Milwaukee Brewers offseason signing Akil Baddoo hasn’t played in the big leagues in 2026, but it felt like a matter of time until he’d return, particularly the way he was playing last week. Then came injury.
Baddoo, who started the year on the injured list with a quadriceps strain, left the Class AAA Nashville game Sunday, June 21 after sustaining a calf or lower-leg injury on a bases-clearing double. The play gave him an eye-popping seven RBIs in the Sounds’ lopsided 17-3 win over Memphis, but a frustrated Baddoo immediately left the game.
Two games earlier, Baddoo had a six-RBI game that included a grand slam for his second home run of the day. He had another grand slam Saturday, June 20 before departure. The outfielder has looked very much like a big-league option this season with a .392 on-base percentage and a .992 OPS, including seven home runs in his 80 at-bats since returning from injury.
Now comes the wait to gauge the seriousness of the left-handed bopper’s new injury. The 27-year-old signed as a free agent in December and had been with the Detroit Tigers the past five seasons, hitting 28 homers at the big-league level.
The Sounds went into the week with a chance to catch Memphis for the first-half title in the International League, but they’d been officially eliminated one day before Baddoo’s seven-RBI surge.
The game featured four Nashville home runs, including Baddoo’s, with Tyler Black, Jeferson Quero and Brock Wilken going deep, too. Tyson Hardin had a strong showing on the mound again, allowing three earned runs in 6⅔ innings on six hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Black finished a double shy of the cycle, and both Quero and Wilken also had three hits.
Here’s what happened last week, including a first-half title for Biloxi
Speaking of Wilken, injuries and first-half title clinches, the Baddoo injury came just more than a year after Wilken dislocated his patella during the celebration of the Biloxi Shuckers’ first-half title.
Surely that created a greater sense of caution when the Shuckers repeated as first-half champs in the Southern League.
Class AA Biloxi (35-30) found its schedule again interrupted heavily by rain, but a win in the first game of a June 21 doubleheader officially gave the Shuckers the first-half championship in the South Division. The Shuckers went 3-1 on the week against Columbus (Atlanta Braves).
Standout performance among Brewers players on the 40-man roster
Baddoo was far and away the headliner this week.
Best performance by a Brewers top prospect
It’s hard to imagine 18-year-old Alexander Frias will be in the Arizona Complex League much longer, and there are rumblings he could arrive in Class A Wilson as early as Tuesday.
In the midst of a season that’s greatly increasing his prospect profile, Frias amassed 12 hits over the course of four games, including a 6-for-6 effort June 19. That game included two doubles and six RBIs.
Frias had three doubles total this week, five RBIs and two stolen bases. He’s up to a dominant .441 batting average in 118 at-bats, with a .518 on-base percentage and 1.196 OPS, including four homers and 12 stolen bases.
Milwaukee signed Frias out of the Dominican Republic in the 2025 international class, and if there’s one name that could realistically ascend to the level of Chourio and Made within the organization, it’s him. He’s only No. 29 right now in the organization, according to MLB Pipeline.
How did No. 1 Brewers top prospect Jesús Made fare this week?
After suffering a scare June 17 when he left the game with a contusion, Made showed he was just fine when he combined for four hits (including a double) and five RBIs over two games started June 19 (with the remainder of Game 2 finished June 21). Then, he went deep in the regularly scheduled game June 21 to cap his strong week, becoming the third Southern League player since 2017 to clear 50 RBIs in the first half of the season.
Overall, Made has 10 hits and nine RBIs over his past seven games.
The top prospect in the organization has a .813 OPS at Class AA Biloxi despite being just 19 years old, with a .289 average, seven homers, 51 RBIs and just 44 strikeouts (strong 15.7% strikeout rate). His numbers are right in line with what he did over three levels last year, maintaining solid production as the youngest player in the league.
How did Brewers No. 2 prospect Luis Peña fare this week?
Peña hasn’t played since June 9 and has played just four games this month, sidelined earlier by an illness and now a lower-body injury of some kind after he left his last game limping. It’s been a struggle for Peña to stay healthy this season; he has just 77 at-bats. The 19-year-old has an .885 OPS.
How did Brewers No. 3 prospect Jett Williams fare this week?
Williams (No. 3) only collected three hits this week in five games, but they were all home runs, including two June 16. He also walked twice June 21 and stole two bases. Williams is down to a .702 OPS this year, but he has shown some power (nine homers). The 22-year-old looked like a surefire bet to get called up to Milwaukee at some point before the all-star break at one point this year, but the timeline is a little foggier at the moment.
How did Brewers No. 5 prospect Luis Lara fare this week?
It was a quiet week for the recent addition to the 40-man roster, with only three hits in five games (all singles). The 21-year-old center fielder still has an .873 OPS.
Brewers No. 6 prospect Andrew Fischer homered in his first Double-A at-bat
Promoted to Class AA Biloxi, of course Fischer homered in his first at-bat. It didn’t stop there.
Fischer homered again June 21 in the second game of a doubleheader. He recorded hits in all of his first four games at the level, including a double, and he’s carrying a 1.132 OPS across the two levels. The 22-year-old and first-round pick in last year’s draft has 22 homers this season.
How did Brewers No. 7 prospect Jeferson Quero fare this week?
The top catching prospect in the organization had a nice week, with nine hits in 21 at-bats, including a double, two homers and six RBIs. The 23-year-old has a .766 OPS at Class AAA Nashville, with a solid .349 on-base percentage. He has yielded 80 stolen bases this year and caught 18; he surrendered 52 with 11 caught in 2025 in 10 fewer innings.
How did Brewers No. 10 prospect Josh Adamczewski fare this week?
A promotion to Class AA Biloxi is no problem for the outfielder, who quickly racked up five hits in four games, including a double with three RBIs. The 21-year-old is up to a 1.014 OPS and is going to be regarded as one of the top 100 prospects in baseball as prospect lists continue to update.
How did Brewers No. 12 prospect Braylon Payne fare this week?
With Fischer and Adamczewski promoted last week to Class AA Biloxi, not to mention Luis Peña sidelined with a leg or hamstring issue, Payne has surged to the front of the Timber Rattlers prospect line. He collected eight hits in four games, with a double, triple and homer, driving in seven runs with three walks and two stolen bases. Still just 19 years old, the outfielder has a .989 OPS, with 13 homers, 13 steals and a .394 on-base percentage.
A Brewers name you might want to learn
Right-handed pitcher Josh Knoth (No. 21) delivered his longest outing of the year, clearing 4⅓ innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits June 17 for Wisconsin. The right-hander, bouncing back from an injury that cost him all of 2025, punched out seven batters and walked just one. The 20-year-old Knoth, the 33rd overall pick in the 2023 draft, has a 3.18 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP, with 27 strikeouts in 23 innings this year.
He may have fallen off prospect radar for some because of the injuries, but it’s been a slow-and-steady return to form this season.
Brewers minor-league highlights June 15-21, including three home runs in a game by Luke Adams
Brewers minor-league games June 15-21
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers minor-league report; Akil Baddoo injured during monster week
Reporting by JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
