Jesus Made has baseball skills and a name straight from Heaven. He’s so good, he may just become the Milwaukee Brewers’ shortstop this year at age 19.
The Brewers lead the National League’s Central Division with a 30-14 record. They are doing it with decent defense but almost no offense from shortstop Joey Ortiz.
Meanwhile, Made (pronounced mah-DAY), is ranked by MLB.com and others as the No. 1 prospect in the game. He is doing it all for the Biloxi (MS) Shuckers of the Double-A Southern League. Shucks, the switch-hitter already has 31 RBI and 18 stolen bases in 40 games, batting .274 as the youngest player in the league.
The production brings comparisons to what current Brewers star Jackson Chourio did at age 19 at Biloxi in 2023. In 128 games, the outfielder hit .280 with 22 homers, 43 steals and 89 RBI.
Triple Made’s production this year and it comes to 120 games, .274, 15 homers, 54 steals and 93 RBI. He may not play long enough in Biloxi to accumulate those figures, however. A promotion to Triple-A and maybe Milwaukee beckons.
Chourio skipped Triple A, going from Mississippi to Milwaukee and batting .275 with 21 homers, 22 steals and 79 RBI as a 2024 rookie.
More than coincidentally, Made was Chourio’s locker neighbor in spring training. He told Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal in February that he studies everything Chourio does.
That may include the eight-year, $82 million contract extension the Venezuelan signed before he even made his MLB debut. That was in December 2023. A month later, the Brewers signed Made for $950,000 as a 16-year-old international free agent from the Dominican Republic.
Made surely noted Chourio wears No. 11. The kid wears No. 12.
A Work In Progress
Made immediately proved his worth, batting .331 with more walks than strikeouts in his first 51 pro games. The Brewers measured him making contact on 89% of his swings with a low 14.6% chase rate (swinging at pitches outside the strike zone).
Made is solidly built at 6-foot-1, 221 pounds. Scouts believe that as he learns how to pull a certain pitch or go the opposite way along with getting more lift, he should become a 25-to-30 homer hitter while maintaining his high contact rate.
Defense is where he needs to improve, though his natural agility and strong arm already make him a solid performer. He’s just not at Ortiz’s level yet and Brewers manager Pat Murphy emphasizes solid defense to support his pitching staff.
Mike Guerrero and Matt Erickson believe Made can be a defensive stalwart. Guerrero is in his ninth year as Biloxi manager and 28th season in the Brewers system as a skipper, third-base coach (Milwaukee, 2014-15) or minor-league infielder (1987-92, ’94-95). Erickson is Milwaukee’s third-base coach after more than 1,000 games in the minors and 4 for the Brewers as an infielder (1997-07)
“I think right now his offensive potential is higher than his defensive skills,” Guerrero told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com last year. “There is a lot of work to do on the defensive side, but when you look at the overall, he has the package to be a really impactful big league ballplayer.”
Erickson gave Rosiak his assessment in spring camp: “Very physical body that does not look stiff, is fluid and there’s some rhythm and mobility to it.”
Teen Phenoms At Short
The first Milwaukee Brewers player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame was drafted at age 17, an MLB regular at 18, all-star at 24 and American League MVP at 26 and 33.
Robin Yount played all 20 of his seasons in a Brewers uniform as a shortstop (1974-84) and center fielder (1985-93). The third overall pick in the 1973 Draft signed for $60,000 and played only 85 games in the minors, batting .285.
He also hit .285 in 2,856 MLB games, with 251 homers, 271 steals, 1,632 runs and 1,406 RBI. He hit .344 in 17 post-season games including .414 in his only World Series in 1982.
Alex Rodriguez debuted at short at age 18, was an all-star at 20 and MVP at 27, 29 and 31. The 14-time all-star won 10 silver slugger awards and two gold gloves.
The first overall pick in 1994 out of high school got $1 million to sign and hit .312 with 21 homers in 114 minor-league games before being called up in September that year by the Seattle Mariners. His .358 average won the 1996 AL batting title.
In 2,784 games with Seattle (1994-2000), the Texas Rangers (2001-03) and New York Yankees (2004-16 but suspended all of 2014 for steroid use), ARod hit .295 with 696 homers, 329 steals, 2,021 runs and 2,086 RBI. He had 13 homers in 76 post-season games.
The Florida Marlins signed Edgar Renteria for $16,000 at 16 in 1992. He hit .309 for them at 19 as a rookie. In 16 seasons for seven teams, the five-time all-star hit .286 with 294 steals, 1,200 runs, two gold gloves and three silver slugger awards.
Renteria singled home the winning run with two outs in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series to give the Marlins a walk-off win over the Cleveland Indians. Overall in 66 post-season games, he had 61 hits and37 runs and 23 RBI.
Hall of Fame shortstop Travis Jackson joined the New York Giants at age 18 in 1992. He played all 1,656 of his MLB games over 16 years for them, batting .291. He had 139 homers, 929 RBI – good numbers in that era.
Then there is Ralph Gagliano. He made his MLB debut at age 18 for the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 21, 1965. If you blinked, you missed it.
Gagliano pinch-ran for Larry Brown. Pinch-hitter Richie Scheinblum promptly hit a ground ball to second, forcing out Gagliano. That was the extent of his MLB career.
Gagliano hit .226 at Class A Dubuque in 1965, then .244 at Reno in ’66 and was drafted into the military in 1967. He served three years in the Vietnam War and returned to Reno in 1970, hitting .275. After 29 games at Jacksonville in 1971, he retired at age 24 with a .245 average and 13 homers in 311 minor-league games.
Jesus Made’s Future With Milwaukee Brewers
Brewers executives insist they will be prudently patient with the precocious prospect. Made himself and how the 2026 season unfolds may hasten the process.
Rookie shortstops Kevin McGonigle, 21, and Konnor Griffin, 20, made their debuts this spring and have supplied a spark for the Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates, respectively. Made is in their class.
If Made becomes a steady defender, sacrificing his penchant for showing off his arm in favor of making more accurate throws, he would appear ready to help.
If the Brewers need more offense to win the NL Central and advance in the playoffs, calling up the switch-hitter would be enticing. Unless Ortiz (.194 in 41 games thus far) starts hitting, Made’s potential impact may be too much to ignore.
Made is acknowledged by several sources as MLB’s top prospect, slightly ahead of the Athletics’ 19-year-old shortstop wonder Leo De Vries. The Milwaukee Brewers want to be sure he is ready when called upon. To them, being an integral part of the team for many seasons is more important. For now.
