‘B’ is for Brewers and Prospects

by
July 3, 2008

Brewers prospects such as Mat Gamel and Matt LaPorta get a great deal of attention, and deservedly so. However, the Brewers have a few ‘B-level prospects’ that are intriguing, including Michael Brantley and Cole Gillespie.

Brantley is interesting because he is a ‘small ball’ player who has actually embraced the role. The speedy outfielder is only 21 and succeeding at the Double-A level. He is currently hitting .324/.405/.412 in 306 at-bats. He has 39 walks and just 18 strikeouts. Brantley has stolen 25 bases in 31 attempts and has scored 62 runs in 74 games.

In his career, Brantley has a .314 batting average and .404 on-base percentage. He has walked 180 times and struck out just 129 times in 1,221 career at-bats. Defensively, he is a little raw and relies on his speed to make up for his mistakes. The left-handed batter was drafted in the seventh round of the 2005 draft out of a Florida high school.

Gillespie, 24, is a much different player, although he shares the outfield grass with Brantley in Huntsville. Gillespie is currently hitting .273/.376/.491 with 10 homers and 28 doubles in 293 at-bats. He has also shown some patience at the plate with a .395 career on-base percentage.

He is considered a gamer and has solid all-around skills although no one tool stands out, which could limit him to a fourth outfielder role in the majors, as he has enough defensive ability to play all three spots. Gillespie has just enough offensive potential to spend a few years playing every day for a mid-level team. He was originally drafted out of Oregon State University in the third round of the 2006 draft.

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Marc Hulet has been writing at FanGraphs since 2008. His work focuses on prospects and fantasy. Follow him on Twitter @marchulet.

4 Comments
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Newest Most Voted
Bodhizefa
18 years ago

It’s an interesting set of prospects the Brewers have for sure. I’d really enjoy someone’s take on Alcides Escobar from the Brewers’ system. Is he breaking out? What’s the possibility he takes over at shortstop for the Brewers by 2010? Thoughts?

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arbeck
18 years ago

I wonder about Brantley. Does he have the frame to add any power? It seems that often low power/high walk guys struggle maintaining the walks in the majors because the pitchers stop throwing them balls.

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dan
18 years ago

I didn’t realize the amount of talent the Brewers possess in their system, at least in the hitting department.

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sbrylski
18 years ago

For offense, also check out 2B/3B Taylor Green (A+), catchers Angel Salome (AA) and Jon Lucroy (A+), and 1B Errecart (AA) and Brad Nelson (AAA), who’s finally showing some of the bat they’ve been telling us about since 2002.

Baseball America’s ranking of the Brewer’s system 21st overall at the beginning of the season was a crime, and the system as a whole is having a great year, with very few disappointments.

There have been rumblings that Escobar would be called up to play sometime this season if he was needed due to injury or a trade. With the team going hard for the postseason this year (Sabathia trade, rumors of more dealing yet), it might signal plans for a bit of a shakeup/retool this coming offseason which could open up a hole for Escobar in the middle infield. His bat won’t be great, especially right away, but his glove is supposedly stellar.

Brantley’s intriguing because he not only walks a lot, but he also rarely strikes out. So if higher level pitchers want to attack him and his lack of power, he might have the ability to carry quite a high batting average and overcome the typical OBP regression of your usual power deficient guys. He’s young, his ISO might continue to improve as well. The bigger problem for him is his weakish arm and overall below average defense in center field.

Exciting time to be a Brewer fan.

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