2020 Minor League Transaction Thread

[Mass Haas]

Brief Twitter thread on indy league signing RHP John LaRossa

 

VIDEO TWEET - It's "Johnnie" - Flatground App helps again, getting the attention of big league clubs

[markedman5]

 

The contract of RHP John LaRossa has been purchased from the Frontier League.

[Mass Haas]

Roster Roundup reports the Brewers released OF Vitor Watanabe in late February. Watanabe only turned 19 a few weeks ago. Signed as a pitcher but quickly converted to outfield, the smallish LH bat struggled in two DSL seasons.

[Mass Haas]

First of all, this is never a fun post.

 

We could say "it goes without saying" that we wish all these young men well, but the reality is it does need to be said.

 

So whether it's on to the next phase of a baseball career - affiliated, independent, coaching, teaching -- or onto their non-baseball lives, wishing all of these guys the best moving forward.

 

I purposely linked to their MiLB player pages rather than their Baseball Reference pages so that a face can be associated with these players and their dreams.

 

This is likely not the complete list, look for Baseball America to have that in the coming days, and we'll post their update and any others here.

 

The list below is 30 names. Thirteen players saw all of their playing time in the Dominican Summer League.

 

These first four players are not listed as released at MiLB.com, unlike others below, but did indicate on social media they were let go:

 

Corner infielder Pat McInerney, 25, joined the Brewers as an undrafted signee out of the University of Illinois in 2017. He spent all of 2019 at Carolina, and posted this farewell to being an athlete.

 

Catcher Nathan Rodriguez, 24, was drafted in 2016's 21st round out of Cypress College (CA), and like McInerney, saw all his action with the Mudcats in 2019.

 

Infielder Connor McVey, 25, was a non-drafted signee in 2018 out of the University of Cincinnati. He was versatile at 1B, 2B and 3B, spending all of 2019 with the Timber Rattlers.

 

RHP Karsen Lindell, 23, pitched at Rocky Mountain in 2019 and made a last-week-of-the-season appearance in San Antonio, helping out the AAA staff after September callups. Unfortunately for Lindell, this is his 2nd release by the Brewers. The 2015 9th round pick out of an Oregon high school was released in December 2017, but re-developed his game at the now-famed Driveline facility, and was brought back by the club last June.

 

Brewers releases from Thursday May 28th, as indicated at MiLB.com:

 

Veteran infielder Andres Blanco, 36, who had signed as a minor league free agent on January 31st and was a non-roster invitee to big league camp.

 

Catcher Alexander Alvarez, 23, who spent 2019 in Biloxi after being plucked from the Tampa organization in the minor league phase of the 2018 Rule 5 draft.

 

Catcher Skyler Ewing, 27, a former Giants and Marlins farmhand who the Brewers signed out of independent ball in January of 2019. Ewing saw action with San Antonio and Biloxi last season.

 

Utility infielder Julio Garcia, 22, had been selected from the Angels organization in the minor league phase of the 2018 Rule 5 draft. Garcia spent all of 2019 in Carolina and struggled with a .364 OPS in 154 AB's.

 

RHP Carlos Herrera, 22, was one of the lottery tickets that did not hit in the 2015 Adam Lind trade to Seattle (hello, by the way, Freddy Peralta). Herrera only made one 2019 appearance in Maryvale, then later underwent right shoulder surgery in July. Herrera saw extensive action with Wisconsin in 2018 (5.46 ERA).

 

RHP Yohandry Perez, signed as a non-drafted free agent in October 2018. He made four early-season appearances with the Timber Rattlers last season before spending the rest of the summer in Maryvale.

 

Corner Infielder Aaron Familia, 21, was a four-year Brewer farmhand, two seasons in the Dominican Summer League and two in Maryvale. He was a DSL All-Star in 2017 when he posted a very strong .876 OPS.

 

RHP Jeyner Baez, 24, was initially a catcher in the Nationals system, signed in November 2013. The Brewers inked him as a minor league free agent in December of 2018, and converted him to the mound last year, where he made 18 relief appearances in Maryvale.

