The World Series opens tonight with the two best regular-season clubs on the field, but the prospect-history ledger leans sharply toward Milwaukee. The Brewers and Rays bring 20 former Top 100 prospects into the matchup, with Milwaukee accounting for 16 of them and Tampa Bay four. Game 1 is set for 8 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX One, and the Brewers will be chasing the first championship in franchise history.
The total is one higher than last year’s World Series count, though it remains below the high-water mark of 26 former Top 100 players in 2024. Prospect alumni have been tracked in the Fall Classic since 2017, and this October’s group is headed by Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio and Rays infielder Junior Caminero, each of whom reached No. 2 on a Top 100 list before graduating from prospect eligibility.
Chourio signed out of Venezuela as a shortstop for $1.8 million in January 2021, then quickly turned himself into one of the game’s loudest young outfield talents. His 2023 Minor League line included 22 homers and 44 steals, making him the fifth teenager since 1958 to post a 20-homer, 40-steal season in the Minors. Milwaukee committed eight years and $82 million to him in December before he had accumulated Major League service time, a record deal for a player in that position.
Caminero began his career with Cleveland after signing in July 2019 and arrived in the Rays organization in a November 2021 trade. At 19 in 2023, he mashed 31 home runs between High-A and Double-A, tied for sixth among Minor Leaguers, while his .591 slugging percentage ranked fifth among full-season qualifiers. Tampa Bay called him up that September and carried him on its postseason roster.
The prospect trail on each World Series roster
| Player | Club | Best Top 100 rank | Prospect background |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackson Chourio, OF | Brewers | No. 2, pre-2024 | Signed by Milwaukee from Venezuela in January 2021 after beginning as an amateur shortstop. |
| Junior Caminero, 3B/2B | Rays | No. 2, mid-2024 | Signed by Cleveland in July 2019 and traded to Tampa Bay in November 2021. |
| Christian Yelich, OF | Brewers | No. 10, mid-2013 | Miami selected him 23rd overall in the 2010 Draft. He entered 2013 carrying a .322/.395/.497 career Minor League batting line, with the polished approach and all-fields power scouts expected from a premier prep bat. |
| Andrew Vaughn, 1B/OF | Brewers | No. 14, pre-2021 | The White Sox took him third overall in 2019 after his standout California career, which included the 2018 Golden Spikes Award. |
| Steven Matz, LHP | Rays | No. 15, pre-2016 | The Mets drafted the Long Island left-hander 72nd overall in 2009. Arm issues delayed his pro debut until 2012, but he reached New York’s 2015 postseason rotation and made three playoff starts. |
| Sal Frelick, OF | Brewers | No. 22, mid-2023 | Milwaukee made the Boston College hitter the 15th selection in 2021. He hit .359 with a 1.002 OPS as a junior and climbed from High-A to Triple-A in his first full professional season. |
| Kyle Harrison, LHP | Brewers | No. 23, pre-2024 | San Francisco selected him 85th overall in 2020 but paid $2,497,500 after signability questions pushed the prep left-hander down the board. He debuted 10 days after his 22nd birthday. |
| Dustin May, RHP | Brewers | No. 25, mid-2020 | The Dodgers drafted him 101st overall in 2016 and signed him for an above-slot $997,500 after his high-spin showing at the 2015 World Wood Bat Association championships. He reached the Majors at 21. |
| Gary Sánchez, C | Brewers | No. 39, mid-2016 | Signed by the Yankees in July 2009. After his prospect standing sagged, he revived it with a strong 2015 that ended in a September big league debut and an impressive Arizona Fall League run. |
| Garrett Mitchell, OF | Brewers | No. 56, mid-2021 | Milwaukee chose the UCLA product 20th overall in 2020 after he showcased his athletic tools during his junior season. |
| Joey Ortiz, INF | Brewers | No. 63, pre-2024 | Baltimore drafted him 108th overall in 2019 after he hit .422/.474/.697 as a New Mexico State junior. He reached the Majors in 2023 and joined Milwaukee in the Corbin Burnes trade before the 2024 season. |
| Cooper Pratt, SS | Brewers | No. 64, pre-2026 | Milwaukee went well above slot to sign the 182nd pick in 2023 away from Mississippi. He played in the Futures Game during his first full season, finished that year in the Double-A playoffs, debuted in June and later signed an eight-year contract. |
| Jake Bauers, 1B/OF | Brewers | No. 64, pre-2018 | San Diego drafted him 208th overall in 2013, then sent him to Tampa Bay in the Wil Myers trade after the 2014 season. He reached Double-A at 19 and impressed in the Arizona Fall League as its youngest player. |
| Jorge Mateo, SS/2B/OF | Rays | No. 72, pre-2018 | The Yankees signed him in January 2012. Once their leading prospect, he rebounded from a difficult 2016 before Oakland acquired him in the Sonny Gray deadline deal in 2017. |
| Freddy Peralta, RHP | Rays | No. 72, mid-2018 | Seattle signed him for $137,500 in April 2013 and traded him to Milwaukee in the December 2015 Adam Lind deal. He developed into a Top 100 arm with the Brewers and made his Major League debut in May 2018. |
| Logan Henderson, RHP | Brewers | No. 90, mid-2025 | Milwaukee drafted him 116th overall in 2021. Elbow surgery and an oblique injury slowed his rise, but strong work in 2024 and 2025 put him briefly on the Top 100 before his Major League arrival this season. |
| Brice Turang, SS/2B/OF | Brewers | No. 96, pre-2021 | The son of a former Major Leaguer, Turang had been a long-running scouting target in California before Milwaukee selected him 21st overall in 2018. |
| Brandon Woodruff, RHP | Brewers | No. 96, pre-2018 | Milwaukee picked him 326th overall in 2014 after he bypassed a fifth-round selection by Texas in 2011 to attend Mississippi State. He broke through as the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2016 and debuted in 2017. |
| DL Hall, LHP | Brewers | No. 97, pre-2023 | Baltimore made him the 21st pick in 2017, when only MacKenzie Gore rated higher among prep left-handers. Command questions and elbow trouble interrupted his path, though he reached the Majors in 2022. |
| Jacob Misiorowski, RHP | Brewers | No. 100, pre-2025 | Milwaukee drafted the junior-college right-hander 63rd overall in 2022. He stood as high as No. 33 on the 2024 preseason list before concerns over starter durability and command pushed him down a year later. |
There is a familiar Milwaukee thread running through the group. The Brewers developed Chourio, Frelick, Mitchell, Pratt, Henderson, Turang, Woodruff and Misiorowski after drafting or signing them, while also helped build Peralta into a Top 100 pitcher before his current stop in Tampa Bay. Their roster also carries the marks of patient trades and reclamation paths, from Ortiz’s arrival in the Burnes deal to the acquired experience of Yelich, Vaughn, May, Sánchez, Bauers, Harrison and Hall.
The Rays’ four former Top 100 names offer their own range of routes: Caminero’s explosive climb after the Cleveland trade, Matz’s long comeback from early arm trouble, Mateo’s winding path from Yankees standout to deadline trade piece, and Peralta’s development into a big league arm after Seattle first signed him. The prospect advantage belongs to Milwaukee by a wide margin. The trophy, beginning with Game 1, still has to be won over nine innings at a time.
