When the Brewers traded Corbin Burnes to the Orioles in 2024, they received infielder Joey Ortiz and pitcher DL Hall back from Baltimore, but the one piece to the trade that often goes overlooked, is that the Brewers also received a draft choice from the O’s.
That pick was Baltimore’s competitive balance pick at the end of the first round, which the Brewers then used to select first baseman Blake Burke with the 24th overall choice that same summer.
A power bat in the middle of the Tennessee Volunteers lineup, Burke tied a school record for home runs in a season by a freshman, slugging 14 in 2022. Two years later, he strung together a 31-game hitting streak and was named the Most Valuable Player of the SEC tournament, helping the Vols to a College World Series title.
Burke signed with the Brewers for a slightly below-slot deal, reported to be worth $2.1 million and jumped right into the fire, skipping several levels to make his pro debut at Class-A Wisconsin in August.
Unfortunately for Burke, his first season would come to a quick conclusion, as he appeared in just five games with the Timber Rattlers before suffering an injury that would end his year after just 16 at-bats.
The Brewers opted to have Burke return to Wisconsin to begin the 2025 season, where he showed, in a more extended look, that he could handle Midwest League pitching. Over 95 games with the T-Rats, Burke hit .289, but the power numbers weren’t really what some had hoped. Only 28 of his 101 hits with the Timber Rattlers went for extra bases, and he homered just twice in April, once in May and twice in June before getting shut out for the entire month of July.
What Burke had going for him however, is that he was more than just simply a power hitter. Throughout his young career, he has displayed a knack for putting the bat on the ball, and so even when the home runs weren’t coming, he was still finding ways to contribute.
After four months in Wisconsin, the Brewers bumped Burke up to Biloxi in early August, and all of a sudden, something clicked. Making a conscious effort to elevate the ball, Burke started driving the ball out of the yard, in a league that is normally known to be more pitcher-friendly.
He homered seven times for the Shuckers in the month of August and finished on a high note, blasting 11 bombs for Biloxi in just 37 games there, finally unleashing the power that many scouts knew he had inside.
Though he sometimes gets labeled as unathletic at first glance, when you watch Burke in action, that’s simply not the case. He moves well around the bag at first, where he is a solid defender, and is a sneaky baserunner, logging 20 career stolen bases, including 15 last season.
That base running prowess was on full display this spring during Milwaukee’s second of two Spring Breakout games, when he stole three bases against the A’s, including twice swiping third base.
But the thunder at the plate is ultimately going to be Burke’s calling card, and if early 2026 results are any indication, he is well on his way to proving he can provide enough slug to make a run at the Brewers first base job in the coming years.
Through 12 games at Biloxi to begin this season, Burke has posted an OPS of .976, and he really opened some eyes when he cranked out six home runs through the team’s first six games, including a pair of two-homer games.
That start caught the eyes of not just the Brewers, but those throughout baseball, as Burke was recently added to MLB Pipeline’s list of Top Ten First Base Prospects in the game.
With injuries piling up in Nashville, it might not be long before Burke gets to make his way back to Tennessee, and with the kind of thump he brings to the left-handed batter’s box, Blake Burke just might wind up being the biggest part of the Corbin Burnes deal when all is said and done.
• With Christian Yelich landing on the injured list recently, the Brewers are getting thin in the outfield, and they made a call to Nashville on Tuesday, adding Greg Jones to their 40-man roster and promoting him to Milwaukee.
Jones, who had a couple of previous short stints in the big leagues with the Rockies in 2024 and the White Sox in 2025, signed with the Brewers in the offseason as a free agent, and had gotten off to a hot start at AAA Nashville. Through his first 13 games with the Sounds, Jones was hitting .317 and was reaching base at a .462 clip. The speedster stole seven bags as well, and he made his Brewers debut on Thursday afternoon, going 1-for-2.
• Another former Sounds player who could soon be joining Jones in Milwaukee is right-handed pitcher Coleman Crow. Currently ranked as the Brewers number 27 prospect, Crow was scratched from his start in Nashville last night, and with Kyle Harrison’s next start up in the air, there has been some speculation that Crow could be getting the call to make that start.
