Minor League Spring Training

[Madhawk23]

Is it safe to assume that minor league spring training is currently going on (for those younger guys that aren't on the Alt Training Site roster) down in Arizona? With minor league seasons starting next month, I'm guessing that they must be playing some games down in AZ right now, correct? I'm just surprised that we aren't getting any kind of updates from those games? Usually the Brewers do a great job of tweeting out updates through their Player Development account, but I've seen nothing so far. So, that has my wondering - have games not started down there yet?

[damuelle]

This Timber Rattlers video link has some excellent nuggets. From what I gather:

- Manager mentions that High-A club just had its first full squad workout, so presumably pretty much all Low-A, High-A and Double-A players have reported

- Double-A club will play first game on Wednesday this week

- High-A, Low-A clubs will play first games on Thursday this week

 

https://www.milb.com/wisconsin/news/arizona-check-in-with-matt-erickson-episode-5-back-in-maryvale

[Jenkins5]

I've been wondering the same thing. I would assume so but like you said, there is just zero updates or news. Like everything about the minor leagues is a be secret. I hate everything the MLB has been doing with the minor leagues and draft the last year or so. The late start this year included. I long for the morning I can wake up and check all the box scores again.

[HiAndTight]

I've been wondering the same thing. I would assume so but like you said, there is just zero updates or news. Like everything about the minor leagues is a be secret. I hate everything the MLB has been doing with the minor leagues and draft the last year or so. The late start this year included. I long for the morning I can wake up and check all the box scores again.

 

 

Until we get to August, that's my favorite part of the Baseball season.

 

It's easily the part of the game I miss the most. Hopefully..it's back on the 4th.

[damuelle]

Line-up for the first spring training game today (Brewers Biloxi Double-A club against the Dodgers):

 

Mitchell, cf

Turang, ss

Lutz, dh

Castro, 3b

Henry, c

Bello, lf

Dillard, 1b

Garcia, ss

Perez, rf

 

Brewers Player Development on Twitter has also posted the Spring Training schedule of all games from today through April 29th, as well as the entire camp roster of 132 players

 

 

I'll try to post the schedule here:

[attachment=0]MILB Spring Training Schedule - Brewers.jpg[/attachment]

[damuelle]

I'm posting the Brewers' MILB Spring Training Roster here.

 

I've also noted a few absences which perhaps others can explain: Aaron Ashby, Tyler Gillies, Alec Kenilvort, Jose Sibrian, Luis Silva, Zane Zurbrugg, Keegan McCarville, Abimael Gonzalez, Wade Beasley.

 

[attachment=0]MILB Spring Training Roster - Brewers.jpg[/attachment]

[brooks_quichenick]

Slightly concerning that Ashby is not on there, especially since he is not listed as being at the alternate site in Appleton, at least according to this: https://www.postcrescent.com/story/sports/2021/04/12/players-workout-schedule-set-brewers-alternate-training-site/7194774002/

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Slightly concerning that Ashby is not on there, especially since he is not listed as being at the alternate site in Appleton, at least according to this: https://www.postcrescent.com/story/sports/2021/04/12/players-workout-schedule-set-brewers-alternate-training-site/7194774002/

 

It is possible, albeit unlikely, that Ashby is on the taxi squad and is traveling with the team.

[Madhawk23]

Hmmmm....this is interesting regarding Ashby. If he's not on the minor league roster, that hast to mean that he's either up at the Alt Site - or on the taxi squad (are they basically one in the same?), right? Given his age though, I would have thought that they'd want him down getting in a full ST with his minor league teammates.

[Madhawk23]

Also, do we know what time of day that they'll be playing these minor league ST games? I guess I'm hoping that the Brewers PD twitter account does a good job of tweeting out updates during these games. Would be fun to follow along to how the prospects are doing down there.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

There are a handful of latin players that surprised me that they are stateside. Hedbert, I guess, should be no surprise since he was at the alt training site last year. Others like J. Quero, L. Medina, J.Parra, E. Fernandez, E. Garcia are all stateside and I would have expected them to be in DSL. Other signings like J. Chourio and E. Bautista are not stateside so it would be interesting to know why. Chourio is our 15th best prospect per MLB, but maybe because he is only 17 they are holding him back.

[CheeseheadInQC]

There are a handful of latin players that surprised me that they are stateside. Hedbert, I guess, should be no surprise since he was at the alt training site last year. Others like J. Quero, L. Medina, J.Parra, E. Fernandez, E. Garcia are all stateside and I would have expected them to be in DSL. Other signings like J. Chourio and E. Bautista are not stateside so it would be interesting to know why. Chourio is our 15th best prospect per MLB, but maybe because he is only 17 they are holding him back.

