grand chute official alternate training site--fans allowed

[djoctagone]

to no one's surprise, grand chute, wisconsin, has been named the official alternate training site for the brewers.

 

the brewers will be allowed to field a 28-man roster there, and in april, only players from the alternate training site can replace players on the major league roster.

 

hopeful that fans will be allowed!

[djoctagone]

what's confusing is that the alternate training camp won't open until 12 april.

 

will these 28 guys destined for grand chute stay in maryvale until then? if needed before 12 april, they most certainly would have to take commercial airfare from phoenix to milwaukee.

 

maybe the brewers will be allowed to take their taxi squad of five players north with them, even though they are starting the season at home?

[djoctagone]

turns out that the entire ats roster will travel to milwaukee at the conclusion of exhibition play in texas. that's 28 guys, plus 26 for the mlb roster.

[djoctagone]

i'm hoping that the brewers and white sox alternate training site teams will be able to play an exhibition series or two at american family field while the brewers are on the road. milwaukee is nearly equidistant from grand chute and schaumburg.

I hope they play in both Schaumburg and Grand Chute. I'm 10 minutes from Wintrust Field in Schaumburg. Illinois Gov just announced that state is on verge of allowing up to 60% of capacity for sporting events with anyone with proof he or she has had both doses or the one dose of the J and J not counting toward the 60%. Supposed to take effect once 70% of seniors have had at least one dose. That should happen in next couple weeks.

this excellent article explains how forcing one team to travel three hours to play another might not be okay with mlb, who is dictating whether or not exhibition play is allowed.

 

playing at american family field, as a midway destination, allows players to drive their own cars (as suggested in the article) and make it a reasonable drive for all parties.

[djoctagone]

rick sweet has

that exhibition play against the class aaa teams for the twins (st. paul) and the white sox (schaumburg) is very likely. some games will be in grand chute, and some will be in milwaukee while the brewers are on the road.

 

it's a bit of a haul from st. paul to grand chute (over four hours' drive), but if the twins affiliate wants to play another team in exhibition play, grand chute is the closest alternate training site to st. paul.

[djoctagone]

exhibition play against the white sox alternate training site roster confirmed.

[djoctagone]

i'm hoping that the brewers and white sox alternate training site teams will be able to play an exhibition series or two at american family field while the brewers are on the road. milwaukee is nearly equidistant from grand chute and schaumburg.

confirmed exhibition series at american family field against the white sox alternate training site roster during the brewers' first road trip.

[djoctagone]

fans are allowed in grand chute to watch the alternate training site roster starting monday.

[Madhawk23]

What happened to this? Have games actually been played up in Appleton yet in front of fans? I thought those were supposed to start a week ago or something, but haven't heard any reports.

[djoctagone]

fans were allowed in grand chute as of yesterday. the alternate training site roster had been working out at american family field while the parent club was on the road (playing the white sox in exhibition games). they reported to grand chute after the brewers' road trip concluded.

[djoctagone]

your alternate training site roster:

 

clayton andrews

luke barker

phil bickford

ray black

dylan cozens

leo crawford

mario feliciano

derek fisher (major league injured list)

zack godley

zach green

blaine hardy

eric lauer

hoby milner

cooper hummel

luke maile

jacob nottingham (major league injured list)

dustin peterson

corey ray

pablo reyes

miguel sanchez

chad sobotka (may still have to clear intake)

quintin torres-costa

patrick weigel (may still have to clear intake)

jamie westbrook

eric yardley

jordan zimmermann

 

26 players listed above . . . my understanding is that the limit is 28 players. i doubt that a player was added to replace the recently selected jace peterson or the recently recalled tyrone taylor. dee strange-gordon signing is not official (has to clear intake), so he is not included yet.

[zagski6]

I attended the practice today. Here's a recap:

 

2:30-3:15ish: Generic batting practice.

3:30-5: Situational/Simulated game

 

The two SP were:

SP Zack Godley-Lots of wild pitches

SP Blaine Hardy

 

Pitchers used in relief:

Patrick Weigel-Looked good. Lots of K's

Hoby Milner-Reminds me of Yardley

Ray Black-Overpowered a lot of guys, consistently hit 95-97 mph

Phil Bickford-Didn't hit any batters

 

Players who batted:

Jacob Nottingham

Luke Maile

Mario Feliciano-Most impressive hitter of the afternoon.

