Top 25 Milwaukee Brewers Player Assets of 2026: 11-15

[Jason Wang]

Part 1: #21-25
Part 2: #16-20

15. Joey Ortiz, SS

2026 Season Age: 27
Controlled through: 2029
Jason’s Rank: 19 | Michael’s Rank: 10 | Steve’s Rank: 20

Although Ortiz wasn’t quite able to fill the shoes of Willy Adames as the Brewers’ starting shortstop, he still has considerable potential as a player. As you recall, he came over to Milwaukee along with DL Hall from Baltimore in exchange for Corbin Burnes and carried high expectations as Baltimore’s eighth-ranked prospect in 2023. His rookie year lived up to the hype, posting 3.2 fWAR across 142 games while playing third base. 

Unfortunately, the sophomore slump was absolutely real for Ortiz. Depending on which defensive metric you look at, he was either outstanding (12 OAA, 10 FRV) or slightly below average (-2 DRS). His offensive production was less debatable with his 67 wRC+, the third-lowest mark of qualified MLB players. 

It would be surprising if his offensive struggles became a long-term issue, but it’d absolutely be a question mark for any teams that would consider acquiring him. He’s young, has plenty of team control left, and is capable of playing great defense, but the uncertainty surrounding his bat prevents him from being more valuable than some of the other young talents in Milwaukee’s system. 

14. Chad Patrick, RHP

2026 Season Age: 27
Controlled through: 2031
Jason’s Rank: 13 | Michael’s Rank: 14 | Steve’s Rank: 14

Patrick may have exceeded your expectations in his rookie year. He was the return package from the Athletics in exchange for Abraham Toro, and his 2025 numbers alone might have been enough to classify that deal as a resounding success. He pitched to a 3.53 ERA with a 3.53 FIP over 119 ⅔ innings and placed seventh in NL ROY voting.

He found immense success using a variety of fastballs but struggled to be as effective with his breaking or offspeed offerings. However, Stuff+ does grade his slider and changeup very highly. In fact, he had the highest Stuff+ (105) of any pitcher on the team with more than 100 innings. This may be surprising as his fastball velocity is average, but with tricky shapes and movement, he’s able to get by just fine.

He’d be a strong addition to the rotations of most teams, but because of his inexperience, he may not be as compelling a frontline starter as some other arms on the Brewers’ pitching staff. At the very least, he should see an elevated role with the team in 2026, where he could continue to increase his player stock.

13. Abner Uribe, RHP

2026 Season Age: 25
Controlled through: 2030
Jason’s Rank: 7 | Michael’s Rank: 19 | Steve’s Rank: 12

Over the past few years, whispers have spoken of top-secret human experiments being conducted in Milwaukee to produce elite catching and pitching talent. This has been used to explain the sudden and unexpected turnarounds for defensively deficient catchers and down-on-their-luck pitchers. I can’t personally speak to the existence of such lab but it’s getting harder to deny that if nothing else, the Brewers sure know how to make a closer.

Trevor Megill, Devin Williams, Josh Hader, heck, even Corey Knebel had a 1.78 ERA and 39 saves in 2017. It’s a suspiciously long run of high-leverage dominance from the bullpen, and Abner Uribe is the lab’s most recent product. After a shaky 2024 marred by injury and poor on-field antics, he locked back in by replicating his rookie year numbers over a larger sample size of 75 ⅓ innings. 

His peripherals are absolutely off the charts. The only Statcast metrics in which he doesn’t rank in the top decile of qualified pitchers are chase rate (28.3%), walk rate (9.1%), and extension (6.4). He only accumulated a few saves, but he primarily pitched in high leverage, and the Brewers are clearly grooming him to eventually take the ball in the ninth inning. He might need a little more time before he’s ready to join the current inner circle of elite closers, but he’d be worth quite a bit to many teams around MLB today. It also helps that he has one of the best save celebrations around.

