RHP Josh Butler:

Butler didn't have an outstanding final week of the minor league season, but he did have arguably the best year of any pitcher in the system so he gets the nod as the last prospect of the week of the year. In a 5 inning start for AA Huntsville, Butler gave up 4 hits and 1 walk, allowed no runs while striking out 7.

Butler was acquired last year in the Gabe Gross trade from Tampa Bay, where he had struggled to live up to the promise of his 4 pitch mix that includes a low to mid 90's fastball, above average curve, slider and usable changeup. Things weren't much better for him after the trade, with him posting a 5.36 ERA in 82 1/3 innings for Brevard County. He began there again this season, with considerably more success than last year. The path this season has taken him up to AAA Nashville, where he had success as an injury replacement for 3 starts, down to rookie Arizona on a rehab stint and finally landed him in AA Huntsville. Overall he has a 2.97 ERA in 118 1/3 innings, a 96:43 K:BB ratio, .250 batting average against and, perhaps most impressively, a 1.91 ground ball to fly ball ratio.

Butler, who attended San Diego University, will turn 25 this winter so if he's going to make an impact in the major leagues he'll need to get there sooner rather than later. After pitching in the Arizona Fall League this fall, Butler is likely ticketed for AAA to open 2010, where he figures to be in line for a callup to the big club when the inevitable injuries hit should he be performing nearly as well as he did this season. His ceiling is probably that of a 4/5 type starter, though his absolute best case scenario may be something along the lines of a Dave Bush. It would be nice if the Brewers could produce one of these back end men from their system and not have to pay the market price for once.

Three Up

LHP Del Howell: Howell, who was drafted this summer out of the University of Alabama in the 15th round, has had a successful start to his career as a Milwaukee Brewer prospect. After appearing in relief a couple of times for the Arizona Brewers, the southpaw got a start for Helena and didn't disappoint. He went 4 innings allowing 3 hits, no walks and no runs while striking out 5. Keep an eye on him, because he could move fast.

RHP John Axford: Like Butler, Axford has split his season between multiple levels in the Brewers system. Overall, in 68 1/3 innings he posted a 2.77 ERA striking out 89 while walking 38 and holding batters to a .185 batting average. The Brewers rewarded him with a September callup, so we'll all get a good look at him soon enough. Best case scenario here is that he impresses the team enough that he earns a long look in camp next spring.

1B Steffan Wilson:  Wilson is a Harvard grad that the Brewers grabbed in the 28th round of the 2007 draft. He was 7 for 23 with 3 homers (all in the course of one doubleheader) last week. He's not really a prospect, but he is a nice guy to have around as an organizational player.

Three Down

LHP Chase Wright: Wright's disappointing season continued this week with a 3 inning, 9 hit and 4 run performance. It wouldn't be even remotely fair to lay the blame for the Brewers' pitching depth struggles this season on Wright, but his failure to put himself in the conversation for callup to the majors was a factor in the slide the Brewers went on in July and August when Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush missed time with injury.

RHP Kyle Heckathorn: Heckathorn, unlike Howell, isn't off to a great start in his very short debut season in the Brewers farm system. Last week in 8 innings he allowed 15 hits, 3 walks and 9 runs while striking out 7. It's way too early to get too worried about this, but the hopes were high that he could move quickly and this isn't a step in that direction, to be sure.

RHP Jake Odorizzi: Odorizzi did pretty well for himself this year in Rookie Helena, right up until his last start of the season when he allowed 7 runs without recording a single out. When a player has fewer than 50 innings in for the season, that sort of torching is going to hurt bad in the old ERA department and has to raise some health concerns considering he missed multiple starts in late July as a precautionary measure.

LHP Zach Braddock:

Simply put, Zach Braddock has had a amazing season.  Last week Braddock threw 2 innings, allowed 0 ER and had 2 K's, which is pretty standard for him. He is the prospect of the week based more on seasonal achievements, though.  Playing at Brevard County and Huntsville this season, Braddock has a 0.93 ERA, .81 WHOP and 58 K's in 38 1/3 innings.  He has held hitters to a .176 average and has shown amazing control with a 6 to 1 K/BB ratio.

