Highlighting top Brewers prospects for '09

We are breaking down the top five prospects for each organization for 2009, taking into consideration: games, at-bats, innings and major-league service time. We expect these players to have rookie status remaining heading into next year.

According to MLB rules: "A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the major leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a major league club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list)."

Note: Statistics are those at each stop in the minors this season and age represents how old they will be on opening day 2009.

Milwaukee Brewers

It is remarkable the Brewers have the firepower to pull off the major CC Sabathia coup before the trade deadline and still have a slew of elite talents on the verge of making big splashes in the majors. This is a really good farm system, even if it is a bit short on major league ready starting pitching. As good as their Double-A stars were, they have a new wave making names for themselves in low Class A, too.

1. 3B Mat Gamel, 23

Gamel looked like the minor league player of the year for the first half of the season, flirting with the high .300s and mashing in front of Matt LaPorta. As we expected, though, the loss of LaPorta led to a decline of Gamel in the second half. Despite that, this is a very good hitter who will be a productive big leaguer. The question is whether the butcher can stay at third base. He will work hard on it and if he can improve defensively, he will be an impact Fantasy player in 2009.

2. C Angel Salome, 22

NL ROY Geovany Soto is now the model to which all young slugging catchers will be compared and Salome looks like a future top 10 Fantasy catcher. Veteran Jason Kendall is old and bound to break down soon, so we could see Salome surprise this year. The problem with young catchers is they often need some time to learn the majors and handling the game, before they can truly be relied upon offensively. Watch Salome closely in the minors in the first half, especially if Kendall is struggling or needs a DL stint.

3. SP Jeremy Jeffress, 21

The Brewers stand to lose two veteran aces to free agency this winter, so Jeffress could be a candidate to rush along to the major leagues. We don't think he is ready, but when a talent this intriguing has a slight opening, you have to take notice. Jeffress is young with mid-90s heat, so watch him for a Johnny Cueto-like spring rise to prominence in deeper leagues.

4. SS Alcides Escobar, 22

The fact a talent we consider to be a young Edgar Renteria is this low on this list says a lot about the Brewers' elite prospects. It certainly is no knock on Escobar. Escobar hasn't yet developed great pop, but it could come. If it does, look out Hanley Ramirez-style. J.J. Hardy is plenty good as a regular in Milwaukee right now, but Escobar could force his way to the majors in 2009 at second or third base, certainly. Long term, he has to play shortstop, though, because he is so smooth defensively, according to Baseball America.

5. 3B Taylor Green, 22

The Sabathia trade was costly enough, losing Matt LaPorta, but Green was also one of the potential players to be named later. Outfielder Michael Brantley wound up taking that spot, so the Brewers get to keep a really good long-term third baseman in Green. He is more likely to stick at the position than Gamel at this point, but he is a year or two away from making a real impact in the majors or Fantasy.

Best of the rest: 1B Brad Nelson, OF Cole Gillespie, OF Lorenzo Cain, SP Efrain Nieves, SP Wily Peralta, OF Erik Komatsu, C Jonathan Lucroy, OF Caleb Gindl, C Brett Lawrie, SS Brent Brewer, 2B Hernan Iribarren, OF Steve Chapman, OF Darren Ford, SP David Welch, SP Zach Braddock, SP Jake Odorizzi, SP Evan Frederickson, SP Seth Lintz, SP Steve Hammond, OF Cutter Dykstra, OF Charlie Fermaint, 1B Chris Errecart, OF Brendan Katin, SP Chris Cody, SP Josh Butler, OF Logan Schafer, OF Josh Romanski, Maverick Lasker, RP Mark DeFelice, SP Mark Rogers, RP Luis Pena, SP R.J. Seidel, SP Cody Scarpetta, P Nick Tyson, SP Alexandre Periard, OF Lee Haydel, 2B Eric Farris, RP Jeff Housman and RP Tim Dillard.

2008 rookies to exhaust eligibility: RP Mitch Stetter.

Last year's top five here: SP Manny Parra (shouldn't have been eligible), OF LaPorta (traded to CLE for C.C. Sabathia), SP Jeffress, OF Chapman and 3B Gamel.

You can e-mail Emack your Fantasy Baseball prospect questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Brewers prospects in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses to all questions.