4 Brewers Prospects Who Could Be Written Off If They Fail To Produce In 2023

2. OF Joe Gray Jr

The Brewers drafted Joe Gray Jr in the 2nd round in the 2018 MLB Draft. He struggled early on with injuries, illness, and poor performance at the plate. He burst back on to the scene in 2021 with the Carolina Mudcats as he dominated the Carolina League early on. He turned that into a promotion to High-A Wisconsin and a spot back on prospect lists.

However, since then he's been slipping down those prospect lists. Gray struggled a bit in his promotion to High-A and then was sent back to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2022, where he struggled some more.

Gray hit just .193/.279/.353 with 15 homers, 17 stolen bases, and 177 strikeouts in 462 ABs. That's a 38.3% strikeout rate. By all accounts, Gray's 2022 season was a disaster.

Gray dealt with some eyesight problems. He got Lasik surgery during the offseason that left him with astigmatism that affected his vision throughout the season. He ended up getting it corrected but the damage to his season was still done and even after the correction, his performance didn't really improve that much.

At first it was health preventing Gray from reaching his potential. Then he was finally healthy and showed a flash of his potential in early 2021. Ever since then he's struggled. It has to be frustrating for Gray to have dealt with those issues. Gray and the Brewers know the talent is in there. But the strikeouts were a concern even before 2022 and the concerns just got a lot worse.

If Gray can't turn things around and perform like he did in Carolina this year, then he's going to be written off as a prospect.