 

The only Latin players on the list who really surprised me were a few of the pitchers and catchers, and I'm guessing the catchers are probably there to have enough catching in camp and will be returning to the DSL later on.

 

It wouldn't shock me, with Garcia spending time at the alternate site and the instructs raves for Quero, if they end up in A ball to tell you the truth. I guess you could make a case for Fernandez, Roa and Jaraba repeating DSL, but with it being their third year in the system, I can understand why they didn't. I'm more surprised that there aren't a couple more names (Perez and Bautista I figured were decent bets) but with, if I remember correctly, DSL guys not counting toward the cap on minor league players, there is a built-in reason to be conservative.

 

They had to bring some over, though. With the draft pushed back and all of last year's picks being college guys, 2/3 of the opening day AZL lineup could end up being guys who haven't played stateside yet.

[Madhawk23]

Well, unfortunately no updates yesterday or last night from the opening game yesterday. That's a bit disappointing. Was hoping we'd at least get some tweets from the Brewers PD account last night. Maybe they'll tweet those out the day after? I guess we can hope.

[Manty Brewer Fan]

I really hope Hedbert starts in Appleton just to be able to go see him. Seeing him in the "AA" lineup is impressive.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Hmmmm....this is interesting regarding Ashby. If he's not on the minor league roster, that hast to mean that he's either up at the Alt Site - or on the taxi squad (are they basically one in the same?), right? Given his age though, I would have thought that they'd want him down getting in a full ST with his minor league teammates.

 

I asked via Twitter, and got this response:

 

Brewers Player Development

@BrewersPD

·

3m

Aaron just returned from the Alternate Site to camp in Phoenix. He'll wear number 48 in honor of @DimTillard

[damuelle]

Brewer MILB Rosters for today's 3 games against the Dodgers:

 

[attachment=0]April 15 MILB Rosters.jpg[/attachment]

[Madhawk23]

Wow....so are these lineups today a pretty good indication of where guys will be starting this season? If so, Hedbert with Biloxi right out of the gates is a bit surprising, no? I would have thought he would have started at Wisconsin. And looks like that's where they plan to start Mitchell, which is about what I expected.

 

What other placements do people find interesting with these lineups?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Wow....so are these lineups today a pretty good indication of where guys will be starting this season? If so, Hedbert with Biloxi right out of the gates is a bit surprising, no? I would have thought he would have started at Wisconsin. And looks like that's where they plan to start Mitchell, which is about what I expected.

 

What other placements do people find interesting with these lineups?

 

It probably isn't a 0% chance that Perez starts in Biloxi, but I would think its close. He's only 17, and the Brewers are not a team known for rushing prospects to that magnitude. I think this is more a case of the Brewers wanting to challenge him with better pitching. I'd still imagine he starts with Wisconsin, or even in Arizona. That doesn't mean that he won't see Biloxi by the end of the season, though. And what an accomplishment that would be!

[damuelle]

Given that there's a prioritization to play top prospects, I think this puts a quick spotlight on Luis Castro, who was the only starting position player yesterday that's not listed as a Brewers' Top 30 Prospect on mlb.com. He batted clean-up for "AA" yesterday and is doing so again today. Maybe yesterday was just a case of putting an older hitter (25) in the squad, but I think it's worth following. Signed by the Brewers in November 2019 (previously with the Colorado Rockies), he hit well in the recent Venezuelan Winter League (.804 OPS in 126 plate appearances).

 

As for today's starting position players, the one I'm noting is Arbert Cipion (DH batting second in the "Low-A" game). I'd have expected more heralded or experienced players like Larry Ernesto, Pablo Abreu, Andre Nnebe, Ernesto Martinez or Korry Howell to see action before him, so perhaps the team sees something interesting in the still-20 year old Cipion who's barely played above AZL ball.

 

Finally, I think today's the first time three of our 2020 draft picks have gotten to don their Brewers' uniform against a true opposing team: C Zavier Warren, RF Joey Wiemer and SS Hayden Cantrelle are all starting for our "Low A" team against the Dodgers. Congratulations to them! I don't think it would be surprising to see all five 2020 draft picks (including CF Garrett Mitchell and SS Freddy Zamora) start the season on the Low-A/High-A rosters.

