Spencer Michaelis

Very kind of you to say, thanks Austin!

Image courtesy of © Curt Hogg / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The Brewers farm system continues to impress, despite a number of big-time graduations over the last few years. The three new names on this list are just a few examples of the depth the system possesses. No. 13 - 2B Josh Adamczewski The Brewers drafted Adamczewski in the 15th round of the 2023 draft and signed him away from a Ball State commitment. Adamczewski missed time in 2024 due to injury, but when he was healthy, he performed very well between the Arizona Complex League and Low-A Carolina—as evidenced by his 156 wRC+. He is off to an even better start in 2025. Adamczewski’s carrying traits are connected to his ability to hit the ball. His hit tool has the chance to be plus, with an ability to hit the ball with some authority to all fields. Chris Clegg of Dynasty Dugout pointed out that Adamczewski made some changes to where his hands are in his load and also improved the base of his stance. Both changes are aimed at improving the consistency of his timing, and helping him lower his ground ball rate from last season. The early returns have been very positive. While he doesn’t possess huge raw power, Adamczewski’s ability to pull the ball in the air (and to hit the ball at ideal launch angles) does give him a chance to get to more game power than you might expect. He has hit home runs with exit velocities of up to 108 MPH as a teenager, and shows quite a bit of gap-to-gap power, as well, with plenty of doubles and triples on his ledger. On the defensive side of the ball, Adamczewski’s glovework is certainly solid enough to get the job done, but his lack of arm strength leaves him as a likely second base-only prospect on the infield. He does show strong instincts in the field, and makes the extra effort when possible, especially when it comes to backing up first base. An effort that has been able to net the Mudcats a couple of extra outs in the first month of the season. No. 15 - RHP Bishop Letson An 11th-round selection, who was signed away from a Purdue commitment in 2023, Letson had a strong start to his professional career in 2024, posting a 3.13 ERA in his age-19 season. He appears to have made another leap in 2025. Equipped with a four-pitch mix, Letson throws multiple fastballs, with both a four-seam and a two-seam variation in his repertoire. Both fastballs sit in the 92-95 MPH range, and the four-seamer has touched 98 in the past. That velocity plays up even more, due to the elite 7.5 feet of extension he generates. The two-seamer has around 15-16 inches of arm-side run, while the four-seamer gets a lot of carry. That helps him throw the four-seamer at or above the top of the zone with a lot of success. Letson’s secondaries are both strong pitches—especially his slider. That pitch is thrown in the low 80s, with quite a bit of sharp movement to the glove side. It’s been a pitch he can land for strikes, but also get a lot of swings and misses with. His changeup is his fourth pitch, showing good fade to his arm side and being thrown in the mid-80s. Consistency will be key for this pitch, as when it’s on, it shows flashes of being another average or better offering. The biggest jump for Letson in 2025 has come in the form of his improved command. In the early-going, he has essentially chopped his 2024 walk rate of 10.5% in half. If these improvements hold throughout the season (and he shows that he can handle the innings load required), Letson has all the makings of a future big-league starter. #19 1B Ernesto Martinez Jr Signed all the way back in May 2017, Martinez is older than your typical ascending prospect, at 25 years old. Despite his advanced age, however, he continues to rise within the organization, and even on the national scale. After a very strong 2024 season in Double-A Biloxi (especially in the second half), Martinez re-signed with the Brewers on a minor-league deal. While he is currently out with an injury, he was off to a great start in Triple-A Nashville. Standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 250 pounds, Martinez is an impressive athlete. One sign of that athleticism can be seen in his defense at first base. He has the ability to do the splits, and he is happy to show it off. A strong defender over there in general, Martinez should not have any issues holding down the cold corner at the major-league level. Another sign of his athleticism lies in the fact that, while first base is his future position and the spot at which he spends the vast majority of his time, he has also spent some limited time as a center fielder. Martinez even went 20-for-25 in stolen base attempts for Biloxi in 2024. Never mind baseball players; not many human beings his size can move like he can. While the defense and the athleticism are impressive, the driving factor behind Martinez’s late ascent as a prospect is his offense. His results have been impressive, as evidenced by his 145 wRC+ in Double A, but his process-based numbers have really drawn the attention of analysts. Martinez hits the ball extremely hard, with a 90th percentile exit velocity of 111.5 MPH. For reference, Oneil Cruz leads MLB in that category at 114.7 MPH. Aaron Judge is at just 111.1. Martinez hits the ball as hard as anyone in baseball. Most players who hit the ball as hard as he does have issues with whiffs—especially players who have a swing as violent as Martinez’s. Martinez whiffs at a 20.3% rate, though, which would be in the 75th percentile at the big-league level. He also doesn’t chase much. One nitpick would be that he would benefit from being able to get the ball in the air more often, as the home run numbers don’t necessarily line up with the hard-hit metrics. Whether the home run power is there consistently or not, there is a ton to like when it comes to Martinez’s bat. Martinez will turn 26 in June, and he is showing that he deserves a chance to play in the bigs sooner, rather than later. It could be tough to find room for him this year without an injury to one of the incumbent first basemen on the roster, but Martinez seems to have the inside track (at this moment) for the 2026 starting first base spot. What are your thoughts on the three additions to the Brewer Fanatic Top 20 prospects? View full article

