Brewers Prospect Weekly: Dickinson's power surge defies his profile, DeBerry fans 17 in a week
By Mason Grant ·
Brewers Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Brewers farm system.
Daniel Dickinson's Hot Month
Daniel Dickinson (A+, SS, Rank: 33) is a 55 hit tool with a 40 power grade and a utility projection. He is supposed to get on base, put the ball in play, and give you a palatable average. That has been the read since his 6th-round draft slot. But over his last 30 days, Dickinson is slashing .351/.471/.608 across 120 plate appearances at High-A with four home runs and 11 doubles, numbers that belong to a different player's scouting report. This past week added nine hits, two doubles, a triple, and three RBI over 27 plate appearances. That is not a contact bat sneaking a few balls over the fence; that is sustained, multi-directional damage from someone whose power was graded fringe-average.
The underlying approach makes this stretch credible. His swing rate over the last 30 days sits at 41.1 percent with a 78.1 percent contact rate, which means the extra-base production is coming from better pitch selection and harder contact on hittable offerings, not expanded aggression. The full-season line at High-A sits at .274/.425/.429 with nine home runs and 24 doubles across 442 plate appearances, and his 80 walks against 95 strikeouts represent one of the cleaner discipline profiles in the system at his level. The utility ceiling is still a reasonable read based on his arm and defensive range, but a 22-year-old putting together a .608 slugging month at High-A with disciplined plate coverage prompts a real look at whether the 40 power grade is underselling what he can do. I would take the over on that grade without much hesitation right now.
Seventeen Punchouts and a Case to Make: Jaron DeBerry's Week
Jaron DeBerry (AA, RHP, Rank: 39) struck out 17 hitters over 11 innings of one-run ball this week at Biloxi, giving up 10 hits and two walks against Southern League lineups. DeBerry took the loss in both outings thanks to some poor defense, but the underlying metrics were exceptional and a bit of a divergence from a pitcher who carries a 4.41 ERA on the season. That ERA has context: his last 30-day line shows a 3.99 ERA with 35 punchouts in 29.1 innings, which tells a story of a pitcher who can miss bats in bunches when he is locating his arsenal.
DeBerry works with a 55-grade four-seamer that sits 92-94 mph and a 55-grade slider that plays off it convincingly, with a sweeper that gives right-handed hitters a second look on breaking stuff. The season walk total, 55 in 114.1 innings, remains the loudest problem in the profile, and a 45 command grade reflects that accurately. But the 127 strikeouts on the year confirm the bat-missing ability is real, and his 2025 Double-A line at a 3.62 ERA showed he can navigate this level when the strike-throwing holds. The projection as a back-end starter with a multi-inning relief floor is fair, but weeks like this one are what the development window looks like when the arsenal clicks. If the command takes even a small step forward this fall, the case for a MLB look next spring strengthens.
Quick Hits
Brailyn Antunez (A, OF, Rank: 31) · racked up 8 hits, a double, 4 RBI, 2 walks, and 2 HBP across 23 plate appearances at Wilson. The 18-year-old is hitting .405/.510/.734 over his last 30 days with seven home runs and five doubles in 96 plate appearances at Low-A, and his combined season line across both levels sits at .314/.417/.565 with 16 home runs. The strikeouts are a real concern, 102 on the combined season, and the 45 hit tool grade reflects that risk. But a 70 speed grade and genuine power pop from a teenager at full-season ball makes the everyday center field projection look like a reasonable outcome rather than organizational optimism.
Luis Peña (AA, SS, Rank: 2) · was promoted from High-A Wisconsin to Double-A Biloxi on August 18, his first time at the level. He went 3-for-10 with a home run and 2 stolen bases in his initial exposure, slashing .300/.333/.450 across 21 plate appearances to open the assignment. Peña now carries a .298/.384/.420 line with 27 stolen bases at High-A across 219 plate appearances; he spent most of last year struggling at the same level with a .168/.220/.297 clip in 25 games, so the full-season hold at Wisconsin followed by a Biloxi promotion marks a meaningful development jump. A 55 hit tool, plus speed, and enough athleticism to stick in the middle of the infield, the 19-year-old is pressing the system's timeline ahead of schedule.
Handelfry Encarnacion (A, OF, Rank: 35) · drove in 6 runs on 7 hits, including a double and a homer, across 20 plate appearances at Wilson. His 30-day contact rate has climbed to 82.7 percent, up from the 75.2 percent he carried into the month, a sign that his pitch recognition against Low-A pitching is settling in. The season line sits at .248/.376/.404 with 12 home runs and 83 walks in 511 plate appearances; he has legitimate walk discipline and the bat speed to back up the power projection, and those two elements together give the everyday center field ceiling more structural support than the current bench projection suggests.