 

Catcher Luis Avalo, 21, spent four seasons in the Brewers system. The Dominican native spent two years in the DSL, then moved on to Maryvale in 2018, and spent 2019 as a member of the Rocky Mountain Vibes.

 

Catcher Caleb Marquez, 20, was a 39th round pick in 2018 out of a Missouri high school. Marquez toiled in the Maryvale heat for two seasons and posted a tweet here looking to his baseball future.

 

Middle infielder Orveo Saint, 20, was an international signing out of the Bahamas in 2018 and spent two summers in Maryvale. As per the Brewers media guide, he underwent left wrist surgery last October.

 

Catcher Juan Martinez, 24, is a Venezuelan native signed last June as a non-drafted free agent out of Barton College in North Carolina. His debut pro season was made up of 18 games (49 AB's) in Maryvale.

 

RHP Jose Romero, 22, was part of the July 2016 international signing class. After two seasons in the DSL working primarily as a starter, Romero made ten relief appearances in Maryvale in 2019.

 

RHP Alis Atagua, 19, signed out of Venezuela just prior to the 2018 DSL season and made 29 combined relief appearances on the island the past two summers.

 

RHP Kleiber Bordones, 19, was a Venezuelan signee, another with two seasons in the Dominican on his resume, including what appeared to be fairly impressive numbers in 2019.

 

RHP Juan Gomez, 23, is a three-year Brewer, but missed his middle season of 2018 with right elbow bursitis. All his action was in the Dominican.

 

Catcher Farlyn Manon, 23, posted a nice .792 OPS in his 2nd DSL season last summer.

 

RHP Robert Ortiz, still just 18 (until July), made 12 relief appearances totaling 14.2 innings over the past two DSL seasons.

 

RHP Wellington Nunez, 20, is yet another who toiled for two DSL seasons.

 

LHP Keiner Alfaro, 18, was only a Brewer for one DSL season, as he was signed in March of last year out of Venezuela.

 

RHP Deybi Arias, 19, saw action in each of the two prior DSL seasons.

 

RHP Francis Casado, 19, converted from outfielder (2018) to the mound last year.

 

RHP Juan Chourio, 18, was a Venezuelan signee in fall of 2018 and got to make only four DSL relief appearances last summer.

 

Infielder Elian Gonzalez, 20, showed his versatility by seeing action at all four infield spots during his three DSL stints. His 2019 numbers looked solid, and as the Brewers media guide notes, Gonzalez tied for fourth in the league in triples (8).

 

RHP Leony Rosario, 19, made 15 starts among his 25 appearances in his two DSL seasons.

 

IF/OF Francisco Gonzalez, 20, is a switch-hitter with nice 2019 numbers that included strong BB and K peripherals. Of all the Dominican Summer League releases, this one stands out as a bit puzzling.

[CheeseheadInQC]

Shocked by Lindell. After a couple of bad outings to start he was pretty dominant.

 

Also, it is increasingly seeming as if the Brewers DSL bullpen should have a sign reading "Abandon all hope ye who enter here." It is possible that, if the season had happened, the total number of pitchers on the full-season affiliates' opening rosters with Brewers DSL appearances would have been two, and one of those two had exactly two appearances. And given these cuts, it seems like a maximum of three pitchers from last year's squad were slated to come stateside (Olguin, Castaneda, Garcia) and even those weren't sure things. I know almost all of their Latin American resources have gone toward hitters, but even the diamonds in the rough have been few and far between.

[monkeyman343434]

https://www.rotoworld.com/baseball/mlb/player/17798/andres-blanco

 

nice work! rotoworld sourced this thread for their info on Brewers releases

[ARobsBrewCrew]

You can add RHP Chad Whitmer to the list of names that have been recently released. Whitmer posted on Instagram that his time with the Brewers had unfortunately come to an end. The 25-year-old was drafted by the Yankees in 2017 but only spent one season in their organization before they traded him to Milwaukee prior to the ‘18 season. Last year, Whitmer split the season between A Wisconsin and A+ Carolina with solid results (6-3, 3.54 ERA, 40 G, 4 SV, 61.0 IP, 13 BB, 57 SO, 1.213 WHIP). Kind of a questionable release but he was old for the levels where he saw action along with the fact that he didn’t dominate despite being at an advanced age spelled the end for him.

