Game Thread (5/09/2022): Brewers (Woodruff) at Reds (Castillo) - 5:40 PM CDT

[Eye Black]

Statcast Game Preview

[Eye Black]

Luis Castillo makes his season debut. As you might imagine he was fairly dominant in his two rehab appearances at Triple-A with a combined line of 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 12 SO. He went 3.2 IP in his first Triple-A rehab outing on April 29th, and 4.1 IP in his second on May 4th. I would assume the Reds have a strict pitch limit for Castillo today and would be a bit surprised if he lasted much beyond 5 innings.

Brandon Woodruff tallied 12 strikeouts against this Reds team last Tuesday, can he be yet another Brewers starter to accomplish the double-digit strikeouts in back-to-back outings?

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm sure Castillo is excited for the opportunity to start showcasing himself for other teams.

[HarryDoyle]

I sure hope our #6 starter can somehow put up #2 numbers, like say 12 Strikeouts and no walks and two runs.

[sveumrules]

Good look at Woody’s evolving change up usage & effectiveness over at FanGraphs today…

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/brandon-woodruff-has-leveled-up-his-changeup/
 

His 30.5% swinging strike rate on the pitch currently leads all starters who have thrown at least 50 change ups so far.

Will be interesting to see if the improvements hold over the course of the season.

They also did a breakdown of Rowdy’s hot start on Friday…

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/rowdy-tellez-is-absolutely-mashing/

Couple nuggets in the comment section I wasn’t aware of…

Even though he was a 30th round pick, Rowdy got 850k to sign, the highest bonus in the TOR draft class that year. Blue Jays had that extra cash because their 1st round pick decided to go to college, Phil Bickford. 

Also noted that Rowdy ranked high in the stats based KATOH prospect rankings that Chris Mitchell used to publish before getting hired by the Twins. Some relevant rankings from his last Top 100 in 2018…

#13 Adames, #20 Urias, #35 Caratini, #77 Burnes, #83 Woodruff, #95 Peralta

Former Brewers on the list included…

#8 Grisham, #11 Brinson, #50 Banda, #100 Dubon

For comparison, out of BA, BPro & MLB, here are the range of rankings for those same players pre-2018…

Adames (15-19), Urias (32-74), Caratini (UR), Burnes (69-80), Woodruff (61-UR), Peralta (UR), Grisham (UR), Brinson (18-27), Banda (UR), Dubon (UR)

[willie key]

I read that Adams’s said he’s going to try to play all 162 this Year 

 

I don’t know if I like that. 

[timpep]

13 minutes ago, willie key said:

I read that Adams’s said he’s going to try to play all 162 this Year 

 

I don’t know if I like that. 

I don't think that playing everyday is an issue for Adames. Honestly, anyone under 30 and athletic can probably do something as strenuous as play a game of baseball everyday with no side effects(unless playing through injury or pre-existing injury). Even on off days he probably fields more grounders warming up and takes more swings in the cage than he would in a game.

[treego14]

Perfect game for Woody through 1!

Now let’s get on a run!

[Brewcrew82]

Might be a pitcher's dual tonight, folks...

[BruisedCrew]

They said Castillo might be good for about 85 pitches. The way the Brewers hitters are flailing away helplessly that should be good for a complete game shutout. 

[Brewcrew82]

Just now, BruisedCrew said:

They said Castillo might be good for about 85 pitches. The way the Brewers hitters are flailing away helplessly that should be good for a complete game shutout. 

The guy is a really good pitcher....

[Brewcrew82]

It's always the same flipping guys....

[trwi7]

Jace Peterson at 1st base?  Were Alex Gonzalez and Yuniesky Betancourt not available?

[willie key]

Woodruff trying to get under a 5 era.   Just can’t quite do it

[BruisedCrew]

Burnes and Woodruff both have had trouble with gopher balls. 
 

Can’t afford too many of them against good teams and/or  good pitchers. 
 

The runs aren’t as easy to come by as they are against back end starters and in bullpen games. 

[yourout]

Really nice catch by Yely.

[yourout]

Come on Woo.

Setting the table for disaster.

[82brewcrew82]

Woodruff has become a disciple of the Ashby school of pitching.

[BruisedCrew]

Another shaky and probably short start from Woodruff. 

[Brewcrew82]

Atta boy Woody. Let's get some runs now. 

[82brewcrew82]

Adames seems overly aggressive right now.

[bulldogboy0733]

Rowdy is a beast. Good hitting there.

[HarryDoyle]

I think the Reds have seen enough of Rowdy.

[folly412]

That's exactly where you usually want to pitch lefties.  And Rowdy smoked it.

[yourout]