12. Christian Yelich, OF/DH

2026 Season Age: 34
Controlled through: 2028
Jason’s Rank: N/A | Michael’s Rank: 8 | Steve’s Rank: 4

He’s far from being the MVP finalist he was in the late 2010s, but Yelich has been consistent over the past four years. He continues to be one of the more productive bats on the team, and 2025 seems like he was able to carry over some of the success he had in 2024 before being sidelined by injury. 

The most encouraging sign from this past season was his increase in power. His slugging percentage of .452 is the highest mark since 2019, albeit not by much. What’s more exciting is the 29 home runs he hit in 2025, the first time he’s crossed the 20-homer mark since 2019. 

Despite this small but important career resurgence, Yelich’s position as a trade asset is complicated by his age and remaining value on his contract. According to Cot’s Contracts, he’s still owed ~$72 million over the next three years, which is a hefty sum for any player, let alone one that is clearly past his prime. Nonetheless, he probably has a few more productive seasons left in him.

11. Trevor Megill, RHP

2026 Season Age: 32
Controlled through: 2027
Jason’s Rank: 9 | Michael’s Rank: 18 | Steve’s Rank: 10

It’s not easy being 6’8", or so I’ve heard. Megill makes it work somehow, and as a guy who regularly throws more than 100 mph with a hammer knuckle curve, it probably works to his advantage. After two rough years with the Cubs and Twins, Megill was acquired for a player to be named later and cash in April 2023. It took some time to figure it out, but after Devin Williams sustained an injury in 2024 and left for the Yankees in 2025, he stepped into the closer role, where he has done a great job.

Unlike the younger pitching assets Milwaukee seems to have an excess of, Megill already has four years of service time, which means he has fewer years of team control but also has a good amount of big-league innings under his belt. Additionally, he was paid just under $2 million in 2025, a very team-friendly price for what they got out of him. He’ll earn more as he heads into his second year of arbitration, but he’ll still come cheaper than the other closer options of his caliber.

Teams wanting a high-leverage arm out of the box could look at a Trevor Megill as a plug-and-play option that may not need the same development resources as someone less tenured. He may not be a totally baked cake at this point, but he knows what he’s capable of and what he needs to do to get there.

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[Frisbee Slider]

Does someone tell him Joey Ortiz on the top 15 list is a typo? 🙂

 

[dsid74]

I wonder if the longer it goes without a Peralta or Megill deal, if the Brewers trade leverage starts to go down?  As guys come off the board, it would seem fewer teams would remain in the mix, thereby reducing the leverage.  

On the other hand, as teams miss out on those guys now off the board...will they be more willing to pony up the package the Brewers are looking for?

Each of Peralta and Megill offer substantial excess value on well below market salaries.  I am still of the opinion that both are traded before ST.  But we are half way there and both are still Brewers. 

I'm mostly torn on Freddy.  Part of me wants him for a "go for it year".  Part of me wants the longer term value that helps us remain competitive into the future.  

With Uribe, last years flexor strain and all the upcoming arms, I see Megill as a chip they should definitely cash in.  With 2 years of control and a very affordable salary, they should be able to acquire 2026 help and/or players they believe in with substantial future control.

[Jason Wang]

2 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Does someone tell him Joey Ortiz on the top 15 list is a typo? 🙂

 

😬

[sveumrules]

Over the four years since the big money on his extension kicked in Yelich has averaged 566 PA | 123 wRC+ | 2.9 WAR per season. 

Perfectly cromulent production for his salary, but does anyone really think teams would be lining up to pay him the three years and $84.5M he has remaining on his contract for his age 34 to 36 seasons?

Much less give up a prospect or young player along the lines of Patrick, Pratt, Quero, Henderson, Pena who've all been listed already to acquire him via trade??

Which might also require the acquiring team to pick up the 2029 option for an additional $13.5M to get Christian to waive his NTC???

"Jason's Rank: N/A" understood the assignment.

