Milwaukee Brewers: Trent Grisham Opening Eyes at AAA San Antonio

Milwaukee Brewers prospect Trent Grisham has turned some heads down in AAA San Antonio, leaving some wondering if he’s ready for ‘The Show’.

22-year-old Milwaukee Brewers prospect Trent Grisham has 4 HRs and 7 RBIs in his last 4 games.  Overall, he’s up to 9 HRs and 18 RBIs in just 23 games for the Triple-A San Antonio Missions and is hitting .333.

After another 3-hit game last night, he now has 5 straight multi-hit games, bringing his OPS up to 1.090.

Want to hear something even wackier, though? Through just 85 games in 2019, Grisham has hit more home runs (22) than he did in 354 games from 2015-2018 across rookie-ball, A-ball, and Double-A.

Before his promotion to Triple-A on June 20, Grisham earned Double-A All-Star honors – the first mid-season All-Star appearance of his career.  Judging by the way he’s swinging it lately though, it may not be the last.

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MLB.com ranked Grisham as the Milwaukee Brewers 30th-rated prospect before the start of the 2019 season, down 22 spots from No. 8 in 2018; he was the biggest fall in the rankings from 2018 to 2019.  Yet after his fantastic start to his 2019 campaign, he may experience the biggest jump from 2019 to 2020.

Obviously, the Brewers have a luxury of options in the outfield – Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Ben Gamel, Eric Thames, and occasionally even Mike Moustakas – to choose from. Additionally, highly-touted prospects like Corey Ray and Troy Stokes Jr. are also in the mix, though both are off to slow starts this year.

Ray – a former Golden Spikes finalist at Lousiville – was MLB.com’s No. 2 Brewers prospect and No. 90 overall in their pre-season 2019 rankings. After a full 2018 season with Biloxi, Ray put forth his best pro season: 27 HRs, 74 RBIs, and 37 SBs, earning Milwaukee’s 2018 Minor League Player of the Year honors.

Ray’s slow start to 2019 is largely due to injuries.  He had two stints on the IL after injuring his hand earlier in the season.  He started 2019 with San Antonio but has been sent to AA Biloxi after missing significant time with his hand injury.

However, for Milwaukee Brewers fans, the disappointment of Corey Ray‘s injury-plagued 2019 season has been alleviated by Trent Grisham’s breakout campaign. Grisham – formerly known as Trent Clark until the 2018 season – was the 15th pick in the 2015 draft out of North Richland Hills High School in Texas.

Immediately after being drafted, Grisham was a highly-touted prospect, starting the 2016 season as the No. 5 prospect in the Brewers organization, and 2017 at No. 6.

Though his 2017 and 2018 seasons were admittedly not glamorous – he hit .223 and .233 in High-A Carolina and Double-A Biloxi respectively – there were definitely exciting takeaways from his last two seasons, too: he had 38 SBs in 2017. Always known for his patience at the plate,  his OBP was characteristically high in both seasons: .360 and .356 in 2017 and 2018.

Grisham’s approach has changed drastically in 2019.

Grisham said of his patience: “It’s a big part of my skill set, but it caused me to be a bit too passive and not take a shot at pitches that I could probably do something with that I thought were off the plate.”

A month ago, in an article for Reviewing The Brew, our own Matthew Dewoskin questioned whether this would be the year that Grisham finally breaks out.  At the time of the publication (June 11), Dewoskin wrote that Grisham’s approach at the plate had produced a higher line-drive rate.

This is still the case a month later. Grisham’s line-drive rate in 23 games with San Antonio rate is 21.3%, which would be the highest of his career.  Interestingly, his walk rate in those 23 games is only 11.7%, which would be the lowest of his career.

As Dewoskin also pointed out, he was 2nd in the entire minor leagues in walks in 2017.  Throughout his career, he has always had a patient approach at the plate – typically his walk rate is at about 15-17%  With San Antonio though, it is at 11.7 %.

Additionally, his strikeout rate from 2016-2018 was very high – around 25% for 2016 and 2017, and 21% in 2018.  This year, it is only at 16%.

Grisham has a better idea of what to expect in 2019 and has a game plan at the plate that has translated into him being more forthright and aggressive.  As a result, he has a ridiculous wOBA of .443 in 2019.  For good measure, he even has 11 SBs, too.

While the results speak to Grisham’s more aggressive mindset, he does not take his success for granted. Of course, he is thankful for his success on the Triple-A level, offering,

It’s fun, that’s for sure. I’ve been struggling for a few years and kind of trying to figure it all out. Having some results this year and putting it together is fun and exciting.”

in June, Matthew Dewoskin wrote that Trent Grisham was behind Corey Ray on the depth chart, but that he also faced the possibility of being sent up to Triple-A.  Dewoskin also pointed out that when Grisham got up to Triple-A, he would only be an injury away from being called up to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Whatever the case may be, after making a few tweaks at the plate in 2019, the 22-year-old Grisham seems prepared for his chance to shine at any level.