Some Mercedes video below, referencing the @wiguy94post from the game thread as well. Very intriguing stuff from the 18 year old. Mid-90's velo with two secondaries is always noteworthy.

Good news on this front. Apparently Meccage was having some issues keeping any food or liquid down before, during and after his start today, sounds like not a fun time. More good news, despite that being the case, Meccage still touched 98.5 MPH in his two innings at some point.

Mike Boeve is healthy and back in AA after one rehab game in the ACL.

Sounds like Dubanewicz is throwing both a slider and a curveball now. Sat in the low-90's yesterday, and only allowed one hard hit ball (a double). The final line score doesn't really align with what I heard about his outing. Sounded pretty encouraging. Nice to see him stretched out enough to go that deep in the first game as well.

The guys recap the longest road trip of the year and an up-and-down first month of the regular season. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View full article

Jesus Made 60 OFP Struggling to stay healthy thus far, but all bad luck injuries. Production has been there for him already and he looks the part.Jeferson Quero 55 OFP Just need him to get healthy and see what the arm looks like. If the arm is still there, I still believe he’s got a chance to be an all-star level catcher.Luis Pena 55 OFP Wow, he looks incredibly advanced at the plate for an 18 year old in full-season ball. His swing is explosive and after maxing out at 106 MPH EV’s last year he’s already shown higher than that multiple times. Very athletic and looks the part defensively, despite some iffy errors thus far. He’s a T100 type of prospect, if not T50.Jacob Misiorowski 55 OFP I think there’s a pretty decent chance he sticks as a starter at this point… The zone rate is up over 50%, and the delivery is as repeatable and mechanically sound as I’ve seen it. It feels like the worst case scenario for him at this point is a souped-up, younger version of Trevor Megill with his fastball, curveball combo. That’s not even mentioning the slider.Braylon Payne 50 OFP He’s been extremely impressive so far, in fact he could probably be in the 55 tier. The power is showing up (HR with a 110 MPH EV!), the speed is evident on the bases and in center. Defensively the instincts are lacking a bit, and he’s had multiple miscommunications out there, but that can be cleaned up. He has 5 tool potential.Cooper Pratt 50 OFP I love Pratt and he doesn’t look out of place at all in AA as one of the younger players at the level. I don’t think he has the ceiling of most of the players above him, but the floor is pretty high. There’s a good chance he’s an everyday SS, which is very valuable.Logan Henderson 45+ OFP Still hoping to see at least one of the cutter/slider offerings become a solid third pitch, but we saw in his debut how good it can look when the fastball and changeup are working. Two borderline plus pitches. Bishop Letson 45+ OFP I love me some Bishop Letson. We’ve seen him into the mid-90’s with the most extension in all of MiLB, helping the velo play up even more. He throws both a 4 and a 2 seam fastball, has a filthy slider and a decent changeup. The command is going to be there. I think ceiling wise, he’s got the second highest for pitchers behind Miz.Robert Gasser 45+ OFP Not much to say here, we saw that he can perform in MLB, just need him to get healthy and hopefully return to where he was.Craig Yoho 45+ OFP He’s just filthy. I can’t imagine it will be very common for me to put a