2025 Brewers Minor League Roundup: Week 5

As a reminder, every Monday morning I’ll be bringing you a quick recap of the previous week’s minor league activity — including highlights, roster updates, standout performances, and more.

Without further ado, here’s this week’s edition:

Triple-A Nashville (15-11)

The Sounds took three of six games this week against the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Nashville remains just half a game out of first place in the International League West.

This week was somewhat of an uneventful one in Nashville. Logan Henderson, sent down in favor of Craig Yoho upon the return of Tobias Myers, threw six one-hit innings in his only start. He’ll be back. Jacob Misiorowski (MLB No. 96) went 11 shutout innings across two starts. Miz, who has struggled with control at times, recorded 17 strikeouts to just one walk this week — a massively encouraging sign.

Ernesto Martinez Jr. apparently injured his finger on a stolen base attempt in the first game of the Durham series. Nashville didn’t put him on the IL, but he only took two at-bats all week.

Andruw Monasterio continued to take advantage of Caleb Durbin’s promotion, going 7-for-19 with a .478 OBP. Durbin has been far from unimpeachable, even getting benched by manager Pat Murphy Saturday for a baserunning gaffe. Nevertheless, he’s played well enough to continue to get chances, but his backup (Vinny Capra) hasn’t. All signs point to Monasterio getting another shot in the bigs sometime soon given the current situation at third base.

Daz Cameron hit a couple more home runs, bringing his season total up to six. Cameron played well enough to get the call up to the bigs Saturday. He made his debut as a Brewer as a replacement for Sal Frelick, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout in his only appearance.

Catchers Jorge Alfaro (second in the International League in home runs) and Wes Clarke (8-for-19, .500 OBP) both had great weeks. Alfaro is 31, and a known quantity at this point. Clarke has a .235 career batting average but has a sneaky interesting profile (gets on base and has hit 20-plus home runs each of the last two years). The Brewers already have an All-Star catcher in William Contreras, and their top prospect (Jeferson Quero) is also a catcher. Probably not anything to get excited about, but the 25-year-old Clarke is at least worth keeping an eye on.

Finally: Craig Yoho got the call to the big leagues last Monday. Yoho gave up four hits and an earned run in his first three appearances as a Brewer (3 2⁄3 innings pitched). Far from the video game stats he was putting up in the minors, but that’s to be expected. Yoho overall seems to be acclimating nicely so far — he won’t be back in Nashville anytime soon if he keeps making major league hitters look this stupid:

Looking ahead to next week, Nashville will face off against the Gwinnett Stripers — the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves — in a six-game series beginning Tuesday.

Double-A Biloxi (10-11)

The Shuckers won four of six this week against the Montgomery Biscuits, the Double-A affiliate of the Rays. Biloxi is now five games back of first place in their division and just one game under .500 after a rough start to the season.

Despite the recent hot streak, the Shuckers still don’t have a player hitting over .300. Cooper Pratt went 4-for-17 this week with a home run, bringing his slash line on the season to .266/.337/.430. Pratt has had some growing pains as he adjusts to Double-A but still leads the Shuckers in hits (21) and home runs (three). He’s on schedule. Luis Lara is too, although he cooled off quite a bit this week (3-for-22).

Alexander Cornielle, a 23-year-old pitching prospect from the Dominican Republic who I covered in this column last week, went another five scoreless innings (three hits). Cornielle has now allowed just one earned run through four starts this season. His best pitch is his fastball, which has above average movement that scouts have compared favorable to Freddy Peralta’s. Still too small of a sample size to tell if Cornielle will be anything, but he’s also worth keeping an eye on.

Josh Maciejewski struck out six in 2 2⁄3 scoreless innings. Maciejewski had a rough first outing but has allowed just one run in his last 11 2⁄3 innings.

Next week, the Shuckers will take on the Columbus Clippers — the Double-A affiliate of the Guardians — in a six-game series.

High-A Wisconsin (8-13)

The Timber Rattlers split a six-game series this week against the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the High-A affiliate of the Twins. This series was somewhat of a rebound after a couple rough weeks, although Wisconsin remains 6.5 games out of first in the Midwest League West.

Still, they don’t have a single hitter hitting .300. In fact, infielder Jadher Areinamo (Brewers No. 23), shortstop Eduardo Garcia, and first baseman Blake Burke (No. 16) are the only Timber Rattlers hitting over .212 on the season.

