Five Under-The-Radar Brewers Prospects To Watch in 2026

Kuehner is a deceptive lefty with a low arm slot, which gives left-handed batters a difficult time in the box. In 2025, Kuehner held lefties to just a .161 batting average and .504 OPS. If he maintains that level of efficiency, he could certainly be deployed as a weapon against lefty bats in 2026 for Milwaukee.

His primary is a four-seam that sits in the mid-90s, and he pairs that with a sweeping slider and a changeup. Kuehner also mixes in both a cutter and a sinker as well as a curve. There’s room for optimization here, but it’s a pitch mix that could succeed at the next level with the right development.

Keep an eye on Kuehner this spring. He might not be featured on any top 100 prospect lists, but he’s an under-the-radar arm who could contribute at the big-league level at some point in 2026.

1B Blake Burke

Blake Burke was drafted 34th overall in the 2024 MLB draft with the Comp A pick that the Brewers received in the Corbin Burnes trade. So, there is certainly draft pedigree here for the 22-year-old, but his stock could rise even higher with another good minor-league season.

Standing at 6-foot-3 and 236 pounds, Burke had a very strong first year in the minor leagues. He started the year with High-A Wisconsin, where he slashed .289/.380/.403 in 95 games (408 plate appearances). His strong approach (12% walk rate) and contact numbers translated right away, but it wasn’t until he reached Double-A where he tapped into the power he flashed in his college days with Tennessee.

In 37 games (159 plate appearances) with Double-A Biloxi last season, Burke maintained his strong ability to reach base with a .300 batting average and .377 on-base percentage, but he increased his slugging percentage to .579 and his isolated power from .144 in High-A to .279 in Double-A.

After hitting five homers in 95 games with Wisconsin, Burke slugged 11 in 37 games with Biloxi. The end result in Double-A was a mighty 177 wRC+ and .956 OPS.

Burke has plenty of raw power, posting some terrific exit velocities with an impressive ability to hit the ball hard. He was able to translate that raw power to game power upon his promotion in 2025.

He managed to cut his ground-ball rate by 10% from High-A to Double-A last season, which really allowed him to impact the ball at a higher level.

Burke is expected to start the year in Double-A this season, so it will be interesting to see how quickly he can make his way to Nashville. Though the number was still at a respectable mark (25.8%), Burke’s strikeout rate did climb upon his promotion to Double-A. Keeping that number down while still getting into his power will be a point of emphasis in his second professional season.

Likewise, as a left-handed hitter, Burke’s performance against southpaws will be something to watch in 2026. Of his 16 total homers last season, all but one came off of right-handed pitchers, and he had a .698 OPS against lefties versus an .866 OPS against righties.

Despite stealing 12 bases in High-A last season, Burke is a below-average runner and is limited to first base defensively. Therefore, there will be much more pressure on his bat to perform — specifically in the power department — if he wants to eventually make an impact at the big-league level.

His value lies in his bat and the power he can generate. But he flashed that potential in Double-A last season, and 2026 will be a very important year for his maturation as a hitter.

2B Josh Adamczewski

Drafted as an 18-year-old in the 15th-round of the 2023 MLB draft, Josh Adamczewski quickly put himself on the map with some impressive hitting development in the early years of his professional career.

Adamczewski spent most of his 2024 season in the Complex League, slashing .336/.472/.478 and walking as much as he struck out in 142 plate appearances. He made it to Low-A come season’s end, where he played nine games and posted a .273/.415/.515 slash line.

Flash forward to last season, and it was his production in Low-A that caught the attention of many.

An injury at the beginning of May forced him to miss nearly two months of the season, but in 46 games (206 PA) with the Mudcats, Adamczewski hit .359 with a .569 slugging percentage for an OPS over 1.000 and a 187 wRC+.

He continued to walk at a very high rate (14.1%) but also managed to drop his strikeout rate from 24.4% at Low-A in 2024 to just 18% in 2025. Likewise, he demonstrated an ability to rack up extra-base hits, including 12 doubles, five homers, and four triples in those 46 games.

