Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Hitter of the Month: July 2025

July produced mixed results for the Brewers’ affiliates. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers finished the month  10^th out of 12 teams in the Midwest League in OPS with a collective .631 mark. In the Southern League, the Shuckers sorely missed Brock Wilken and Luke Adams' presence in the middle of the order as the team hit just nine home runs in the month, the same amount Wilken had on his own in May. The Arizona Complex League finished with a dud, with the ACL Brewers compiling a .705 OPS for the month, good for 13^th in the 15-team league.

Most of this month’s standouts came from Carolina, who began to rediscover their early-season form while getting players healthy, and the Brewers Dominican Summer League teams, whose bats began to heat up in July.

Let’s take a look at the top hitters for July in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Honorable Mention

Handelfy Encarnacion, who only turned 18 in June, led the ACL Brewers with a .853 OPS in July; he also scored 14 runs and knocked in eight. 

Check out Encarnacion in action here:

Jorge Quintana was right behind Encarnacion with a .842 OPS in July in the ACL, but Quintana was a surprise addition in the Nestor Cortes trade at the deadline. Eric Bitonti knocked in 17 runs with four homers for Carolina in July, but also struck out a whopping 33 times, which was the second most among all Brewers-affiliated players. Dearly departed Jadher Areinamo led Wisconsin with 27 hits in July, three of which were round-trippers. Darrien Miller rocked a .943 OPS in 55 AB to lead the Shuckers in the month of July. The 24 year-old Biloxi backstop socked three dingers and drew 12 walks for a .436 OBP.  

See some of Miller’s work here:

The Nashville Sounds had a solid month of July on offense, finishing fifth out of 20 teams in the International League with a collective .815 OPS. Four every-day players (Jared Oliva, Raynel Delgado, Drew Avans, and Bobby Dalbec) posted an OPS of .800 or higher. That doesn’t even include Daz Cameron’s 1.201 OPS since returning to Nashville on July 9 after being designated for assignment. The rest of the Brewers’ three full-season teams only had two every day players with an OPS over .800 in July. However, in the spirit of highlighting “true” minor leaguers and not players mostly approaching (or beyond) their 30 birthday, we’re leaving these guys off the top six list for the month of July. Kudos to those Sounds for their efforts in providing depth to the Brewers’ organization.

Without further ado, here are the top six minor league hitters for the month of July:

#6 Luis Pena, Carolina Mudcats
.302/.366/.397 63 AB 11 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 11 RBI, 7 SB, 6 BB, 10 K

The beat went on for Pena in July, who as of this writing, sits atop the Carolina League’s batting title race with a .312 average. Pena was slightly below that mark for the month, with a .302 average and a .763 OPS while going a perfect seven for seven in stolen bases. Pena had a nine game hit streak in July, culminated by a three-hit effort in the Mudcats 9-3 win on July 23. Pena is one of a handful of Mudcats who could be in line for a promotion as the dust settles after the trade deadline. Pena is now ranked as the #18 overall prospect by Baseball America and #32 by MLB Pipeline.

Here’s a nice super slo-mo shot of Pena’s swing courtesy of Josh Norris on X:

#5 Carlos Done, DSL Brewers Blue
.273/.405/.530 66 AB, 11 R, 6 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 5 SB, 11 BB, 18 K

Done, who is still only 18 years old despite missing all of 2024 due to injury, heated up in July with a .935 OPS in the month. Done generated 18 hits in the month, with ten of them going for extra base hits. He also went five for seven in steals while holding down both corners of the DSL Brewers’ outfield.

#4 Josh Adamczewski, ACL Brewers and Carolina Mudcats
.333/.449/.555 69 AB, 23 R, 7 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB, 13 BB, 11 K

Adamczewski returned after a two month absence and picked up right where he left off, first punishing Arizona Complex League pitchers with four multi-hit games, then returning to the Carolina League mid-month and recording four multi-hit games there. On the season, Adamczewski has a .352 average across all levels, which is good for 26^th overall among all minor league players with at least 100 at-bats. Simply put, Adamzcewski’s bat has nothing left to prove in Low A ball, and he needs to be promoted to Wisconsin to test his hit tool at the next level.

#3 Moises Polanco, DSL Brewers Blue
.324./.437/.493 71 AB, 19 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 24 RBI, 5 SB, 15 BB, 15 K

Polanco was the straw stirring the drink for the month of July in the Dominican Summer League as he drove in a staggering 24 runs, which was more than any other Brewers’ DSL player has produced for the entire DSL season. Polanco collected seven multi-hit games, including a three-hit, five-RBI performance in the Brewers 8-7 win over the Athletics on July 15. That game was part of a five game stretch where Polanco pounded out nine hits and 11 RBIs. Polanco, who only turned 18 years old at the end of May, rotated around the infield in July, seeing action at every position except for first base. For the season, Polanco sports a .860 OPS and a 129 wRC+.

 #2 Braylon Payne Carolina Mudcats
.383./.517/.638 47 AB, 15 R, 3 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 6 SB, 13 BB, 6 K

Earlier this month, Spencer Michaelis took a deep dive into Payne’s roller coaster season and broke down some changes that 2024’s first round pick has made in his batting stance and load. That piece looks even more prescient now, as Payne was one of the Brewers’ best hitters in the month of July before an errant throw hit Payne in the head and landed him on the IL to end the month.

There were quite a few highlight reel hits from Payne in July, including this walk off:

However, another exciting development has been Payne’s improvement in taking walks and avoiding strikeouts. After a month of June in which Payne struck out 20 times and drew just one walk, Payne turned it around in July for his first month of the season that Payne had more walks (13) than strikeouts (10).

 #1 Juan Martinez DSL Brewers Gold
.426/.541/.721 68 AB, 21 R, 9 2B, 4 3B, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 9 SB, 15 BB, 9 K

Martinez was the Brewers' best hitter in the month of July, as he put the ball in play and used his speed to take additional bases, despite not profiling as a big-time power hitter. The 18-year-old Martinez finished the month by hitting safely in 16 of his final 17 games, with nine multi-hit efforts in the month. Fourteen of his 29 hits went for extra bases and Martinez added nine steals. On the season, Martinez is 20 for 21 in base thievery with a 155 wRC+. The switch-hitting infielder saw most of his action at second base and the hot corner in July, though he was originally signed as a shortstop for $125,000 in the 2024 international class.

Here’s a look at a few of Martinez’s knocks from each side of the plate from Brewers’ PD X account:

Who did you have as the best hitter in the month of July? August marks the last full month of baseball for the minor league affiliates. Which players do you expect to see on the list next month? Any early predictions for Brewers Minor League Player of the Year? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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