Brewers give shortstop prospect, Cooper Pratt, the 5th largest contract in franchise history: 8 years, $51 million.

Wow! Wowwowwowwow. This was a bit of a surprise yesterday. The Brewer farm system is LOADED (#1 in baseball), and Pratt is getting close, but I thought if they were going to hand out one of these kinds of deals, it would have been Jesus Made (#3 prospect in all of baseball) or Luis Pena (#22 prospect in all of baseball).

But they decide to take a small-ish gamble on Cooper Pratt (#65 prospect in all of baseball). He’s 21 years old, he was a 6th round pick in 2023, and played in the Futures Game in 2024. He’s a GIANT by shortstop standards (6’4), and already an elite defender. He has not put up impressive offensive numbers beyond rookie ball, however. He spent last year at AA, and started this season in AAA. A few things in no particular order:

• The depth this organization has INSANE depth with middle infielders. As mentioned above, Jesus Made is sounding like a once-in-a-lifetime prospect at shortstop, Luis Pena is a shortstop/second baseman, and the guy they just got in the Freddy Peralta deal, Jett Williams, is also a shortstop/second baseman who is a Top 100 prospect.
• The thing I find most interesting about yesterday’s Pratt deal isn’t so much the money, it’s that it now feels likely that Pratt gets called up to the Major League club at some point this season. I did not have that on my radar for 2026. But if they’re paying him, I find it hard to fathom he’d stay at AAA all season. What that means for Joey Ortiz with a newly minted chin sweater, I have no idea.
• Brice Turang. A LOT of discourse on Brewer twitter about what this means for Turang. Keep in mind: Brice Turang is under team control until 2030, so nothing is imminent. But I do think the Nico Hoerner Cubs deal complicates a LONG term future for Turang in Milwaukee. Hoerner signed for 6 years, $141 million. That blew me away. Like a Christmas inflatable on a windy winter day. Prior to that deal, I thought you might be able to lock up Turang for 5-ish years, $100-ish million. But Hoerner is a great comp for Turang, and I’d argue Turang is better given how we’ve seen his bat develop over the last few years. It’s possible that the Brewers saw that Hoerner deal, realized that they might have to trade Turang in a few years, and decided to lock up a younger middle-infielder instead.

Anyway, this is how you have to do business as a small market team. Unless the economics of baseball change with the new labor deal in a year, you get team control of players for 6-7 years once they get called up to the Major League level. If that player turns into a All Star/Superstar, franchises like the Brewer likely need to trade them before their 6th or 7th season, because they’re not going to be able to afford their next contract. So the way to keep these young guys around longer, is to give them contracts like the one they gave Pratt yesterday and Jackson Chourio a few years ago. More guaranteed money up front, and then buy them out of the first few years of free agency.

The flip side of the coin is that if Pratt never becomes a high caliber player, you’re going to end up paying a guy $50 million for nothing. But that’s the risk you have to take if you’re the Brewers/Royals/Rays etc.

PS: You’ve got to wonder if the Miz is already priced out. I know they said they were ‘discussing’ an extension last season, but if he develops into the ace it looks like he’s going to turn into, he’s already probably in the $150-$200 million dollar range. That’s a lot of Malibu Sand.

Double PS: Me last night after the first loss of the season: