On July 23rd, 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers decided to start the rebuilding phase by trading 2014 all-star third baseman Aramis Ramirez to the Pittsburgh Pirates. A lot of moves followed soon after that trade, as Carlos Gomez, Mike Fires, Gerardo Parra, and Jonathan Broxton all found new teams and a higher chance at winning. With the Brewers finally having a good farm system, a new era of baseball in Milwaukee has been born.
After all the trades the Brewers made, here are the team’s top twenty prospects:
1: Orlando Arcia, SS
2: Brett Phillips, OF (Gomez & Fires trade)
3: Trent Clark, OF
4: Domingo Santana, OF (Gomez & Fires trade)
5: Tyrone Taylor, OF
6: Gilbert Lara, SS
7: Clint Coulter, OF
8: Devin Williams, RHP
9: Jorge Lopez, RHP
10: Kodi Medeiros, LHP
11: Zach Davies, RHP (Parra trade)
12: Monte Harrison, OF
13: Jake Gatewood, SS
14: Nathan Kirby, LHP
15: Josh Hader, LHP (Gomez & Fires trade)
16: Tyler Wanger, RHP
17: Taylor Williams, RHP
18: Michael Reed, OF
19: Yadiel Rivera, SS
20: Demi Orimoloye, OF
One thing is clear here: the Brewers have a ton of shortstops and outfielders here. This gives the Brewers one of the better farm systems the team has seen since Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, Ben Sheets, and many others were coming up. While we wait for these guys to develop, we have to suffer through the losing, but, it’s all going to end up being worth it in retrospect. Doug Melvin has done the best with this team he could’ve to try to win us a World Series without having to overpay for players. He was able to give us a roster, that if the right manager had, would’ve won it all in 2011.
During Melvin’s tenure with the Brewers, he was never really high on the farm system. Now, with rumblings about Melvin potentially losing his job, was it a request by management to try to change things up to keep his job, or is Melvin trying one last thing for the Brewers before he decides to head off into retirement, which was also something rumored this year. Melvin’s not trading the future away this time, he’s trading for the future. It’s honestly something I am glad to see.
The Brewers started to restock the farm system all the way back in November, when they traded for outfield prospect Kyle Wren, who was the son of the Braves general manager who just was recently fired. Then, the Brewers shipped ace Yovani Gallardo to the Texas Rangers for three prospects in Luis Sardinas, Corey Knebel and Marcos Diplan. Sardinas and Knebel have all seen Major League playing time already, while Diplan just ranks outside of the top-twenty prospects at 21.
In June, the 2015 Major League Baseball draft was held. Three of the Brewers picks from that draft have already cracked the top thirty, as Trent Clark ranks 3rd, Nathan Kirby ranks 14th, and Cody Ponce is exactly right at number 30. And of course, the trades the Brewers made just recently, as we noted them above in the top-twenty prospects. Once these guys fully develop, it could be something special for the Brewers.
Ryan Braun is set to get the superstar money from the contract extension he signed in 2011, and building around him rather than Prince Fielder this time should be away to get more and more production. The new era of baseball in Milwaukee is just beginning, buckle up, Brewers fans.
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