In recent years, it’s felt like there’s always another exciting Brewers prospect knocking on the door.
When Jackson Chourio made his major league debut on Opening Day 2024, he was the No. 2 prospect in baseball and the best prospect the Brewers had had in years. A little over a year later, Jacob Misiorowski made his major league debut and quickly became one of the best pitchers in baseball. Brewers fans began this season clamoring for Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara, and both have more than held their
own since arriving in Milwaukee.
Even with the graduations of those four prospects, along with numerous others, Milwaukee’s farm system is still considered to be one of — if not the best — in baseball. Reinforcements are coming, whether that be in September or at the start of next season.
There are six position players who stand out to me as realistic candidates to be the next top prospect to make their major league debut. Let’s take a look at them:
Andrew Fischer
Fischer, a slightly older prospect (21 when drafted), played three years in college and was seen as a remarkably developed hitter heading into the draft. He’s been putting up power numbers that haven’t been seen in the Brewers’ farm system in a long, long time, carrying a 1.021 OPS into the final weeks of August while hitting 37 home runs between High-A Wisconsin (20) and Double-A Biloxi (17).
Fischer seems like the perfect candidate for a late-season promotion, but — simply put — the issue is that he’s struck out way too much all year, especially in Biloxi (35.2%).
Now, a high strikeout rate doesn’t mean you can’t be a productive — even great — major league hitter. And, as some Brewers fans have pointed out, striking out a lot might be an acceptable tradeoff for a team that currently ranks last in the major leagues in home runs. However, successful sluggers who strike out a lot are usually either extreme outliers in another area or great at not chasing pitches out of the zone. That second profile is one you see in a lot of “three true outcomes” sluggers, guys like Kyle Schwarber, Munetaka Murakami, and Joey Gallo, who have terrible strikeout and whiff rates but are selective enough to force pitchers to challenge them in the zone.
Fischer’s chase rate in Double-A does suggest that he could be that type of hitter, but you never know. For every Schwarber, Murakami, or Gallo, there’s a Keston Hiura who can’t figure it out at the big league level despite great production in the minors. Would the Brewers, an organization that has historically tended to be fairly conservative with prospect promotions and professed a “bites at the apple” approach, risk messing with the development of their massively talented 2025 first-round pick just to make a deeper run this year? I doubt it.
The final thing to consider with Fischer is the organizational depth chart around him. Fischer is a corner infielder whose eventual defensive home is probably first base. While Jake Bauers might end up priced out of Milwaukee after the season he’s had, the Brewers should still have Andrew Vaughn next year (arbitration results notwithstanding). They’ll also have Luke Adams and Blake Burke, both of whom have had great seasons with less concerning strikeout rates and are already in Triple-A.
Having said all this, Fischer is probably one of the least likely players on this list to be the next top prospect called up, but I also wouldn’t completely rule it out. He’s been electric all year, and 37 home runs are 37 home runs. If the Brewers decide the offense needs a spark down the stretch, there isn’t another player in the organization who has shown an ability to provide it quite like Fischer has.
Blake Burke
Since changing his swing to prioritize getting the ball in the air more often, Burke has become an absolute monster at the plate. He destroyed Double-A pitching this year, hitting for average (.285), getting on base (.367), hitting 30 home runs, and, somewhat surprisingly for a first baseman, stealing 28 bases. His 23.6% strikeout rate also looks significantly better than Fischer’s, and Fischer is probably his main competition for the “power-hitting corner infielder” call-up should the Brewers decide they need that profile. Burke also has the advantage of already being in Triple-A, having been promoted a couple of weeks ago.
The immediate problem for Burke is finding somewhere to play.
Burke will be a first baseman, and coming out of college, a lot of scouts saw him as a future DH-only guy. While he’s been much better than that with Biloxi and should eventually be at least a fringe-average defender at first base, he doesn’t have great range and wouldn’t be able to play the outfield or third base at the level the Brewers would want. While Fischer, in practice, probably isn’t much more flexible than Burke, in theory he is. If Milwaukee needed a bat who could also play third base — or maybe even the outfield — in a pinch, Burke wouldn’t be the guy. Since the Brewers aren’t hurting for first basemen in Triple-A or the majors, that matters a little bit.
Luke Adams
There’s something very Brewers about Adams potentially being the next guy promoted. He was a 12th-round pick in 2022, has never been considered one of the flashiest prospects in the organization, and has basically forced his way up the system’s rankings by getting on base and hitting the ball hard.
