Several years ago, the Brewers made a change in organizational philosophy to place greater emphasis on a prospect's hit tool when it came to scouting for the draft or international signing class.

Statistically at least, the results have paid off.

Led by the now-injured Juan Baez, the Carolina Mudcats have struck out the fewest times in all of low-A. Not just the Carolina League, but all of low-A.

That is impressive, but nothing compared to what the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have done at high-A. The Timber Rattlers have struck out the fewest times of any full-season minor league affiliate this year. Only the Cardinals' Double-A affiliate in Springfield is even close.

When you look at Wisconsin's roster, it isn't hard to see why. Almost all minor league teams have strikeout rates north of 20%. Among players with at least 50 plate appearances with the Timber Rattlers, only two hitters strike out that often: Jesus Chirinos and Eduarqui Fernandez.

When the player with the third-highest swinging strike rate is Jadher Areinamo, you know that your team makes a lot of contact. Even two of the highest strikeout rates for the rest of the Timber Rattlers have more to do with the patient approaches employed by Luke Adams and the since-promoted Dylan O'Rae than any swing-and-miss issues.

Despite the struggles of the double-A offense at Biloxi, the Shuckers have the second fewest strikeouts in the Southern League and are pointed in the right direction, making it possible that three of the Brewers affiliates could soon have the fewest strikeouts in their league.

Now that it is apparent that the Brewers change in philosophy has been successful, the question becomes will it be SUCCESSFUL. Can the quality of contact match the quantity and provide the Brewers with a stream of major league contributors? That is still to be determined, but at least initially they have succeeded in what they set out to do.

Maybe Archiving These Rankings Wasn't the Best Idea ...

I made several references lately in both the minor league forum and some of the Gregory Barrios trade threads of how Barrios and Areinamo have been two of the best hitters from their international signing class this season.

While it is possible I missed some players (sorting by age, which is how I came up with a list of names to check, leaves out some of the older signings), it appears as if the Brewers' signings accounted for three of the top six performers this season from that signing class. The five of those who are still in the minor leagues also have something in common: they were not among MLB Pipeline's top 30 Latin American signees from the 2021 class. Only Chourio made the list.

This isn't entirely fair. I believe Moises Ballesteros, Samuel Basallo and Barrios were all $1 million or more signings who might have made the list had it been at the 50 it is now. But still, it goes to show that even among the highest-profile, highest dollar signings, very few players break out quickly.

The Brewers were so bad for so long in Latin America that it is easy to see what it happening and think that this is normal, that this is what was happening for all those other teams for so long.

It's not.

Even if you look through the top 50 list for this year, Jesus Made is the outlier (Pena didn't even make the list). Jorge Quintana's struggles are the norm, and many are having more difficulties than Quintana.

That so many of the Brewers signings have contributed quickly is a testament to both the Brewers' scouting and development staffs and the players themselves.

Moving Fast

Researching this article, it became very apparent that the Brewers have become among the most aggressive in promoting their young minor leaguers. They aren't the most aggressive, however.

Of course, unlike the Angels, I've never gotten the impression that the Brewers believe the lower levels of the minor leagues are for chumps.