Brewers: Ranking The 10 Most Important Young Players To The Brewers Future

#3: LHP Aaron Ashby

Aaron Ashby is likely out for the entire 2023 season with an injury, but that doesn't lessen his importance to the future of this franchise. The Brewers saw enough in Ashby to sign him to a contract extension last year. He's under team control potentially through 2029.

As previously mentioned with Jacob Misiorowski and Robert Gasser, the starting rotation is going to have some big shoes to fill in two years with the eventual departures of Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff. If the Brewers rotation is going to remain a strength in the years to come, they'll need others to step up and Ashby is one of those. He was once the Crew's highest rated prospect and they made a long term commitment to him instead of Burnes or Woodruff.

The future success of the Brewers rotation will rely on Ashby. When he's right, Ashby is electric on the mound and can help lead a rotation. If injuries continue to mount or he's not able to build off his prior success, the future Brewers rotation could be in trouble.

While they didn't commit a substantial amount of money to Ashby, they are committed to him for the long term. If he doesn't pan out as hoped, the financial hit may not be that big, but the hit to their rotation plans would be considerable, making the development of Gasser and Misiorowski even more important.

The Brewers have signed just two starting pitchers to contract extensions: Ashby and Freddy Peralta. Both were signed to team friendly deals before they were fully established in the starting rotation. Peralta has since blossomed into a co-ace alongside Burnes and Woodruff, which has been another important development in Milwaukee's success the last few years. They'll be looking for Ashby to do the same.