New ESPN rankings give overdue credit to underrated Milwaukee Brewers prospect

In his most recent prospect update, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel provided new rankings for the top 10 prospects in every Major League Baseball organization. The rankings were complemented with notes on “what to know” about the prospects and which of them would be the next to debut in the big leagues.

For the Milwaukee Brewers, McDaniel’s rankings highlighted an underrated pitching prospect that is finally getting the recognition that he deserves. If Brewers fans don’t already know about Bishop Letson, they will soon.

Bishop Letson joins ESPN's top 10 Brewers prospects list

Letson was an 11th-round draft pick by the Brewers in the 2023 MLB Draft out of Floyd Central High School in Indiana. Despite a commitment to in-state Purdue, a reported signing bonus of $482,600 convinced Letson to forgo his commitment and turn pro.

Letson was the 179th-ranked draft prospect by MLB.com before being selected in the 11th round. Despite a lean 6-foot-4 frame, whippy arm, and athletic delivery, Letson hadn’t shown high-end velocity as an amateur.

That has changed in the two years since he was drafted. In the minor leagues, Letson has been sitting 92-94 mph and touching 95 mph with a fastball that has high spin rates and riding action. His slider has been his go-to offering to induce whiffs in the minor leagues, which has helped him strike out more batters than expected for a pitcher without an overwhelming heater.

In his first professional season, pitching for the Low-A Carolina Mudcats, Letson had an ERA of 3.13 in 14 starts and 63.1 innings. He was promoted to High-A Wisconsin ahead of the 2025 season and has a 1.33 ERA through five starts and 27 innings thus far. 

In total as a pro, Letson has thrown 90.1 innings with an ERA of 2.59 and WHIP of 1.03. He is still a 20-year-old playing in the Midwest League, which has an average age of 24. 

Bishop Letson deserves more respect

Because of where he was drafted, Letson is not a household name as far as prospects are concerned. MLB Pipeline ranked Letson the No. 14 prospect in Milwaukee’s farm system before the season began. Outlets are now beginning to give him his deserved respect, however, and McDaniel’s article for ESPN is the latest example of this.

McDaniel had Letson jumping up into the organization’s Top 10, ranking him as the No. 9 prospect in the Brewers pipeline, right ahead of Brock Wilken, who was Milwaukee’s first-round pick in the same draft Letson was taken (2023).

While the Brewers only have four prospects currently ranked in MLB Pipeline's Top 100, I expect that to change very soon. It’s one of the deeper farm systems in all of baseball. Luis Peña and Luke Adams both have good arguments to crack that list in the next update. And now Letson does too.

Baseball America recently said that Letson was one of five pitchers beginning to get Top 100 consideration with what he has done this season.

If Letson was a high school arm taken in the second or third round, he’d already be a Top 50 prospect in baseball. Evaluators are showing a negative bias towards him because Milwaukee drafted him later than expected. He has the profile. He has the pro-ready fastball and complementary off-speed pitch. He has the production at a really young age.

Letson is still in the lower levels of the minor leagues and has a long way to go before being promoted to The Show. But he deserves to be a more highly touted prospect than he currently is, and it’s nice to see ESPN finally giving him some overdue recognition.