In 1.12 I had made a zombie spawner into a drowned farm by way of water logged cobweb in a drop shoot with a trident killer on the bottom to produce xp. Since the 1.13 update I've been having instances where mini drown spawn right next to me and sometimes in multiples. Once in a while they appear as zombies and then change a second later so I believe something is happening to mini zombies when they convert that makes them behave more like a normal spawn, spawning in multiple and on the nearest solid block (which would be where I afk. I've had 7-8 of them attack me at once though. Could be duplication or just a coincidence of having more than one mini zombie convert simultaneously. But now I can't afk at my farm or risk death.
Could you provide a picture of your setup, or describe in enough detail that it can be reproduced to test?