Three Brewers Position Player Prospects You May Not Know... But Should

Gregory Barrios
Signed in the same international signing class as Jackson Chourio, Barrios received the second-highest bonus ($1 million) in that class, behind only Chourio. Known for his glovework, he has started to show signs of an offensive breakout in 2024. After a slow start in the Dominican Summer League his first season, he stepped it up in 2022 and was a league-average hitter in the Arizona Complex League. Unfortunately, he followed that up with a 69 wRC+ in Low-A Carolina last season.

While the results in Carolina were poor, Barrios did flash some of the tools you are hoping to see from young hitters. Despite a low walk rate, Barrios showed solid plate discipline and a good approach at the plate. He also demonstrated very strong bat-to-ball abilities, striking out at only a 13.5% clip. He also stole 32 bases. The approach is likely the reason the Brewers chose to be aggressive with his assignment in 2024, moving him up to High-A despite the lackluster results in 2023.

Still only 20 years old this season, Barrios has shown that the Brewers made the correct decision. Through his first 13 games, Barrios is posting an OPS of 1.027 and a wRC+ of 184. While keeping his strikeout rate at 17%, he has been able to tap into a bit more power. He has already posted 8 doubles, which means he’s one-third of the way to his extra-base hit output of 2023 (24 total) in only one-ninth as many plate appearances.

Barrios has a short, compact swing that allows him to get the bat to inside pitches extremely consistently. Last year, he had some issues covering the outer third of the plate, for that same reason. In 2024, he’s shown a better ability to get to those outside pitches, while also taking his 40% fly ball rate and cutting that down to 20%. He’s improved his line drive rate from 20% to 35%. With his limited game power and athleticism, line drives and hard-hit ground balls will do him a lot better than fly balls will.

Barrios will likely continue to get stronger, and hopefully, that will allow him to tap into a bit more power, but this will always be a contact-driven profile. He has the glove and the stick to be an everyday shortstop if he can continue to improve his plate coverage and keep hitting the ball on a line.

Barrios was named this past week's Player of the Week for the Midwest League. The Brewers Player Development account provided us with some video from the week, where you can see all of the tools on display. He shows his ability to get his hands to inside pitches, as well as the newfound ability to take them where they're pitched as well.

Tayden Hall
Hall was the Brewers' ninth-round selection in 2022 out of a Junior College (State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota), and signed for slot value. Son of former MLB catcher Toby Hall, Tayden was drafted as a backstop, but he has settled into an everyday first base role at the pro level.

Equipped with one of the most impressive approaches in the Brewers system, Hall makes fantastic swing decisions and has above-average contact skills, as well. Walking at a 24% clip in 2024 so far, he rarely expands the zone. On the other hand, he can get a bit too patient at times and will put himself in two-strike counts by taking hittable pitches. The good news is that he’s also very comfortable in those spots, as shown by his 18% strikeout rate in 2023, and his even lower 14.8% rate so far in 2024.

Hall was drafted with a very interesting setup (similar to the way Tony Batista used to do it), with the entire front of his body facing the pitcher. He has since closed himself off and has a much more generic stance these days. His current stance would seem more likely to help him get to some power than his original one.

Power is the one tool that Hall is currently lacking in his offensive toolbox. He has yet to homer in professional baseball (though he did hit five in Australia this past winter), and hasn’t had many extra-base hits, in general. He is off to a stronger start in that regard in 2024, already with three doubles and a triple. Hall’s build would lead you to believe that he will eventually find some in-game power. He also hits the ball pretty hard on average, which means that while he is currently sporting a 54% ground ball rate with a 15% fly ball rate, if he can elevate more often, the power may begin to show up.

While the pop continues to develop, Hall shows an impressive ability to hit to all fields. In 2024, he is pulling the ball more (which is something that could help him tap into his power), but he is also hitting the ball the opposite way at a strong 30% clip. He is hitting line drives on 30% of his batted balls, which are the batted balls most likely to end in hits. 

Hall plays a fine first base, and has very good hands due to his catching background. He’s a good enough athlete with a decent arm; he could probably handle a corner outfield spot if needed.

It feels like everything will come down to Hall’s ability to drive the ball, and as mentioned earlier, despite the lack of home runs, he has been hitting the ball hard this season, currently posting a hard-hit rate of around 60%. His approach and his bat path give him a solid floor; the power will decide whether he reaches his ceiling.

Kay-Lan Nicasia
Nicasia might be the least known of the three on this list. The Brewers' 16th-round selection in 2021, some may have never heard his name before right now. If the start of the 2024 season is any indication, it’s one you’re going to want to get to know.

Nicasia is a switch-hitter who has an explosive but smooth-looking swing from the left side. His right-handed swing seems to lack some of the same juice, and it will be interesting to see if the Brewers eventually just have him stay on the left side. 

This is a player who looked better visually than his results would lead you to believe. His 30% strikeout rate was not indicative of the type of approach he showed, nor was his .212 batting average. While his 97 wRC+ wasn’t much worse than league-average, it also felt lower than what he was showing on a nightly basis.

Nicasia showed really strong pitch recognition skills in 2023. He didn’t go outside of the zone all that often, as shown by his 13.7% walk rate. He did, however, have some issues with his ability to put the bat on the ball, which contributed to that high strikeout rate. In 2024, his strikeout rate is down to a much more reasonable 23.6% rate. Keeping it in the 25% range is something Nicasia is capable of, and would be a great sign for him moving forward.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 176 pounds, Nicasia seems to carry that weight well and looks a bit stronger than what he’s listed at. While he only hit six home runs in 2023, Nicasia has shown an ability to drive the ball, particularly from the left side. He has already gone deep three times in April (all from the left side), and seems to be tapping into that power more consistently so far. 

His hit tool is closer to average than to plus, but Nicasia isn’t up there selling out for power. He uses the middle of the field well, and is capable of going the other way with pitches on the outer third. The outer third is likely the area pitchers will want to attack the most, as he can have issues with offspeed away.

Drafted as a shortstop, Nicasia is a strong defender in the outfield, and he has an above-average arm as well. He did spend a little time at second base this season for the Mudcats, but that was out of necessity. He appears to be pretty locked into an outfield role moving forward. His speed allows his defense to play up out there, and also shows up on the bases, where he was 27 of 34 in 2023 and is four for four in 2024.

At 22 years old, Nicasia is a player the Brewers may want to push to High-A to see if this progress is legitimate. So far, the results seem to be more in line with what somebody would expect if you watch him every night. He is far from a sure thing, but a few more solid months of production could start to get him some attention, because the tools are certainly there already.

The Brewers haven’t had as many standout performances from their top prospects as they were probably hoping for. Much of this can be attributed to the injury issues they have had to deal with so far, seeing players like Jeferson Quero, Brock Wilken, Cooper Pratt and more sidelined for extended periods already, There are a lot of lesser-known players who have gotten off to very strong starts, though, and this trio is among them.

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!