[Mass Haas]

You can add RHP Chad Whitmer to the list of names that have been recently released. Whitmer posted on Instagram that his time with the Brewers had unfortunately come to an end. The 25-year-old was drafted by the Yankees in 2017 but only spent one season in their organization before they traded him to Milwaukee prior to the ‘18 season. Last year, Whitmer split the season between A Wisconsin and A+ Carolina with solid results (6-3, 3.54 ERA, 40 G, 4 SV, 61.0 IP, 13 BB, 57 SO, 1.213 WHIP). Kind of a questionable release but he was old for the levels where he saw action along with the fact that he didn’t dominate despite being at an advanced age spelled the end for him.

 

Also:

 

Catcher Robie Rojas, 25, was a three-year Brewer, drafted in the 38th round in 2017. Primarily utilized as a bullpen catcher, Rojas made the most of limited plate appearances (career .295/.413/.369 line). Just recently, Rojas was interviewed on the Biloxi Shuckers Instagram. Also, this tweet: makes it clear he's not done.

 

IF/OF Jess Williams, 21, was signed out of Australia prior to the 2018 season. Primarily a third baseman but utilized in multiple spots, the LH bat posted a .649 OPS in Maryvale (2018) and Rocky Mountain (2019). Williams' countryman, switch-hitting catcher Alex Hall, remains a Brewer.

 

RHP Franklin Hernandez, 24, a Dominican native drafted in the 37th round in 2018 out of the College of Central Florida. Hernandez saw action at both the Arizona Summer League and Pioneer League levels, but also had to serve a PED suspension that carried over portions of both his seasons.

 

***

 

So that brings the list to 34 known names as of this post.

[Mass Haas]

5/28:

 

Via 97.3 Milwaukee's Drew & KB: Agent Josh Kusnick - Free iHeart account login may be required

 

This is by far the most I've been entertained (and informed) by a Josh Kusnick interview in a long time (that's OK, he's an acquired taste for some - hi Josh).

 

A presence here at Brewerfan for over a decade, Josh indicates at the 28:30 minute mark that his client, RHP Chris Dula, 27, was among last week's releases, and he shares perspective on that as well as Dula's initial signing by the Crew. As you'll see at the statistical link, Dula's 2019 numbers with Carolina and Maryvale were eye-popping in a unique way, although Kusnick mentions late-and post-season strides were made working with Brewer staff. Dula was under a two-year contract, so with a lost 2020 at hand, the Brewers cut ties at this time.

 

With Dula added, the known list of releases sits at 35, others listed above.

 

Good luck, Chris, hopefully another opportunity awaits with that arm.

[Mass Haas]

Among the 35 releases mentioned in the past few posts in this thread, these players were entering their 7th (or more) minor league season (initial effective season 2014). As such, they would have been minor league free agents at 2020 season end. They would have had to have been added to the 40-man roster, or, more likely, be brought back on a new minor league deal, something we have seen the Brewers do in the past.

 

Text below copied from prior posts...

 

Veteran infielder Andres Blanco, 36, who had signed as a minor league free agent on January 31st and was a non-roster invitee to big league camp.

 

Catcher Alexander Alvarez, 23, who spent 2019 in Biloxi after being plucked from the Tampa organization in the minor league phase of the 2018 Rule 5 draft.

 

Catcher Skyler Ewing, 27, a former Giants and Marlins farmhand who the Brewers signed out of independent ball in January of 2019. Ewing saw action with San Antonio and Biloxi last season.

 

Utility infielder Julio Garcia, 22, had been selected from the Angels organization in the minor league phase of the 2018 Rule 5 draft. Garcia spent all of 2019 in Carolina and struggled with a .364 OPS in 154 AB's.

