Brewers promote No. 2 prospect Luis Peña to Class AA, creating impressive lineup

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The Biloxi Shuckers have lost 11 straight games and 13 of 14 since August began, so the Milwaukee Brewers are piling on reinforcements.

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With word that the Brewers are promoting the team's No. 2 prospect, Luis Peña, to Class AA, the Brewers have now concentrated five of the team's top seven prospects and six of the top nine at that level of the minor league chain.

That includes the No. 1 prospect in baseball (according to MLB Pipeline), Jesús Made, who has been one of the youngest players at the level all year and just 19 years old. Made's fellow shortstop Peña, No. 21 in baseball and also 19 years old, now joins the fray, along with Josh Adamczewski (No. 80 overall), slugging third baseman Andrew Fischer (No. 6 in the organization) and outfielder Braylon Payne (No. 7 in the organization).

Payne also just earned the promotion from Class High A Wisconsin, collecting hits in his first two Shuckers games last week. Fischer has 37 homers this year, leading all of minor league baseball.

Right-handed pitcher Bishop Letson, the No. 9 prospect in the organization according to Pipeline, is already at Biloxi.

Peña has an .831 OPS (on-base plus slugging) at Wisconsin this year, a season that's been upended by a couple injury hiccups, including a recent hamstring issue and a scarier episode earlier this year when he left the game in an ambulance after overheating in the dugout.

Catcher Marco Dinges (No. 15 on Pipeline), who's been added to the injury list at Biloxi, also earned a recent promotion from Wisconsin. Pitcher J.D. Thompson (No. 19) just made his first start at Biloxi, allowing two earned runs in five innings.

The only problem? Biloxi hasn't been winning any games, now back to a .500 record after winning the first-half title in the South Division. The Shuckers just got swept over six games by the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and have won only once in August – and even that required an astounding six-run rally in the ninth inning and two more runs in the 10th for an 11-9 win over Columbus.

The Shuckers are allowing 7.8 runs per game over the 11 straight losses.

It's perhaps emblematic of the Brewers' organizational state, with only nine of the top 30 on Pipeline pitchers, and two (Frank Cairone and newly drafted Julian Garcia) still at the rookie-ball level.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers promote No. 2 prospect Luis Peña to Class AA, creating impressive lineup

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