The Carolina Mudcats Are Loaded With Young Talent

Minor League Baseball can take you to places that you’ve never heard of to see some of the game’s best rising talent.

This year, one of those places is Zebulon, North Carolina. A small town with a population of around 10,000, Zebulon gets to host one of the most intriguing teams in all of the minor leagues.

That team is the Carolina Mudcats, the Low-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.

When discussing baseball teams comprised of 18 to 22-year-olds in North Carolina, many would normally prefer to watch the Tar Heels play in the ACC.

This year, however, that would not be the best option.

The Mudcats are first in the Carolina League with a record of 35-20. This traveling squad of top prospects has baseball fans going out of their way to see the show.

The Mudcats roster five of Just Baseball’s top 15 Brewers prospects, three of which rank on our recently updated Top 100 list.

Don’t just take it from me, take it from our very own prospect guru, Aram Leighton. He had this to say on a recent episode of The Call Up podcast, part of the Just Baseball network:

“The Carolina Mudcats are like The Beatles of the minor leagues.”

In this piece, we’ll delve deeper into some of the team’s top performers and analyze their output to date.

The Headliner: Jesús Made (SS/3B)

2025 Stats: 216 PA, .280/.389/.423, 4 HR, 32 RBI, 23 SB, 131 wRC+

Jesús Made, 18, was ranked as the seventh-best prospect in all of baseball in our latest Top 100 update.

A switch-hitting shortstop who measures 6-foot-1, 187 pounds, there is plenty to dream about with Made. Once he bulks up, many believe that he will have above-average power with exciting running and fielding abilities.

After he tore it up in the Dominican Summer League to the tune of a .331/.458/.554 slash last season, the Brewers aggressively assigned Made to Low-A to start this season. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable to keep Made in the Arizona Complex League with younger players, like him.

Something that will be worth watching with Made is if he is able to sustain his high walk rate and low strikeout rate over a full minor league season.

In the DSL, Made walked 18.1% of the time while striking out at just 13%. This season, Made has seen both of those expectedly regress a bit, as he is young for the Low-A level. He has walked at a still-strong 14.4% clip while striking out 18.5% of the time.

As the season wears into the summer months, it will be worth watching whether Made can continue to adjust to pitchers looking to find holes in his swing.

He’s shown flashes of having a smooth glove at shortstop and has been running wild on the basepaths. Getting to see Made alone would be worth the price of admission, but there’s plenty more intrigue on the Mudcats roster.

The Breakout Prospect: Luis Peña (SS/3B)

2025 Stats: 156 PA, .319/.378/.522, 5 HR, 32 RBI, 24 SB, 146 wRC+

Luis Peña, 18, checked in at #12 on our updated Top 100 Prospects list.

Measuring 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, Peña has seen action in the field at shortstop and third base. He and Made have rotated between shortstop and designated hitter when both are in the lineup together. As the season progresses, perhaps the two could also get reps at second base.

Perhaps overshadowed by Made in the DSL last year, Peña slashed .393/.457/.583 with 39 stolen bases and didn’t receive much top-100 buzz entering this season. Still, the Brewers chose to take the same path with Peña as they did with Made, aggressively starting his stateside minor league career against older competition in Low-A.

More aggressive as a hitter than Made, Peña has walked just 8.3% of the time this year but also struck out at a minuscule 11.5% clip. Penã swings over 10% more frequently than Made, leading to more balls in play but also fewer walks.

Peña has been hitting for more power than Made, as he’s hit one more home run in about 60 fewer plate appearances. Despite missing some time due to a concussion, Peña has persisted as a statistically better hitter than Made thus far.

As with many players in their first taste of full-season minor league baseball, it remains to be seen whether Peña can maintain this outstanding level of production over five months of play. With such an aggressive approach, other organizations may attempt to throw Peña more pitches out of the zone to see if he can lay off of them.

The Slugger: Eric Bitonti (1B)

2025 Stats: 223 PA, .233/.336/.413, 8 HR, 33 RBI, 6 SB, 110 wRC+

Eric Bitonti, 19, ranks 94th on Just Baseball’s Top 100 Prospects list.

