Where will all our pitchers end up next year?

[jjfanec]

I started posting about our young pitching in another thread and it got be wondering where guys will end up next year. I just kind of threw guys names by teams. Guys like Brooks Hall, Billings, Seth Lintz seem like they will be in rookie ball.

 

Wisconsin should have Ordorizzi, Arnett, Lasker, Bucci, Del Howell and Heckathorn. They probably will do a lot the piggy-back starts again.

Brevard will have Scarpetta and Peralta

Huntsville will have Rogers, Anundsen, and Rivas. Merklinger could be here as well or in Brevard since he was only there a short time.

Nashville will have Butler and to a lesser extent Mike Jones, Dillard (is he going to start) and Chris Cody

 

Braddock is not up there because I just do not know if he will start. If he does toss him into Nashville or Huntsville. Periard will be somewhere trying to make up for a lost season. Hopefully this can be the year Frederickson figures out how to throw some strikes. R.J. Seidel hopes to make up for a lost year and an underwhelming start to his career. Krestalude is at least a guy to keep an eye on. Then you Jeremy Jeffress and who knows where he will be.

 

On top of that we have some interesting bullpen guys in Wooten, Axford, Baron, Aguilar, Fiers and I am probably forgetting others.

 

I am sure I am missing guys, but it was fun to go through and see what we had. Wish some of it was closer to the bigs. Chime in with where you think guys will be and who you are most excited for next year.

[paul253]

It will be interesting to see what happens in Wisconsin. Arnett, Heckathorn, Odorizzi and Howell all, in my opinion, deserve to be fill time starters until they show otherwise. That leaves one spot, probably for Bucci. I suppose Lasker could start out in the bullpen or in Helena. Either way, it's nice to finally have some talent AND some depth even if most of it if still 2 years away. I'm interested to see how Anundson, Rogers and Rivas handle Huntsville. Hopefully Mike Jones returns as he could possibly be the first option if a pitcher goes down.

[LouisEly]

Nashville - Butler, Jones, Cody, Capuano, Welch/Dillard/Hand/Wright (pen - Braddock, Baron - LOOGY, Wooten)

Huntsville - Rogers, Anundsen, Rivas, Bowman, Periard, Merklinger

B.C. - Scarpetta, Peralta, Frederickson, Nieves, Seidel/Watten/Adams/Meadows

Wisconsin - Lasker, Odorizzi, Arnett, Bucci, Howell

 

I expect at least two of the above to be included in a trade to net a ML starter.

[craigharmann]

Bucci has been the surprise to me. Personally, I'd like to see them push some of the younger guys a bit, as other teams have done. He's been quite impressive.

[jjfanec]

Nashville - Butler, Jones, Cody, Capuano, Welch/Dillard/Hand/Wright (pen - Braddock, Baron - LOOGY, Wooten)

Huntsville - Rogers, Anundsen, Rivas, Bowman, Periard, Merklinger

B.C. - Scarpetta, Peralta, Frederickson, Nieves, Seidel/Watten/Adams/Meadows

Wisconsin - Lasker, Odorizzi, Arnett, Bucci, Howell

 

I expect at least two of the above to be included in a trade to net a ML starter.

The link reports are going to be fun. At least two guys at each level (3 at most) that I will be excited to watch. I bolded the guys I am excited to follow next year. I love the Wisconsin staff. All five guys (and I would throw Heckathorn in there for a 6th) excite me. The B.C. rotation should be fun with a couple young studs and then two guys who were highly regarded who are trying to find their form with Fredrickson and Seidel. Huntsville might be the most exciting to me, mainly because they are so close. Rogers is my favorite prospect. Rivas has blown up this year and Anundsen could be a nice back of the rotation guy. Nashville is a little less exciting, but I do like Butler and Cappy should be fun to watch just to see how he can do.

Where do you have Heckathorn by the way?

[LouisEly]

I have Heckathorn starting in Helena (after EST); I think Howell is polished enough to start at low-A but they may want to spend some extra time working on Heckathorn's mechanics thus starting at Helena, but possibly promoted in June when the next draft class comes in.

 

Nice to see that for the first time in a long time they shouldn't have to go outside of the organization to fill out their upper level pitching staff.