 

RHP Jeyner Baez, 24, was initially a catcher in the Nationals system, signed in November 2013. The Brewers inked him as a minor league free agent in December of 2018, and converted him to the mound last year, where he made 18 relief appearances in Maryvale.

[Mass Haas]

Unfortunately, we have learned of another 22 Brewers minor league releases that took place last week. This would bring the total number, when added with the 35 noted in prior posts in this thread over the past week, to a total of 57 players. It's possible the earlier reports approximating the number at 40 may not have included the Dominican Summer League players who had yet to see action stateside.

 

These first few players listed below were scheduled to be minor league free agents at the end of the 2020 season (initial effective season 2014 or earlier), so this year's lost minor league season effectively ended their Brewers' tenure.

 

Corner IF/OF Patrick Leonard, 27, was re-signed to a minor league deal last winter after spending one season in the Milwaukee chain, posting an .834 OPS as Biloxi's primary first baseman. Leonard has spent time in the Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and Chicago White Sox organizations.

 

OF Joantgel Segovia, 23, was signed out of Venezuela as a 16-year-old in 2013. Segovia made his full-season team debut with the Timber Rattlers in 2017. He reached AA with Biloxi last summer. Short on extra-base power, but a career .283 average (.345 OBP) proved useful during his climb.

 

RHP Carlos Luna, 23, like Segovia, signed at age 16 in the summer of 2013, out of his native Panama. Luna missed all of 2016 and 2017 with Tommy John surgery and its complications, which is a shame, because he had dazzled in the Dominican Summer League in 2015. Remarkably, Luna only peaked level-wise at Rocky Mountain in 2019, thanks to those injury delays.

 

NOTE: This is what we posted here in January upon the signing of infielder Luis Gonazlez, who, like veteran Andres Blanco, never actually suited up for the Crew.

 

Here's Luis Gonzalez' MiLB Player page, 25-year-old had spent his entire pro career in Reds' system (Baseball Reference page). Went down last May with a shoulder issue in his right arm and missed the rest of the season. Not nearly the speedster Luis Aviles was, but in effect, replaces the Brewers' long-time farmhand who became a minor league free agent himself.

 

Also, there are (were) now two Luis Gonzalez' active in the system, the other the 2018 8th round pitcher out of Puerto Rico who missed all of 2019 with a right elbow sprain (MiLB page). This youngster is still with the organization.

 

***

 

The players listed below did have control years with the Brewers beyond 2020, some were set to be free agents after the 2021 season, but that still adds to the discussion regarding them being let go at this time.

 

RH reliever Jon Olczak, 26, had a five-year run as a 21st round pick in 2015 out of North Carolina State. Olczak split 2019 between Biloxi and San Antonio. Olczak posted a 3.01 career ERA, 1.18 WHIP, with 244 K's to 64 BB's in 212.1 IP. Baffling release.

 

C Max McDowell, 26, was Milwaukee's 13th round pick in 2015 out of the University of Connecticut, and spent half of 2018 and all of 2019 in Milwaukee. McDowell was one of several players for which we had shared links to "hometown" articles, as their own communities follow the journey. McDowell was featured in plenty of highlight play packages from the Timber Rattlers, Mudcats, and Shuckers during his tenure.

 

LH reliever Daniel Brown, 25, made a steady four-year climb in the system as a 7th round pick in 2016 out of Mississippi State. Brown was effective in limiting the damage despite a relatively high walk rate. Brown spent all of 2019 with the Shuckers.

 

INF C.J. Hinojosa, 25, spent his one Brewer season with Biloxi after being acquired from the Giants in March 2019 for Erik Kratz.

 

OF Rob Henry, 25, 39th round, 2017, spent the past season and a half with Carolina, and is the owner of a career .373 OBP. he was among the Mudcats' crew of Ivy leaguers (Brown University). A goodbye from Rob here, pondering future career paths.

