After $1.9M Show of Faith, History Awaits Milwaukee Brewers With $80 Million Bet on Unproven 19YO Prospect

This offseason was expected to be historic due to a $500 million contract for Shohei Ohtani. Surprisingly another historic signing could be taking place already. The Milwaukee Brewers, one of the smaller market teams have offered the biggest contract ever to a young player. If the deal is completed, this could be a huge show of belief by the Brew Crew in this 19-year-old Venezuelan Slugger  Jackson Chuorio.

The Brewers are one of those teams that regularly bet on prospects with huge potential. They’ve to do it as they can’t possibly compete with the big teams when it comes to finances. Sometimes the Brew crew hits a jackpot like they did with Chuorio. Now they are hoping to seal their connection with this slugger at least for a few years.

The Brewers offer the biggest contract ever for a non-big-league player

Until now the biggest contract ever for a player with zero big-league experience was the $50 million guaranteed contract for 6 years that the Chicago White Sox gave to Luis Robert Jr. before the 2020 season. The Brew-Hahs may have just had the last laugh as they are on the brink of setting a new record this offseason. As Jon Heyman reported – They have offered an 8 guaranteed years deal for around $80 million to the Venezuelan slugger.

It also includes two team options. This is a huge increase from what they initially gave the 19-year-old in 2021. At that time, Chuorio was given a 1.8m bonus as the Brewers signed him out of Venezuela. Though they recognized his potential, they didn’t expect him to become so good so soon. He slashed an amazing .286/.386/.447 in his debut season in the Dominican Summer League.

Chourio has been even better as he has consistently grown from strength to strength.  In his 559 plate appearances in Double-A, he has slashed .280/.336/.467. Even though the slugger has played 6 games in triple-A, he has averaged .333 in that time. With numbers like these no wonder he is one of the top prospects in baseball currently.

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With this, the Brew Crew have continued their recent method of quickly extending the stay of young prospects they see high potential in. This can also open them up for other signings as Chourio would provide even more depth to their outfield.

The Brew Crew system of prospect extension

The Brewers have been following this method of extension since 2020 when they signed Freddy Peralta to a five-year $15.5 million contract. Since then they have signed young players like Aaron Ashby to strengthen their team through their great prospect collection.

This has helped the team immensely due to not being a traditionally big market. Their financial flexibility is not as high as others. This allows them to create a sustainable system.

With a historic moment already happening in this offseason, there might be more coming soon.

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