Zach Green

Dylan Cozens-Struck out almost every AB

Cooper Hummel

Dustin Peterson-Struck out almost every AB

Corey Ray-Struck out almost every AB, hit one to the warning track in last AB

Pablo Reyes

Jamie Westbrook

 

In all, it was definitely a better showing for the pitching staff. I'd say 75 percent of the AB's resulted in a K.

 

With so few position players in camp, I doubt any scrimmages will be played up here. It looks like they decided to send players like Ashby, Turang, Small, Mitchell, etc. back to AZ for minor league spring training even though they were on the alternate roster last week when they played the White Sox.

[young guns]

I did catch the radio crew talking about one of the scrimmages they had with the White Sox while on the last road trip. They mentioned Chicago was only playing defense with 7 players. Made me wonder why not have some of the brewer players fill in on defense since it's only a scrimmage.

[zagski6]

I think the added possibility of an injury to occur prevents teams from doing that...especially with the cold weather.

[djoctagone]

those exhibition games were played at american family field, so cold weather wouldn't have been a factor. and the white sox were on the road through 7 april, so they were entitled to carry up to five players from their ats roster on a taxi squad. and we don't know how many players the brewers had on their taxi squad, or if their taxi squad only joined them for the charter flight to st. louis from chicago.

[djoctagone]

With so few position players in camp, I doubt any scrimmages will be played up here. It looks like they decided to send players like Ashby, Turang, Small, Mitchell, etc. back to AZ for minor league spring training even though they were on the alternate roster last week when they played the White Sox.

thanks for the recap. will be especially curious if you attend while the brewers are on the road to figure out who's missing and thus, deducing who's on their taxi squad 2.0 roster.

 

bowden francis is another player they sent back to arizona. by my math, it was just those five.

 

also notable that dee strange-gordon did not appear yesterday. he reportedly traveled to milwaukee on 9 april to start the intake process.

[djoctagone]

I attended the practice today. Here's a recap:

 

The two SP were:

SP Zack Godley-Lots of wild pitches

SP Blaine Hardy

how many pitches did blaine hardy throw? did it appear that they were trying to develop him as a bona fide starting pitcher?

[JohnBriggs12]

I attended the practice today. Here's a recap:

 

The two SP were:

SP Zack Godley-Lots of wild pitches

SP Blaine Hardy

how many pitches did blaine hardy throw? did it appear that they were trying to develop him as a bona fide starting pitcher?

 

Not likely for a 34 year old veteran who's been a solid major league reliever his entire career. More likely they're building up his arm coming off of "Tommy John light" surgery. It's just a matter of a week or two when he's very likely to replace Rasmussen or Perdomo on the active roster.

[zagski6]

I attended the practice today. Here's a recap:

 

The two SP were:

SP Zack Godley-Lots of wild pitches

SP Blaine Hardy

how many pitches did blaine hardy throw? did it appear that they were trying to develop him as a bona fide starting pitcher?

 

If I had to guess 50-60. He did look better than Godley, but I think the Brewers would have to have major issues with injuries for him to start a game for Milwaukee. I'll try to keep some stats for the session today.

[djoctagone]

how many pitches did blaine hardy throw? did it appear that they were trying to develop him as a bona fide starting pitcher?

Not likely for a 34 year old veteran who's been a solid major league reliever his entire career. More likely they're building up his arm coming off of "Tommy John light" surgery. It's just a matter of a week or two when he's very likely to replace Rasmussen or Perdomo on the active roster.

blaine hardy started 13 games for detroit in 2018, so there's that. i found it surprising to hear that he threw 50-60 pitches. that sounds like starting pitcher to me.

[djoctagone]

simulated games open to the public on the docket in grand chute every day for the rest of this week, except for tomorrow, with a game played at american family field. no idea on the opponent.

[damuelle]

Does anyone know if these pitchers are now at the Alternate Site:

- Alec Bettinger

- Zach Brown

- Thomas Jankins

- Jesus Castillo?

 

I'm hoping they're all healthy and throwing at the Alternate Site now, quietly being added as openings arose (Taylor 4/14, Yardley 4/17, Nottingham 4/22, Crawford listed in Arizona 4/22, Bickford 4/24, Ray 4/24).

[jgrusz]

Brown isn't, but the other three are.

[damuelle]

That’s great feedback. Thank you! It gives us a better feel of the likely initial AAA starting rotation and let’s us know where Jesus Castillo’s been hiding!

[djoctagone]

today is the final day of the alternate training site in grand chute. presumably, the majority of the players there will be filling out the class aaa roster for the brewers. the minor league season starts on tuesday.