Wednesday, September 10

ARLINGTON -- Baseball’s No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline is joining Double-A Biloxi for a playoff push in yet another example of how 18-year-old Jesús Made continues to follow in the footsteps of young Brewers star Jackson Chourio. 

But while those comparisons are inevitable -- Chourio went from Single-A Carolina to High-A Wisconsin to Biloxi in his second professional season in 2022, just like Made did this season -- club officials want Made, the Brewers’ No. 1 prospect, to forge his own way. 

“I think it’s very similar,” Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine said, “but we want Made to have the Made path, whatever that is for him. We’re not going to pigeonhole anybody and say just because this player did it one way, you have to do it this way, too. 

“He’s going to dictate his timeline based on his performance and whether he’s ready to go. And if he’s not, that’s OK, too. There’s no rush on this.”

That may be true, but Made has played like he’s in a hurry to make it to Milwaukee every bit as rapidly as Chourio did. The Brewers’ center fielder signed as an amateur out of Venezuela in 2021, blew through three full-season affiliates in ‘22, spent most of ‘23 back at the Double-A level but touched Triple-A Nashville at the end of the year, then signed a record-setting contract extension and was hitting leadoff for Milwaukee on Opening Day in ‘24. 

No one can say for sure where Made’s path will take him, but so far he’s right behind Chourio. Made, a switch-hitting infielder from San Cristobal in the Dominican Republic who inherited a love of baseball from his father, signed with the Brewers in 2024 and will have spent the following season blowing through three full-season affiliates. 

Playing alongside fellow infielder and premium prospect Luis Peña (Brewers No. 2, overall No. 16), Made posted a .761 OPS and stole 40 bases in 83 games with Carolina before a .915 OPS in 27 games with Wisconsin.

Now he’s headed to Biloxi, where he’ll play alongside another premium shortstop prospect, Cooper Pratt (Brewers No. 3, overall No. 51), who was the Brewers’ Minor League player of the month for August. 

“It’s an opportunity for him to be with a team that’s competing for the postseason, and any time a kid can get that experience, it’s a net positive,” Kleine said. “He more than held his own in High-A, so part of it is, ‘Why wouldn’t we continue to challenge him?’ He’s physically healthy and there’s no red flags behind the scenes as far as his season being so long for an 18-year old. So why not allow him to step into that next environment?” 

It’s something that player development officials across baseball debate all the time. When is the right time to push a prospect? And when is it better to leave them in place?

“Everybody has their own opinions, and we have a lot of detailed conversations about any decision of any consequence,” Kleine said. “Nobody is out of the loop. We meet multiple times a week as a small group and talk about everything from Major League pitching planning to promotions at the Minor League level to staffing -- everything that goes into running an organization. I think we do a really good job of communicating internally, and taking the positives or negatives of any decision.

“[When an organization promotes a prospect] it’s like a reward, right? You never want a player to feel like, ‘I’m stuck here no matter how I perform.’ You want him to have something to aspire to. As a player, you want to be in control of your own destiny. You want to know that if I perform, I’m going to get to take the next step. I think it’s important we never lose sight of that.”

But Kleine and other officials are cognizant of the other side of the argument, that there is value in moving step by step at a slow pace to learn the countless intricacies of playing professional baseball. Former Brewers pitcher Wade Miley used to love having this debate because in his view, something is being lost as prospects advance ever more quickly through the Minor Leagues, arriving in the Majors without as full an understanding of every little nuance of the sport as some of their predecessors. 

“I think a players’ performance will tell us that,” Kleine said. “We have ongoing conversations with the players’ coaches because we want their opinions, too. Is this kid ready? Not just for the on-field part of it, is he ready to live on his own? Is he ready to handle the travel schedule? Is he ready to cook for himself? 

“It’s sometimes the things that nobody thinks about. But when you’re 18, how many of us could handle ourselves the way these players do?”

Speaking of detailed conversations, Brewers officials are said to have had long talks about how to fit veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins back on the roster now that his left thumb has healed and his long rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville is over. The Brewers are expected to reinstate Hoskins from the injured list prior to Tuesday’s game. 

How exactly will he fit? That remains to be seen because Andrew Vaughn has taken hold of first base since Hoskins went on the IL in early July. After matching his career high with four hits in Sunday’s sweep-clinching win in Pittsburgh, Vaughn was hitting .308 with nine homers and 41 RBIs in his first 50 games with the Brewers. 

If Hoskins or Vaughn batted left-handed, it might be an easier move. But even there, the Brewers have gotten great production this week from left-handed hitting Jake Bauers, who went 6-for-12 with six RBIs during the sweep over the Pirates, plays great defense at first base and, unlike Vaughn or Hoskins, can also play the outfield corners. 

So, how will all three players fit together? 

“I look at it as three offensive players,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “That’s kind of the way in September, even though the rosters don’t expand the way they used to. I think Rhys is a big part of this from a leadership standpoint, from an experience standpoint.” 

Bauers, too, is a “sneaky-important part of this,” Murphy said. But Vaughn has been “so wonderful,” Murphy said, that he demands the bulk of at-bats. So the Brewers will pick their spots for the others. 

“And that was the conversation [with Hoskins],” Murphy said. “We’ve got to thread the needle.”

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