PHOENIX -- As former Brewers general manager Doug Melvin used to say, if you have a uniform, you have a chance. Corey Ray has a uniform, but the likeliest scenario has the 24-year-old outfielder beginning the 2019 regular season at Triple-A San Antonio -- and that doesn’t disappoint Ray one bit.

“That’s going to be a good team,” Ray said. “I think we will continue to grow.”

A really good team, at least in terms of prospects. Barring an avalanche of injuries at the big league level, at least six of the top nine players on MLB Pipeline’s list of the top Brewers prospects are ticketed for Triple-A, including top-rated prospect Keston Hiura and No. 2-ranked Ray.

Assignments won’t be finalized until much closer to Opening Day, of course. But here is a tentative look at some of the players likely to help the Brewers begin their affiliation with the San Antonio Missions, including their MLB Pipeline rank in parentheses:

Infielders: Second baseman Hiura (No. 1), third baseman Lucas Erceg (4), shortstop Mauricio Dubon (7)

Outfielders: Ray (2), Troy Stokes Jr. (15) plus unranked Tyrone Taylor, a former top-10 Brewers prospect who is still just 25 and coming off a big season

Catcher: Jacob Nottingham (9), who could also play some first base

Pitchers: Zack Brown (8), Adrian Houser (16) and Bubba Derby, a recent member of the Top 30, plus the potential for the likes of former top pitching prospects Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta. Members of the latter trio are all in the mix for the Major League rotation first, but have options and could see Triple-A time at some point. Ditto former top 30 prospect Taylor Williams, one of the Brewers’ bullpen candidates who has an option remaining.

“Whatever they don’t keep here, I’ll gladly take there,” said Missions manager Rick Sweet.

There are also pitchers Marcos Diplan (12) and Trey Supak (13), who finished last season at Double-A Biloxi. It depends on whether the Brewers send them back to Biloxi to begin this season or advance them a level at the start of the year. Either way, both figure to feature in San Antonio at some point.

The only position to be determined is first base. Eventually, that position could be filled by Jake Gatewood, Milwaukee’s 10th-ranked prospect, but he will miss the start of the year while recovering from ACL surgery.

The Triple-A roster is also likely to include Nate Orf, the versatile defender who made his Major League debut last season. At 29 years old, he would be a grizzled veteran.

“Last year, I had older guys. I’m going to have a very young club,” Sweet said. “That’s always fun. Older guys are a little more high maintenance. They are. They’re a little more work. You’d think it would be the other way around, but it’s not. Older guys are a little more maintenance because they have been to the big leagues before and they want to get back. Every day. When we do send one guy up, I have to go talk to three other guys.”

And younger players?

“It’s, 'Hey, let’s go.' They just want to play,” Sweet said. “Now, halfway through the year, it will be different. Now they’re veterans, and now they want it all.”

Sweet said the Brewers’ front office is “awesome” about communicating its thinking to Sweet and in turn to the players. He used an example from two years ago, when the Brewers called up Brett Phillips over then-No. 1 prospect Lewis Brinson because they were facing a series of right-handed starting pitchers. Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns made sure that Sweet immediately explained the thinking to Brinson.

It fits a mantra of Brewers manager Craig Counsell: connectedness.

“That’s the word,” Sweet said. “And connection is communication.”

“It’s just easy communication [with Sweet],” Counsell said. “We’ve had a pretty significant amount of movement -- I’m not sure how it compares to the rest of the league, but it feels like pretty significant movement -- so it's important that Rick understands what we’re telling players and vice versa. And they’ve had a lot of success there, too, with all that going on. It looks like they’ll have a younger group this year, which will be a little different. But it’s a good group.

“It’s a difficult level. It’s a frustrating level for players, often, because they’re so close.”

Sweet visited San Antonio three times during the offseason, most recently alongside Brewers farm director Tim Flanagan about two weeks ago when he was formally introduced as manager. The Missions, Milwaukee’s new top affiliate after four years in Colorado Springs, are investing $1 million for clubhouse renovations and a new batting cage.

“I think it will be fine,” Sweet said. “The field looked good. The weather is going to be 100 times better. No altitude. Back to just normal baseball.”