Despite an Obvious Need, These Brewers Prospects Aren't Pushing Their Case for Promotion Just Yet

The Brewers have two consensus top-100 prospects who can cover the left side of the infield at Triple A right now, one of whom has already signed a 10-year contract. The Brewers also rank 24th in wRC+ from third base and 29th in wRC+ at shortstop. It seems like a clear problem with an obvious solution, but that solution is murkier than first glance suggests.

As much as we enjoy a shiny new toy over something we've seen already (prospects are always exciting for that reason), neither Cooper Pratt nor Jett Williams has yet shown the type of production to force themselves up onto the Brewers roster. Both have made some developments in their profiles, but they're not showing themselves as ready yet, with some flaws in their first two months of games that give red flags.

The Brewers are the type of organization that ensures that players are genuinely ready for the major leagues and are happy to be patient until they feel the time has come. That's not always in the form of on-field production, but the underlying approach, quality of contact and mentality that players have. The step from Triple A to the heat of a playoff chase is monumental, and to date, neither Pratt nor Williams has done enough to imply that they'll produce more than the current incumbents.

Cooper Pratt
Pratt is a player the Brewers are extraordinarily high on—hence the long-term deal signed before he was even especially close to a promotion to the majors. His range, body control and arm all play very well at shortstop, with a high defensive floor, strong baseball instincts and good bat-to-ball skills. Coming into the season, Pratt's two areas to work on were his approach at the plate (specifically chasing down and away) and trying to tap into more damage, with questions arising over his bat speed.

A slow start ensued, with Pratt struggling to square up baseballs in April but eventually finding some timing in May. That being said, let's consider those two work-ons. First up, this is his rolling chase rate over a 100 pitch sample size:

After some real improvements and a steady decline in his chase rate until the first week in May, it's been on the rise ever since. Sitting around the 25th percentile is manageable in some profiles, but those profiles have high exit velocities and thump to compensate for their tendency to swing outside the zone. Pratt has never been this type of hitter, but has he shown any improved ability to impact the baseball?

Most certainly yes, albeit not to the level he would need to push for a promotion, A lot of hitters see regression in their average exit velocity when they reach the big leagues, due to facing a higher quality of pitching, making it more difficult to find the barrel with regularity. Pratt has seen some improvements, finding the barrel more often and averaging 86-87 mph exit velocity, but that's still below average for the level. To compound that, he isn't pulling the ball in the air as we saw from Caleb Durbin or Isaac Paredes, who can get by with lower exit velocities by targeting the shorter fences:

The Brewers have a plan for Pratt, and it's going to be something in the mold of Brice Turang's profile. They believe there's impact in that bat, and they're prepared to be patient to bring that out, at least in 2026. He just hasn't reached the culmination of that plan yet, and that's okay, but it does mean the Brewers can't definitively rely on him as an upgrade to their shortstop and third base problems.

Jett Williams
Jett Williams is, on the surface, a very Brewers-y hitter: yet another grindy, smaller hitter who looks to scrap his way on base, use his plus-plus speed on the basepaths, and provide strong defense at second base or even in center field, as he showed in 2025. The Brewers have had him working almost exclusively at third base this year, identifying a path for him to join their team, and defensively, he's been playing well.

That being said, it's the bat that can bring him to the next level. Where Williams differs from the Brewer's militia of minions is that he can actually hit the ball hard. We saw a taste of this in spring training (always to be taken with a pinch of salt), but Williams showed that, when pitchers make mistakes, he can hit those mistakes hard:

It's a small sample size of just 22 plate appearances, so we should definitely take these as an indicator of what he's capable of, rather than his current abilities. He was squaring the ball up consistently with hard line drives and fly balls, he wasn't whiffing, and his walks and strikeouts were in a strong place. A quad injury hampered him from getting more playing time, and since he's been in Triple A, the results haven't quite been there, but if we compare his 2026 season (right) to his 2025 efforts (left) we can see some improvements:

Williams is walking more, making more in-zone contact, and swinging more at pitches in the strike zone. It's a more consistent profile, and he's made real strides in those areas the Brewers covet, with all of these stats combining to give tougher, better at-bats. The problem is, he's just not impacting the ball in the same vein he showed in the Mets organisation.

Just Baseball-projected average exit velocities combined with his air-pull rates would allow him to tap into solid power with Milwaukee, but those hard-hit rates and exit velocities have been anything but average to date. His hard-hit rate is trending up slightly, but that's also been offset by more strikeouts over the last while, and it's fair to say that a .292 expected Weighted On-Base Average is not going to be drawing a lot of eyes.

This sounds more negative than I initially intended. Williams will be similar to Pratt, with defined work-ons with his plate discipline and potentially his swing path to try and maximize his contact rates before he finds the power again. It's the type of profile that could click overnight, but for now, it's not at a point where he's ready to impact the big-league ballclub.

The big carrying tool for both of these players to reach the majors is how they hit. Both are adept defensively in positions with a clear need, but the upgrade will come from how well they hit when they land in Milwaukee. If this sort of performance continues for the next month or so, the Brewers may have to start looking for external help, rather than internal promotions, to fill the gaps in their lineup as they gear up for yet another playoff push. 

Both Williams and Pratt are players in whom the Brewers have extreme faith to make impactful contributions for many years at the highest level of the sport. They appear to be in the middle of some fine-tuning to get to that stage, and it shouldn't be seen as a negative that they haven't reached that level just yet. Their time will come, but that time just shouldn't be right now.