2024 Brewer Fanatic’s Brewers Minor League All Star Team (Part 1: The Hitters)

Brewer Fanatic’s minor-league writers voted for the awards and for an all-star team of Brewers prospects. This isn’t a "Top Prospect" ranking or list by any means, but instead a way to highlight which players in the Brewers system had the best seasons at each position. Each writer chose a catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, three outfielders, a DH and a utility player. Tomorrow, we’ll finalize the All-Star team with the pitchers. 

Before we get to the All Stars, here are our 2024 Brewer Fanatic  Award winners (and links to the articles to see who else received votes). 

Short-Season Hitter of the Year: Jesus Made 
Short-Season Pitcher of the Year: Dariel Jacquez 
Minor League Hitter of the Year: Mike Boeve 
Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year: KC Hunt  
Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year: Craig Yoho 

Catcher: Francisco Mejía (28) - Nashville Sounds  
Acquired: Minor-league free agent signing on April 5, 2024  
2024 Stats: 376 PA, .274/.348/.428, 14 2B, 2 3B, 11 HR, 55 RBI, 1 SB
After spending some time in the majors with the Guardians, Padres, and Rays organizations, the Brewers became his fourth team after he signed a minor league deal early in the season. He was a fairly impactful bat, posting a .776 OPS over nearly 400 plate appearances. His K/BB of 1.71 was among the best of Sounds players with >350 plate appearances, placing him behind just Isaac Collins and Tyler Black, both of whom saw time in the big leagues this year.

He excelled against breaking balls, slugging .568 against them and was similarly effective against four-seam fastballs. He struggled immensely with sinkers and off-speed pitches, mustering just a combined .534 OPS against them.

First Base: Ernesto Martinez (25) - Biloxi Shuckers  
Acquired: International free agent signing out of Cuba on May 27, 2017 
2024 Stats: 457 PA, .284/.365/.466, 30 2B, 2 3B, 13 HR, 62 RBI, 20 SB
Martinez has been in the Brewers minor league systems since he signed with the organization all the way back in 2017. He spent all of 2024 with Double-A Biloxi and may have had his best full season yet. He saw the most action of any year in his professional career thus far and made big strides throughout the season, slashing a very impressive .349/.443/.558 with 1.22 K/BB after July 1st. He also reached the 20 stolen base mark for the second time in his career.

A big reason for this second-half bump may have been his struggles against left-handed pitching. Prior to July 1st, he managed just a .500 OPS against southpaws. From July 1st onwards, 170 of his 201 total plate appearances were against right-handed pitching. However, it should be noted that in the 31 plate appearances against lefties, he did post a .880 OPS.

Second Base: Jadher Areinamo (20) - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 
Acquired: International free agent signing out of Venezuela on January 15, 2021
2024 Stats: 467 PA, .301/.349/.442, 30 2B, 10 HR, 68 RBI, 32 SB
Areinamo had a strong showing and justified his position as the 24th-ranked prospect in the Brewers system. A utility infielder that split time between three positions, his year with High-A Wisconsin was a productive one and probably justifies a move to the next level in 2025. He led the team in doubles and RBI while stealing the third-most bases on the team. The stolen base figure is particularly interesting when acknowledging that scouts gave him just a 30-grade run tool, although they did highlight his lack of speed is made up for by smart decision-making.

Similar to Ernesto Martinez, he was much better against right-handed pitching than he was against lefties, particularly when it came to hitting for power. He slugged .515 against righties and just .270 against lefties but kept the strikeout rate  around 11% against both left- and right-handed pitchers.

Third Base: Luke Adams (20) - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 
Acquired: 12th round draft pick in 2022 out of Hinsdale Central High School (IL)
2024 Stats: 418 PA, .227/.443/.397, 15 2B, 1 3B, 11 HR, 56 RBI, 28 SB
Adams has exceeded expectations as a late round draft pick out of high school. He has been excellent in all levels of the minor leagues so far and took over as the 9th-ranked prospect in Milwaukee’s system. He led the Timber Rattlers in on-base percentage (>60 PA) with an absurd walk rate of 18.7% which helped him become a stolen base threat, nearly matching his 2023 single-season record of 30 stolen bases. 

At just 20 years old, there’s plenty of upside and with a possible hot corner opening at the big league level, Luke Adams could be getting called up sooner rather than later. 

Shortstop: Cooper Pratt (20) - Carolina Mudcats/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
Acquired: 6th round draft pick in 2023 out of Magnolia Heights HS (MS) 
2024 Stats: 406 PA, .277/.362/.406, 15 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR, 45 RBI, 27 SB
As the 2nd-ranked prospect with the Brewers and the 62nd-ranked prospect overall, Cooper Pratt has some lofty expectations. He lived up to these expectations and was good enough with Low-A Carolina to prompt a promotion to High-A Wisconsin in his first full year of professional baseball. In addition to having a well-rounded prospect profile, he dominated lefty pitching this year, posting a 1.039 OPS against southpaw pitchers with a very respectable .636 slugging percentage.

