(TIMBER RATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Midwest League season is finished, and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players continue to rack up honors. Minor League Baseball has announced four Rattlers – Eric Bitonti, Daniel Dickinson, Braylon Payne, and Josiah Ragsdale – are 2026 Midwest League All-Stars for their performances during the season.
Ragsdale appeared in sixty games with the Timber Rattlers at the start of the season and is the All-Star designated hitter for 2026. He hit .327 with seven homers, thirty RBI, and 24 stolen bases. Ragsdale finished his time with Wisconsin on a 32-game on-base streak before his promotion to Biloxi, the Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers on June 30. Ragsdale hit twelve homers in 26 games with Biloxi before Milwaukee traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals with Alexander Frias for Dustin May and JoJo Romero on August 3. Ragsdale, currently MLB Pipeline’s #11 prospect in the Cardinals system, was the starting left fielder for the Springfield Cardinals in Game One of the Texas League playoffs last night against the Tulsa Drillers.
Payne set the Timber Rattlers franchise record for home runs in a season when he hit his 23rd homer of 2026 on August 8 at Beloit. The record of 22 homers stood since 2010 and was matched in 2013 and 2014. Payne, Milwaukee’s first round pick in the 2024 draft, is one of three Midwest League All-Star outfielders for 2026. He was more than home runs for the Rattlers last season. Payne drove in 55 runs, had an OPS of .930, and stole 22 bases for the first season of twenty homers and twenty stolen bases by a Timber Rattler. Payne was moved up to Biloxi on August 14. He is the #6 prospect in Milwaukee’s minor league system according to MLB Pipeline and was will play for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League.
Dickinson became only the second Timber Rattler to steal sixty or more bases in a season as he finished 2026 with a strong second half to be named as the Midwest League’s All-Star second baseman for the season. The sixth-round selection of Milwaukee out of LSU in the 2025 draft hit .200 with no homers with fifteen steals, and a .614 OPS in the first half. In the second half, Dickinson hit .345 with eleven homers, 42 RBI, 45 stolen bases, and an OPS of 1.068. He finished the year with a .282 average, 66 RBI, 88 walks, and sixty stolen bases. Milwaukee sent Dickinson to Biloxi after the end of the Timber Rattlers season.
Bitonti broke Payne’s franchise record for homers in a season on August 27 with his 24th home run. He finished the season with 25 homers, 88 RBI, and a .916 OPS in 111 games. Bitonti played both third base and first base during the year to earn the Midwest League’s utility All-Star spot for 2026. Last season he had two five-hit games and the first walkoff grand slam home run by a Rattler since 2001. He stole 24 bases to join Payne with a 20/20 season. Bitonti was also promoted to Biloxi with Dickinson at the end of Wisconsin’s season. Bitonti, MLB Pipeline’s #26 prospect in the Milwaukee system, will also join Payne on Scottsdale’s roster in the Arizona Fall League.
All four Rattlers to be named to the All-Star team won a Midwest League Player of the Week Award during the season. Dickinson was the Midwest League Player of the Month for August. Bitonti, Dickinson, and Payne are currently in the Southern League playoffs with the Shuckers, who defeated Pensacola in Game One of the South Division Playoffs on Wednesday night.
This year marks the most Timber Rattlers to be named to the Midwest League’s Postseason All-Star Team. The previous high happened in 2010. Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett, and Jon Pokorny made that year’s team.
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers home opener for the 2027 is Tuesday, April 6 against the Beloit Sky Carp at 6:40pm.
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