Milwaukee Brewers

Brewers prospects named MVP, Pitcher of Year in Carolina League

Published Aug. 22, 2019 3:30 p.m. ET

Dave Heller

The Milwaukee Brewers have positioned themselves as a playoff contender, but the team still has a number of promising prospects.

Every Thursday for the rest of the season, FOX Sports Wisconsin will take a closer look at some specific young players in Milwaukee's farm system -- as well as noting others who might be stepping up -- measuring, highlighting and evaluating their progress.

This is the 16th edition of the 2019 Young Brewers Tracker.

Antoine Kelly, SP (age 19/Rookie)

Last week: 1 game (1 start), 0-0, 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K

Season: 8 games (8 starts), 0-0, 1.04 ERA, 26 IP, 19 H, 0 HR, 4 BB, 35 K, .207 OBA, 0.88 WHIP.

Notable: Pitching for the first time since Aug. 10, Kelly went a season-high five innings on Aug. 17.

Tristan Lutz, OF (age 20/High-A)

Last week: 2 games, 7 AB, 2 H, 2 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 SB, 1 BB, 3 K, .286 BA

Season: 110 games, 413 AB, .254 BA, .335 OBP, .416 SLG, .751 OPS, 22 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 61 R, 53 RBI, 3 SB, 45 BB, 134 K.

Notable: Lutz was assigned to the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Aug. 18 but has yet to play for that team.

Corey Ray, OF (age 24/Triple-A)

Last week: 6 games, 18 AB, 6 H, 3 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI, 0 SB, 3 BB, 5 K, .333 BA

Season (Triple-A): 36 games, 142 AB, .169 BA, .248 OBP, .282 SLG, .530 OPS, 4 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 14 R, 11 RBI, 3 SB, 14 BB, 68 K.

Season (Double-A): 11 games, 40 AB, .250 BA, .348 OBP, .325 SLG, .673 OPS, 3 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 5 R, 0 RBI, 3 SB, 6 BB, 14 K.

Notable: Ray snapped a four-game hitless streak with a home run on Aug. 17. He collected two hits, including a double, on Aug. 18, and went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles Aug. 21. The latter game raised his batting average 14 points by itself.

Ethan Small, SP (age 22/Low-A)

Last week: 1 game (1 start), 0-1, 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

Season (Low-A): 3 games (3 starts), 0-1, 0.90 ERA, 10 IP, 8 H, 0 HR, 1 BB, 16 K, .216 OBA, 0.90 WHIP.

Season (Rookie): 2 games (2 starts), 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 IP, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 BB, 5 K, .000 OBA, 0.00 WHIP.

Notable: Small finally allowed his first runs as a pro, giving up three in the first inning to Cedar Rapids on Aug. 16 (the inning did feature two errors, however). He also threw a season-high 69 pitches (previous high: 49), 46 of those for strikes.

Trey Supak, SP (age 23/Triple-A)

Last week: 1 games (1 start), 0-0, 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 4 K

Season (Triple-A): 5 games (5 starts), 1-1, 9.82 ERA, 22 IP, 30 H, 4 HR, 7 BB, 19 K, .319 OBA, 1.68 WHIP.

Season (Double-A): 20 games (20 starts), 11-4, 2.20 ERA, 122.2 IP, 84 H, 6 HR, 23 BB, 91 K, .192 OBA, 0.87 WHIP.

Notable: Supak threw 74 pitches in his last start and for the third time in his five appearances with San Antonio failed to make it past five innings.

Brice Turang, SS (age 19/High-A)

Last week: 5 games, 19 AB, 6 H, 1 2B, 2 R, 0 RBI, 0 SB, 2 BB, 9 K, .316 BA

Season (High-A): 36 games, 136 AB, .199 BA, .314 OBP, .279 SLG, .594 OPS, 4 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 17 R, 4 RBI, 6 SB, 22 BB, 38 K.

Season (Low-A): 82 games, 303 AB, .287 BA, .384 OBP, .376 SLG, .760 OPS, 13 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 57 R, 31 RBI, 21 SB, 49 BB, 54 K.

Notable: Turang went 3-for-5 on Aug. 7, his second three-hit game with Carolina and first since July 21.

Other notes: San Antonio OF Tyrone Taylor (2nd round, 2012) went 12-for-27 (.444) last week with three doubles, two homers, five runs and nine RBI. He’s on an eight-game hit streak, getting two hits in six of those. … Biloxi RHIP Drew Rasmussen (6th round, 2018) had two scoreless appearances, totaling eight strikeouts and just one walk in 5 1/3 innings. … Shuckers OF Joantgel Segovia has a hit in nine of his last 10 games and was 6-for-11 last week. … It was an awards sweep for Carolina as C Mario Feliciano (comp. Rd. B, 2016) was named the Carolina League’s MVP and RHP Noah Zavolas (acquired from Seattle in Domingo Santana trade) was named Pitcher of the Year. Felciano is hitting .273/.324/.474 with a league-leading 19 home runs and 203 total bases. He’s second in the league (by one) in RBI with 78. Zavolas, who was placed on the injured list Aug. 15 retroactive to Aug. 14, has a 2.98 ERA and 1.14 WHIP, both of which rank second in the league, in 133 innings over 22 starts. Feliciano and Zavolas were the only Mudcats named to the Carolina League’s postseason All-Star team. … Carolina RHP Phil Bickford fanned seven in 4 2/3 scoreless innings over two appearances. In 27 2/3 innings this season he has 45 strikeouts, a 2.93 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and .218 OBA. … Wisconsin RHP Max Lazar (11th round, 2017) allowed one run in seven innings on Aug. 20, walking none and striking out a career-high 10 batters (his previous high was eight, done four times). Lazar has a 1.60 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 100 K in 73 1/3 IP for the Timber Rattlers. … Wisconsin RHP Freisis Adames also fanned 10 on Aug. 17, allowing no runs on three hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings. … Arizona Brewers Blue OF Andre Nnebe (28th round, 2019) went 8-for-20 last week with a double, triple, three homers, nine runs and six RBI. … Brewers Blue OF Reidy Mercado was 9-for-23 (.391) and stole five bases in five games. In 60 combined games in the Dominican Summer League and Arizona Rookie League he has 43 steals.

Statistics courtesy milb.com and baseball-reference.com

Dave Heller is the author of Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow (a Larry Ritter Book Award nominee), Facing Ted Williams - Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns