Brewers' No. 6 prospect Payne puts focus on improving contact in Fall League
This browser does not support the video element.
When Braylon Payne arrived at the Brewers' Double-A affiliate on Aug. 14 through to the end of the season, the Biloxi Shuckers may as well have been a Minor League All-Star team. Among those to roll through the Southern League club in 2026 were three Top 100 prospects (Jesús Made, Luis Peña, Josh Adamczewski), the Minor League Hitting Prospect of the Year (Andrew Fischer) and two of the farm system’s top three pitching prospects (Bishop Letson, Josh Knoth). That doesn’t count the formerly promoted stars like Blake Burke, who flirted with a 30-30 season in Biloxi, or unranked standouts like Dylan O’Rae, who led the loop with 63 steals.
To be surrounded by so much talent -- a highlight even in a system as deep as Milwaukee’s -- was a clarifying moment for the 2024 17th overall pick, who could have otherwise carried the burden of needing to match his Draft status with his production.
“Once we all figured out that we're all great players here, basically everyone on the team, it's like we can play easier and just be ourselves out there,” Payne said.
The Brewers’ No. 6 prospect now finds himself on another loaded squad with the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League, where being himself could make him one of the toolsiest talents on the showcase circuit.
Just look at the raw numbers. Payne hit a career-high 28 homers and stole 25 bags in 102 games between Biloxi and High-A Wisconsin. That made him one of only three 25-25 players in the Minors this year. Considering this was his age-19 season, there have been only three Minor Leaguers younger than Payne to have gone 25-25 in a year since 1946: Adrian Beltré (1997), Andruw Jones (1995) and José Cardenal (1961).
The tools are there to match the numbers. Payne has hit the ball hard over his first two full seasons in pro ball -- he hit one Southern League postseason homer at 117 mph on Sept. 17 -- but he upped his flyball rate from 33.3 percent in 2025 to 41.1 percent in ‘26. Essentially by elevating better, he gave his rockets an improved shot at clearing the fence. His plus-plus wheels have also been an asset on the basepaths and in center field, where he made all of his 100 defensive starts this summer.
The only place where Payne is truly lacking is in his hit tool. His contact rate was just 67 percent over his two stops in 2026, and with his front foot often drifting away from the plate in his tall left-handed stance, he was too often susceptible to missing pitches on the outer third of the plate or beyond. While other center fielders can be slap-and-dash-contact types, Payne played the part of a more traditional slugger (albeit with more speed) this year, but he doesn’t plan to keep it that way in Arizona.
“Having the ability to hit the ball hard and play that position I do, I think it's very important that I keep working on my contact ability and be able to get in counts and lay off of certain pitches,” he said. “That’s going to be my biggest thing moving forward.”
Considering Payne was only 17 on Draft Day, the Brewers haven’t been in a rush to accelerate the Texas native’s timeline. Instead, they can let him marinate in the exposure that comes with playing for loaded club after loaded club and adding skills as he goes along.
“Sharpening all my tools and refining everything, that's what I'm here for,” Payne said.
Brewers hitters in the Fall League
Jett Williams, 3B/SS/OF (No. 10): Williams was a Top 100 prospect when the Brewers acquired him from the Mets, but he dropped from that status after playing only 81 games for Triple-A Nashville due to multiple issues with his right wrist that caused him to miss much of July, August and September. He hit .233/.340/.384 with nine homers, 21 steals and a 96 wRC+ in that time, displaying not quite as much impact as would have been hoped for someone knocking on the door of the bigs. Williams also slid over to third base to find a better fit with Milwaukee, and if that sticks, he’ll need to flash more in-game pop from the corner position.
Eric Bitonti, 1B/3B (No. 26): From the opposite view, Bitonti has plenty of slugging ability to play with from the corner of the dirt, having gone deep a career-high 25 times this season between Wisconsin and Biloxi. The 6-foot-5 left-handed slugger trades a ton of bat-to-ball to get to that pop, however, and his contact rate still hasn’t climbed above 66 percent in any of his three full Minor League seasons. Bitonti will still take his walks, and after looking like he might have to slide over to first base full time, he returned to the hot corner late in ‘26 with the Brewers impressed by how he moved back.
Matthew Wood, C: Wood may have been a bit overshadowed by bigger names on a loaded Biloxi roster this season, but his performance was up there among the Shuckers’ best. The lefty slugger rarely expanded the zone and made a good amount of contact when he did swing, leading to a 52/71 K/BB ratio and a .398 OBP over 95 games. The Brewers also improved the quality of his angles off the bat, enabling him to hit a career-high 18 homers. He was left unprotected when eligible in last year’s Rule 5 Draft but could strengthen his 40-man case by carrying his momentum to the Scottsdale roster.
Brewers pitchers in the Fall League
Ryan Birchard, RHP: Milwaukee moved the 2023 fifth-rounder to the bullpen this season, and Birchard very much looked like a high-variance relief prospect. His mid-90s fastball gets elite cut-ride action out of his over-the-top delivery, making it play like a plus-plus pitch with the bad misses it can generate. As such, Birchard struck out 35.2 percent of the Southern League batters he faced in ‘26. But some of his misses were so rough that batters didn’t expand the zone enough either, leading to a 24.5 percent walk rate. Birchard -- who also threw a slider/cutter, a changeup and a curveball in his Fall League debut on Sunday -- finished with a 4.68 ERA over 50 regular-season innings.
Jose Meneses, LHP: Another pure reliever, Meneses has been a typical sinker-slider lefty, albeit one with extreme ground-ball tendencies; 58.2 percent of his batted balls were on the ground over 57 innings between Single-A Wilson and High-A Wisconsin this season -- the highest ground-ball rate in the organization (min. 50 IP). The 21-year-old southpaw, who sits in the mid-90s with his heater, posted a 2.21 ERA and a .162 average-against across his two MiLB stops before his move to Scottsdale.
Miqueas Mercedes, RHP: Mercedes was a $50,000 signing out of the Dominican Republic in March 2024, and less than three years later, he’s already getting a look on a big stage for prospects. The 6-foot-3 right-hander sported a 2.61 ERA and struck out 75 in 79⅓ innings between Single-A and High-A this season while using a four-seamer/sinker/slider/changeup mix, but control is an issue. He walked 14.5 percent of his batters faced and issued three passes in just 1⅔ innings for Scottsdale on Sunday.
Peyton Niksch, RHP: The Brewers signed Niksch as an undrafted free agent out of Indiana’s Kankakee Community College last July, and he’s moved quickly up from Single-A to Double-A in his first full season, finishing with a 4.46 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 66⅔ innings of mostly relief. The 22-year-old righty works east-west with a sinker and a changeup that get a good amount of armside run and a slider that gets notable sweep the other way.
Joshua Quezada, RHP: Quezada got late one-outing cameos with Biloxi and Triple-A Nashville to become the rare pitcher to appear at all four full-season levels in one campaign. The 22-year-old righty had a 5.16 ERA with 77 strikeouts in 61 innings across the four affiliates, while relying heavily on a low-80s slider that posted a 40 percent whiff rate (per Synergy).