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Isaac Colling and William Contreras - Milwaukee Brewers 2025
Isaac Collins and William Contreras high-five during the June 27, 2025 game against the Colorado Rockies at American Family Field in Milwaukee
Some unexpected names have made major contributions to the Milwaukee Brewers in the first half of the 2025 season, but that has left the team with some difficult decisions to make about how or if to fold them into their future plans.
The Brewers have experienced a great deal of success in recent years by using the early months of the season to try out lots of candidates to fill the weaker spots in their roster. We discussed this back in 2023 as a roster building formula that clubs in similar situations might look to emulate in the future.
The solutions the Brewers have found with this method, however, haven’t always remained effective over the long term. None of the five breakout players we highlighted in that 2023 piece are still in the majors with the Brewers less than two full years later. For every Blake Perkins, who emerged from relative obscurity to become a part of the Brewers’ plans in a crowded outfield, there’s an Owen Miller, whose hot streak to open the 2023 season seems likely to be an outlier among his career numbers.
This season once again the Brewers have had several players emerge in the early months and make a case to be a part of the organization’s long term plans. It’s a good problem to have, but the front office has a tough task ahead of them attempting to determine which of their top contributors from this season should be incorporated into their long term plans and which have simply had a well-timed hot streak.
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Isaac Collins
Back in March, Collins, who was 27 years old and a veteran of just 11 MLB games, seemed like a complete afterthought in a Brewers outfield that also included several of the organization’s top stars. Collins had a forgettable brief run with the team in his MLB debut in 2024, batting just .118 across 11 games.
In 2025, however, no Brewer has seen more playing time in left field. The combination of Garrett Mitchell’s injury and Christian Yelich’s transition to the DH role have opened a door for Collins and he has emerged as one of the Brewers’ most productive regulars. In January Dan Szymborski of FanGraphs’ ZiPS projections had Collins’ 80th percentile projection, something of a best case scenario for his 2025 season, as a .741 on-base plus slugging and 2.1 wins above replacement. He’s on pace to outperform both of those numbers.
Not all of Collins’ peripheral numbers point to budding stardom, however: His Baseball Savant page, compiled using MLB’s Statcast data, suggest he’s gotten by despite a relatively low average exit velocity and hard contact rate and a relatively high ground ball rate. Like several Brewers, Collins has excelled at putting the ball in play and using his speed to turn it into hits, but his ability to do that may diminish as defenses are able to produce a better scouting report and adjust positioning. With Blake Perkins’ return seemingly approaching, Collins likely needs to stay hot to ensure he keeps finding himself in the lineup.
Chad Patrick
The 2024 Brewers used 17 starting pitchers but seemingly passed over Patrick every time they needed a new one, leaving him in Nashville despite the fact that he led the International League in ERA (2.90), strikeouts (145) and wins (14-1). Faced with several injuries this spring, however, the Brewers turned to the 26-year-old to make his first MLB start in the fifth game of the season and he quickly experienced success. Patrick had a 1.82 ERA across five outings in April.
Patrick and Freddy Peralta are the only Brewers pitchers to make the start in every scheduled turn in the rotation this season: They’ve both made 17 starts and no one else has more than 11. His 3.51 ERA is significantly below league average and at least some of his peripheral numbers suggest it’s legitimate: He has a 3.42 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), which suggests that if anything he’s experienced slightly below average luck.
Patrick has not, however, been pitching deep into games. He averages less than 90 pitches per start and has yet to record an out in the seventh inning this season. The Brewers are just 6-11 in games where he starts, a combination of games where the bullpen has struggled behind him and a handful of outings where he’s struggled. With Brandon Woodruff’s return appearing to be on the horizon, the Brewers might have to make a decision on Patrick soon.
Quinn Priester
The same pitching shortage mentioned above created a need for one of the 2025 season’s first trades as the Brewers dealt a pair of minor leaguers and a draft pick to Boston for Priester, a former high draft pick of the Pirates and three-time top 100 prospect who had seen his star fade a bit after posting a 6.23 ERA in his first two stints in the majors.
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Like Patrick, however, Priester quickly experienced success in the majors with the Brewers. He allowed just one earned run across ten innings in his first two starts and he’s been hot again recently, posting a 2.30 ERA over his last 10 starts. He had the best outing of his young career on Saturday when he allowed just one hit across seven innings against the Rockies and struck out eleven.
Some of the criticisms that led to Priester’s prospect ranking falloff, however, remain true in his 2025 work. In an era of high strikeout rates Priester is a pretty significant outlier with just seven K’s per nine innings, and his walk rate is higher than is typical of someone who gets outs by inducing soft contact. FanGraphs has Priester’s Stuff+ (more on that metric here) at 98 where 100 is average. Priester has been one of baseball’s top pitchers this season when it comes to inducing ground balls, but that’s a skill that has fallen out of fashion in the current era.
As of Monday morning, the Brewers find themselves back in position for seventh postseason appearance in eight years and they almost certainly wouldn’t be there without the contributions they’ve gotten from Collins, Patrick and Priester. As they position themselves for the stretch run, however, those same players are going to force them to make some tough positions about where they fit.
