The Milwaukee Brewers’ farm system simply keeps churning out talent left, right, and center. And their latest rising star is none other than Ryan Birchard. At 22 years old, the right-hander is making waves with the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. He has everything from poise to velocity to get everyone excited, from teammates to coaches and more.

His journey into the baseball world started historically. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2023 MLB Draft out of Niagara County Community College, becoming the highest pick in the school’s history—so quite an entry!

Birchard then debuted with Low-A Carolina, but he quickly got promoted to High-A Wisconsin after just three outings. But then his rise to being the best wasn’t without struggles. He battled an oblique injury that sidelined him last season. But in 2025, he is back, and how.

He has made 22 starts, logged over 100 innings, posted a 3.91 ERA, and struck out batters at a 26.8% rate. Naturally, you’d think he would have some pitchers he looks up to—and well, he has, but not what you might guess.

When EssentiallySports asked him if there are any, and who are the coolest pitchers he likes to watch in the game, he gave two names, neither of whom is in the Milwaukee Brewers. Birchard said, “I’m going to say some crazy names because they’re not all on the Brewers and the lefties sometimes. I love watching Sean Mania. I don’t know why.. just love watching them. I think Hunter Brown on the Astros is fun to watch because I’d say it’s kind of similar. Arm slot, I’m pretty over the top. I do like to watch Walker Buehler. But yeah, those are just a couple of names like that…” Interesting choices, we might as well agree!

Sean Manaea has had a rough 2025 season, and Walker Buehler—he just joined the Philadelphia Phillies. This is after months of speculation that he would be back with the Dodgers, given his heroics in last year’s World Series. Still, Birchard finds joy in watching them pitch and even picking up little things that he can bring to his own game. But even the best pitchers have one hitter they single out who is toughest to face.

And for him, it’s none other than Kevin McConagall. And well, it is understandable because the Detroit Tigers prospect has been tearing it up in the minors. He earned the Midwest League Top MLB Prospect Award and moved up to Double-A Erie. And as we talk about awards, Birchard himself has one that Brewers fans would be proud of!

Ryan Birchard earns Midwest League Pitcher of the Week

On August 28, against the Quad Cities River, Birchard was more than good—he was blazing-hot. The right-hander tossed seven hitless, scoreless innings, striking out eight while walking just one. They not just won, but this performance earned him the Midwest League’s Pitcher of the Week award. It was the longest outing of his career so far, and it just highlights that he is going to get that call for MLB promotion rather soon. But did you know, on that day, he was actually upset about how his day was going?

Birchard told Essentiallysports, “Well, I was throwing a lot of strikes. Sometimes that can get a, you know, I can walk a lot of people. If you look at the numbers, you’ll be able to tell… And, you know, I was honestly pretty upset the first couple of innings. I didn’t have any strikeouts. So I was just like, I was pretty mad, you know, they weren’t really, they weren’t hitting the ball. Well, they were, but it was into the ground, and I couldn’t get any strikeouts…that’s kind of, I like strikeouts, but as the game went on, I started getting the strikeouts and had a couple of good defensive plays behind me. And, you know, I guess it just happened, to be honest.”

As far as the award goes, he is, for now, letting it be in the background. He is choosing to focus on the grind.

“I mean, everybody is like congratulating me and all that stuff, but to be honest, I just, in my mind, I’m just doing my job. I expect that for myself every week, to be honest. So yeah, I’m just going out there and trying to do my job.”

Birchard was actually the fourth Timber Rattler to get that weekly award this season. He joined Tyson Hardin, outfielder Hedbert Pérez, and pitcher Tanner Gillis.

Ryan Birchard’s latest accolade does cement his status as one of the Milwaukee Brewers’ most promising prospects. And it shows just how good a talent-hunting eye the team has.