Acquired from the Mets via trade in December of 2023, Crow has battled injured has started his Triple-A season with a 2-0 record and a 4.02 ERA, striking out 18 batters over 15.2 innings in his first three outings of 2026.
• Coming off of two straight wins over the Blue Jays, the Brewers travel to Florida tonight to open up a three-game series with the Marlins. Old friend Janson Junk gets the start for Miami, while Milwaukee’s starter is still TBD. After getting off to a solid start to the year, the Marlins have dropped two in a row and are just 3-7 in their last ten contests, but still remain in second place in the NL East, with a 9-19 record.
After a day off on Monday, the Brewers’ road trip continues on Tuesday with a stop in Detroit, for a three-game set against the Tigers. Detroit is currently in the midst of a six-game winning streak, and are currently in third place in the American League Central, with a record of 10-9.
• The Brewers got another potential big league arm back in the mix last night in Nashville, with Thomas Pannone making his season debut for the Sounds. Pannone, who had been out since March of last season with a torn flexor tendon in his left forearm, made one relief appearance for Milwaukee in 2023. The left-hander worked three scoreless innings in his 2026 debut, scattering three hits while striking out one batter.
• Another lefty on the rise is Biloxi southpaw Mark Manfredi, who has excelled out of the bullpen for the Shuckers, putting up big strikeout numbers. Through his first five scoreless relief appearances, Manfredi has allowed just one hit, striking out 13 batters over six innings of work.
A ninth-round draft pick in 2023, Manfredi also spent last season at Biloxi, and pitched well, going 3-2 with a 3.30 ERA in 44 appearances. He held opposing batters to a .184 average and has been even better this year, with an .056 average against him and a WHIP of 0.67, and is making a strong case for a bump to Triple-A Nashville in the near future.
• In Wisconsin, outfielder Josh Adamczewski has been heating up, belting three home runs in the past week. Adamczewski, who is currently ranked as Milwaukee’s #11 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, homered in both games of a doubleheader on Wednesday, and is sporting an OPS of 1.066 through his first eight games to start the 2026 season.
• The Brewers added a couple of more Minor League arms to the mix in the past week, signing former San Diego Padres right-hander Reiss Knehr, and acquiring right-handed pitcher Junior Fernandez from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for cash.
Eduardo Garcia also returned to action, joining Biloxi’s roster, while utility-man Jheremy Vargas moved up from Biloxi to Nashville, and Tayden Hall made the jump from Wisconsin to the Shuckers.
• At Triple-A Nashville, the Sounds are currently in the middle of a six-game series against Worcester (Red Sox), with last night’s contest suspended by rain in the top of the fourth in a scoreless tie. The Sounds took the first two games of the series and currently sit at 8-8 on the season. They’ll head to Charlotte next week to take on the White Sox Triple-A squad.
• In Biloxi, the Double-A Shuckers have dropped their last two games, and currently sit a game back in the Southern League South with a 6-6 record. They’ve got three more games in Columbus (Braves), then return home next Tuesday for six games against the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels).
• The Timber Rattlers swept a doubleheader against Peoria (Cardinals) on Wednesday, before a lopsided loss on Thursday night, and they currently hold a 7-4 record, which leaves them a game back of the South Bend Cubs, who have played two fewer games. The T-Rats head east next week, traveling to Fort Wayne, starting a six-game series against the Tin Caps (Padres) next Tuesday night.
• The struggles continue for the Wilson Warbirds, who have dropped their last two, and are now just 4-8 on the season. The Warbirds offense has scored the fewest runs in the Carolina League, but will look to get things going with three more home games this weekend, before they go back on the road for six games against the Delmarva Shorebirds (Orioles) next week.
• Hopefully this is the last one of these we have to write for a while, but for the second straight week, a former Milwaukee Brewers Manager passed away, as it was announced on Sunday that Phil Garner died at the age of 76. Garner, who was nicknamed “Scrap Iron”, took over as Manager of the Brewers in 1992, and led the team to a 92-70 record in his first season at the helm. He wound up managing for eight seasons in Milwaukee, and finished with 563 career wins, which was the most in team history until that number was surpassed a few seasons ago.