The Brewers have already gotten real value out of their 2023 draft class, and the thing that ought to worry everyone else is how much of it still feels unfinished.
Milwaukee has its shortstop of the future in Cooper Pratt, and it turned two other young arms from that class into help for the 2026 pennant chase. Even with those gains, the draft could still turn into one of the organization’s most productive hauls in years if more of the talent keeps climbing.
Pratt is the headliner, and he arrived fast. After just three games at Triple-A Nashville, he landed an eight-year, $50 million contract, despite the fact that Jesus Made and Luis Pena are also in the system.
A sixth-round pick who got big money to join the organization, Pratt has already shown the kind of profile Milwaukee loves: strong defense, solid contact ability, on-base skills, baserunning, and the look of a clubhouse leader in the making. The one thing still hanging out there is power.
Not every story from that draft has been as clean. Craig Yoho and Mark Manfredi both fall into the “could’ve been” bucket, even if for different reasons.
Yoho had a rough 2025 debut and looked like he might settle in as a useful 2026 bullpen piece, but it never fully came together. His stuff was electric, yet he remained a square peg.
Milwaukee moved him and Blake Perkins to get catcher Bo Naylor, and it’s still unclear whether that return will top what Yoho might have given them as a late-inning reliever.
Manfredi’s case is less about what the Brewers got and more about what they might have had. Antonio Senzatela has helped keep the bullpen deep and effective down the stretch and into October, but Milwaukee will probably lose him with no compensation. That stands in contrast to the possibility of having Manfredi as a left-handed option for multiple years.
On the hitting side, Brock Wilken still carries plenty of intrigue, but the path has gotten bumpier. The Brewers’ first-round pick looked like a strong find before multiple facial fractures in 2024 changed the arc of his development.
He still walks a ton and does damage when he connects, but the strikeouts have piled up. Right now, he’s arguably behind Luke Adams as a right-handed corner-infield option, which would have been hard to imagine two years ago.
There’s more upward momentum elsewhere. Josh Adamczewski, long viewed as a plus hitter, took another step in 2026 after moving to the outfield.
His issue is simple enough: Milwaukee has plenty of outfield prospects, and several of them bring better defense. Even so, his bat looks like the highest-floor tool in that group.
Josh Knoth is climbing fast on the pitching side. He got to Double-A Biloxi in 2026 and has the look of the next major Brewers pitching prospect.
He missed 2025, but the 2026 jump more than made up for it, and he could be pushing toward the big leagues the way Jacob Misiorowski did in 2025. He won’t be that level of pitcher, but the ceiling is still high.
Then there are the names still building their cases. Mike Boeve and Eric Bitonti remain solid prospects and would both be useful pieces for Milwaukee, but breaking through past Blake Burke and Andrew Fischer is no easy path. On the mound, Bishop Letson, Tate Kuehner, Brett Wichrowski, Bjorn Johnson, Ryan Birchard, and Jason Woodward have all flashed enough talent to keep the class very much alive.
That’s what makes this group so interesting. The Brewers already have a big win from it, and they’ve already cashed in a couple of other pieces.
But three years after the draft, there may still be more coming. The only question now is how it all gets used.
In Other News...
Brewers Have A Late-Inning Edge That Could Rattle The Dodgers
If there is a place the Brewers can feel especially good heading into this matchup, it is the late innings. Milwaukees bullpen has spent most of the season giving Craig Counsells old club a way to shorten games, and the mix at the back end has been built around Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby. Megill, acquired after bouncing around to a few organizations, has settled into a role that fits his power fastball and sharper command, while Uribe has given the Brewers a hard-to-hit look with elite run prevention traits and a ground-ball profile that plays in October.
That matters now because the Dodgers are the kind of opponent that can make any lead feel fragile, and Milwaukees relief group has already shown it can carry real weight when the games tighten. The Brewers do not need their bullpen to be flashy so much as dependable, and in a series where one clean inning can change the tone, that edge could become one of the most important parts of the matchup. The only question is how far that advantage can stretch once the biggest spots arrive. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Just Lost A Veteran Arm From Their Bullpen Depth Plan
The Braves bullpen depth chart took another hit this week with Ian Hamilton and Rob Zastryzny both electing minor league free agency. Hamiltons route back onto the market came after the Yankees non-tendered him and Atlanta brought him in on a non-guaranteed major league deal, but his time there never really got traction, with only limited work in the majors and at Triple-A before he was back on the move.
For Milwaukee, Zastryzny is the more familiar name, having previously pitched for the Brewers and a handful of other clubs as a left-handed depth option. His latest stretch never got much momentum either, as injury slowed him early and kept him from establishing a real role, leaving him to choose free agency rather than stay in the organization and wait for another opening. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Roster Philosophy Looks Smarter As Former Player Faces Wrong Fit
With the National League Championship Series rematch against the Dodgers on deck, the Brewers are once again looking like a club built with a clear identity. Milwaukee has long favored depth, flexibility and players who fit defined jobs over chasing the same kind of roster template everyone else is using, and that approach is part of why the team keeps showing up in October with a chance to make noise. It also makes former Brewers player Caleb Durbin an interesting measuring stick, because his game still speaks to the values Milwaukee tends to prize.
Durbin is the kind of contact-first, small-ball player who can help a lineup in the right setting, but he is not built around forcing the ball over the wall. Now he is in a different environment, where the discussion is less about leaning into what he does well and more about asking him to cover for other problems around him. For Milwaukee, it is another reminder that roster fit matters as much as raw talent, and that the Brewers way of doing business can look pretty sharp when contrasted with a club trying to make a mismatched piece serve a different purpose. [Read more 🡒]