What the Brewers’ farm system looked like the last time it was named best in baseball

It's rare for a Major League Baseball team to be both a perennial playoff contender and have the best farm system in the game. In general, constructing a consistent contender involves a team turning their prospects into major league talent that allows them to reach the postseason year after year. However, the rare team can pull off the impressive feat, though it requires excellence throughout the organization. That's exactly the position that the Milwaukee Brewers currently find themselves in, but even more impressively, they've done it in the smallest TV market in baseball.

Already this offseason, Baseball America, ESPN, and The Athletic have all dubbed the Brewers' farm system the best in baseball. However, on Thursday morning, the most popular prospect evaluation publication, MLB Pipeline, joined the party, naming the Brewers' talented group of prospects the No. 1 farm system in MLB.

Milwaukee was ranked the fourth best farm system in baseball during MLB Pipeline's 2025 midseason update, trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, and Seattle Mariners. Now, thanks in part to the Brewers' offseason additions of Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams, both of whom appear on MLB Pipeline's list of the Top 100 prospects in MLB, Milwaukee has leapfrogged the competition and sits atop the publication's farm system rankings ahead of the 2026 campaign.

In addition to Sproat and Williams, the Brewers have three other Top 100 prospects: Jesús Made, who is the No. 3-ranked prospect in all of baseball, Luis Peña, and Cooper Pratt. However, what separates the Brewers from the rest of the league is the depth throughout their farm system. Prospects like Andrew Fischer, Logan Henderson, and Jeferson Quero are all very close to the Top 100 -- the latter two previously appeared on the list -- and the talent doesn't stop there.

It's not the first time the Brewers have held the best farm system in MLB, but it has been a while since they earned the title. MLB Pipeline reminded fans with the following post on the social media platform X that Milwaukee topped their farm system rankings after the midseason update during the 2016 season. Let's take a look at what the Brewers' batch of prospects looked like when they last possessed the best farm system in baseball one decade ago.

Orlando Arcia, Corey Ray, and Josh Hader highlighted the Brewers' farm system back in 2016 when it was named the best in MLB

Back in 2016, when the Brewers last held the best farm system in baseball, David Stearns was still in his first year as the head of Milwaukee's front office. During a tough stretch in Brewers' history, Stearns took advantage of the midseason trade deadline, turning several big leaguers into top prospects.

Trades of reliever Will Smith to the San Francisco Giants and a package of Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress to the Texas Rangers netted the Brewers three Top 100 prospects at the 2016 trade deadline. As a result, when MLB Pipeline updated their farm system rankings in early August, the Brewers had an impressive eight Top 100 prospects.

Brewers' top prospects in August of 2016:

1. SS Orlando Arcia (No. 13 prospect in MLB)
2. OF Lewis Brinson (No. 21)
3. OF Corey Ray (No. 35)
4. LHP Josh Hader (No. 43)
5. RHP Luis Ortiz (No. 63)
6. RHP Phil Bickford (No. 65)
7. OF Trent Clark (Grisham) (No. 74)
8. OF Brett Phillips (No. 76)

In addition to the Top 100 prospects listed above, the Brewers' farm system in 2016 included future big leaguers Devin Williams, Freddy Peralta, Adrian Houser, Tyrone Taylor, Jorge López, and Zach Davies. A few top-ranked prospects from 2016 who didn't pan out as the Brewers hoped they would include Kodi Medeiros, Gilbert Lara, Monte Harrison, and Michael Reed.

Though most of the names listed above -- Arcia, Brinson, Ray, Hader, Bickford, Grisham, and Phillips -- did eventually debut with the Brewers, Ortiz never cracked the big leagues, and Brinson was eventually packaged with three other prospects (Harrison, Isan Díaz, and Jordan Yamamoto) to acquire Christian Yelich ahead of the 2018 season.

The last time the Milwaukee had the top-ranked farm system in baseball, it was just a year and a half before the "Golden Age" of Brewers baseball began; starting in 2018 and extending until now, the Brewers have reached the postseason in seven of eight years. With the best farm system in baseball once again, it appears as if this period of sustained success isn't ending anytime soon.