A third-round pick out of high school in 2023, Bitonti has returned to Zebulon to begin this season as a Mudcat after finishing there in 2024.

Measuring 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds, Bitonti has a massive, athletic build for his age. He’s made all of his starts defensively at first base this season, despite starting 11 games at third last year. The Brewers must feel that with his size, it will be tough for him to stick at the hot corner.

After scuffling to begin the season, Bitonti’s bat has started heating up in a major way. In a ten-game stretch from May 23 through June 4, Bitonti went 13-for-43 (.302) with seven home runs and 14 RBI. He has the capability to go nuclear over short periods.

The concern, however, is the strikeouts. Still young for the level, Bitonti has K’d at an inauspicious 35.0% clip. He’s walking at a good rate (13.5%), but he will need to make adjustments to lessen the strikeouts and realize his full offensive potential.

If he can put the ball in play more often, Bitonti is sure to rack up plenty of RBI with Made and Peña running rampant on the basepaths in front of him.

The First-Rounder: Braylon Payne (OF)

2025 Stats: 177 PA, .235/.350/.356, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 18 SB, 104 wRC+

Braylon Payne, 18, was selected in the first round, 17th overall, in the 2024 MLB Draft.

He may not have the same acclaim as some of his teammates thus far, but the 6-foot-2, 186-pound outfielder projects to be an above-average major leaguer. Payne is a strong defender with good speed who hopes to provide an average (or better) bat.

Payne’s 27.7% strikeout rate is reason for some concern, but he is still walking at a good 15.3% clip. He is young for the level, like Made and Peña, so there is plenty of time for adjustments to be made.

Payne has struggled to slug like his 18-year-old counterparts thus far, as he’s recorded just nine extra-base hits in 40 games. Even though the game power hasn’t shown up yet, he’s still hitting the ball hard, as evidenced by this 110-mph base hit.

As he gets more comfortable in full-season professional baseball, perhaps we will see him find some grass and leg out more doubles with his speed. The home runs should come as he gets older.

Other Notable Prospects

Josh Adamczewski (2B)

2025 Stats: 111 PA, .360/.450/.539, 2 HR, 23 RBI, 1 SB, 172 wRC+

Adamczewski, 20, was a 2023 15th-round draft pick. He’s been getting on base at a tremendous clip, but his .455 batting average on balls in play indicates that he likely is due for regression.

Filippo Di Turi (3B)

2025 Stats: 219 PA, .255/.356/.446, 7 HR, 35 RBI, 3 SB, 122 wRC+

Di Turi, 19, was signed as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela in the 2022-23 offseason. After hitting just one home run in 89 games last season, he’s now up to six long balls in a fraction of the time.

Bryce Meccage (RHP)

2025 Stats: 29.1 IP, 3.07 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 32 K

Meccage, 19, was the Brewers’ second-round selection, 57th overall, in last year’s draft. With three different offerings projecting as 55+ on the 20-80 scale (per FanGraphs), Meccage has the upside to be a solid major league arm.

The Mudcats Are Going Out On Top

The citizens of Zebulon are being treated to quite the farewell party for their Mudcats.

Following the completion of the 2025 season, the Mudcats will move to Wilson, NC, and rebrand as the Wilson Warbirds.

The Mudcats have played at Five County Stadium since 1991 and have affiliated with seven different major league organizations during their time in Zebulon. Notable alumni include: Josh Beckett, Corbin Burnes, Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Holliday, Francisco Lindor, and Dontrelle Willis.

For the residents of Zebulon, it must be bittersweet to see the team that spent 35 seasons in their town move away. While Wilson is only about 20 miles away, it’s no longer their team.

For fans taking in the Mudcats at Five County Stadium for one last season, what a gift it has been to watch a team that, in all likelihood, includes multiple future big leaguers.

Even though the Mudcats will be gone after this season, as long as their team-branded water tower still looks over the city, their time in Zebulon will not be forgotten.