[Mass Haas]

For those posting and reading in this thread, you are ideal candidates to assist with the 2021 version of the daily Minor League Link Reports, in whatever form they take.

 

After 20 years, I can't imagine being on the nightly grind to a full extent, although I'd be adding much of the next-morning news reports, video and audio from the four locales.

 

But as for the nightly links to box scores, with notes and analyses, I'd love to see others with a passion such as yourselves step up.

 

Please feel free to contact me here via Brewerfan's messaging functionality. Ideally we'd have let's say, four posters who can coordinate nightly duties among themselves. Better that than assigning one affiliate to a specific person, as then the grind is full-time.

 

Just click on my icon and choose "Private Msg". The very top of the forum page lets you know when you have new messages (it's not very prominent, I realize).

 

Thanks so much.

[Madhawk23]

I'll say it again, but I really wish the Brewers PD Twitter account would at least tweet out some of the results from these games. I know they've done that in past springs, so not sure why they aren't doing it yet this spring? Is there a reason to keep all of this secretive?

[CheeseheadInQC]

Judging by past years, I think the only things that can be taken from the first set of lineups are:

 

1. The players listed are healthy enough to play

 

2. Olson and Munsch are better than 50/50 as far as being stretched out as starters.

 

And I'm not even that certain about the second.

[HiAndTight]

Wow....so are these lineups today a pretty good indication of where guys will be starting this season? If so, Hedbert with Biloxi right out of the gates is a bit surprising, no? I would have thought he would have started at Wisconsin. And looks like that's where they plan to start Mitchell, which is about what I expected.

 

What other placements do people find interesting with these lineups?

 

It probably isn't a 0% chance that Perez starts in Biloxi, but I would think its close. He's only 17, and the Brewers are not a team known for rushing prospects to that magnitude. I think this is more a case of the Brewers wanting to challenge him with better pitching. I'd still imagine he starts with Wisconsin, or even in Arizona. That doesn't mean that he won't see Biloxi by the end of the season, though. And what an accomplishment that would be!

 

 

How nice would it be to have our own...Acuna or Tatis or fill in the blank international signing who forces his way into the big leagues in his late teens, early 20's.

 

If he hits AA this year, he could be in position to be the first player under 19 years of age to hit a HR in the big leagues since a former Brewers SS/CF'er in 1974! I realize that's not just putting the cart before the horse, that's having the cart delivered 4 towns away, but still...no reason to not get wildly optimistic, right?

 

That said, as much as I'm excited about him, Turang is the guy I'm really excited about. I think he could be a Sept callup this year to be used as pinch runner and could get some time at SS, 2nd and CF, and could be ready to become the man at SS just as Wong's contract is up, forcing Urias, who in this scenario, has realized his 60+ hit tool and OB skills to provide an exceptional 1-2 punch ahead of Yellich in the lineup.

[damuelle]

Two MILB Brewer games today against the Giants. It's not allowing me to upload the image for some reason, so here are the lists:

 

Shuckers:

Lopes - 4

Lutz - DH

Turang - 6

Castro - 3

Wilson - 5

Henry - 2

Palma - 7

Aguilar - 8

H. Perez - 9

Ashby - 1

 

Extras: Erceg, Hamilton, Medina, Lujano, Devanney, Diaz, Castillo, Cabrera, Parra

Pitchers: Schultz, Strzelecki, Hitt, Webb, Vennaro

 

T-Rats:

Mitchell - CF

Bello - RF

Dillard - C

Kahle - DH

McClanahan - 1B

Pinero - SS

Campbell - 2B

Coca - 3B

Howell - LF

 

Extras: Holt, C. Rodriguez, Garcia, LG Castillo, Rios

Pitchers: Bennett (+), Tavarez, Shook, Bullock, Garcia, Guerrero, Robinson

[damuelle]

To me, the Mild Surprise of the Day is actually Tim Lopes leading off and playing second base for 'AA' team. He's on the 60-day injured list for the MLB club and I don't believe he's eligible to return until May 7th. It's good to see that he's able to start playing a bit already.

 

Other notes: Thomas Dillard (#22 prospect on mlb.com) gets a start at catcher in the lower level game, after starting at 1B for two days. Also, Noah Campbell gets his first competitive start in a Brewers uniform (2B in lower level game). Campbell was the 328th-ranked prospect (essentially an 11th-rounder) by Baseball America for 2020 draft, which was cut down to only five rounds (160 picks), so the Brewers signed him as an undrafted free agent. Welcome!