Since the Brewers announced David Stearns as GM in 2015, the club has continued to get younger and younger. Although former all stars Carlos Gomez, Jean Segura, and Jonathan Lucroy have been dealt from the team, young talent like Jonathan Villar, Orlando Arcia, and Zach Davies have all shown their potential this past year. Most of these prospects were given a significant amount of playing time to develop this last season. With that being said though, there were a lot of bumps along the way as a result. The Brewers dug themselves into a hole too deep to climb out of early on in the campaign it seemed. As a result, the team finished second to last in the division. Although the team’s record was disappointing, the team flashed many promising building blocks to build upon for the future.

A decision was made to allow these prospects and acquisitions to play out the season following the all-star break. Villar, Chris Carter and Domingo Santana were brought over from the Astros once Stearns was brought in. Villar, who’s only 25 years-old, lead the N.L. in stolen bases with 62. Domingo Santana, Keon Broxton, and Zach Davies all struggled adjusting to the majors at first, but displayed a strong finish to the year, showing a lot of flash of their potential.

Not to mention the unexpected performances from Junior Guerra and Hernan Perez, who both turned out to be key pieces to the team’s success. Top prospect Orlando Arcia was called up after the all-star break. He was given each day to start building upon his game at the professional level. The free-swinging Arcia closed the season out with a decent batting display. Also, he flashed tons of possible awarding winning talent at shortstop. It will be interesting to see how he carries all of his experience from last season. Arcia will be the team’s everyday starter this season.

The scary thing is that the Brewers aren’t finished diving into their pool of young talent. Along with the already young roster, the team could add even more pieces to their team throughout the season. The Brewers have acquired multiple top caliber prospects from recent trades such as Josh Hader, Lewis Brinson and Brett Phillips. All of them are expected to play this season with the team. The options for the future are looking bright.

The club will have to make some decisions before opening day arrives, as does every other team. There have been multiple rumors of the club making attempts to trade Ryan Braun for more prospects. Braun is owed $76 million for another four years. Braun has displayed good numbers considering his age, yet seems to not fit the team’s plans to build in a younger direction. The former MVP could be a potential fit for a pennant chaser in need of an outfield bat in exchange for a top prospect. After Jonathan Lucroy was traded from the team, there are holes at the catching position. The pitching staff was very disappointing the entire season despite Zach Davies and Junior Guerra carrying most of the bulk of wins last year.

Expect the team to keep taking steps in making their team young. Most of the expected returning roster has had a majority of last year to gain experience in the big leagues. However, there still will be learning curves as the players craft their talent. Realistically moving up to third place in the division with the Cubs and the Cardinals would be an accomplishment for this group of young talent.

Yes, the team is still somewhat inexperienced, but for what seemed to be a season to tank resulted in plenty of players emerging and showing what they have. Considering that these players had plenty of time last season to hone their craft, the team may be more competitive than expected by some. For what seemed like an abysmal couple of years to come, perhaps the team could be ahead of the traditional rebuilding process. The Milwaukee Brewers will be an exciting and competitive team to watch play for years to come.

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