reliever in my top 10, but Yoho has forced my hand. He’s not going back to AAA anytime soon.Mike Boeve 45 OFP Boeve needs to get healthy, but I really believe in the bat and I think there’s power that is going to start to show in games. Hopefully can handle third enough to make that an option for him defensively.Eric Bitonti 45 OFP As much raw power as I have seen from a Brewers prospect. Mostly showing in doubles in 2025, those will be homers soon. There’s a bit more of a hit tool than you’d think, though swing and miss will be a big part of his game. He seems to adjust very well pitch to pitch.Josh Adamczewski 45 OFP I’m nothing if not an Adamczewski truther. I really think he is going to hit his way to the big leagues eventually. The defense at second is solid enough, and he has good instincts in the field. Also has noticeably hustled to back up bases multiple times, saving bases/runs and even recording some extra outs.Luke Adams 40+ OFP Not surprising that he has struggled early at AA. Throw in a swing simplification (read: swing change) and it’s even less surprising. I still think that he will figure it out as he adjusts. He had a bit of a slow start in High-A as well.K.C. Hunt 40+ OFP Struggling a bit early on, but the stuff still looks pretty good. I do have slight concerns about how the fastball will play, but at the same time, the secondaries are so good. May have jumped the gun a bit on him last year, but he’s still a legit SP prospect.Brailyn Antunez 40+ OFP Hearing good things from down in the DR. He’s popping a decent amount of 100 MPH EV’s and showing pop. He’s a great athlete and I really like his swing. Very excited to see how he performs in the DSL.Bryce Meccage 40+ OFP Up and down in his first few pro starts, but you can see the stuff is there. Fastball in the mid-90’s, breaking balls look really good and the kick-change is a pretty nice pitch as well. Command has come and gone so far which is not surprising for a HS pick early in his career.Brett Wichrowski 40 OFP Hope to see him healthy soon. Rollercoaster 2024, but he adjusted well to AA by the end of the season. The stuff is good, the slider/sweeper is filthy. Excited to see what he looks like now that he’s more well-adjusted to the level.Josh Knoth 40 OFP Out for the season. Showed nice flashes last year. Probably punishing him too much here, but I do worry a bit about the developmental timeline for him after TJ. The fastball played really well last year and he can really spin the breaking balls. Changeup a big time WIP. Command also a WIP. Will be interesting to see what he looks like next year.Brock Wilken 40 OFP He’s impacting the ball decently, but he seems way too passive to me. Almost 60% of his PA’s have ended in a K or BB. Defense has looked really solid at third base. Some signs of a bounceback, but not enough to get super excited. I'll go T50 this time with my OFP tiers for the players: 40 OFP 21 Blake Burke 1B 22 Kenny Fenelon OF 23 Carlos Rodriguez RHP 24 Tyson Hardin RHP 25 Ernesto Martinez 1B 26 Caleb Durbin UTIL 27 Luis Lara OF 28 Marco Dinges C 29 Jadher Areinamo UTIL 30 Tyler Black UTIL 31 Yorman Galindez RHP 32 Jorge Quintana SS 33 Jose Anderson OF 34 Chad Patrick RHP 35 Jack Hostetler RHP 36 Jason Woodward RHP 37 Juan Baez UTIL 38 Manuel Rodriguez RHP 39 Coleman Crow RHP 40 Luis Corobo C 41 Yeuri Ramirez RHP 35+ OFP 42 Cristopher Acosta SS 43 Hayden Robinson RHP 44 Alexander Frias OF 45 Gerlyn Payano OF 46 Ryan Birchard RHP 47 Jaron Deberry RHP 48 Joseph Broughton LHP 49 Handelfry Encarnacion OF 50 Wande Torres LHP