Adams sort of reminds me of Pratt and Lara in a way. Like Pratt and Lara, Adams has been surrounded by flashier, higher-ranked prospects who play his position, but he’s just kept producing and working, and it’s led to him knocking on the door of the big leagues.
Adams doesn’t have the prospect pedigree of Made or Fischer, and he hasn’t put up the same ridiculous power numbers as Burke, but he checks just about every other box. He’s already in Triple-A. He’s on the 40-man roster. He can play both corner infield spots. Most importantly, he has a .906 OPS with 13 home runs in 202 Triple-A at-bats. If the Brewers need a corner infielder or bench bat and want someone who has produced both in Triple-A and throughout his career, Adams is their guy.
Jett Williams
If I had written this article this offseason, Williams probably would have been the obvious answer after the Brewers traded their ace from the previous season to acquire him and Brandon Sproat.
Instead, his first year in the Brewers organization has been relatively disappointing. Williams hasn’t hit particularly well in Triple-A, and, maybe more importantly, several players have seemingly passed him on the organizational depth chart.
He started the season in Nashville alongside Cooper Pratt. Pratt got called up first. When David Hamilton went down, the Brewers went with Lara and Greg Jones. Then, when Pratt and Ortiz both got banged up and seemingly created another opportunity to give Williams some run, he reaggravated his wrist and went on the IL.
Williams posted an .867 OPS in Double-A last year, but only a .718 OPS in 151 at-bats with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate — a number roughly in line with his .724 OPS in 359 at-bats this year. I still really like Williams as a prospect. He can play both the infield and outfield, has power and speed, and gets on base even when he isn’t hitting particularly well. He’s versatile and has been productive enough that he’ll eventually get his call-up, but he hasn’t forced the Brewers’ hand thus far.
Josh Adamczewski
I know this is a little crazy. Jesús Made, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, whose OPS has hovered around .800 all year in Double-A, has played more games at the level than Adamczewski. In fact, Adamczewski had played just 16 games above Low-A coming into this season. By all conventional wisdom, if I’m going to pick a dark horse, someone below Triple-A and with less than 37 home runs, it should be Made, not Adamczewski.
But bear with me.
The case for Adamczewski is simple: he hits the cover off the ball. Against everybody, at every level. At every level in which he’s had more than 60 at-bats, he’s posted a .900 OPS — except for his .872 OPS in 46 games this year. That’s what his numbers look like while adjusting to what many consider the hardest jump in the minor leagues.
I’m not box-score scouting, either. He has a fast, compact swing that should be able to handle velocity while allowing him to adjust to off-speed offerings without throwing off his timing.
Legitimately beautiful swing:
To reiterate, this is my dark horse pick. I don’t think the Brewers are going to call up Adamczewski anytime soon. He came up as a second baseman but has played exclusively in the outfield with Biloxi, so it’s not like there’s a natural fit for him on the major league roster. I just think that if the Brewers wanted to throw a Double-A bat into the lineup and see if they could capture lightning in a bottle, Adamczewski might actually be their best bet for immediate production.
Honorable mention: Tyson Hardin
This might be a bad analogy, but you can think of Hardin a little like Adamczewski — a late-round pick who rose to become a top-10 organizational prospect not because of overwhelming raw talent or athleticism, but because of skill and consistent production. At least, all of that was true before the last two months. Hardin has been getting blown up since the start of July and now has a 5.14 ERA through 16 starts. Even with guys like Logan Henderson, Robert Gasser, Shane Drohan, etc. now in Milwaukee, Hardin probably wouldn’t get the call over Coleman Crow or Brandon Sproat.
So, who’s next?
If I had to guess right now, I’d say Adams.
He’s already in Triple-A, already on the 40-man roster, can play multiple positions where he could be called upon in case of injury, and has played well enough to deserve an opportunity. The Brewers have options at the corner infield spots, but they’re thin if anyone goes down, as we just saw when they had to sign and start guys like Ji-hwan Bae, Greg Jones, and Braden Shewmake. Andrew Vaughn has played double-digit games at third base, and Gary Sánchez has played first base. Adams wouldn’t be a downgrade.
While that’s my answer, the more interesting takeaway might be that there isn’t an obvious one. Pratt and Lara have already graduated, and the Brewers still have several legitimate prospects who could realistically enter the major league conversation between now and next season. A year ago, Brewers fans were waiting for Pratt and Lara. Now they’re here, and there’s already another group coming up behind them.
And behind that group are Made, Peña, Fischer, Braylon Payne, Brady Ebel, and plenty of others. It’s a good time to be a Brewers fan.