 

RHP Matt Smith, 26, was another 2019 Mudcat (28 G, 22 starts). Drafted in the 34th round in 2016 out of Georgetown (man, what was the cumulative IQ on that Carolina team?), Smith missed all of 2017 and 2018 working back from Tommy John surgery, which must add to the frustration of a release after just one year back (3.67 ERA, 1.29 WHIP in that comeback effort).

 

INF Eddie Silva, 24, yet another 2019 full-season Mudcat, spent two seasons in the Brewers' system, signed as a non-drafted player out of Florida International.

 

INF Trever Morrison, 25 (yes, another recent Carolina Mudcat), was selected in the 12th round in 2016 out of Oregon State. Morrison had briefly left the organization on his own to begin 2019 but returned in June.

 

Middle infielder Devin Hairston, 24, was the Brewers' 6th round pick in 2017 out of Louisville. he played in 111 games for Carolina in 2019, and also saw action in Biloxi during the season's final week.

 

C Charlie Meyer, 27, a Janesville native (UW-Stout), had primarily served as a bullpen catcher, and at one point, thought we had been read he was being groomed as a future coach in the system. As you'll see at the linked stat page, his pro plate appearances in 2017 and 2018 were very minimal.

 

RHP Tate Budnick, 24, a 2018 non-drafted signing out of the University of Portland, did not pitch in 2019 as he recovered from March Tommy John surgery. He saw action in Maryvale and with Helena in '18. In January, we had linked to a couple of podcasts in which Budnick shared his amateur and pro journey.

 

LHP Ian Exposito, 23 (24 later this month), was yet another non-drafted signee (St. Thomas University in Miami), and pitched well in Maryvale. So tough when the older late signees aren't assigned minimally to the Pioneer League or above.

[Mass Haas]

LHP Michael Mediavilla, 24, 34th rounder in 2018 out of the University of Miami, had truly eye-popping peripherals at his three stops (Maryvale, Helena, Wisconsin). He was idle from June 7th to August 29th last summer, for reasons that weren't disclosed (not mentioned in the Media Guide), but did make two final-week appearances.

 

OF Jack Meggs, 25, signed in February as a minor league free agent out of Oakland's system. We had posted thisupon his signing, including video interviews.

 

RHP Eli Nabholz, 25, was drafted in the 38th round last June out of Millersville (PA) University. We had just linked to this nice feature article on Nabholz just a few weeks ago.

 

IF/OF Jackie Urbaez, 22, was drafted in the 29th round just last June, like Ian Exposito above, attended St. Thomas University. The versatile switch-hitter appeared in six games with the Mudcats last September when they needed fresh bodies for the final week. Otherwise, Urbaez' action was in Maryvale.

 

RHP Ariel Vega, 19, a signee out of Panama prior to the 2018 season, pitched well enough in his 2nd Dominican Summer League season in 2019 that he got a late-season look-see in Maryvale.

 

LHP Joandris Tolentino, 20, a Dominican native, adds to the tough day for southpaws on the list above. He was a two-year DSL member.

[Mass Haas]

That should complete the list.

 

Among players for which their only remaining Brewer retention eligibility is 2020, that were NOT released, I can only see RHP Aaron Wilkerson, who would be of value on a big-league taxi squad, Jake Gatewood, the competitive balance round pick in 2014, and 23-year-old RHP Nelson Hernandez, who has made a slow-but-steady climb through the system, and pitched in Carolina in 2019. Also likely falling in this category is RHP Alec Kenilvort, who made his pro debut in 2014, and has been associated with an affiliated club for at least part of each season since, The former Rockies farmhand who had a brief independent ball foray in 2017 before signing with Milwaukee, underwent Tommy John surgery last July, a lost season for him after making 40 relief appearances for Carolina in 2018.

[clancyphile]

I hope the Crew can get some of those players back when all this dust settles. Mediavilla was really looking like a great one - I had him way high on my Top 25 ballot.

