This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy¡¯s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers liked Mike Boeve, or they wouldn¡¯t have drafted him 54th overall last year out of the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Once they got to know him at the club¡¯s complex in Arizona, they liked him even more.

¡°He started impacting baseballs from the get-go,¡± said Brenton Del Chiaro, one of the Brewers¡¯ Minor League hitting coordinators. ¡°There was some chatter, like, ¡®We may have missed this.¡¯ We knew what we were getting from a contact perspective, but he had this other thing in his toolbag.¡±

Nothing has changed on that front this season, as the 22-year-old left-handed-hitting Boeve (the Brewers' No. 13 prospect per MLB Pipeline) has already been promoted to Double-A Biloxi with the best wRC+ in Milwaukee¡¯s Minor League system (151) among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances so far.

He got off to such a remarkable start at High-A Wisconsin -- .553/.642/.632 in 13 games -- that he was quickly advanced to Biloxi on April 20, where he has been playing first and third base.

¡°This is a great topic to talk about because of who we thought we were getting coming out of the Draft,¡± said Del Chiaro. ¡°A lot of the comps were that this was a Tyler Black-type of player before Tyler started tapping into his power. It was a high-contact, elite bat-to-ball and strike-zone-awareness hitter who hits the ball on the ground a lot.

¡°I love sharing this story, because we drafted Mike and he came to Arizona for the minicamp last July, and one thing [fellow hitting coordinator] Eric Theisen and I do when we meet new hitters is we find out who they think they are as hitters and what they do for their routines. So we [were] in the batting cage and I just asked [Boeve], ¡®What do you think you do well? And what do you think you need to do better as a hitter?¡¯¡±

Del Chiaro was floored by the sophistication and confidence of the response. Boeve knew he had an advanced feel for the zone and an ability to barrel a baseball. He also knew he had to hit it in the air more.

¡°To have that awareness made our jobs so much easier,¡± Del Chiaro said. ¡°That¡¯s the industry, right? How hard can you hit the ball in the air?¡±

Del Chiaro also loved that Boeve played 51 straight games before finally getting a day off last week. Boeve has been sidelined since then with a sore shoulder, but it¡¯s benign enough that it is not expected to require a stint on the injured list.

If Boeve is our pick for the Brewers¡¯ top-performing prospect in the first half, here are more selections from the team¡¯s three other full-season affiliates:

Triple-A Nashville: 1B Tyler Black

While he is still trying to find a foothold in the Majors, the 23-year-old Toronto native has checked every box at Triple-A. Black (No. 3 prospect) has slashed .275/.374/.483 for Nashville this season, good for an .857 OPS that ranks third among Milwaukee Minor Leaguers with at least 150 plate appearances.

¡°We¡¯ve talked with Tyler about how his elite strike-zone discipline has allowed him to be super successful in the Minor Leagues,¡± Del Chiaro said. ¡°The thing Tyler is learning at the Major League level is that what he may think is a ball is something you¡¯ll have to earn at the Major League level.

¡°Umpires are going to test you a little bit. ¡­ There may be times that he has to expand with two strikes to put the ball in play and avoid the strikeout with a man on third. But for a guy that loves to grind and work, that¡¯s what you love in a player, right?¡±

High-A Wisconsin: 1B/3B Luke Adams

The Brewers challenged Adams (No. 15 prospect) by starting him in the cold weather of Appleton, Wis., as a 19-year-old. He¡¯s responded by posting the first-half division champion Timber Rattlers¡¯ top OPS (.812), with a big jump in production since the calendar flipped to June -- when he's posted a .955 OPS in 19 games.

¡°He started the season as a teenager and has held his own, and he¡¯s starting to understand how to implement the game plan,¡± Del Chiaro said. ¡°We¡¯re entering that mental aspect of baseball. He continues to have elite swing decisions, excellent zone awareness. It¡¯s just the consistency on the mental side of it.¡±

Single-A Carolina: SS Cooper Pratt

Playoff-bound for the second straight season by winning the first-half division title, the Mudcats are led by Pratt, a steal as a sixth-round pick last season. The 19-year-old Pratt (No. 8) was Milwaukee¡¯s Minor League Player of the Month for May, and then he kept on hitting. After going 1-for-4 on Sunday, Pratt has a .384/.423/.466 slash line in June. Going back even farther, he¡¯s hitting .336 with a .432 on-base percentage over 41 games since May 2.

¡°Coop is your typical teenager,¡± Del Chiaro said with a chuckle. ¡°He¡¯s going to want to do some funny things that leave you scratching your head, but the thing we¡¯ve been really excited about is his transition from the Complex League to a full-season affiliate.

¡°We¡¯ve seen improvement in the contact percentage and his ability to make decisions within the strike zone. He¡¯s a cage rat, and I mean that as a complement. It¡¯s baseball 24/7. And he¡¯s one of our more explosive athletes. So I¡¯m really excited to see, when the body starts to physically mature, some of the damage components that are going to come into play.¡±