Chicago Cubs will face challenges as young Milwaukee Brewers improve

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Apr 21, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; The Miller Park logo outside of Miller Park prior to the game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. Cincinnati won 16-10. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /

As the Chicago Cubs battle the Milwaukee Brewers this weekend at Miller Park, there’s a lot of promise for the Brew Crew moving forward. It starts with a couple headline prospects approaching the bigs.

There’s no disputing the results of the Chicago Cubs’ top-to-bottom rebuild. From a 100-plus loss team to World Series champions in roughly five years, it’s worked to perfection. Now, other teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers, are hoping their young prospects will lead them to prosperity.

According to MLB.com, the Brewers carry five of the top 100 prospects in all of Major League Baseball entering the season. By contrast, Chicago has four, headlined by Eloy Jimenez and Ian Happ.

The Brewers haven’t won the National League Central since 2011. In fact, it’s been three years since Milwaukee enjoyed a winning record (and they barely snuck that one out at 82-80). It’s clearly time for a renaissance up I-294 and they’re counting on their prospects to deliver.

At the big league level, Milwaukee has several young players who will play a vital role in their success this season. Most notably, it’s names like Zach Davies on the mound and 22-year-old shortstop Orlando Arcia.

Orlando Arcia

Arcia made his debut in August 2016. He hit .219/.273/.631 in 201 at-bats at the big league level, going deep four times.

The young Venezuelan has been praised for his above-average defense. In his short tenure at the big league level last season, he made some highlight reel plays. The young shortstop has great range to both his left and right, and shows the ability to make the tough play almost every time.

He’s also shown that he can make the long throw from the hole, thanks to a extremely strong and accurate throwing arm. Arcia has great footwork and first step quickness when moving to a ground ball. He does have speed, but doesn’t steal a ton of bases. It’s something he could begin to do more of as he plays more at the major league level.

When it comes to the offensive side of the game, the 22-year-old keeps it pretty simple. He features a small leg lift, then loads his hands back slightly. His swing is short and compact. He produces a lot of line drives, but as he fills out more and matures, you could see him hitting 15 to 20 home runs a season. He has the ability to hit for a high average, as he did in his minor league career, compiling a .282 average over five seasons.

Orlando Arcia has all the tools to be a perennial All-Star at the big league level.

Zach Davies

Davies is the type of pitcher you don’t see too much of in this day and age. A guy who sits in the high 80’s, and tops out around 90 mph. The 23-year-old relies on a solid changeup in the high 70’s to compliment a two-seam, sinking fastball.

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He also throws a 12-to-6 curveball in the mid 70’s. Davies compiled an 11-7 record last season with a 3.97 ERA in the 28 games started for the Brew Crew. When Davies hits his spots and keeps the ball down, he is as effective as anyone. But when he leaves the ball up, he tends to get hit hard.

Generally though, Davies does have great command and the ability to paint the black. The Arizona native induces a lot of ground balls with the sinker when he keeps it down in the zone. He can also field his position extremely well. Davies probably won’t add too much more velocity to his fastball. He’s got a very slender frame at just 6 feet tall and 155 pounds.

If Davies continues to command that fastball/changeup/curveball combo, he’ll have no problem having success in the 2017 season as the Brewers’ number two in the rotation.

Domingo Santana

Santana made his big-league debut way back in 2014 with the Houston Astros, but the 24-year-old is still very young. He still hasn’t had a season with a full slate of Major League service time. But this season it looks like that will change. Santana is slated to play right field for the Brewers.

For a big guy, Santana moves fairly well in right field. He features good range and the ability to track down balls with decent speed. He compliments all of that with a very strong throwing arm. But he’s not at the big league level for his defense. He’s here for his bat.

Santana has a lot of (untapped) power potential at the dish. Through 77 games last year, the Dominican native went deep 11 times. But looking at his swing, you can tell he’s destined to hit 25-plus homers one day. He has a natural upper-cut swing path which creates a ton of carry and loft when he connects.

The power is very raw, it’s not like he’s swinging out of his shoes. It’s easy power, and once he gets more reps in the big leagues, Santana can be a serious power hitter for the Brewers.

Lewis Brinson

Lewis Brinson, whom Milwaukee acquired from the Texas Rangers last year, is on the doorstep of the big leagues. He’s currently ranked as the team’s top prospect and enjoyed some success in Triple-A Colorado Springs last year hitting .382 in 23 games, after coming over from the Rangers in the Lucroy trade.

Brinson has all the tools, but it just took him some time to put them all together. Drafted in the first round in 2012, Brinson was very raw. Five years later, hes finally proving that there isn’t much of anything he can’t do on a ball field.

The 22-year-old has a rare combination of speed and power. He has amazing abilities on the basepaths, which translates well to tracking down balls in center field. But Brinson also has a nice, quick swing at the plate and has shown the ability to hit for average and power. If the outfielder produces in Colorado Springs like he did last year, expect to see him in the big leagues at some point in 2017.

Next: RECAP: Cubs fall to Milwaukee in extras on wild pitch

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