The 5 best Brewers player development success stories in 2024

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The Milwaukee Brewers do not carry a large payroll. They don't buy a lot of big time free agents. In order to succeed year after year, the Brewers have to rely heavily on their player development system.

Not only does that include the farm system and developing prospects to come up to the majors, but when those players get to the big leagues, being able to help them develop their game at the highest level. There's been a lot of that in 2024, the first year under manager Pat Murphy.

The success in developing these players has led directly to success on the field and is a large reason why the Brewers were able to repeat as NL Central champions.

The biggest successes in player development for the Crew this year were these five players.

1. Jackson Chourio

Is there any other way this list could have started? Jackson Chourio is by far the biggest player development success story for the Brewers not only this year, but going back several years.

Chourio has played the whole season as a 20 year old, coming in as a consensus top-2 prospect in all of baseball. He signed the largest contract ever for a player who had not yet made his MLB debut, inking an eight year, $82MM deal back in December. The hype was real, the pressure was real, and the talent was real.

Chourio has developed before our very eyes this season. He was really good the first week of the season, then he slumped through the rest of April and May. He struggled to adjust. But then the calendar flipped to June and Chourio flipped a switch. Ever since then, he's played at an incredibly high level, pushing himself to the forefront of the Rookie of the Year conversation.

The development of Chourio at the big league level at such a young age through all the struggles has led the Brewers to this moment. They don't clinch the NL Central without him. There were moments in May when some were calling for Chourio to be optioned down to Triple-A. The Brewers smartly resisted those calls. They successfully built up his confidence at this level and will reap the rewards for years to come.

2. Tobias Myers

The player development of Tobias Myers is perhaps as surprising as it is important. Myers signed a minor league deal prior to the 2023 season after bouncing around with a few organizations. In Double-A last season, Myers ate up innings, but to the tune of a 5.03 ERA.

Coming into the year, Myers was nowhere on the radar for the starting rotation. He had an invite to big league spring training, but was among the first cuts from camp. Then an injury hit the starting rotation. Then another injury hit, then another injury and next thing you know, the Brewers are having to call upon Tobias Myers to make a start.

Myers did okay in his first few outings, but he was up and down throughout the early part of the season, pitching to a 5.40 ERA. The Brewers recalled Myers again on June 5th and he hasn't gone back down since. It started with a dominant performance against the Tigers, throwing eight shutout innings allowing just one hit. From that start forward, Myers has a 2.52 ERA in 107.1 IP the rest of the season.

In a year where the Brewers starting rotation desperately needed innings to fill following injuries, where their depth was depleted, Tobias Myers stepped up in a way no one saw coming. His rapid development from posting a 5.00+ ERA in Double-A last year to dominating major league hitters this year is nothing short of remarkable.

The player development of a top guy like Jackson Chourio is one thing, but to turn a guy like Myers, whom no one had on their radar, into a reliable and big time rotation piece is a completely different level of success.

3. Jared Koenig

Another surprising player development success this year was Jared Koenig. The 30 year old Koenig had only limited big league experience prior to this season, pitching for the 2022 Oakland Athletics with a 5.72 ERA. The Brewers brought him in on a minor league deal.

Similar to Myers, Koenig was a bit of an afterthought in spring training, being among the early cuts in camp and starting the year in Triple-A. Very quickly though, Koenig dominated the minor leagues and the Brewers bullpen was needing some reinforcements. They called on Koenig and he very quickly turned himself into one of their most valuable and trusted arms.

In 56 games, Koenig has a 2.47 ERA and has pitched in a variety of roles, including opener (six starts), closer (one save) and everything in between.

Koenig has always had talent, and he throws in the upper 90s from the left side, which is rare to see and it makes you wonder why he hasn't gotten more big league opportunities before. The Brewers saw the talent in him and have been able to finally tap into it. At 30 years old, Koenig is a late bloomer, but a major player development success this year.

4. Blake Perkins

The Brewers signed Blake Perkins to a major league contract prior to the 2023 season. He hadn't made his MLB debut yet either, which made it a somewhat peculiar move by the Brewers front office. In his first season, Perkins was up and down quite a bit, hitting a paltry .217 with a .675 OPS.

The defense for Perkins was excellent and that has remained the case. Perkins leads the Brewers outfielders in Outs Above Average with 10. But he was believed to be nothing more than a light-hitting backup outfielder that's a defensive specialist.

This year, Perkins has taken his game a step forward and proven he can be much more than that. Perkins has nearly doubled his playing time, getting in 120 games this season and has bumped up his average to .241 and has 23 stolen bases.

The development of Perkins from backup, late inning defensive specialist to more of a lineup regular has been a big one for him and the Brewers, especially as injuries have hit the outfield group this year.

5. Brice Turang

The quantum leap that manager Pat Murphy predicted Brice Turang would take this year definitely happened in the first half of the 2024 season. Since then, Turang's numbers have crept backward a little, making it perhaps less of a quantum leap and more a of quantum hop, but still definite progression from last year to this year.

Turang has always been a defensive wizard, that much hasn't changed, but his offensive numbers were abysmal his rookie year. He hit just .218/.285/.300 with 18 extra base hits, 26 stolen bases, and a .585 OPS. It simply wasn't good enough despite his defensive prowess.

Through June, Turang was hitting a stellar .292/.354/.417. It looked every bit of that quantum leap that Murphy promised. Since then, Turang slumped a bit and has had to recover, but has done a much better job of that this year than he did last year.

On the season, Turang has hit .254/.316/.350 with 35 extra base hits, 50 stolen bases, and a .666 OPS. He's become more of a presence atop the lineup and has earned opportunities against left handed starters and done decently well with them, hitting .244 with a .600 OPS. That's another very important development for Turang, who is going to be an everyday player moving forward.

The Brewers are a young team and they need to successfully develop players at the major league level in order for them to achieve their goal of winning a World Series. These five players were the biggest successes this year and are a major reason this team is where they are.

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1. Jackson Chourio

2. Tobias Myers

3. Jared Koenig

4. Blake Perkins

5. Brice Turang

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