Braddock was an 18th round selection out of junior college in the 2005 player draft.  As we have mentioned in past, Braddock is the great grandson of the "Cinderella Man" former heavy weight champion James Braddock.  He features a low 90's fastball and an excellent sweeping slider.  He is also developing a change up.  Braddock has always put up huge strike out totals with a K rate of 11.5 per nine innings in his minor league career.  The one major downside with Braddock is that he has had to be shut down several times in his minor league career due to arm problems.  This has led to the Brewers limiting Braddock's innings this season by pitching him in short outings out of the bullpen after working him as a starter most of his career.

Zach Braddock is definitely one of the Brewers' top minor league arms.  If the Brewers believe Braddock's arm can hold up to the workload of being in the rotation, he could be a number 2 or 3 starter. The Brewers could also keep Braddock in the pen, where he could easily be a quality setup man or a closer in the near future. If the Brewers decide to go the bullpen route, Zach Braddock could be up as soon as the middle of next year.

Three Up

OF Drew Anderson:  When you're a 28 year old LF with modest HR power playing in AA, the word "prospect" probably isn't all that applicable. Still, Anderson is having a nice year and that continued last week, when he went 10-21 with 2 walks, a double and a couple home runs.

LHP Chris Capuano:  Cappy is not a prospect anymore and he is not pitching particularly well at the moment either. He is pitching in live games, though, and no pitching depth can be ignored given the current state of Brewers pitching. He will be a free agent after the season, so the Brewers will have to monitor his progress and decide if he's worth a shot in spring training.

OF Lee Haydel:  The speedster taken in the last year that teams could draft and follow junior college players had an 11 game hitting streak at the end of last week. He also had 2 doubles and 2 steals last week.

Three Down

RHP Nick Bucci: Bucci has had nice season and established himself as someone to watch in the system, but has struggled lately. He was torched in three of his last four starts giving up 17 ER in 17 1/3 innings over that span.

RHP Maverick Lasker:  The man with the coolest name in the system allowed 3 runs in 4 IP last week after allowing 4 runs in 3 IP the week before. Of course this week he was promoted two levels to Wisconsin and pitched 7 shutout innings in his debut there, so Maverick is going to be just fine.

RHP Rob Wooten:  Wooten, a college closer who had thus far breezed through the Brewers system, has finally hit a bit of a wall.  Last week he allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits and  2 walks in 3 innings of of work.  His Huntsville ERA has risen to 4.68.

Better late than never, this is last week's Prospect of the Week, soon to be followed by next week's....

RHP Amaury Rivas

Rivas is following up a very solid 2008, which he split between low A West Virginia and high A Brevard county, with a very impressive 2009, and he looks like another legitimate pitching prospect for the Brewers in the low minors. Rivas was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2005, got off to something of a slow start that year but did better in 2006 until an elbow injury ended his season. He was able to come back quickly from Tommy John surgury, pitching some in 2007 and then established himself as recovered in 2008.

Last week he went 6 innings, allowed only 3 hits and one run while striking out 10 and only walking one. So far this year Rivas has pitched 128 innings, struck out 120 batters while walking only 41. Batters are hitting only .215 off of Rivas,  his 1.12 WHIP suggests that his 2.74 ERA is perfectly legitimate and he has improved his groundball rate from 2008. Hard to find many flaws in his stats.

According to Baseball America, Rivas throws consistently in the 91-92 MPH range with good movement and has the ability to get it up to 95 when the situation calls for it. He has a slider with great potential and is trying to develop a change to round out the repertoire. BA believes his future is as a big league setup man, though one imagines that if he could harness that third pitch, he could profile as high as a 3rd starter. The jump to AA should help us get a better feel for where Rivas future lies, but regardless of whether it is in the rotation or the pen Rivas is an exciting young arm in a system that needs as many of them as it can get.

Three Up

RHP Cody Scarpetta: It's been a somewhat up and down season for Scarpetta this year and last week he was up again, allowing only 4 hits and 2 runs in 11 2/3 innings for the Timber Rattlers. He also struck out 10 while walking 4. His season ERA is down to 3.39, his WHIP is 1.30 and he's allowing only a .213 batting average. He'll have to move quickly, as he's already on the 40 man roster, but his stuff is good enough to pitch in the upper half of a playoff rotation.

C Cameron Garfield: The slump appears to be over for Garfield, a high school second round pick of the Brewers this season already playing at Helena. He went 6 for 21 with a double, HR and 2 walks. Not bad for a guy who turned 18 in May playing against mostly older competition.