[colbyjack]

Bucci has been the surprise to me. Personally, I'd like to see them push some of the younger guys a bit, as other teams have done. He's been quite impressive.

 

Bucci has been the surprise to everyone. He's the biggest surprise, impact prospect since Taylor Green two years ago.

 

And overall, the Brewers have had some positive progress with their pitchers over the last year. From Bucci to Wily Peralta to Mark Rogers to Mike Jones to Chris Capuano, the team has had some encouraging arms step up over the last year. Most of those stories are tied to their health, which may also tie in pitchers such as R.J. Seidel and even Amaury Rivas.

 

Add in a Josh Butler, a John Axford and even patience paying off in the form of Evan Anundsen, and you suddenly have a much different look to the organization's pitching depth. I've been critical of the team's pitching prospects this year, but I am starting to come around. I still remain skeptical, since most of the talent at best is at least two years away, and in that time several of these arms are going to fall off the prospect map for one reason or another, but there are quite a few different names to point to at this point in time.

 

And I hope more and more people will still hold Zach Braddock in high regard even if he doesn't profile as a starter moving forward. Clearly his value isn't as great coming out of the bullpen, but he's still a lefty with great stuff that has proved time and time again that he's incredibly tough to hit. Pitchers like Braddock, Axford, Omar Aguilar and even some combination of soft-tossers including Baron, Wooten and Fiers could help round out the bullpen internally moving forward.

 

That's a pretty significant turn from where the team stood a year ago. Of course they have loaded up on arms each of the past two drafts, making the situation of one Jeremy Jeffress seem less crucial to the future of the franchise.

 

Taking so many arms has come at the cost of drafting impact bats, although the team still has a few to look forward to. Even then, it places a greater organizational emphasis, and ability, to build around Braun, Fielder and Gallardo in the years to come.

[jjfanec]

I would love to see us develop a bullpen of mostly homegrown guys. Axford, Braddock, Wooten, Aguilar, Fiers could go a long. The cost of quality bullpen arms, not just closers, is getting very high and would allow the team to spend money elsewhere.

 

I would like to see them get some impact bats or just solid position players for the lower levels in the next couple drafts. We have Lawrie, Gamel, Escobar, Schafer, Cain, Green, Lucroy, Salome, and Gindl. A couple could be impact bats. A couple could be solid players. However, only Lawrie is in the lower levels, and he wont be for long. Davis and Richardson could be solid players but our lower levels struggled to score runs.

[wibadgers23]

Man that Wisconsin pitching rotation is going to be loaded. I wonder if one of Arnett or Hechathorn will start the year in BC? Otherwise, they won't have room for everybody in the starting rotation. Bucci, Lasker, Odorizzi, Howell, Arnett, Heckathorn, and maybe even Burgos could all be in the mix in Appleton. As others have mentioned, Huntsville will be fun to watch too with Rogers, Rivas, and Anundsen in the rotation. It'll be interesting to see how Peralta and Scarpetta do in A+ ball. I can't remember a year in which I've been so excited to follow the pitching in the minor leagues.

[bretsky07]

They'll just piggyback, like they did this year. Looking through the first game logs of this year:

 

Game 1: Scarpetta / Nieves

Game 2: Frederickson / Watten

Game 3: Merklinger

Game 4: Peralta / Adams

Game 5: Bowman

 

So you sould definitely see Arnett, Odorizzi, Heckathorn, Lasker, Bucci, Howell, and maybe Burgos, plus a holdover or two from this year, like Cody Adams once his suspension is up.

[CheezWizHed]

So when people list "Wright" at AAA, are we talking about Chase Wright or Brae Wright?

 

If its Chase, where do people expect Brae to end up (after returning from TJ surgery)?

[thevaccinator27]

On the DL.

 

Someone had to say it.

[CheezWizHed]

On the DL.

 

Someone had to say it.

Nope, I checked. No one had to say it.

 

Since he was expected to be at AAA when he got hurt, I'm guessing he will be back there. He was hurt early in spring training, so he should be ready to go for ST next year. He had more upside than Chase, so here's hoping he returns strong. Maybe one ends up as the lefty in the bull pen.

[Mass Haas]

LHP Chase Wright is slated to become a minor league free agent in mid-October.