Which prospects will Crew shield from Rule 5 Draft?

MILWAUKEE — If there’s a downside to possessing one of baseball’s most improved crops of Minor League prospects, it is this: You can’t keep everybody.

That reality has been on the minds of Brewers general manager David Stearns and his crew as they prepare for Friday, the deadline to add certain Minor Leaguers to the organization’s 40-man roster to protect them from being plucked away by a rival team in next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Six of MLBPipeline.com’s Top 30 Brewers prospects fall into that category, including top prospect Lewis Brinson, the outfielder acquired from the Rangers on Aug. 1 as part of the Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress trade.

Also Rule 5 Draft-eligible are left-hander Josh Hader (No. 3 on the Brewers list), outfielders Brett Phillips (No. 7) and Ryan Cordell (No. 17), pitcher Miguel Diaz (No. 20) and outfielder Tyrone Taylor (No. 26). Among the prospects outside the top 30 who warrant discussion are pitcher Wei-Chung Wang, a former Rule 5 pick himself whom the Brewers navigated through a full Major League season, plus Arizona Fall League participants Tayler Scott, Tyler Spurlin and Josh Uhen (all pitchers), former first-round Draft pick Clint Coulter (a former catcher who now plays the outfield) and Triple-A outfielder Kyle Wren, who was pushed out of the Brewers’ top 30 by other acquisitions this season.

“We do have a lot of guys. And it won’t just be this year,” Stearns said. “This is going to be a constant challenge for us as we move forward to protect the right guys, to identify …

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