RHP Seth Litnz: Lintz has been a bit better of late, which is why he's being mentioned here despite pitching only 2 innings last week. Since his appearance on the 31st of July, Lintz has pitched 13 innings, allowed 12 hits, 4 runs and struck out 9. Of course he also allowed 8 walks, which is his big problem considering he's given up 36 of them in 3 2/3 innings. If he can straighten out the command issues, he's got the stuff to be a big league pitcher. Fortunately he won't turn 20 until this off season, so there is plenty of time to improve.

Three Down

RHP Alexandre Periard: Periard is rehabbing from an injury that cost him much of this season, and hit a snag last week when he allowed 8 ER in 4 2/3 innings over two starts. His walks are up (12 in 21 IP at Brevard so far) but hopefully that is a result of rust more than anything else.

OF Lorenzo Cain: Cain is still trying to get going after missing the first part of the season to injury. He was 2 for 20 last week with no walks and no extra base hits. The most rosy hopes for him coming into 2009 were that he would show he was ready to take over in center for Mike Cameron in 2010, but a .632 OPS in AA this year is showing exactly the opposite.

RHP Kyle Heckathorn: The flamethrower from Kennesaw St. was taken in the compensation round of this June's draft, and got off to something of a slow start in Helena after signing late. Last week he allowed 7 hits and 4 runs in 4 1/3 innings over 2 starts, and only struck out one. Fortunately, he's already made another start this week and showed a bit of what he could do, allowing 2 hits, no walks and no runs in 4 innings while striking out 3. Long term Heckathorn is more likely ticked for the pen than the rotation, but the Brewers are taking a look at him to see what he can do and also getting him some innings.

Nick Tyson RHP

After posting an 8.74 ERA in 2008, things could only get better for Nick Tyson in 2009.  Sometimes repeating a level can really help a minor league pitcher.  Timber Rattler Nick Tyson is the prospect of the week after throwing 3 scoreless appearances.  In 7 innings Tyson allowed 4 Hits, with an 0.85 WHIP and 0 ER.  He also had 9 K's and had only 1 walk for the week.

The Brewers selected Nick Tyson in the 32nd round out of junior college in 2006.   Last season Tyson struggled at low-A ball with an 8.74 ERA and 1.97 WHIP. Tyson has rebounded from his dismal 2008 and has a respectable 3.04 ERA this season.  Working as a reliever Tyson has held opponents to .225 BA, 1.08 WHIP and has a very solid 3 to 1 K to BB ratio in 47 innings this season.  Tyson has the best curveball in the Brewers farm system according to Baseball America.  Tyson's fastball sits in 87 to 89 range and he is developing a changeup.

Nick Tyson isn't at the top of any Brewers prospect lists but he could continue to progress if his fastball and change up show some improvement.  Tyson is only 21, which is still relatively young for low-A ball.  Lets hope Nick Tyson's great curveball helps the Brewers more than Ben Henderickson's did.

Three Up

2B Brett Lawrie  Lawrie's bat is heating up with .429/.448/.679/1.127 line for the week and has been promoted to double-A Huntsville.  It will be interesting to see if Lawrie breaks the top 50 prospect list for next season.

LHP Daniel Meadows  Meadows is having a solid season up in Appleton.  Last week Meadows allowed 3 ER in 12 innings.  He also had  9 K's and only 1 walk which is another sign of a good week.

C Tyler Roberts  Roberts was a 10th round pick in the 2009 draft.  Last week Roberts was 10-15, had 1HR and 4 BB on the week for the Arizona rookie team.  Robert's OPS of 1.603 might be the highest I have ever seen for a Brewer prospect for a week.  He would have been the prospect of the week but I don't know much about him yet.  He is just out of high school so let hope the Brewers have something.

Three Down

RHP Blakeney Billings  2 1/3 IP, 11BB and 6 ER= another bad week for Billings.  Billings is not having the type of year that Brewer fans have hoped for.

OF Erik Komatsu  Komatsu has struggled since coming back for a early season injury.  He was 2-14 last week and has low OPS of .602 on the season.

RHP Tim Dillard  Dillard is really having a bad season if he can't get a call up with the Brewer staff in its current state.  Last week Dillard gave up 5H, 3BB, 5ER in 6 innings. Dillard might have to go back to relief pitcher.

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.