Brewers’ Top Prospects Have Something to Prove

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By the time the real Opening Day rolls around Saturday’s Cactus League opener will feel like a distant memory. Most fans probably won’t remember, for example, that former KBO pitcher Robert Stack threw the Brewers’ first pitch of the spring. They might remember, however, the pair of home runs that Garrett Mitchell hit.

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Photo: Garrett Mitchell - Instagram

Garrett Mitchell

Garrett Mitchell

Mitchell and many of the Brewers’ other top prospects have something to prove this spring in an effort to show they should open the season with the big club instead of returning to the minors. Mitchell, who also made a big impression with a .367 batting average, .406 on-base and .567 slugging in 22 games in his professional debut in 2021, could use another spring like that to cement his status on his first Opening Day roster. Sal Frelick and Joey Wiemer also started in the outfield on Saturday and are in similar positions. So is infielder Brice Turang, who made his debut on Sunday.

Given the relatively brief nature of the Cactus League season, Mitchell’s pair of home runs on Saturday all but assured he’ll finish among the Brewers’ leaders in that category. That’s not always an indication of success coming in the year ahead, but sometimes it’s a good sign. Last season the Brewers’ Cactus League leaders in hits, home runs and runs scored were Tyrone Taylor, Keston Hiura and Andrew McCutchen, for example. All three players had up and down 2022 seasons:

• Taylor went on to play in 120 games in the majors for the Brewers during the regular season, setting a new career high. He batted .233 with a .729 on-base plus slugging and 17 home runs.
• 2022 was an improvement on the prior season but still a hot and cold year for Hiura. He continued to show flashes of potential but appeared in just 80 games and batted .226 with a .316 on-base and .449 slugging.
• McCutchen’s solid spring did not follow him north to Milwaukee as he batted just .205 with a .256 on-base and .295 slugging in his first 42 games as a Brewer.

The most notable thing from spring training 2022 is the fact that there wasn’t much of it. The MLB lockout dragged into mid-March, so training camps opened very late and everyone had to get ready for Opening Day in a hurry. That meant that a player like McCutchen, whose elder statesman status might otherwise have exempted him from spring training road trips and allowed him to punch his own ticket to Opening Day, still played enough to lead the Brewers in runs scored. 

This spring is also different from tradition but in the opposite direction: Training camps opened early to accommodate March’s World Baseball Classic and the exhibition schedule is longer as a result. This will likely lead to more opportunities for top prospects, non-roster invitees and Opening Day roster hopefuls. Their playing time should be more plentiful than usual as teams take their time preparing their veterans for Opening Day and/or have gaps in their lineup to fill as their regulars are away playing in the World Baseball Classic. 

Occasionally, a player is able to take advantage of spring playing time and make a statement that improves the trajectory of their career. Ji-Man Choi is a name that comes to mind: He had struggled to stick in the majors for years before coming to camp with the Brewers in 2018 and playing his way onto the roster. The Brewers didn’t have a role for Choi that year but they eventually traded him to the Rays and he’s been in the majors ever since. With that said, Nick Franklin was also among the Brewers’ statistical leaders that same spring. Franklin played in one game for the Brewers that season and hasn’t been back in the majors since.

Time and again history offers reminders that the small samples and unique environment of spring training don’t always provide a clear image of expected performance in the year to come. Sometimes they provide a brief glimpse of promise, however, and give fans reason to be excited about the prospects they’ve been waiting for or the minor leaguers they’d previously never heard of.