Huntsville pitching..are you kidding?

[JohnBriggs12]

Huntsville staff has a 2.58 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. Amazing job and kudos to pitching coach Chris Hook! Hook is building quite a resume for a future as major league PC.

[Mass Haas]

40-man roster reliever Kevin Shackelford has limited the damage, but his 1.50 WHIP is highest on the staff. Look for that number to come down this summer.

[fondybrewfan]

I wonder if the success of the rotation is part of the reason Bradley hasn't been bumped up yet. I know it is still early for promotions but this is Bradley's 3rd year at BC and with the early season success I want him promoted to see if he is really legit. There is no one you want to demote on Huntsville though; everyone has been terrific. There has got to be some room at AAA isn't there? Get Pena, Mills, and Figaro out of the rotation in AAA already. They are nowhere near the MLB starting rotation; just move them to the bullpen.

[paul253]

I know it is still early for promotions but this is Bradley's 3rd year at BC and with the early season success I want him promoted to see if he is really legit.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Milwaukee for some reason has this thing about promoting guys before the all star break. But Bradley needs to be moved up ASAP. Brent Suter or Tyler Cravy could easily be promoted to Nashville to make room.

[The stache]

I was shocked to see how well Bradley's done this year. I agree he needs to be moved up to AA.

[brewmann04]

Hey a college arm doing well time for a bump up

[DHonks]

I'd take my time with Bradley. We've seen this before in his first season ('12??) when he was unhittable then terrible. I say let him earn his promotion over more than 5 weeks

[HiAndTight]

I'd take my time with Bradley. We've seen this before in his first season ('12??) when he was unhittable then terrible. I say let him earn his promotion over more than 5 weeks

 

 

He was a 1st round pick and is going to be 24. And his k/9 is close to twice what it was in 2012 at HiA.

 

At some point we need to actually push the guy to see what we have. He's almost certainly going to struggle when he does get a bump up as he adjusts. I'd like to get him up here before he's 26-27 years old if he's a legit prospect.

[paul253]

I agree with HiAndTight. There's no point in babying Bradley anymore. This is his third season in A ball and he is pitching probably as well as he has since he signed. Move him up now when his confidence is high and see if he can get more advanced hitters out. If he can put up similar numbers for the rest of year in Huntsville he can move up to Nashville next year and may even become a legitimate prospect again.

[HiAndTight]

I agree with HiAndTight. There's no point in babying Bradley anymore. This is his third season in A ball and he is pitching probably as well as he has since he signed. Move him up now when his confidence is high and see if he can get more advanced hitters out. If he can put up similar numbers for the rest of year in Huntsville he can move up to Nashville next year and may even become a legitimate prospect again.

 

 

If Bradley is throwing closer to 92-95 this year as opposed to 89-91 as he said(and he said a big goal of his after dealing with injuries last year was to get his velocity back up to where it was in college) then I would say he's still a legitimate prospect. Not what you'd hoped for out of what many believed was a top 10 prospect at the time of the draft, but I look at a guy who should at least develop into a good reliever as a legitimate prospect. But that's a matter of semantics I suppose.

 

But whatever his ceiling is, we need to find out sooner or later, and sooner would seem to make more sense for a guy in HiA 3 years removed from pitching in college.

[JohnBriggs12]

One of the reasons often cited in rating the Brewer farm system so low is that it lacks so-called "front of the rotation" prospects. While that may be true, there seems to be no shortage of mid to back end rotation candidates and is that such a bad thing? Quality and value at the back end is clearly an advantage in building a roster for a small market team.

 

The "front-end" types are keeping the surgeons very busy. Bradley will get promoted in due time but there is no room in Huntsville now. Besides, he's never had success over a significant stretch so this is beneficial to his confidence regardless of level.

[brwrsfan]

I don't claim to be an expert on any of our prospects these days, but isn't it entirely possible that one of these "mid-back" rotation type prospects improves or takes a big leap forward to becoming an ace?

 

Most of these guys are awfully young and are still getting better. Looking at the numbers of guys like Nelson and Jungmann this year (and to a lesser extent Bradley due to where he's playing), it sure seems like these guys are developing quite well, albeit slower than some of us have hoped.

[TheCrew07]

Anything is possible, albeit highly unlikely... if it was so easy to have 3 or more plus pitches, plus command, and plus pitchability then everyone would have the potential to be an Ace.

 

Pitchers that can do it on 2 pitches like Ben Sheets are even more rare.

[Roderick]

Bradley will get promoted in due time but there is no room in Huntsville now.

 

I think this is the issue. You would have to move a AA starter up to AAA as they are all having a good season and can't be demoted. And unless a Figaro/Fiers/Nelson is called up to the majors, I don't see a hole in AAA to move a AA guy up. The only old geezer starter in AAA is Mills and he is having a fine start to the season and if the 40 man roster wasn't an issue could be an emergency callup starter type guy who they want to keep ready.

[Fear The Chorizo]

try to deal some of these AA/AAA arms that are creating a logjam for some of these pitchers with bigger upsides. If guys like Bradley and Jungman dominate their current level, they need to be pushed up a notch and given inning regardless of who's currently there. It's good to have a plethora of "back of the rotation" types scattered among higher minor league levels, but under no circumstance should arms like that impede development of top-15 draft picks.

[paul253]

I hate to see Jed Bradley held back in A ball so Alfredo Figaro, Hiram Burgos and Brad Mills can continue starting in Nashville. Suter, Jungmann or Cravy could easily be moved up into the Nashville rotation.

 

You have guys starting in Nashville who don't need to be starting. You have guys pitching very well in Huntsville who should be moved up. I don't see why there would be such a problem with getting Bradley to Huntsville.

[igor67]

I get being a little conservative on the promotions as things could easily snowball into having to release a vet who was performing, and it is just as easy for what appears to be a problem of too much depth to turn into not enough bodies fast, but you do need to try and get some of those stalled timetables moving now that they are finally producing.

[paul253]

Jungmann just had another solid start for Huntsville last night. He's now got a 2.77 ERA and a 46/15 K/BB ratio over 52 innings. Tyler Cravy has a 1.87 ERA and Brent Suter 2.30 ERA. Both also have good K/BB ratios. Meanwhile Michael Blazek just started a game for Nashville. I'm just saying.

[Roderick]

Jungmann just had another solid start for Huntsville last night. He's now got a 2.77 ERA and a 46/15 K/BB ratio over 52 innings. Tyler Cravy has a 1.87 ERA and Brent Suter 2.30 ERA. Both also have good K/BB ratios. Meanwhile Michael Blazek just started a game for Nashville. I'm just saying.

 

Yeah, it appears they have Nelson, Fiers, Mills, Pena and then they start a bullpen guy as the schedule dictates. What is the status of Burgos' shoulder? If they are going to keep him on the DL for another couple of weeks, I don't see why they don't drop Heckathorn down to AA and bring up a Hunstville starter to AAA. And by the time Burgos is ready to join the team, something will have shaken out and he will get a fit.

[fondybrewfan]

At this point you could just release Heckathorn. Is there really a point to keeping him around anymore? He has been pretty terrible.

 

I hope we start to see some promotions in early June. The system up and down from High A, AA, AAA, and Milwaukee has had such good consistent starting pitching it has been tough to move people around. But I do agree that even though several AAA guys are pitching well they should get bumped from the rotation for actual prospects should that need arise. Guys like Blazek, Mills, and Figaro cannot hold up the development of Cravy, Suter, Jungmann, Bradley, etc.