Brewers and mega-prospect Jackson Chourio agree to 8-year, $82 million contract extension

The prized possession of the Milwaukee Brewers' farm system will now be a member of the big-league club for a long time.

Jackson Chourio, who is not only the Brewers' top prospect but may also be the most highly-regarded minor-leaguer in franchise history, has agreed to a record-breaking contract extension with Milwaukee, sources have confirmed to the Journal Sentinel.

Chourio doesn’t turn 20 until March, has yet to make his MLB debut and has only six games above Class AA; yet, due to his immense potential, he has signed an eight-year extension worth $82 million with two $25 million team options. That is the most money ever given to a player before he appeared in the majors.

The contract buys out Chourio’s six years of team control as well as what would have been his first two years of free agency. There are also two club options tacked on the back end that were crucial from the Brewers’ side of the negotiation table, meaning Chourio could be in a Brewers uniform through 2033.

If Chourio hits all incentives and escalators, the contract could be worth as much as $142.5 million across 10 years. MLB Network's Jon Heyman was the first to report the contract details.

The Brewers are expected to announce the deal at baseball's winter meetings, which started Sunday in Nashville.

Jackson Chourio deal part of a new era for Brewers

Chourio, a centerfielder, is widely considered one of the best prospects in baseball, with many national evaluators rating him behind only Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday, the consensus No. 1 prospect.

A native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, Chourio signed with the Brewers for a $1.8 million signing bonus as a 16-year-old and has torched minor-league pitching since. He won consecutive Brewers minor-league player of the year awards and has a .837 OPS with 47 homers and 68 steals across 272 games in the minors. He has done so as the youngest player at each level he has been at the past two years.

The extension also signifies something of a new wave of Brewers baseball. Chourio, from a pure talent standpoint, is the headliner of a group of young players the Brewers expect to keep the team competitive in the National League Central despite how different in the near future Milwaukee will look from years past.

Longtime manager Craig Counsell and right-hander Brandon Woodruff are already no longer on the Brewers. Right-hander Corbin Burnes could be traded this off-season. Shortstop Willy Adames, who along with Burnes is a free agent after 2024, will be mentioned in trade rumors, as well. Closer Devin Williams could be moved at some point if the Brewers follow a similar path they took with his predecessor, Josh Hader.

Chourio is part of a group of prospects on the precipice of the majors that the Brewers will count on to keep on winning. Infielder Tyler Black, catcher Jeferson Quero and starters Robert Gasser and Jacob Misiorowski all could see the big leagues this season, building on a young core already in the majors that includes outfielders Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer and infielder Brice Turang.

Extension talks began in earnest when the Brewers broached Chourio late in the minor leagues’ regular season. Substantial progress was made early on, which proved to be a big aid when talks picked back up with intensity over the past week.

Those discussions escalated Tuesday with the Brewers and Chourio’s agent, Cesar Suarez, meeting late into the evening, though the sides were approximately $10 million apart on guaranteed money over the first eight years while also needing to iron out details on the club options, sources told the Journal Sentinel.

Chourio, in anticipation that a deal could be struck at any moment and he would need to go to Milwaukee to sign it, already had flown stateside to Miami from Venezuela, where he recently wrapped up a stint playing winter ball.

With an agreement imminent, Chourio and his agent, Cesar Suarez, were in Milwaukee on Friday and he underwent physicals that day as well as on Saturday, according to a source.

Chourio becomes the sixth player to receive a guaranteed MLB contract before ever stepping foot in a big-league game, joining the Chicago White Sox's Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jiménez, Philadelphia’s Scott Kingery, Seattle’s Evan White and Houston’s Jon Singleton.

Huge contract is a risk, for both Jackson Chourio and the Brewers

Take one look at that list, and therein lies some of the risk the Brewers are taking on.

For the White Sox, Robert has become an all-star-caliber outfielder, while Jiménez has been solid but severely hampered by injuries that have limited his production. Kingery and White are no longer in the majors after struggling immensely, and Singleton’s well-documented journey that included a return to the majors with Milwaukee in 2023 has lacked much MLB success.

In Chourio, though, the Brewers believe they have a star in the making.

His tools are flashy and above-average in every area. He packs electric bat speed and sizable power in his 6-foot, 185-pound frame and runs like the wind. He has the chance to be a Gold Glove outfielder and has taken significant strides in his pitch selection and bat-to-ball skills across his two full seasons in the minors.

Milwaukee hopes Chourio is more in the mold of other players who have recently made their debuts at age 20 or younger, such as Juan Soto, Ronald Acuña Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Manny Machado. The track record of prospects who debuted so young is much more encouraging than the list of those who signed pre-debut extensions.

Of course, there is risk associated with the deal for Chourio as well, even if he is receiving sizable financial security before facing a single big-league pitch. He might be leaving significant money on the table when he reaches six years of MLB service – the point at which players who have not signed a long-term extension become eligible for free agency – compared to what the Brewers will be paying him for the next four seasons of team control from 2030-33.

Acuña is a prime example of that possibility; the Braves megastar and 2023 National League MVP would be lined up for a massive, market-setting payday as a free agent next season but is instead under the contract he signed in 2019 that goes through 2028 at $17 million annually.

Chourio’s contract structure is similar to Acuña’s as an “eight plus two” deal. The Brewers are guaranteeing the first eight years while tacking on two club options that they hope will be at a below-market rate when the time comes in nearly a decade.

Brewers fans could be seeing Jackson Chourio on opening day

This is not the first pre-arbitration extension inked by a Brewers player in recent years. Freddy Peralta and Aaron Ashby are both under contract after signing team-friendly deals. Peralta’s five-year, $15.5 million deal could keep him with Milwaukee through 2026 thanks to a pair of $8 million team options. Ashby signed in 2022 for five years and $20.5 million and has club options worth a total of $22 million beginning in 2028.

It seems likely now that Chourio will crack the Brewers opening day roster since there will be no service time-related reasons to keep him in Class AAA, where he finished the 2023 season with six games. Once Chourio is on the Brewers, he will join a crowded outfield picture that includes three other young former top prospects in Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick and Joey Wiemer, as well as Tyrone Taylor, Blake Perkins and a resurgent Christian Yelich.

Where the Brewers go from here with the rest of their outfield isn’t clear, but this much is: We should be seeing Jackson Chourio in Milwaukee for years to come.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers, Jackson Chourio agree to 8-year, $82 million contract