Top prospects lead Brewers' Double-A squad to Southern League Championship appearance

For the first time since the 2019 season, the Biloxi Shuckers, the Milwaukee Brewers' Double-A squad, are headed to the Southern League Championship. After losses to the Montgomery Biscuits, the Tampa Bay Rays' Double-A affiliate, in the semifinals in each of the last two years, the Shuckers overcame their past defeats by sweeping the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, the Miami Marlins' Double-A club, in the Southern League semifinals this year.

It's been quite the season for the Shuckers. Biloxi posted a 35-30 record en route to a First Half South Division title that guaranteed them a spot in the Southern League playoffs. As a reminder, minor league seasons are broken up into two halves, and the winner of each division from each half advances to the postseason. After winning the First Half title, the Shuckers came in dead last in the South Division during the second half of the season, leading to concerns about how they would perform in the postseason. However, boosted by strong performances from top Brewers prospects, the Shuckers secured their first postseason series win since 2019.

Biloxi's sweep of the Blue Wahoos in their best-of-three semifinal matchup began with a stellar pitching performance from Brewers' No. 8-ranked prospect Bishop Letson. The 22-year-old Letson, who was drafted in the 11th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, tossed five innings in Tuesday night's series opener in Pensacola, while allowing just one earned run. Though left-hander Wande Torres allowed two earned runs in his 1.2 innings of relief, the Shuckers' offense posted six runs, giving them a comfortable 6-3 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.

Outfielder Damon Keith, who the Brewers acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a minor trade at the beginning of the season, led the way for the Shuckers' offense in Game 1. Keith crushed a 446-foot solo homer in the fifth inning to open the scoring and added an RBI double in the ninth to give the Shuckers some late-game insurance. RBI doubles from the Brewers' No. 3-ranked prospect Josh Adamczewski and underrated catching prospect Matthew Wood helped build the Shuckers' lead before right-hander Ryan Birchard, who will participate in the Arizona Fall League this year, closed out the victory with a save.

Needing just one win in two games to advance to the Southern League Championship, the Shuckers returned home to Biloxi for Game 2 on Thursday night.

Jesús Made, Braylon Payne, and Matthew Wood all homer to send the Biloxi Shuckers to the Southern League Championship

Opposite of Game 1, which didn't see a run scored until the fifth inning, Game 2 started with a bang. After Brewers' 2025 second-round pick J.D. Thompson mowed down the Blue Wahoos' top three hitters in the top of the first, Shuckers' second baseman Dylan O'Rae kicked off the home half of the inning with a single to left field. Two batters later, Jesús Made, the top prospect in all of baseball, crushed an opposite-field, two-run homer to give the Shuckers an early lead.

Thompson went on to cover five innings, while allowing one earned run, and the Shuckers' offense just kept hitting. In the bottom of the second, Wood crushed a two-run homer, continuing what's been an excellent postseason for the Shuckers' catcher. Later in that same inning, Braylon Payne, Milwaukee's 2024 first-round pick who had a breakout season this year, scorched a solo homer with an astonishing exit velocity of 117 mph, giving Biloxi a 6-0 lead.

After Pensacola attempted a comeback by cutting Biloxi's lead to three in the top half of the seventh inning, the Shuckers added two more runs in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a two-RBI single from Wood. Right-hander Stiven Cruz, who pitched for Team Nicaragua in this year's World Baseball Classic, closed out the game with 2.1 scoreless innings.

The Shuckers will match up with the Rocket City Trash Pandas, the Los Angeles Angels' Double-A team, in the Southern League Championship. Game 1 of the best-of-three series will take place in Biloxi on Sunday, September 20 at 6:35 p.m. CT.

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