Brewers Prospect Rankings Offseason Roundup

By this point in the year, most of the major publications — other than Baseball Prospectus, which deserves its own article — have released their list of the top 100 prospects in baseball heading into the 2026 season. I already covered the Brewers prospects named to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America’s lists, but ESPN and The Athletic both included Brewers who weren’t named to either.

You can find our coverage of Pipeline’s list here and Baseball America’s here. For those of you trying to keep track of which prospects were named to which list:

Baseball America: SS Jesús Made (#4), INF Luis Peña (#47), SS Cooper Pratt (#50), SS/2B/CF Jett Williams (#71), RHP Brandon Sproat (#81), RHP Logan Henderson (#96)

MLB Pipeline: Made (#3), Peña (#26), Williams (#51), Pratt (#64), Sproat (#100)

The Athletic (Keith Law): Made (#3), Peña (#27), Williams (#45), C Jeferson Quero (#74), Sproat (#75), Pratt (#99)

ESPN: Made (#3), Pena (#26), Williams (#32), Henderson (#64), Pratt (#70), Sproat (#73), Quero (#75), RHP Bishop Letson (#91)

Made, Peña, Williams, Pratt, and Sproat are viewed as consensus top prospects. ESPN, however, expanded the list to include Quero (also included by Law), Henderson (also included by Baseball America), and Letson. Let’s examine why some outlets felt these players deserved inclusion while others did not:

C Jeferson Quero

Quero was a consensus top prospect as recently as last year (ranked No. 43 by Baseball America, No. 47 by MLB Pipeline). He could very well be an above-average hitter (for a catcher) at the big-league level. He’s also a solid receiver and has drawn rave reviews from Brewers’ minor league coaches for his work with pitches. The draw with Quero, the first thing mentioned in any scouting report on him, was always his rocket of an arm. Back in 2023, he was posting pop times as low as 1.86 seconds.

The question with Quero isn’t his upside, it’s his health. Quero tore his right labrum during the first game of the 2024 season. He missed the entire rest of the season, the first two months of 2025, and since returning, his arm hasn’t looked the same. The 23-year-old Venezuelan had a caught stealing rate of just 18.9% last season, leading to long-term concerns about his defensive viability and explaining why he was left off both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America’s lists this year.

Labrum injuries are fickle, as I wrote about last year in anticipation of Quero’s return. It’s possible that his arm is merely working back to full strength, that a full offseason of rehab and training will have him looking more like the Quero of old before the summer. It’s also possible that his arm will never be the same and that the Brewers may need to adjust expectations as to who Quero will be as a big leaguer.

Milwaukee adding him to the 40-man roster may signal that they see him spelling Contreras, not as an eventual everyday catcher. There’s an argument to be made that if Milwaukee saw him as the catcher of the future, they would give him more playing time to develop in Triple-A. Then again, the recent signing of Reese McGuire (albeit to a minor league deal with a spring training invite) might signal that they do intend to give him that time.

Even if his arm isn’t ever what it was, or 90% of what it was, The Athletic senior baseball writer Keith Law is more optimistic about his bat than most outlets. Law thinks that his bat will translate to the majors regardless of how his arm recovers, stating that, “Quero has always been a high-contact hitter who likes to swing the bat, and he kept that up with a 36.8% chase rate in Triple A while still striking out only 14% of the time because he doesn’t miss pitches in the zone much and actually makes more contact on balls out of the zone than most hitters… I do believe the bat will keep coming back.”

Either way, we should have a more definitive answer on what Quero will be at the major league level by the end of the season. If Quero’s arm returns to above average, his bat makes him a solid starter and potential future All-Star. If it doesn’t, he may be more of a backup/rotational catcher, which is still a valuable piece to have.

RHP Bishop Letson

Letson is one of my personal favorite prospects in baseball, so it’s great to see him recognized by ESPN. Letson only started 11 games last season due to a shoulder injury. When he came back in August, he made four High-A starts and one start in Double-A Biloxi. Three of those starts were great, while two of them (including his lone appearance in Biloxi) didn’t go very well.

ESPN thinks the main question with Letson “is his health,” but he also has “most of the markers (they) look for in projecting a breakthrough season, so front-line potential is still within reach.” Letson’s command has also left something to be desired, but that’s often part of the natural development process — especially considering his age (21). ESPN notes that ranking Letson in the top 100 prospects is an “aggressive stance,” but “presuming he’ll be healthy in 2026” he should justify the ranking because of his “massive extension,” “starter feel,” and “above-average stuff.”

I wouldn’t even say “above-average stuff.” The 6’4” right-hander is downright electric at times, and his stuff plays up even more due to his elite extension. Jacob Misiorowski’s delivery averages around 7 1/4 feet of extension, which would put him in the 99th percentile leaguewide. Letson is three inches shorter than the Miz, yet Baseball Savant’s scouting report compares his extension to Misiorowski. He doesn’t throw super hard, normally sitting around 93-94 mph, but hitters have less time to see the pitch and react because Letson releases the ball closer to home plate than your average pitcher. Elite extension also creates a more challenging downhill angle for hitters and disrupts hitter’s timing. If he bulks up (Letson weighs about 170 pounds), he could add a couple ticks to his velocity anyway.

Letson’s arsenal features a four-seam and sinker that both have the potential to be above-average offerings at the major league level. The same is true of his low-80s slider with sharp sweep, which has proven to be a swing-and-miss offering at the minor league level, and a mid-80s changeup with arm-side fade that looked improved last season. Per Baseball America, Letson has the best fastball and the best slider in the Brewers organization. All of those pitches worked for him in the minors — Letson pitched to the tune of a 2.40 ERA across 11 appearances (nine starts) between High-A Wisconsin and Double-A Biloxi. As ESPN said, if he stays healthy next season, he’s a definite breakout candidate.

RHP Logan Henderson

Henderson is slightly more of a known quantity among Brewers fans because of his impressive performance in Milwaukee last season (1.78 ERA in five appearances). Henderson wins because of his command, his fastball shape (despite slightly below-average velocity), and — above all else — his plus changeup, which you may remember from last season.

The concern with Henderson is that his heavy reliance on his fastball and changeup could leave him vulnerable as hitters adjust to either pitch. During his five big league appearances, Henderson threw either a fastball or changeup on more than 85% of pitches. His cutter and slider aren’t very good (40/45 grade), but so far “his ability to throw his changeup in any situation” has made “his cutter and slider useful in small doses.” ESPN notes that this approach has worked thus far, so it would be “silly” to expect it not to continue working at the major league level.

The major leagues feature the best of the best, so I don’t think it’s “silly” to question his prolonged effectiveness as a starter who relies on two pitches. It’s rare, although definitely not unheard of, that a starting pitcher has experienced continued success with a two-pitch arsenal. I do have faith in the Brewers “pitching lab” to turn one of his other pitches into a serviceable offering.

The worst-case scenario is that he gets hit around a bit next year as hitters get more major league film on him, but even in that scenario he’d probably still be highly effective out of the bullpen. Still, I think odds are he’ll be a solid starting pitcher. Milwaukee probably wouldn’t have traded Freddy Peralta (and Tobias Myers) if they didn’t think Henderson could give them anything in the rotation.