Pitching prospect Bishop Letson (No. 14) racked up 5 1⁄3 hitless innings in his only start of the week. Letson has pitched really well so far this season (1.65 ERA in four games) and continues to be a bright spot for Wisconsin. Nineteen-year-old Manuel Rodriguez (No. 29) went nine innings, giving up two runs and striking out six. Rodriguez, signed out of Mexico in 2022, notched a 3.23 ERA in eighteen starts last season for A-Carolina. His ERA is just 1.80 in five starts this season.

Better things ahead for the Timber Rattlers — Milwaukee features young, talented guys on the roster (like top 30 prospects Burke, Letson, Rodriguez, Arenaimo, and Juan Baez). The guys below them in Carolina aren’t too shabby, either.

Next week, Wisconsin will face off with the West Michigan Whitecaps, the High-A affiliate of the Tigers, in a six-game series.

Single-A Carolina (15-6)

Carolina had been playing the best baseball of any of the Brewers’ affiliates but dropped four of six games this week to the Columbia Fireflies. The Mudcats still lead the Carolina League North by three games. Since this is a minor league column, this is your weekly reminder to find a way to watch a Mudcats game (free to watch on the Bally Sports’ website). They’re young, feature a ton of the Brewers’ high-ceiling and highly ranked prospects, and put up runs.

Jesus Made, the Brewers’ No. 2 prospect, went 6-for-21 with a homer this week. Made continues to settle in nicely with the Mudcats, showing good plate discipline and getting on base consistently. Infield prospects Luis Peña (.286 on the week) and Josh Adamczewski (.364, .361 on the season) stayed hot as well. Adamczewski was a 15th-round pick back in 2023 but hit .322 in his first full season last year and is looking like a steal.

Milwaukee’s 2024 first-round pick Braylon Payne cooled off a little bit (4-for-19, six strikeouts) after a hot start. Payne had been on fire but is now just eight for his last 35. Growing pains are to be expected for the 18-year-old outfielder in his first full season with the Brewers’ organization. He’s still hitting .275, even after this slump.

Catcher Marco Dinges went 8-for-17 on the week (.471) with a homer. He’s been playing well all season and is now up to a .362/.500/1.053 line. Nineteen-year-old shortstop Luiyin Alastre is also hitting over .300 after a 9-for-20 week.

Carolina will play a six-game series against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans — the Single-A affiliate of the Cubs — next week.

Season Totals for the Top 10 Brewers Prospects (MLB Pipeline)

C Jeferson Quero (AA): Injured — expected to ramp up by late April

SS/3B Jesús Made (A): .283/.386/.467, 2 HR

SS Cooper Pratt (AA): .266/.337/.430, 3 HR, 10 RBI

RHP Jacob Misiorowski (AAA): 6 G, 5 GS, 1-0 W-L, 29 2⁄3 IP, 1.82 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 3.94 BB/9, 11.53 K/9

5. 1B/3B Mike Boeve (AA): Has not made season debut, placed on 7-day IL on April 4

1B Tyler Black (AAA): Broken hamate bone, out 6-8 weeks retroactive to March 28

1B/3B Eric Bitonti (A): .250/.382/.361, 8 2B, 28 K

1B/3B Luke Adams (AA): .149/.313/.299, 15 K

SS/3B Luis Peña (A): .333/.409/.491, 19 H, 12 SB

OF Braylon Payne (A): .275/.393/.449, 11 SB

Craig Yoho Update

Craig Yoho is now a Milwaukee Brewer!!

I give it a month and a half before he’s closing games, especially given the current state of the bullpen.

As long as Yoho retains prospect status, I’ll be including him in this column. As soon as he officially becomes a rookie, my Craig Yoho Updates will be replaced by another prospect (to be determined).

Yoho’s MLB stats: 3 G, 3 2⁄3 IP, 3 K, 4 H, 0 SV

Player of the Week

Jacob Misiorowski, who was untouchable this week.

Scroll back up to the top 10 prospects part of the column — look at those stats again.

1.82 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 11.53 K/9 in 30 innings pitched. Seventeen strikeouts in 11 innings this week. Total domination. He might be ready.

The biggest deal: 3.94 BB/9!! Not perfect, but a dramatic improvement (from over 5 each of the last two years). Even if he doesn’t become a starter, which isn’t out of the question yet, he has the stuff to be one of the best relievers the Brewers have ever had — which is saying something. If Misiorowski can maintain this level of play a little longer, he’ll be in the big leagues soon.

Play of the Week

Can’t teach clutch. I’ve said it a thousand times, but he’s only 17!