Teenage outfield prospect impressing at Brewers Spring Training and it's not who you think

Coming into spring training this year, there was one teenage outfield prospect that was going to be the talk of Brewers camp. That's of course Jackson Chourio, who signed an eight year, $82MM contract before even making his MLB debut.

While Chourio has been playing well so far, there's a different teenage outfielder in the Brewers system that has caught the eye of manager Pat Murphy.

That player is 19 year old Luis Lara.

While Lara is not technically in big league camp, he's been called over from the minor league side a lot in these early Cactus League games as the Brewers ease their veterans into game action. Typically these early spring games involve a lot of minor leaguers who aren't in big league camp. In his few appearances since games began on Saturday, Luis Lara has set himself apart.

Lara has made a couple of fantastic defensive plays, including this one from Tuesday's contest against the Angels.

Offensively, the hits haven't fallen for Lara yet, just 0-for-5 in three games, but he's a very impressive hitter. Last season, as an 18 year old across Low-A and High-A, Lara hit .286/.373/.359 with 18 extra base hits and 30 stolen bases. He's also clearly a standout defender in centerfield.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy has been giving glowing reviews of Lara, sayin that he'd love to keep him in camp all spring and that he'd bet on Lara being successful.

Spring training is just getting started and it hasn't taken long for the young Lara to make a big impression on his future manager. Getting in the big league manager's good graces is a great way to improve your stock in an organization, not that Lara's stock was low by any means. Lara's the 9th ranked prospect in the organization and has been climbing rapidly since signing in 2022. His breakout 2023 put him squarely on the radar.

Lara has followed the Chourio path so far. He played well in the DSL his first year, then skipped the Arizona Complex League and went right to Low-A where he dominated before earning a mid-season promotion to High-A.

While Lara doesn't possess the power potential that Chourio does, and likely never will at 5'7" and 155 pounds, his pure on-base ability, low strikeout numbers, incredible speed, and standout defense at a premium position in centerfield make him a very valuable player and one worth watching closely in 2024 and beyond. He's impressed manager Pat Murphy in a very short amount of time, and that takes some doing.