Brinson, Burnes take Brewers' top honors

Lewis Brinson isn't finishing the season in the Major Leagues as he would've liked, but his final appearance in Milwaukee was still a rewarding one.
The Brewers' top prospect accepted the Robin Yount Performance Award as the system's Minor League Player of the Year on Tuesday at Miller Park. Right-hander Corbin Burnes, the team's seventh-ranked prospect, was honored as the organization's top Minor League pitcher.

"Coming in here and seeing all the guys again and they're in the middle of the playoff race, it's definitely bittersweet," Brinson told MLB.com. "Very humbled to receive this award, but at the same time, I'd really like to be up here and be playing."
Brinson suffered a season-ending hamstring injury last month while with Triple-A Colorado Springs, finishing a campaign in which he batted .331/.400/.562 with 13 homers and 48 RBIs in 76 games. MLB.com's No. 12 overall prospect also saw action in 21 games in two big league stints, making his Major League debut on June 11 and batting .106/.236/.277 with two homers and three RBIs. The injury to his left hamstring came while Brinson was running the bases on Aug. 14 and brought his season to a premature close. Still, his organization took in the full scope of the outfielder's year.

"It was a very hard choice," Brewers farm director Tom Flanagan told MLB.com. "Legitimately, there were three or four guys who were considered -- Brett Phillips, Monte Harrison, even Troy Stokes. There were some other guys, too. It was a really tough choice and you couldn't go wrong.
"In the end, we kind of deferred to Lewis because coming into the year, he had that status where everyone was kind of watching."
Burnes broke out with an eye-opening season at two levels. In 26 starts between Class A Advanced Carolina and Double-A Biloxi, the righty went 8-3 with a 1.67 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 140 strikeouts over 145 2/3 innings. He was a 2016 fourth-round pick out of Saint Mary's University.