playing against older competition throughout his minor league career. The Brewers have justifiably pushed Pratt at every stage of his development, but as his growth starts to catch up and he settles into his role in the big leagues, it's likely, as has been the case with other fast-moving prospects like Brice Turang, that he eventually finds his power stroke.

Another reason to be encouraged is Pratt's frame. Standing at 6'4" and already putting on muscle since the day he was drafted by the Brewers, the right-handed hitting Pratt should be able to tap into more power at the plate than he has thus far. Under the guidance of the Brewers' hitting coaches and surrounded by big leaguers who have gone through the same process, there's reason to believe Pratt's ceiling will continue to rise as he develops in the big leagues.

It's undoubtedly an exciting time for Pratt and Brewers fans alike. The young shortstop joins a ballclub that, despite dealing with a string of pitching injuries and underperformance from the left side of their infield, is comfortably in first place in the NL Central. Brewers fans, meanwhile, not only get to see the debut of one of their team's top-ranked prospects, but said prospect is replacing one of the few holes remaining on Milwaukee's roster. With the rest of the team firing on all cylinders and a need for any kind of production from the shortstop position, the pressure on Pratt is far less than it otherwise would be for a prospect making their MLB debut with a long-term contract extension already in place. The Brewers are ushering in a new era at the shortstop position, and fans simply can't wait to see what Pratt is capable of.

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