MILWAUKEE BREWERS TOP 10 PROSPECTS
1. AARON ASHBY, LHP
AGE: 24. B-T: R-L. HT: 6-2. WT: 181. DRAFTED: Crowder (Mo.) JC, 2018 (4th round). SIGNED BY: Drew Anderson.
TRACK RECORD: A nephew of former all-star righthander Andy Ashby, Aaron showed up at Crowder (Mo.) JC throwing in the mid 80s with a solid breaking ball, but he walked 56 batters in 66 innings split between starting and relieving as a freshman in 2017. The next year, Ashby’s stuff ticked up, going from 88-91 mph early in the season to 90-94 mph later on. He struck out 156 batters in 74.2 innings that year, then signed with the Brewers for $520,000 as their fourth-round pick. In his first full season in 2019, Ashby won the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year award, then in 2020 with the minor league season shut down, he was Milwaukee’s best pitcher at instructional league, where his stuff played up in short bursts as he sat 94-97 mph. In 2021, Ashby’s stuff continued its upward trajectory. He piled up strikeouts but still had command issues split between the rotation and the bullpen in Triple-A Nashville and then in Milwaukee once he arrived in August.
Ashby has developed into a power pitcher from the left side, sitting in the mid 90s as a starter with a fastball that ranges from 94-99 mph. It’s a pitch with solid sink and run to it, though his below-average fastball command has led to harder contact and worse outcomes than his raw stuff would otherwise suggest. Ashby has a true putaway pitch in his slider, a plus pitch that flashes plus-plus. It’s a sharp-biting slider with two-plane break,
