Brewer Fanatic 2024 Offseason Top 20 Prospects - No. 6: Jesús Made

#6 Jesus Made (Dominican Summer League Brewers)

Signed out of the Dominican Republic in the 2024 class, Made was ranked 22nd in his class by MLB Pipeline and was given the second largest bonus in the Brewers class at $950,000. Because of this, he went into the season with some hype surrounding him. By the time the season was over he had posted some of the best surface-level stats in the Dominican Summer League, and was being touted as having the potential to be a future number one prospect in all of baseball. Even Jackson Chourio had to wait for his full season debut to start getting his name into those types of talks. Made brings a fantastic blend of analytical data, as well as strong praise from traditional scouts who had eyes on him.

What to Like:
Made’s surface-level production in the DSL is certainly noteworthy. His 169 wRC+ placed him eighth in the entire league and he did that as the youngest player in the top eight. What stands out more than the surface production though is the means by which he got to it. He showed flashes of all five major tools on his way to being named Co-Brewers Player of the Year.

Starting on the baserunning side, Made is said to have plus speed presently. He also appears to have the type of build that should allow him to maintain that speed even as he adds more muscle. He showed his wheels off by stealing 28 bases while only being caught four times in 2024.

Posting a 90th percentile exit velocity of 103.9 MPH would have been above average for a Triple-A player, and Made did it as a seventeen year old. According to Baseball America, that number would have ranked third overall for seventeen year olds in 2023. His 47% hard-hit rate shows that he can get to that hard contact with consistency as well. More than anything else, this all shows that Made possesses big power potential, which he also showed by hitting six home runs in the DSL. A number that tied him for fifth all time among Brewers DSL players.

The potential of that power and speed combination, from a switch-hitting shortstop, would have been enough for evaluators to take notice on its own. What put Made on the radar of Top 100 lists so quickly was the fact that he showed both of those tools, while also showing the potential for a plus hit tool.

Made’s bat to ball ability was elite in the DSL. Made had a whiff rate of 11%, a number that puts him close to the 100th percentile in all of MiLB. He was even better on pitches in the zone, as he had an in-zone whiff rate of only 8%. Not only did he show an ability to put the bat on the ball, he also showed an ability to differentiate between balls and strikes at an elite level. His 15% chase rate would have been the best in all of MLB. Of course, he should never be expected to be able to maintain that number as he climbs higher and higher, but simply for comparison’s sake it shows how impressive that chase rate is. All of those tools showed up in the strikeout and walk numbers, in which he walked 39 times in comparison to only 28 strikeouts. 

On the defensive side, Made is expected to be given a chance to stick at shortstop, though scouts do worry that he may have to move off of the position as he continues to mature into his body. His arm is said to be plus, and thus third base is seen as a potential landing spot for him down the road. Given his speed, a move to centerfield is also seen as a possible outcome, but the preference is for him to remain on the infield dirt for now.

What to Work On:
One of the biggest things that could hold Made back from having a plus hit tool is if he continues to hit the ball on the ground at a similar rate to what he did in 2024. His 49.6% ground ball rate put him in the 15th-percentile in MiLB, and once he’s playing against better infield defense it will likely lead to a much lower BABIP than the .369 mark he posted in the DSL. While he has incredibly fast hands for his age, there is a lot of pre-swing movement with the hands that could cause some timing issues against more velocity. As Brewers fans have seen with Christian Yelich, being slightly off on your timing can cause a high ground ball rate, even if you’re still getting the barrel to the ball. Overall, Made’s batted ball profile will likely need to improve a bit for him to reach his absolute ceiling as a hitter. 

Outside of that, the one main thing to watch with Made is simply his youth. Young players come with inherent risks, mainly due to lack of experience. He hasn’t faced much adversity in his career yet, nor has he ever had this much attention on him. How a player responds to a long slump can tell us a lot about their future. Another issue you can run into with a young player is an inability to adjust once the “book is out on them”, which Brewers fans saw with a Keston Hiura, for example. Hiura never played at a level long enough to have pitchers find the holes in his swing, but they showed up eventually. Made’s plate discipline numbers and bat to ball skills seem to point to that being an unlikely problem for him specifically, but these are the types of things that can suddenly pop up for young players.

What’s next:
Made appears to be headed for a full-season ball debut with Carolina in 2025. Given his birthday is in May, he might make that debut as a seventeen year old. Meaning he would have made it to Carolina faster than Jackson Chourio, who had turned eighteen a couple months before he made his Low-A debut. Made still has room to grow into his body and will likely be focused on that this offseason.

The odds of the Brewers finding two Jackson Chourio level prospects in a span of only a few years are very low, and yet… They may have another one in Made. We will know more about him by this time next year. There is an outside chance that he’s not only the number one prospect on this list in 2025, but potentially the number one prospect in baseball.

What are your thoughts on Made? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Let us know in the comments!

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