Brewers land Phillips, Santana from Astros

Outfielder Carlos Gomez nearly fetched the Brewers a budding ace on Wednesday night. Milwaukee turned him into a quartet of top prospects instead on Thursday.

The Astros agreed to send a pair of Top 100 prospects in outfielders Brett Phillips and Domingo Santana, along with pitchers Josh Hader and Adrian Houser, to the Brewers in exchange for Gomez, right-hander Mike Fiers and the 76th slot in the 2015-16 international bonus pool.

The Brewers agreed to trade Gomez to the Mets on Wednesday in a deal that would have brought back right-hander Zack Wheeler and infielder Wilmer Flores, but the deal fell through, reportedly for some combination of Gomez's medical information and a disagreement over the deal's finances.

Phillips is the prize return for Milwaukee. Currently ranked 39th on MLB.com's overall Top 100 list, the 21-year-old broke out in 2014 and has cemented his status as a top prospect this season in a campaign split between Class A Advanced Lancaster and Double Corpus Christi.

The Florida native is a five-tool talent who has produced in just about every category this season. Between the two levels, he's batting .320 with 16 home runs, 11 triples, 15 stolen bases and a .925 OPS. In 31 Double-A games, he has one homer and seven stolen bases to go with an .835 OPS. Phillips receives praise for his aggression on the bases, and he has nearly as many triples (32) as home runs (33) in his pro career.

Taken in the sixth round of the 2012 Draft, Phillips boasts one of the strongest outfield arms in the Minor Leagues. He's gotten faster as a professional, and MLB.com's Prospect Pipeline team projects him to have "a chance to stick in center field, though some scouts think he's better suited defensively for right field."

Phillips also earned raves from the Astros over the years for his makeup.

"He's fantastic with the development staff," Astros director of professional scouting Kevin Goldstein told MiLB.com."All the things you hear about his makeup, it's true. He's just an outstanding kid."

The outfielder had four hits, including the go-ahead RBI, in a Hooks victory on Wednesday.

Santana has been among the Astros' top prospects for years and is repeating Triple-A this season, but he's also just 22. He's performed well in the Pacific Coast League this season, slugging 16 homers in 75 games to go with a .320 average and 1.008 OPS.

MLB.com's No. 87 prospect, Santana earns plaudits for his power and arm strength. He's bashed 106 homers in 679 Minor League games despite almost always being the youngest player on the field, and he also has a pair of dingers in 20 Major League games.

Ranked 14th in Houston's system, Hader was originally acquired by the Astros from the Orioles in a 2013 trade deadline deal that sent Bud Norris to Baltimore. The Maryland native was mostly unknown heading into the 2012 Draft and slipped to his hometown team in the 19th round, but broke out with a 2.65 ERA in 17 starts with Class A Delmarva the next season.

In two years with Houston, Hader climbed to Corpus Christi, where he was 3-3 with a 3.17 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning in 17 appearances this season. Among his accomplishments this year was a hand in a rain-shortened no-hitter.