Coleman Crow (AAA, RHP, Rank: 27) · threw 5.2 scoreless innings with six strikeouts and two walks, extending a remarkable recent run. Over his last 30 days at Nashville, he owns a 1.21 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 29.2 innings, and his season Triple-A ERA has dropped to 3.13 across 77.2 frames. He made four MLB starts earlier this year and posted a 5.30 ERA there before the option back down, so the question of how the average-across-the-board arsenal translates against better bats remains open. But a full month of sub-1.30 ERA ball at Triple-A is impossible to ignore, and another big-league look feels close.
Ricki Moneys (RK, SS, Rank: 50) · went 6-for-23 with two doubles, a triple, a homer, 4 RBI, and 5 walks across 23 plate appearances in the complex. The 17-year-old carries a .289/.440/.479 season line with 46 walks and 28 stolen bases across 243 plate appearances. He has a 55 power grade and a 40 hit tool, which frames the profile as a bat-first corner prospect where raw thump is the carrying piece and contact development is the primary variable; his 30-day contact rate of 60.3 percent is a reminder that the swing-and-miss question is very much alive.
Jayden Dubanewicz (A+, RHP, Rank: 34) · bounced back with 10 innings, 2 earned runs, and 8 strikeouts in his return appearance at High-A after a difficult recent stretch. His last 30 days at the level show a 5.40 ERA and 13 earned runs across 21.2 innings, so the good outing serves more as a reset than a trend. The combined season ERA checks in at 4.22 with a 28.6 percent whiff rate across levels, and the path to relevance still runs through firming up a 45-grade command and developing a reliable third offering beyond his four-seamer and breaking ball.
Brock Wilken (AAA, 3B, Rank: 16) · homered on August 18 and doubled two days later with 2 RBI, finishing the week 4-for-17 with a walk trio and 3 strikeouts. The homer was his 13th of the year; his season line at Nashville sits at .182/.327/.358 across 444 plate appearances with 75 walks and 124 strikeouts. A 60 power grade with a 40 hit tool is the carrying tension in his profile, and the full-season numbers bear that out; he can hit the ball a long way, but the .182 average means every week without extra-base damage feels like wasted opportunity. The 30-day slugging of .386 is not where the profile needs it to be at 24 years old this close to Milwaukee.
Brady Ebel (A+, SS, Rank: 18) · was promoted from Wilson to High-A Wisconsin on August 18 after posting a .261/.416/.420 line with 10 home runs and 38 stolen bases across 493 plate appearances at Low-A. He went 2-for-12 in his first 23 plate appearances at the new level, showing early friction that is expected; the more meaningful number is the .416 OBP he carried out of Wilson, which suggests the patient approach and plus athleticism profile should survive the adjustment. Worth monitoring as the season closes.
Trey Ebel (A, SS, Rank: 13) · earned his first promotion to full-season ball at Wilson on August 18 and drew 7 walks against 4 strikeouts across 24 plate appearances, going 4-for-17 with an RBI. The 30 percent swing rate in that sample is strikingly selective for a 17-year-old in his debut at the level, and his 81.5 percent contact rate on swings he did take is encouraging. A 55 hit tool with everyday shortstop projection, the early walk discipline reads as genuinely on-brand rather than an accident.
Dylan O'Rae (AA, SS, Rank: 22) · went 5-for-25 with a home run, three walks, and 6 strikeouts at Biloxi this week. The season line sits at .272/.397/.369 across 394 plate appearances with 50 stolen bases and a 83.8 percent contact rate, which is the profile a 70-speed, 20-power bat needs to be running; the on-base skills and contact quality have to carry the offensive weight, and through most of this season they have. His last 30 days are softer at .204/.316/.306, so the recent contact is something to watch as Double-A pitchers presumably adjust.
Luke Adams (AAA, 3B, Rank: 14) · returned from the 7-day IL on August 21 after missing time since August 12. No game logs are available yet following activation, but the season line at Nashville checks in at .252/.401/.505 with 13 home runs across 261 plate appearances, a notably productive slash for a depth piece at the level.
Eduardo Garcia (AAA, SS, Rank: 51) · was placed on the 7-day IL on August 17, retroactive to that date. He hit .191/.273/.275 across 150 plate appearances at Nashville this season and was 8-for-31 in the 14 days before the placement. No injury diagnosis has been confirmed.