At this point in the year, most major publications — with the exception of Baseball Prospectus, which deserves its own article — have released their lists of the 100 best baseball players heading into the 2026 season. I’ve already talked about the Brewers prospects listed on MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, but ESPN and The Athletic both included Brewers who were also not on the list. Also important: Keith Law ranked the Brewers’ farm system as the best in baseball earlier this morning.
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 are on 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 Athletics (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 considered consensus top prospects. However, ESPN expanded the list to include Quero (also included in Law), Henderson (also included in Baseball America) and Letson. Let’s take a look at why some media outlets felt these players deserved inclusion, while others did not:
Quero was a consensus top prospect 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 is also a solid receiver and has earned rave reviews from Brewers minor league coaches for his work with pitches. The draw with Quero, the first thing mentioned about him in a scouting report, was always his rocket of an arm. In 2023, he posted pop times of just 1.86 seconds.
The question with Quero is not his upside, but his health. Quero tore his right labrum in the first game of the 2024 season. He missed the entire remainder 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 steal rate of just 18.9% last season, leading to long-term concerns about his defensive viability and explaining why he was left off both the MLB Pipeline and Baseball America rosters this year.
Labrum injuries are fickle, as I wrote last year in anticipation of Quero’s return. It’s possible that just by getting his arm back to full strength, full rehab and offseason training will see him look more like the Quero of old before the summer. It’s also possible that his arm will never be the same and the Brewers will have to adjust expectations for who Quero will be as a big league player.
If Milwaukee adds him to the 40-man roster, it could indicate they see him spelling out Contreras, and not as an eventual everyday catcher. There is an argument that if Milwaukee saw him as the catcher of the future, they would give him more playing time to develop in Triple-A. On the other hand, the recent signing of Reese McGuire (albeit to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training) could indicate they plan to give him that time.
Even if his arm is never what it was, or 90% of what it was, The Athletic’s senior baseball writer Keith Law is more optimistic about his bat than most other outlets. Law thinks 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’s kept that up with a 36.8% chase rate in Triple A while still striking out just 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 really believe the bat will return will keep coming.”
Either way, we should have a more definitive answer about 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 will make him a solid starter and a potential future All-Star. If not, he might be more of a backup/rotation catcher, which is still a valuable piece to have.
Letson is one of my personal favorite players in baseball, so it’s great to see him recognized by ESPN. Letson started just 11 games last season due to a shoulder injury. When he returned 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 so well.
ESPN thinks the main question with Letson “is his health,” but he also has “most of the markers they look for when predicting a breakout season, so the frontline potential is still within reach.” Letson’s command also leaves much to be desired, but that is often part of the natural development process – especially considering his age (21). ESPN notes that ranking Letson among its top 100 prospects is an “aggressive stance,” but “assuming he’ll be healthy in 2026,” he should justify the ranking due to his “tremendous expansion,” “starter feel” and “above-average stuff.”
I wouldn’t even say “above average stuff.” The 6-foot-1 right-hander is downright electric at times, and his stuff plays even more thanks to his elite extension. Jacob Misiorowski’s delivery averages about 7 1/4 feet of extension, which would put him in the 99th percentile competition-wide. Letson is still two inches shorter than the Miz Baseball Savant’s scouting report compares his extension to Misiorowski. He doesn’t throw super hard and is normally in the 90-90 mph range, but batters have less time to see the pitch and react because Letson releases the ball closer to home plate than the average pitcher. Elite extension also creates a more challenging downhill angle for hitters and disrupts the hitter’s timing. If he gets bigger (Letson weighs about 170 pounds), he could still add a few ticks to his speed.
Letson’s arsenal features a four-seam and sinker that both have the potential to be above-average at the Major League level. The same goes for his mid-80s slider with crisp 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 better last season. Per Baseball AmericaLetson has the best fastball and best slider in the Brewers organization. All of these pitches worked for him in the minors — Letson pitched to the tune of a 2.40 ERA over 11 appearances (nine starts) between High-A Wisconsin and Double-A Biloxi. As ESPN said, if he stays healthy next season, he’s an absolute breakout candidate.
Henderson is a little better known among Brewers fans for his impressive performance in Milwaukee last season (1.78 ERA in five appearances). Henderson wins because of his command, his fastball shape (despite a slightly below-average velocity) and – most of all – his positive changeup, which you may remember from last season.
The concern with Henderson is that his heavy reliance on his fastball and changeups could leave him vulnerable as hitters adapt to either pitch. During his five big league appearances, Henderson threw a fastball or changeup on more than 85% of pitches. His cutter and slider are not very good (grade 40/45), but so far “his ability to use his changeup in any situation” has made “his cutter and slider useful in small doses.” ESPN notes that this approach has worked so far, so it would be “foolish” to expect this approach won’t continue to work at the Major League level.
The major leagues have the best of the best, so I don’t think it’s “foolish” to question his long-term effectiveness as a starter who relies on two pitches. It’s rare, but certainly not unheard of, for a starting pitcher to have experienced sustained success with a two-pitch arsenal. I’m confident the Brewers ‘pitching lab’ will turn another one of his pitches into a viable offering.
The worst-case scenario is that he takes a bit of a hit next year as hitters get more Major League film on him, but even in that scenario he would probably still be very effective coming out of the bullpen. Still, I think there’s a good chance 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 something in the rotation.
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