The Milwaukee Brewers have had their share of breakout players in recent seasons. In 2023, it was William Contreras and Hoby Milner. In 2024, it was Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio, Tobias Myers, and Bryan Hudson. In 2025, it was Sal Frelick, Caleb Durbin, Quinn Priester, and Chad Patrick.
Those groups could obviously be expanded some more, but with that in mind, let’s take a quick look at a few potential breakout candidates for the 2026 season.
Henderson had a great debut season in 2025, appearing in five games — four of which came in the first two months — with a sterling 1.78 ERA, 33 strikeouts, 17 hits allowed, and eight walks over 25 1/3 innings. He also had a solid year with Triple-A Nashville, appearing in 16 games (15 starts) with a 3.59 ERA, 10-4 record, and 87 strikeouts over 77 2/3 innings.
The former fourth-round pick will be fighting for a rotation spot in spring training, as he’s one of several names (see: Myers, Patrick, Angel Zerpa, Robert Gasser, DL Hall, Carlos Rodriguez) who will be fighting for what is likely the fifth (and maybe sixth) rotation spot(s) behind Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Priester, and Jacob Misiorowski.
The aforementioned Hall is another player who could be looking to take a step forward into the rotation in 2026. A former first-round pick by the Orioles, Hall began his Brewer tenure in 2024 as a starter before being pushed into primarily a reliever role (27 appearances, four starts) over the last season and a half.
He had his best year yet in 2025, though he once again dealt with injuries throughout the year. Across 38 2/3 major league innings, he went 1-0 with a 3.49 ERA and 27 strikeouts. He was also all but perfect in the minors, allowing no runs over 10 2/3 innings with 15 strikeouts across four appearances (three starts).
The only player on this list without a taste of the majors, Quero is just 23 years old and looking to push himself into the backup catcher role entering 2026, as Milwaukee has yet to add another catcher outside of Contreras and himself to the 40-man roster.
I won’t say much about Quero because I already wrote about him over the weekend, but I’ll just state that he had a solid 2025 year in the minors, and he’s one of the great defensive catchers in the minors at this point, especially given his age. If he’s able to make the 26-man roster out of spring training, I’d expect him to at least begin his career as a defensive-first player, much as Turang, Frelick, and Joey Ortiz have done in recent seasons.
Perhaps nobody on this list will have a more difficult time breaking out in 2026 than Black. Now 25, the former supplemental pick has gotten a cup of coffee in each of the last two seasons, though with very little success. Across 23 MLB games, he’s hit .211/.357/.263 with 12 hits (nine singles, three doubles), 12 walks, and 18 strikeouts. He did have a down year in the minors in 2025, hitting just .261/.388/.391 with five homers, 39 RBIs, 40 runs, and 22 steals.
To become a breakout player in 2026, Black will probably need an injury to one of the several players (primarily Jake Bauers and Andrew Vaughn) in front of him on the depth chart. The good news there is that Black can play just about anywhere (as can plenty of other Brewers on the current roster), and there will inevitably be at least a few injuries early in the year.
Mitchell, 27, has had plenty of opportunities to break out over his four seasons with Milwaukee, but health has been the deciding factor. Over those four years with the Crew, he’s appeared in just 141 MLB games (and only 26 minor league games since he was called up in late 2022). For his career, he’s been a serviceable fourth outfielder, hitting .254/.333/.433 with 13 homers, 40 RBIs, 61 runs, and 23 steals. But if he isn’t able to stay on the field, it’s hard to see a path for him with Milwaukee beyond 2026.
When Mitchell has been healthy, he’s shown flashes of potential, including a huge go-ahead home run against the Mets in the 2024 NL Wild Card Series. We’ll see if he has more of that in store in 2026.
There are plenty of other players who could be breakout candidates for Milwaukee in 2026, but I’ll quickly mention a few here. Right-hander Coleman Crow seems like the player most likely to repeat what Myers and Patrick did in the last two seasons. Added to the 40-man roster earlier this offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, Crow ranks as Milwaukee’s No. 25 prospect and had a great 2025 season between Double-A and Triple-A, with a 3.24 ERA and 64 strikeouts over 50 innings.
Fellow right-hander Craig Yoho could be the breakout reliever of 2026. With a nasty changeup that has given him plenty of success in the minors (1.17 career ERA over 108 innings), he struggled in his MLB stint in 2025, with seven runs allowed over 8 2/3 innings (7.27 ERA). We’ll see if he can find a way to translate that minor league success to the majors in 2026.
The last name I’ll mention is 27-year-old outfielder Akil Baddoo. Baddoo is a little bit of a cheat here, as he already has over 1,000 career at-bats. But, he hasn’t had much MLB success outside of a strong rookie campaign in 2021, when he hit .259/.330/.436 with 13 homers, 55 RBIs, 60 runs, and 18 steals over 124 games. He hasn’t hit above .220 in any season since that time, and he’s honestly been more of a AAAA player (a la Keston Hiura), including a great .279/.384/.478 line with 16 homers, 52 RBIs, 75 runs, and 27 steals over 110 games in 2025. We’ll see if he gets another chance to prove it in the majors in 2026.
Who do you think is most likely to break out in 2026? Anybody I missed? Weigh in in the comments!
