C Jon Lucroy

The Louisiana-Lafayette backstop was drafted in the third round of the 2007 draft and established himself as a legit hitter right away in 2007. He then powered his way through both low and high A last season, posting an .872 OPS and, remarkably, maintaining his power after moving to the Florida State League.

2009 has been an up and down year for Lucroy at AA Huntsville, but last week he went 8 for 17 with a couple of doubles, a triple, a homer and a couple of walks. In the last 10 days, Lucroy is hitting .429 with 5 extra base hits and three walks, and he has his season line up to a very solid-for-a-catcher .265/.379/.411. His HR power is certainly down (8 after hitting 20 last year) but he continues to develop his already outstanding plate discipline and has walked more (63) than he has stuck out (55), which bodes well for that power to reemerge at some point.

With fellow catching prospect Angel Salome taking a step back with the bat this year in AAA, Lucroy is positioning himself for real consideration to be the catcher-of-the-future for the Milwaukee Brewers franchise. Given the fact that Salome has struggled defensively in the past, it would not be at all surprising to see him traded to an AL club as part of a package to aquire pitching. They will need to make room for Lucroy to play everyday in AAA next season, so unless they plan on making Salome the backup at the big league level he'll have to be moved. The smart money is on Jon Lucroy being the opening day catcher in 2011, though it could happen even faster than that if he hits well next year in AAA.

Three Up

RHP Jose Oviedo: The Dominican Republic native was taken in the 31st round of this year's draft out of a Florida Community College, and thus far the results have been good down in the Arizona Rookie League. Oviedo threw 4 hitless innings last week, striking out 7 and walking only one. So far this year he has a 2.78 ERA in 22 2/3 innings while posting a 23:12 K:BB ratio. He's a tad old for the AZL at 21, but not outrageously so.

CF Corey Patterson:  Patterson hasn't been a prospect since well before Scott Podsednik was patrolling center for the Milwaukee Brewers, but since being picked up and sent to AAA Nashville he's done too well to ignore. In 20 AB's over 5 games, Patterson is hitting .400/.455/.600. Hard to say if Patterson, who can play an excellent defensive CF, really has a future with the Brewers because he has been so bad at the major league level at getting on base (.291 OBP career) but this is still better than if he were struggling.

RHP Amaury Rivas: Rivas may be old for High A (he'll be 24 in December), but his outstanding year there just got better last week with him allowing only 3 hits and no runs in 7 innings, striking out 7 while only walking one. He'll be an arm to keep an eye on next year in AA.

Three Down

LHP Chris Cody: After shutting down hitters to open the year in AA (2.30 ERA in 58 2/3 innings), Cody has had a not unexpected regression in AAA Nashville. Last week Cody gave up 5 runs in 6 innings and he has given up 13 runs in his last 16 innings of work. His 4.33 ERA in 68 2/3 innings at AAA shouldn't be enough for the Brewers to plan on him contibuting towards the major league squad next year, though it isn't out of the question that he could be given the opportunity.

3B Taylor Green: This is starting to shape up as a year to forget for Taylor Green. The Canadian third baseman got off to a late start due to injury and after a strong start his numbers at AA Huntsville have dipped badly. Last week he was hitless in 16 AB's, though, if you're looking for a silver lining, he did walk 4 times.

RHP R.J. Seidel: The La Crosse native keeps showing up on this list because he keeps having weeks worth noting. This week it's on the down side due to 8 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. Hopefully this is just Seidel getting back up to speed after losing he first half of the season to injury, because the Brewers invested 3rd round money in the 16th rounder to get him to sign.