Brewer Fanatic Minor League Hitter of the Year - 2024

[Michael Trzinski]

Last year, the Brewer Fanatic Minor League Hitter of the Year awards mentioned 11 players. Of those players, four of them received votes from Brewer Fanatic writers this year. Notables missing from the 2024 awards are Jeferson Quero (injury) and Jackson Chourio (NL Rookie of the Year candidate). Eight players are on this year’s list, plus six that also received votes from the baseball scribes at Brewer Fanatic.

Honorable Mentions

Cooper Pratt, SS (Carolina/Wisconsin/Biloxi)
.277/.362/.406 with 26 extra-base hits and 27 stolen bases. Pratt was called up to Biloxi and went 2-for-8 with his first Double-A home run in the Southern League Division Series in late September.

Brewer Hicklen, OF (Nashville)
.246/.363/.470 with 22 home runs and 44 stolen bases. Hicklen got a cup of coffee with Milwaukee in September but is still looking for his first big league hit. He also went hitless in four trips with Kansas City in 2022.

Tyler Black, 1B-3B-OF (Nashville)
.258/.375/.429 with 14 home runs and 20 stolen bases. Black—who was the 2023 award winner for minor league hitter—dropped off in batting average and steals, but still had a decent season in Triple-A.

Also Receiving Votes
Wes Clarke, Biloxi/Nashville
Carlos D. Rodriguez, Biloxi/Nashville
Yhoswar Garcia, Carolina
Luis Castillo, Carolina
Yophery Rodriguez, Carolina
Darrien Miller, Wisconsin/Biloxi

Top Five  
5. Luke Adams, 3B-1B (Wisconsin) .227/.443/.397
Adams was rated the #6 best minor league hitter last year by Brewer Fanatic. He struggles with average but
has some pop and a great eye at the plate, drawing 78 free passes. He also has a Craig Biggio-like propensity for ‘taking one for the team,’ by getting plunked 40 times, including six games when he got hit twice! Tack on 28 stolen bases and he is in scoring position quite often. Ranked 14^th on Brewer Fanatics Top Prospect list, the big (6’4) right-hander has a good mix of power, patience, and speed. 2025 Projection: Biloxi

4. Jadher Areinamo, 2B-SS-3B (Wisconsin) .301/.349/.442
The compact (5’10, 180) righty can play all the infield spots but first. For a little guy, he showed some pop with 10 home runs and speed with 32 steals. His 30 two-baggers led the Midwest League, and he finished in the top five in hits, RBI, and total bases. Areinamo is a career minor league .297 hitter. He ranks just outside the top 20 on the Top Prospect list and has a bright future. 2025 Projection: Biloxi

2. (tie) Isaac Collins, OF-2B-3B (Nashville) .273/.386/.475
The diminutive (5’8, 185) switch-hitter has a versatility that could make him an asset as the 26^th man on the Brewers playoff roster, as posited by Brewer Fanatic’s Matthew Trueblood earlier this month. At age 27, he is a bit ‘long in the tooth’ for a prospect, but had some solid numbers at Triple-A, leading the International League with seven triples and placing in the top five in runs scored, RBI, and bases on balls. He should get a good look next spring as a major league utility man for Milwaukee. 2025 Projection: Milwaukee/Nashville   

2. (tie) Ernesto Martinez, 1B-OF-DH (Biloxi) .284/.365/.466
Martinez is in his seventh season with the Brewers and at age 25, has yet to play at Triple-A. The 6’6, 250-pound lefty has pretty good speed for his size, stealing 20 bases this year. He led the Southern League with 30 doubles and placed in the top five in hits and total bases. Martinez hit 13 homers and at this point is likely to have no more than high-teens HR potential in the bigs. Our Jake McKibbin makes a case for Martinez to travel north with the Brewers next year to start the season in the bigs. 2025 Projection: Milwaukee/Nashville 

Brewers Minor League Hitter of the Year

Mike Boeve, 1B-3B-DH (Wisconsin, Biloxi) .338/.415/.471
The lefty-hitting Boeve is a high-average hitter in his minor league career, batting .334 across 395 at-bats in two seasons. Ranked #8 on the Brewer Fanatic Top Prospect list, Boeve ended the 2024 season on the injured list and only had 342 plate appearances.  

Boeve had a strikeout rate of 15.8% this year, which is significantly lower than the previous year’s 20.8. His walk rate was 11.7%, almost the exact same number as the year before. According to Fan Graphs, both the K rate and BB rate are considered ‘above average.’ 

Boeve’s pathway to the bigs will be at one of the corner infield spots and although his defense is decent and his arm is about average at third, his bat will be what determines his success. Boeve hit a combined 15 doubles and six home runs at Wisconsin and Biloxi. He should be a 15 HR guy at Miller Park…er, American Family Field. 2025 Projection: Biloxi/Nashville

Thanks to the Brewer Fanatic writers that cast their ballots for the Brewers Minor League Hitter of the Year. With all the great names on this list (and others that didn’t quite make it), next spring training will be an exciting time in Arizona. Thanks to all who took a minute to read this. Please leave comments in the comments section. How did we do?

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[Seth Stohs]

Boeve had a really nice season, hit for a high batting average when he was healthy. My vote went to Isaac Collins. I had Ernesto Martinez second.  

[Ro Mueller]

Do we think Pratt will commence next season at AA Biloxi or was the playoff game just a little early exposure?

He’s only 116 days younger than Luke Adams (and Dylan O’Rae was playing AA ball by 20 years, 4 months), so they may push Pratt up immediately, regardless of Eric Brown Jr.‘s status.

[wiguy94]

37 minutes ago, Ro Mueller said:

Do we think Pratt will commence next season at AA Biloxi or was the playoff game just a little early exposure?

He’s only 116 days younger than Luke Adams (and Dylan O’Rae was playing AA ball by 20 years, 4 months), so they may push Pratt up immediately, regardless of Eric Brown Jr.‘s status.

I think he will start the year in AA. In recent years I can’t think of a single time a player was pushed up a level for the final few games of the season and didn’t start the next season at that level.

[jay87shot]

Boeve swing kind of reminds me of Joe Mauer and overall maybe like a left handed version of DJ Lemahieu. Any thoughts on his final position 3B, 1B, 2B, OF, does it matter more where Wilken, Black, and Adams end up? Of the corner IF prospects he has the highest floor for sure and at 6'4" there is still some time/strength for him to add some power.

For me 1)Boeve 2)Arienamo 3)EMJ

[ClosetBrewerFan]

On 10/2/2024 at 1:44 AM, wiguy94 said:

I think he will start the year in AA. In recent years I can’t think of a single time a player was pushed up a level for the final few games of the season and didn’t start the next season at that level.

This is a good point, but he only had 95AB in A+ and its not like he dominated (700 OPS). He wont turn 21 until next August.  There is really no reason to rush him to AA. Areinamo, Brown, and Adams can man AA infield.

[Joseph Zarr]

On 10/1/2024 at 11:44 PM, wiguy94 said:

I think he will start the year in AA. In recent years I can’t think of a single time a player was pushed up a level for the final few games of the season and didn’t start the next season at that level.

This. AND, if we're going to accept O'Rae's results at Double-A for the duration we did...we're sure as heck going to expect an aggressive Pratt promotion. He has nothing to prove at High-A. I think the organization knows they're going to push him to Double-A after an off-season in the weight room and with their development staff. He's coming in on a heater. He has the mentality to take the next step in stride and not blink. He's the best SS in our system by a pretty big margin. Defensively, EBJ can definitely give him a run for his money (and likely is the more rangey overall defender) but EBJ's bat is a quagmire right now. Pratt is pure everything. I still believe as he gets stronger oppo power will come. Maybe that's me being silly and hopeful 😅.