What do the Brewers know that the Rockies don’t?
The answer to that question could be central to the success of Colorado’s next general manager, and that man’s ability to pull the Rockies out of rock bottom.
Milwaukee, the small-market darling of the MLB, led the majors this season with 97 wins. That resulted in a third straight National League Central title and the franchise’s seventh playoff appearance in eight years — a run that started in 2018, when the Brewers swept the Rockies in the NLDS.
Since then, the Brewers have been consistently good while the Rockies, riding a three-season 100-loss streak, have been consistently bad. Considering the team’s payrolls are similar — in 2025, the Rockies ranked 21st at $128.6 million, while the Brewers ranked 22nd at $121.7 million, per Spotrac — Colorado’s next GM would be wise to mimic the traits that have allowed Milwaukee to flourish.
The draft is critical in this, and if you crunch the numbers, Milwaukee has an advantage there despite consistently selecting with lower picks. At the time of the 2025 draft in June, the Brewers had produced 67.2 wins above average via the draft for their own team since 2012, while the Rockies were at 55.2 WAR.
But Milwaukee’s real edge over the Rockies and the rest of baseball has been in player acquisition. For a team that relies largely on young, cost-controlled talent, Brewers GM Matt Arnold has played chess while everyone else is playing checkers and former Rockies GM Bill Schmidt played Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Four players on the Brewers roster this season, which is stacked with guys who began their careers in other organizations, epitomize how Milwaukee is turning scrap-heap players into valuable contributors at American Family Field. It’s a skill the Rockies and their new GM desperately need to become effective at to start closing the wide gap between Colorado and the rest of the NL West.
Those four recent diamond-in-the-rough finds by Milwaukee who impacted their success in 2025 are starting pitcher Quinn Priester, first baseman Andrew Vaughn, switch-hitting outfielder Isaac Collins and reliever Nick Mears.
Both Priester and Vaughn are first-round picks who struggled in other organizations. Priester was acquired via trade with the Red Sox in April, and Vaughn was acquired via trade with the White Sox in June. Priester, after swapping his four-seamer for a cutter this season, had a breakout year with a 3.32 ERA, 13-3 record and MLB-best .813 winning percentage. Vaughn also had a career turnaround, hitting .308 with nine homers and a .869 OPS in his 64 regular-season games with the Brewers.
Then there are the examples of Collins and Mears — two players the Rockies previously possessed.
Collins, a ninth-round pick by Colorado in 2019, was nabbed by the Brewers in the minor-league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft after Colorado left him unprotected. He’s had a stellar season for the Brew Crew, putting himself into NL Rookie of the Year consideration. Meanwhile, Mears had an unimpressive 5.01 ERA for Colorado over ’23 and ’24, but morphed into a key bullpen arm for Milwaukee this season after the Brewers got him in a ’24 deadline deal for pitchers Yujanyer Herrera and Bradley Blalock.
So what are the Brewers hitting on that the Rockies are missing?
How is their scrap-heap surveying so much better than Colorado, which got value out of outfielder Mickey Moniak this season, but largely whiffed on all their other fliers? How can Colorado emulate the “Milwaukee Community College” blue-collar vibe of the Brewers, and the consistent messaging across all levels of that organization that the Rockies have often lacked?
And beyond Milwaukee in this year’s playoffs, how can draft-and-build Colorado find more gems later in the draft like the Mariners did with slugging catcher Cal Raleigh (third-round pick) or the Tigers did with Cy Young pitcher Tarik Skubal (ninth round)? The success of All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman, a fourth-round pick, is a good start. But Colorado’s going to need to hit on more selections than that.
These are all the questions the new Colorado GM — whether that be Thad Levine, Andy McKay or someone else — must find answers to. If they don’t, the Rockies will never find their way out of their current abyss within the ultra-competitive NL West.
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