This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy's Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Owen Miller was getting ready to play in the Puerto Rican Winter League on Wednesday when one of his baseball dreams was fulfilled.

He had been traded to the Brewers, his hometown team.

“I loved going to games when I was little with my grandma and grandpa,” Miller said. “It’s a dream come true.”

The Brewers are sending a player to be named or cash to the Guardians for Miller, who grew up in Fredonia, Wis., and played football, basketball and baseball at Ozaukee High School before heading off to college at Illinois State and then joining the professional ranks as the Padres’ third-round pick in 2018. He was subsequently traded to Cleveland and now to Milwaukee. When Miller makes his Brewers debut, he’ll become the franchise’s 11th Wisconsin-born player. (The Brewers originally listed another, but River Falls' J.P. Feyereisen, though raised in Wisconsin, was technically born at a hospital across the border in Stillwater, Minn., so the team amended its records.)

Miller, an infielder, says he was a huge Brewers fan throughout high school and college, and he recalled attending Game 1 of the 2011 National League Division Series. Miller named two favorite players from that team: Ryan Braun and Nyjer Morgan (along with the outspoken outfielder’s many alter egos).

“I always envisioned playing at Miller Park -- now American Family Field,” said Miller, who hit .243/.301/.351 in 130 games with Cleveland in 2022. “To be able to say I’m part of that organization now is special.”

Miller still lives with his parents when he comes home during the offseason, and he works out in Mequon, Wis., with a group that includes his younger brother, Noah, who plays in the Twins organization. He occasionally bumps into Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux, a Kenosha-area native, and Mariners outfielder Jarred Kelenic, a Waukesha, Wis., native.

The Brewers are likely to move Miller all over the diamond. He made most of his starts for Cleveland at first base last season, but he grew up a shortstop and said second base was his most comfortable position (just ahead of first base and third). Is he ready for the pressures that come with playing at home?

“It’s definitely going to be a learning step for me and understanding how to focus on the proper things,” Miller said. “I think the best thing is that we have a head coach in Craig Counsell [born in South Bend, Ind., but raised in the Milwaukee area] who has done this before. He was a hometown guy. I will have to bounce a lot of questions off of him and talk to him and get a lot of advice from Craig.

“That being said, it’s a dream come true to play for the team you grew up rooting for. I specifically remember David Freese playing for the Cardinals all those years and going deep into the playoffs and winning the World Series for them, and how much that meant to him. I always remember thinking, like, 'If I can play for the Brewers someday like that, that’s pretty special.'”

With baseball booming in Wisconsin, it seems that more and more ballplayers are positioning themselves for this opportunity. Besides the Miller brothers, Lux and Kelenic, Marshfield’s Daulton Varsho is coming off a 27-homer season for the D-backs. Kelenic became the highest Draft pick in Wisconsin’s history when the Mets took him sixth overall in 2018. Lux went 20th overall to the Dodgers in '16. And Noah Miller went 36th overall to the Twins in '21.

“It was definitely a big narrative, when I was in high school, that you were only a good ballplayer if you were from the southern states, California or Texas or Florida,” Owen Miller said. “The last six, seven years, it’s been cool to see how many guys have come out of programs like Hitters [a travel team based in Racine, Wis.]. A lot of that is the facilities that have been opening in Wisconsin and kids dedicating more time in the winter to get better and working on their game. …

“It’s really cool to see a lot of us doing well. If you’re from Wisconsin, you have that connection. I think it gives a lot of younger guys hope, it gives them a dream, something to look forward to and work hard for.”