HOUSTON -- As Brewers officials continue to ponder whether and when to call up some of the top prospects performing at Triple-A Nashville, reliever Rob Zastryzny joined the big league club from the injured list on Sunday bearing a glowing report from his time with that club.
“Top to bottom,” said Zastrzyny, “that’s one of the best Triple-A teams I’ve ever seen.”
And he’s seen a lot. The 34-year-old left-hander has logged Triple-A time in parts of 10 seasons for eight different organizations during his 13-year pro career.
The Sounds were 34-22 under manager Rick Sweet going into their series finale against Gwinnett on Sunday, coming off an 8-3 win on Saturday in which the team’s three most prominent prospects -- third baseman Jett Williams (Brewers No. 3 prospect, overall No. 59 per MLB Pipeline, shortstop Cooper Pratt (Brewers No. 4, overall No. 65) and center fielder Luis Lara (Brewers No. 5, overall No. 93) -- combined to reach safely eight times and scored once apiece.
Pratt, the only one of the three who is on Milwaukee’s 40-man roster by virtue of signing an eight-year, $50.75 million contract in April, led the way with two hits to extend his hitting streak to six games. He went into the final day of May with an .812 OPS for the month and has a .364 on-base percentage on the season.
“I’ve only seen him absolutely mashing,” Zastryzny said. “And he’s a really good shortstop.”
Lara, who originally signed with the Brewers as part of the 2022 international class, has taken a quantum leap this season and has a 1.002 OPS in May.
“I haven’t seen him play before this year, but he’s one of the toughest outs I’ve ever seen in Triple-A,” Zastryzny said. “He works the count, and even if you get him out, it’s going to take you six pitches, or it’s going to take a barrel to the warning track or something.”
And Williams, despite a quiet past week or so, has a .782 OPS in May and a .350 on-base percentage for the season. The Brewers acquired him from the Mets with starter Brandon Sproat in the Freddy Peralta trade.
The Brewers have been content thus far to keep all three in the Minors for myriad reasons, including the benefits to their development, roster considerations and a reluctance to disrupt the continuity of the Major League club, which was 18-7 in May going into Jacob Misiorowski’s start in Houston on Sunday.
Were the Brewers to call up Pratt, Williams or Lara at some point, it would almost certainly be with the intention to play them regularly. And the big league Brewers do happen to have room for improvement at those positions. Milwaukee is below average in Baseball Reference wins above replacement at shortstop (-0.3 bWAR), third base (-0.9 bWAR) and right field (-1.1 bWAR), even though shortstop Joey Ortiz and Sal Frelick, though struggling to produce at the plate, provide elite defense.
Ortiz went into Sunday with a .516 OPS. Third baseman Luis Rengifo, Milwaukee’s most notable free-agent pickup last offseason, had a .519 OPS. Backup outfielder Blake Perkins was at .329. Infielder David Hamilton was at .584. Frelick was at .588, but he has a history of production with the Brewers, coming off 2.2 bWAR in 2024 and 2.9 bWAR in ‘25.
The decision of when or whether to make any additions is above the pay grade of Zastryzny, who is set for his MLB season debut after missing the start of the season with shoulder and rib cage injuries. He didn’t touch that topic on Sunday. But he knows that the Brewers have some players in Nashville who are doing their part.
“You can look up and down that lineup, and there’s guys who belong in the big leagues everywhere,” Zastryzny said.