 

[sveumrules]

4 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Does someone tell him Joey Ortiz on the top 15 list is a typo? 🙂

Ortiz is an interesting case. On the one hand as one of the better rated defenders in MLB over the last two years with four years of cheap team control remaining I could see him somewhere as high as the 17 to 22 range along with guys like Durbin, Myers, Gasser, Koenig and Zerpa. He's put up 4.6 WAR (99th in MLB over those two years) as a qualifying player on a pair of Division Winners since getting here, that's legit value.

But if you look around the league at how stacked shortstop is there just aren't that many realistic scenarios where I could see a team giving up a prospect along the lines of say a Dinges, Fischer, Letson, Meccage, Lara, Payne, Burke, Adams, Adamczewski, Yoho, Hardin, or Crow in exchange for the low ceiling/high floor package Ortiz provides with his excellent defense but questionable offense, so I'm more inclined to place him somewhere in the thirties with the back end of that grouping myself.

The Guardians were worse at SS than the Brewers in 2025, are projected to be worse again in 2026, and  currently hold Comp Balance pick #29 in the 2026 Draft. If they offered that pick straight up for Joey Ortiz what do we think the Brewers front office would do?

[Jason Wang]

2 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Over the four years since the big money on his extension kicked in Yelich has averaged 566 PA | 123 wRC+ | 2.9 WAR per season. 

Perfectly cromulent production for his salary, but does anyone really think teams would be lining up to pay him the three years and $84.5M he has remaining on his contract for his age 34 to 36 seasons?

Much less give up a prospect or young player along the lines of Patrick, Pratt, Quero, Henderson, Pena who've all been listed already to acquire him via trade??

Which might also require the acquiring team to pick up the 2029 option for an additional $13.5M to get Christian to waive his NTC???

"Jason's Rank: N/A" understood the assignment.

 

:)

[Michael Trzinski]

7 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Does someone tell him Joey Ortiz on the top 15 list is a typo? 🙂

 

I don't think that is a typo. Where would you put him, and why?

[Michael Trzinski]

6 hours ago, dsid74 said:

I'm mostly torn on Freddy.  Part of me wants him for a "go for it year".  Part of me wants the longer term value that helps us remain competitive into the future.  

100% agree. The only problem is: which one is right?

[Michael Trzinski]

3 hours ago, sveumrules said:

"Jason's Rank: N/A" understood the assignment.

I agree. The only problem is that this assignment was 'Four-dimensional' chess, but I only understand three-dimensional...

[Frisbee Slider]

1 hour ago, Michael Trzinski said:

I don't think that is a typo. Where would you put him, and why?

Just friendly Joey Ortiz had a difficult year at the plate banter. 🙂

I would put Ashby, Henderson and Vaughn ahead of Ortiz. Other than that, it’s probably fair.

 

[Outlander]

I can understand Yelich on the list based on being valuable toward a championship if you think the Brewers can win a championship the next couple of years. Don't see any scenario where Ortiz is key to a championship so would have put N/A for him. Chourio would appear to be an obvious #1 as he will be here the longest into his prime and if he doesn't win a championship will potentially bring the players to win a championship. Based franchise on history though probably everybody is tied for N/A.

[CheeseheadInQC]

Looking at the individual ranks for the authors, it really does feel like we have two different sets of criteria being used. One seems to be a more pure trade value chart while the others are more skewed to value to the team in 2026. While some of the other rankings suggest this, really all you have to do is look at the individual rankings for Yelich and Pena. At least one had a top-50 type prospect in the game ranked behind a guy who might be the Brewers' No. 9 starter if they move Ashby to the rotation. And the Yelich disparity is obviously extreme. I think a clearer statement of how the authors understood "asset" would make some of the rankings make more sense.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

I agree.  "Building a championship" criteria is too vague.  Is that near term or long term?  I initially took it to be 2026/2027 timeframe.  If that is the case, Pena should not be listed, unless you are using him in a trade.