This flamethrower may already be the next great Brewers pitching prospect

The Milwaukee Brewers are one of the better teams in Major League Baseball at developing young pitchers into future stars.

Only two of the team's last 13 first-round draft picks have been pitchers. A big reason for that is the organization does an excellent job identifying and developing talented pitching in every round of the draft. Some of the best Brewers starting pitchers in recent memory have been acquired in some unceremonious ways.

Corbin Burnes was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft. Brandon Woodruff was an 11th-round pick in the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft. Logan Henderson was also a fourth-rounder in the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Freddy Peralta was acquired when the Brewers traded away Adam Lind back in 2015. Chad Patrick was acquired when Abraham Toro was deal in 2023. Milwaukee got Tobias Myers as a minor league free agent when nobody else wanted him.

This team has a knack of developing young pitching - and the next great Brewers pitching prospect could very well be 19-year-old right-hander Bryce Meccage.

Brewers' Bryce Meccage earning plenty of praise

Meccage was drafted by the Brewers in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft. He was originally the No. 51 ranked draft prospect in the class and was selected with the 57th overall pick.

MLB.com also had Meccage as the sixth-best high school pitching prospect in his class, but Milwaukee got him to sign an above-slot deal with a $2.5 million signing bonus.

2025 has been his first professional season, and in eight starts for the Carolina Mudcats (A), Meccage has a 2.45 ERA. He has thrown 25.2 innings and allowed seven earned runs. His WHIP is an impressive 0.97 and his K/9 sits at 9.5.

At the moment, Meccage is the No. 15 ranked prospect in the Brewers organization, according to MLB Pipeline. I expect that to change when the rankings get updated in the middle of the season. A 19-year-old starting pitcher that is dominant in his first taste of pro ball deserves praise. I don’t really care what level of the minor leagues he’s pitching at.

Meccage has a projectable 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame. He has family ties to the game of baseball. His father is a coach at Princeton and was once an MLB draft pick himself. His uncle was recently on the Pittsburgh Pirates coaching staff. He also pumps 95+ with his fastball and spins off a wicked slider.

Meccage has been controlling his fastball while touching 96mph on the radar gun in the minor leagues this season. It's the highest-graded pitch in his arsenal.

If the Brewers can continue to develop his pitch profile, there is so much to build off of here. This is a 19-year-old that is looking polished well beyond his years.

We very well could be looking at the next great Milwaukee Brewers pitching prospect.