Jesus Made 60 OFP Struggling to stay healthy thus far, but all bad luck injuries. Production has been there for him already and he looks the part.Jeferson Quero 55 OFP Just need him to get healthy and see what the arm looks like. If the arm is still there, I still believe he’s got a chance to be an all-star level catcher.Luis Pena 55 OFP Wow, he looks incredibly advanced at the plate for an 18 year old in full-season ball. His swing is explosive and after maxing out at 106 MPH EV’s last year he’s already shown higher than that multiple times. Very athletic and looks the part defensively, despite some iffy errors thus far. He’s a T100 type of prospect, if not T50.Jacob Misiorowski 55 OFP I think there’s a pretty decent chance he sticks as a starter at this point… The zone rate is up over 50%, and the delivery is as repeatable and mechanically sound as I’ve seen it. It feels like the worst case scenario for him at this point is a souped-up, younger version of Trevor Megill with his fastball, curveball combo. That’s not even mentioning the slider.Braylon Payne 50 OFP He’s been extremely impressive so far, in fact he could probably be in the 55 tier. The power is showing up (HR with a 110 MPH EV!), the speed is evident on the bases and in center. Defensively the instincts are lacking a bit, and he’s had multiple miscommunications out there, but that can be cleaned up. He has 5 tool potential.Cooper Pratt 50 OFP I love Pratt and he doesn’t look out of place at all in AA as one of the younger players at the level. I don’t think he has the ceiling of most of the players above him, but the floor is pretty high. There’s a good chance he’s an everyday SS, which is very valuable.Logan Henderson 45+ OFP Still hoping to see at least one of the cutter/slider offerings become a solid third pitch, but we saw in his debut how good it can look when the fastball and changeup are working. Two borderline plus pitches. Bishop Letson 45+ OFP I love me some Bishop Letson. We’ve seen him into the mid-90’s with the most extension in all of MiLB, helping the velo play up even more. He throws both a 4 and a 2 seam fastball, has a filthy slider and a decent changeup. The command is going to be there. I think ceiling wise, he’s got the second highest for pitchers behind Miz.Robert Gasser 45+ OFP Not much to say here, we saw that he can perform in MLB, just need him to get healthy and hopefully return to where he was.Craig Yoho 45+ OFP He’s just filthy. I can’t imagine it will be very common for me to put a reliever in my top 10, but Yoho has forced my hand. He’s not going back to AAA anytime soon.Mike Boeve 45 OFP Boeve needs to get healthy, but I really believe in the bat and I think there’s power that is going to start to show in games. Hopefully can handle third enough to make that an option for him defensively.Eric Bitonti 45 OFP As much raw power as I have seen from a Brewers prospect. Mostly showing in doubles in 2025, those will be homers soon. There’s a bit more of a hit tool than you’d think, though swing and miss will be a big part of his game. He seems to adjust very well pitch to pitch.Josh Adamczewski 45 OFP I’m nothing if not an Adamczewski truther. I really think he is going to hit his way to the big leagues eventually. The defense at second is solid enough, and he has good instincts in the field. Also has noticeably hustled to back up bases multiple times, saving bases/runs and even recording some extra outs.Luke Adams 40+ OFP Not surprising that he has struggled early at AA. Throw in a swing simplification (read: swing change) and it’s even less surprising. I still think that he will figure it out as he adjusts. He had a bit of a slow start in High-A as well.K.C. Hunt 40+ OFP Struggling a bit early on, but the stuff still looks pretty good. I do have slight concerns about how the fastball will play, but at the same time, the secondaries are so good. May have jumped the gun a bit on him last year, but he’s still a legit SP prospect.Brailyn Antunez 40+ OFP Hearing good things from down in the DR. He’s popping a decent amount of 100 MPH EV’s and showing pop. He’s a great athlete and I really like his swing. Very excited to see how he performs in the DSL.Bryce Meccage 40+ OFP Up and down in his first few pro starts, but you can see the stuff is there. Fastball in the mid-90’s, breaking balls look really good and the kick-change is a pretty nice pitch as well. Command has come and gone so far which is not surprising for a HS pick early in his career.Brett Wichrowski 40 OFP Hope to see him healthy soon. Rollercoaster 2024, but he adjusted well to AA by the end of the season. The stuff is good, the slider/sweeper is filthy. Excited to see what he looks like now that he’s more well-adjusted to the level.Josh Knoth 40 OFP Out for the season. Showed nice flashes last year. Probably punishing him too much here, but I do worry a bit about the developmental timeline for him after TJ. The fastball played really well last year and he can really spin the breaking balls. Changeup a big time WIP. Command also a WIP. Will be interesting to see what he looks like next year.Brock Wilken 40 OFP He’s impacting the ball decently, but he seems way too passive to me. Almost 60% of his PA’s have ended in a K or BB. Defense has looked really solid at third base. Some signs of a bounceback, but not enough to get super excited. I'll go T50 this time with my OFP tiers for the players: 40 OFP 21 Blake Burke 1B 22 Kenny Fenelon OF 23 Carlos Rodriguez RHP 24 Tyson Hardin RHP 25 Ernesto Martinez 1B 26 Caleb Durbin UTIL 27 Luis Lara OF 28 Marco Dinges C 29 Jadher Areinamo UTIL 30 Tyler Black UTIL 31 Yorman Galindez RHP 32 Jorge Quintana SS 33 Jose Anderson OF 34 Chad Patrick RHP 35 Jack Hostetler RHP 36 Jason Woodward RHP 37 Juan Baez UTIL 38 Manuel Rodriguez RHP 39 Coleman Crow RHP 40 Luis Corobo C 41 Yeuri Ramirez RHP 35+ OFP 42 Cristopher Acosta SS 43 Hayden Robinson RHP 44 Alexander Frias OF 45 Gerlyn Payano OF 46 Ryan Birchard RHP 47 Jaron Deberry RHP 48 Joseph Broughton LHP 49 Handelfry Encarnacion OF 50 Wande Torres LHP