[Mass Haas]

Catcher Caleb Marquez, 20, was a 39th round pick in 2018 out of a Missouri high school. Marquez toiled in the Maryvale heat for two seasons and posted a tweet here looking to his baseball future.

 

Nice post-release feature on Marquez today in his hometown paper. So easy to root for.

[Mass Haas]

As per MiLB.com, the Brewers have released 19-year-old RHP Jian Yi, who debuted as a pro in 2019 in Maryvale (19 IP in 15 appearances).

 

No indication that fellow China native YongKang Kou, a LH-hitting corner IF/OF, has been let go.

 

The most promising of the Brewers's players from China, RHP Lun Zhao, underwent Tommy John surgery last October 29th.

[wildcat2237]

Thus far, the only release that truly shocks me is Jon Olczak. At one point recently I had him in my top-25.

 

Dude never had amazing stuff, but I thought he had a chance to be an average MLB middle reliever.

[clancyphile]

Thus far, the only release that truly shocks me is Jon Olczak. At one point recently I had him in my top-25.

 

Dude never had amazing stuff, but I thought he had a chance to be an average MLB middle reliever.

 

I liked Olczak, too. He'd slipped, but looked to be a cheap bullpen option.

 

Mediavilla is going to be one big "what if" in my mind... I saw those numbers, and they were eye-popping across the board. If he catches on somewhere... he'll be a good one.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

Brewers first undrafted free agent signings thus far:

 

RHP TJ Shook (South Carolina)

LHP Jason Munsch (Concordia- Neb.)

2B Drew Smith (GCU)

 

Full reports on each player are up on my Instagram account for anyone interested.

[Mass Haas]

Brewers first undrafted free agent signings thus far:

 

RHP TJ Shook (South Carolina)

LHP Jason Munsch (Concordia- Neb.)

2B Drew Smith (GCU)

 

Thanks, we are going to focus these signings to this thread in our Draft Forum, rather than considering them Minor League transactions. Similar thought process to the draft signings each year.

[Mass Haas]

Baseball America reports the Brewers released LHP Blake Lillis, their 25th round pick in 2016 out of a Kansas high school. The young man, now 22, missed all of 2017 with ulnar neuritis (inflammation of the ulnar nerve in the arm that results in numbness or weakness in the hand. The ulnar nerve is more commonly thought of as the “funny bone” and gives feeling to the little finger and half of the ring finger.)

 

Lillis made his way through 46.1 innings in 2018 at Helena, but after just one start with Rocky Mountain in 2019, underwent Tommy John surgery last July.

 

Wishing Blake the best. As part of his signing package, there likely was money promised for college should he decide to go that route.

[Mass Haas]

Darn on this one.

 

Back in February when the Media Guide was released, we learned why RHP Dantel Ramirez had been placed on the season-ending disabled list in June of 2019. He underwent Tommy John surgery on 05/30/19.

 

Now it's a double-darn, as the Brewers released Ramirez this week.

 

Click on the link above to review the outstanding age 19 Dominican Summer League rookie campaign Ramirez enjoyed in 2018 (1.13 WHIP, other sweet peripherals).

 

This is one where you'd like to know more -- was the rehab from the surgery just proving to be a disaster? Was Ramirez non-cooperative or non-compliant in his rehab?

 

The Brewers have graduated so few arms from the DSL, it's a shame one of the more intriguing ones (by statline anyway), is now out of the organization.

[djoctagone]

the brewers signed rhp jeison pena to a minor league contract.

[Mass Haas]

Twitter Mini-Thread with Video on the Phelps return

 

While those two videos were from 2019, this Israel Puello video goes back to 2017:

 

[ARobsBrewCrew]

Not sure where to post this so I guess I will here. Does anyone know which Brewers prospects have now exceeded rookie limits this year? Usually, I end up waiting until baseball reference updates player pages following the conclusion of the season. My guess was that Devin Williams and Eric Yardley were the only two that reached rookie status in 2020 but I just wanted to confirm. I still think Nottingham, Taylor, and Rasmussen are just short of the criteria.