Elevating the baseball certainly helped in the power department, as he cut his ground-ball rate from nearly 52% overall in 2024 to 41.7% in 2025. His six-foot height doesn’t give him the biggest of frames, but he still found a way to post some impressive exit velocities in his time at Low-A.

That said, he’s still just 20 years old, and there’s a lot of room for development as he heads into his age-21 season.

Adamczewski received a promotion to High-A late in the year, where he struggled to hit .200 with a 59 wRC+ in 16 games. He likely starts the season with the Timber Rattlers, hoping for improved results.

Nonetheless, he’s one of the more exciting bats to keep an eye on in 2026 and is a name to monitor as the season progresses.

RHP Tyson Hardin

Tyson Hardin was a 12th-round pick in the 2024 MLB draft out of Mississippi State and has made quite an encouraging transition from reliever in college to starter at the professional level.

Hardin really impressed in his first full year in the minors. Starting the year with High-A Wisconsin, he made 11 starts (57.2 innings) to the tune of a 2.34 ERA and a dazzling 1.83 FIP. The strikeout numbers were there, punching out 9.68 hitters per nine, but more importantly he was demonstrating sensational control, walking just 3.9% of batters.

His 22.8% strikeout-minus-walk rate was about as good as the Brewers could have hoped for and one of the best in High-A.

Hardin made his way to Double-A and was solid there, too. In 10 starts (38.1 innings), he posted a 3.29 ERA to go with another strong FIP of 3.14. His strikeout totals took a slight step back but his ability to throw strikes did not, as he still walked just 5.1% of hitters faced.

Hardin’s four-seam primary isn’t anything that is off the charts in terms of stuff, sitting in the low-to-mid-90s, but it plays well for him at the top of the zone. His slider has shown shown an impressive ability to generate whiff at times, which creates an encouraging tandem of pitches.

Mix in a cutter and changeup that he can use against lefties, and there’s a foundation to build upon here as he heads into his second full professional season.

A return to Double-A to start the year is likely in the cards. There’s still some work to be done on his arsenal, but the Brewers’ pitching development has to be pleased with the strides Hardin took in 2025 as a starter. Keep an eye on the 24-year-old as he works his way toward Triple-A.

RHP Bishop Letson

Don’t get it mistaken, Bishop Letson’s stock is rising across the industry and he is becoming less underrated by the day. But he has top-100 upside should he put together a strong campaign in 2026.

Drafted in the 11th round of the 2023 MLB draft, Letson has a tall and lanky build at 6-foot-4 and 170 pounds. He was on the fast track to a full-blown breakout in 2025 before a shoulder injury forced him to miss nearly three months of the season in May, thus derailing all of his momentum last season.

Letson made his professional debut in Low-A in 2024, making 16 appearances (14 starts) to the tune of a 3.13 ERA across 63.1 innings. He was promoted to High-A to start the 2025 season, and the leap in results were glaring.

In 37.1 innings with High-A Wisconsin, Letson increased his strikeout rate from 22.2% in 2024 to a whopping 30.3% in 2025, punching out 10.37 hitters per nine.

Impressively, with that leap in wipeout stuff came with an improved ability to throw strikes, as he cut his walk rate from 10.5% in 2024 to just 6.3% with the Timber Rattlers in 2025. If those improvements weren’t enough, he also increased his ground-ball rate to 54%, showing maturation across the board as a pitcher.

The end result across his eight starts (10 appearances) was a dazzling 1.69 ERA, 2.26 FIP, and 0.99 WHIP. That’s one way to put yourself on the radar as a 20-year-old.

Letson features a solid four-seam fastball that gets a bump due to the elite extension that he creates. His best secondary offering is a slider that generates a good amount of bite and can be thrown to both right and left-handed batters.

Add in a sinker, cutter, and changeup that have potential to develop into above-average offerings with some more seasoning, and there’s serious potential here. He has a good shot to start the year in Double-A, and it will be fascinating to see how he handles a full season against elevated competition.

As mentioned, a shoulder injury kept Letson’s momentum bottled up last season. He’s already creeping into the top 10 in the Brewers’ system according to some rankings across the industry, and he’ll be one of the more intriguing arms to monitor in the minors this season for Milwaukee.