Should We Believe in The Ascension of Jesus Made?

Jesus Made signed with the Brewers organization for $950,000 on Jan. 15, 2023. He did so with the usual, limited fanfare that most international signings receive. He was notable enough to be talked about positively by Baseball America and was ranked 22nd in the class by MLB Pipeline. However, aside from a few people seeing his name and humorously pointing out how an American might pronounce it, he did not receive much attention last offseason.

Fast-forward one year, and Jesús Made is no longer only notable for his name and some interesting tools. He has become the talk of the prospecting world. Geoff Pontes of BA and many other evaluators have spoken extremely highly of him. Pontes has said that he believes Made is a future number-one prospect on multiple occasions. For now, he is "only" a consensus top-100 prospect on every site, and is in the top 50 for many of them.

So, what changed in the last year? What has he done to make this incredible ascension in the prospect rankings, before even dashing his foot upon a pebble in a professional batter's box in the United States?

Start with Made’s production in the Dominican Summer League, on its own. His 169 wRC+ placed him eighth in the entire league, and he was the youngest player in the top eight. He had an OPS over 1.000 and stole 28 bases along the way, while only being caught four times. While the production is impressive, there have been many successful DSL seasons in the past by players who never amounted to anything meaningful at the MLB level.

So what makes Made different? It’s the way he produced these numbers that has most scouts and evaluators salivating.

Twitter user @Upper_Beck provided a graphic in his tweet comparing Made’s 2024 season to Mariners prospect Lazaro Montes’s 2022, another big-time DSL performance (162 wRC+).

Posting a 90th-percentile exit velocity of 103.9 MPH would have been above-average for a major-league player, and the Brewers farmhand did it as a 17-year-old. Montes, known mainly for having big-time, 60-grade power, posted a 90th-percentile exit velocity two MPH lower than Made’s. Montes showed a lack of feel for the strike zone and a lack of bat-to-ball ability in the DSL, and he still has been flying up prospect lists. On the other hand, Made showed an incredible eye at the plate and elite bat-to-ball skills, all while hitting the ball with authority.

Chris Clegg, of Dynasty Dugout, tweeted a comparison of his own, to another 2022 DSL season. Player A is Made and Player B is a consensus top-50 prospect, Josue De Paula in the Dodgers organization.

De Paula started with fantastic swing decisions and bat-to-ball ability and grew into his power over time. Made starts with a baseline of all of these tools.

Made’s combination of power and speed would have brought him much positive attention, regardless of anything else. However, combining those two surface skills with an elite whiff rate and 15% chase rate, all while walking more often than he struck out, has had evaluators wondering just how good he can be on the offensive side of the ball. The underlying data Made posted in 2024 is just about as good as anyone has seen for someone his age, at his level.

Made's swing is explosive, featuring his fast hands and a lot of bat speed. He shows an ability to cover all areas of the zone, as well. If there’s one area of concern in the swing, it is the pre-swing hand movement, which is noticeable in the video above. It’s far from the most movement in the Brewers system (*glances toward Jadher Areinamo, about to throw his lasso*), but if he’s unable to repeat the motion consistently, it has the potential to cause timing issues.

While the video above only shows him from the left side, he shows a lot of promise from both sides of the plate, though he also has the extra hand movement from both sides.

What’s that? Oh yeah, I may have forgotten to mention that Made’s a switch-hitter, too. Most have only seen him from the left side, because he faced very few left-handed pitchers in the DSL, only amassing 32 total plate appearances against them. Despite that, some evaluators believe he has more power from the right side than from the left.

Made’s ground ball rate was relatively high at nearly 50%, and it’s likely that this is at least partially correlated with that high amount of hand movement. Brewers fans know how some slight timing issues can cause high ground ball rates, namely with a player like Christian Yelich.

The fact that we have to pick that many nits to find a couple of relatively minor flaws within Made’s offensive profile, though, says enough on its own. There are supposed to be much bigger hurdles to clear for guys who are 17 and haven't played in the States.

Defensively, there’s a lot less to look at when it comes to DSL players. We do know that Made is listed as a shortstop, and evaluators think he has the type of athleticism, range, and arm strength that would allow him to stay there. However, fans should expect him to move around the diamond a bit in 2025. He should grade out above average at second or third base, where his skillset should play up at each spot. It would be a relatively large upset if he is unable to stick in the infield dirt, but with his speed and athleticism, scouts believe he would do good work in center field, too.

Beyond the diamond, Made is said to have a tremendous work ethic. Since signing, he has already added good weight to his body but still maintained his athleticism. He has room to continue to add to his frame, which should only help him as he continues to develop more power over time. He has a good head on his shoulders and, to this point, is doing a great job handling all the attention he has received.

Made has shot up prospect rankings before playing an inning of Stateside professional baseball, mainly because he appears to be a player: A player who produced some of the best underlying data that the baseball world has seen from a seventeen-year-old in the DSL; a player who posted top-of-the-line traditional, counting stats on top of that; a player who scouts believe will either be a solid shortstop or an above-average defender at a different infield position; a player who lacks any glaring weaknesses. Made is a player who, regardless of age or level, is one of the most talented all-around prospects in baseball.

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!