Less than one week after he turned 19 years old, Milwaukee Brewers Class AA shortstop Jesús Made is now the No. 1 prospect in baseball, elevated to the perch by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline on May 13.
The matter was somewhat one of math by both prospect lists, with Pittsburgh Pirates 20-year-old shortstop Konnor Griffin achieving enough big-league experience to “graduate” from the rankings and leave Made as the top player on both lists.
Made has been slumping at Class AA Biloxi, results-wise, with just a .464 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in May, but he still has a .740 OPS overall this season in a pitcher-friendly league, with three home runs and 15 stolen bases.
The switch hitting 6-foot-1, 221-pounder from the Dominican Republic wasn’t even the top-rated signing in the Brewers’ 2024 international signing class; that honor belonged to Jorge Quintana, a prospect since traded to San Diego in the 2025 acquisition of Brandon Lockridge.
It’s the same class in which the Brewers signed Luis Peña, the unquestioned No. 2 prospect in the organization today at 19 years old, although he hasn’t played for Class A Wisconsin since a scary incident when he was taken from the field in an ambulance April 22.
Considering that Jackson Chourio briefly became the No. 1 prospect in baseball before reaching the big leagues at 20 years old in 2023, the Brewers have gotten some considerable returns from their commitment to international scouting, including the opening of a state-of-the-art academy in the Dominican Republic in early 2024. Outfielder Luis Lara, 21, is No. 96 in Pipeline’s top 100 and also is knocking down the door of a big-league spot with his performance at Class AAA Nashville; he was signed out of Venezuela by the Brewers in 2022.
Made was invited to big-league camp by the Brewers during 2026 spring training and has achieved elite status among prospect evaluators for his well-rounded body of work. After his promotion from Class A Carolina (now Wilson) last year, his numbers only increased with the Advanced Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, to the tune of a .915 OPS in 27 games. That earned him a brief visit to Biloxi last year and the aggressive decision to keep him there at the start of 2026.
Both prospect lists consider a player graduated once he reaches 130 big-league at-bats. Griffin, just less than one year older than Made, now has 133 with the Pirates. He has a .702 OPS, with three homers, five doubles and three triples and nine stolen bases thus far with Pittsburgh.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Brewers teenager Jesús Made is now No. 1 prospect in baseball
Reporting by JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
