Top Brewers prospect vying for impressive award with latest hot stretch

There's no denying that the Milwaukee Brewers' minor league system is stacked. While MLB Pipeline has Milwaukee's farm system as the fourth best in all of baseball, Baseball America awarded them the top spot. With five prospects in the MLB Pipeline's Top 100 best prospects in baseball, and plenty of depth throughout the rest of their minor league rosters, the future is bright in Milwaukee.

A large reason for the loaded nature of the Brewers' minor league system, has been an incrdeibly successful draft strategy in recent years. Milwaukee's front office is known for finding diamonds in the rough in the later rounds of the draft, relying on early under-slot picks to save money for intriguing prep prospects that they generally select on Day 2 of the MLB Draft. That strategy is heightened by the Brewers being highly successful with their early draft picks, which have netted them high-end prospects in addition to the under-the-radar talent that they find in the later rounds.

One such high-end prospect, who the Brewers drafted with the 34th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, is slugging first baseman Blake Burke. After starting the season with the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Burke earned a late-season promotion to Double-A at the beginning of August, and hasn't looked back since. Now his sights are set on an elusive award that would cap his impressive first month with the Biloxi Shuckers.

Blake Burke squarely in the race for Southern League Player of the Month in August

Burke joined the Shuckers on August 2, and went 1-4 with a single up the middle. Since then, he's played in 24 games for the Shuckers and has collected hits in 19 of them. Nine of those 19 games have been multi-hit efforts for the 22-year-old out of the University of Tennessee. As a result, despite being known for his light-tower power, Burke is sporting an impressive .323 batting average since his promotion to Double-A.

That said, Burke's power has emerged since joining the Shuckers as well. After hitting just five homers for the Timber Rattlers in the first four months of the season, Burke has slugged seven longballs for the Shuckers in the month of August. With six doubles during the month as well, Burke holds a .604 slugging percentage since making the jump to Double-A, which is especially impressive given how difficult it is to hit for power in the pitcher-friendly Southern League.

With a ridiculous slash line of .323/.377/.604, seven homers, and nearly as many RBI (23) as strikeouts (24) during the month of August, Burke is a leading candidate to win the Southern League Player of the Month Award. The Brewers 2023 first-round pick, Brock Wilken, won the award back in May after slugging nine homers and posting an OPS of .938. Despite Burke hitting two less homers during his impressive month of August, his .981 OPS entering play today outpaces Wilken's May mark that earned him the Player of the Month award.

In a farm system that is loaded with corner infield talent, Burke winning the Southern League Player of the Month in his first month in Double-A would go a long way toward making his name stand out among the rest. Regardless of whether or not he ends up winning it, which should be revealed sometime this week, Burke's performance since joining the Shuckers has been nothing short of incredible. If he keeps hitting, don't be surprised if he's manning first base for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds halfway through the 2026 season. Such a move would put him just one step away from the big leagues.