He had some difficulties when jumping up to High-A, notably having an on-base percentage of just .258, but he managed to hit five home runs in the span of just 95 plate appearances, giving fans a taste of his power potential at the plate.

Outfielder: Isaac Collins (27) - Nashville Sounds  
Acquired: Minor-league Rule 5 Draft pick from Rockies in December 2022 
2024 Stats: 500 PA, .273/.386/.475, 28 2B, 7 3B, 14 HR, 76 RBI, 24 SB
In his second year as a Milwaukee farmhand, Collins continued the momentum he started last year, posting a .861 OPS while playing every day with the Sounds and even earning a cup of coffee with the major league team. In addition to leading the team in hits with 114, he had an exceptional 14.2% walk rate and a 1.35 K/BB while still hitting for great power. He also led the team in doubles, triples, and RBI.

His bread and butter was battering four-seam fastballs and cutters but had difficulties hitting sinkers for any sort of power, slugging .231 against them. 

If the conditions are just right, Collins could find a longer-term position at the big-league level, but it may be tough with all of the talent ahead of him on the outfield depth chart.

Outfielder: Brewer Hicklen (27) - Nashville Sounds  
Acquired: Minor-league free agent signing in November 2023
2024 Stats: 499 PA, .246/.363/.470, 17 2B, 5 3B, 22 HR, 72 RBI, 44 SB
Not only does he have the best name out of all of his fellow prospects, Hicklen is also pretty good at baseball. He led the Sounds in homers, runs (78), and stolen bases. A genuine power-speed threat, he was good enough to get major league plate appearances for the first time since 2022. 

He was great at hitting breaking balls, posting a .975 OPS against them but was less effective against offspeed and sinkers. His extremely brief time with the Brewers was forgettable, striking out in four of his five at-bats but it’s hard to draw any useful insights from such a small sample size.

Outfielder: Carlos Rodriguez (23) - Biloxi Shuckers/Nashville Sounds 
Acquired: International free agent signing from Venezuela in July 2017 
2024 Stats: 500 PA, .284/.368/.374, 15 2B, 6 3B, 4 HR, 52 RBI, 17 SB 
Sometimes confused with Carlos F. Rodriguez who is a top-ranked pitching prospect for Milwaukee, Carlos D. Rodriguez deserves some shine as well. He spent most of his season with Double-A Biloxi but played well enough to earn a promotion to Triple-A Nashville where he had 128 plate appearances. He didn’t quite have enough time to find his footing at the highest level of the minor leagues but as a 23 years old, he’s got a few years left before that becomes a major concern.

He was great against fastballs of all types but couldn’t hit breaking balls or off-speed pitches to save his life, posting a combined .413 OPS against non-fastball pitches. It’ll have to be an area of focus in his future if he wants to make it to the major leagues.

Designated Hitter: Mike Boeve (22) - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Biloxi Shuckers   
Acquired: Brewers 2nd round draft pick in 2023 from the University of Nebraska
2024 Stats: 342 PA, .338/.415/.471, 15 2B, 3 3B, 6 HR, 36 RBI, 2 SB
The 12th-ranked prospect bullied opposing pitchers for just 13 games in High-A before being sent to the Shuckers where he continued his torrid rampage at the plate. He struck out just 15.8% of the time while having a 11.7% walk rate. He had similar numbers against both lefties and righties and was overall a pretty tough out. Unfortunately for Boeve, and fortunately for his opponents, he was sent to the injured list with an undisclosed injury in August, ending his season a month short. It was the second time he had been on the IL, the first time causing him to miss all of July. 

Don’t fret, we’ll likely see more of Boeve’s menacing bat in 2025, probably with the Shuckers and perhaps with the Sounds and beyond. 

Utility Player: Tyler Black (24) - Nashville Sounds   
Acquired: Brewers Competitive Balance pick in 2021 from Wright State 
2024 Stats: 462 PA, .258/.375/.429, 14 2B, 5 3B, 14 HR, 67 RBI, 20 SB
Black entered the season as the 5th-ranked prospect in the system and managed to make his major league debut, accumulating 57 plate appearances with the Brewers before returning to the Sounds to finish his year. A glimmering gem of consistency, he had even numbers against lefties and righties, had a respectable K/BB of 1.43, and pummeled breaking balls and off-speed pitches. He was often beat with sinkers and cutters but that's something he has all offseason to work on. 

There you have it, our 2024 Brewer Fanatic Brewers Minor League All Star Hitters. Do you agree? Who might you switch around or change out? Discuss below. 

Interested in learning more about the Milwaukee Brewers' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!