Luiyin Alastre appears to have been promoted to High-A Wisconsin!

89-90 MPH sinker that gets a lot of grounders, 78-80 MPH changeup is his best secondary, 76-78 curveball looks decent as well. Secondaries are where he will get some swing and miss, the sinker is where he can get early, weak contact. It's definitely an interesting mix. Hopefully can add some mass to his frame and add a little velo as he develops. At his listed weight, you'd certainly think that is possible for him.

The Brewers, once elite defensively, have not looked that way recently. Jack and Spencer break down the MLB debuts of Caleb Durbin, Logan Henderson, and Craig Yoho, the Brewers' rough defensive showing in San Francisco, and more. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View full article

Hey @Brock Beauchamp can you reset mine as well? Was trying to hit shift+enter and hit ctrl+enter which submitted it 😂

@Brock Beauchamp I'd add new IFA signings OF Brailyn Antunez and OF Kenny Fenelon, probably worth including SS Cristopher Acosta too.

"Live arm" is usually related to velocity, but sometimes it also relates to the way the fastball plays, or even just arm speed in general. This one is tougher, as it's pretty organization dependent. The Brewers seem to like fastballs with carry, and people who can spin the ball well in a lot of different directions. They also seem to like under the radar HS arms that have a lot of physical development left (Letson, Renz, Vire, etc).

Yoho can even end up with around 40" in separation between the change and curve. Both get 20" of movement at times. Changeup arm-side, curve glove-side of course. Limited data out there for him, but Mannell is a bit different, as his changeup gets around 13-15" of horizontal movement instead of 20". It's also not a high-spin changeup like Yoho's, though it does have good depth. However, he has a sweeper that gets 20" of glove-side movement and a curve that has more vertical movement. It's not quite the same as Yoho, but there are similarities here. His two-seam does get around 17-20" of run on it, like Yoho's.

Kevin Mannell is my Yoho for this draft. Was hoping they’d take him out of his Juco last year. He’s at Mississippi State now. He’s got that type of changeup movement, though not quite to the extent that Yoho does. But I think he’s just a perfect fit for what the Brewers like.

Woody's on his way back to Milwaukee while Caleb Durbin is already here. Jack and Spencer analyze the Diamondbacks and Tigers series, takeaways from Brandon Woodruff's first rehab start, the outlook at third base with Caleb Durbin replacing Oliver Dunn, and more. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View full article

I think the slider is pretty solid, the problem is that it doesn’t really tunnel well with the fastball that usually will play best at the top of the zone. He threw a couple curves in spring. I'd love to see him use that a bit more often.

Per someone in attendance, Hardin was touching 96 on the stadium gun, sitting 94-95. In college he did get into the upper 90’s at times but that was in shorter stints, as he was a reliever at Mississippi State.