Article: Brewers Minor League Link Report (6/27): It's Really Not That Complex - We Cover the Complex Leagues, Too

[Mass Haas]

Monday's action on the Brewers farm was limited to Arizona and the Dominican Republic, not unusual for the first day of the workweek. And while the few players who may eventually see big-league action are a half-decade or more from that MLB debut, we can dream on their exploits as we continue to chronicle each game for you.

Transaction: INF Pablo Reyes optioned to AAA Nashville

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ACL Summaries compiled by @damuelle, DSL by yours truly

Final: ACL Brewers Blue 7, ACL Giants Black 1, seven innings as scheduled
Box Score / Game Log

The Brewers in Blue improved to 4-12 with a comfortable victory over the 11-3 Giants Black team in this seven-inning game.

19-year old (turning 20 this Friday) starting RHP Alexander Vallecillo won his second straight game, giving up just one run on three hits while striking out 11 hitters and walking one. He’s now K’d 27 batters in 20 innings pitched.

The team jumped out to a 5-0 second inning lead on a Jonatan Guzman two-RBI single, Jace Avina (season OPS .869) RBI double and Daniel Guilarte (season OPS .821) two-RBI single. Avina also doubled and scored on a Guilarte RBI single in the fourth inning.

Dual-threat Quinton Low tripled and scored in the fifth inning to complete the scoring. The 13th round 2021 draft pick has pitched in three games (four innings – 0.00 ERA) and also played 10 games at first base (40 plate appearances - .623 OPS).

Registering eight hits in 28 at-bats sounds a lot better than striking out 13 times in 28 at-bats. Both happened for the Blue squad in this game, with OF Eduarqui Fernandez victimized three times to drop his OPS to .779. DH/INF Alexander Perez stole two of Blue’s four bases in the game.

19-year old RHP Samuel Dario (3.00 ERA, 1.08 WHIP in 12 innings this year) bounced back from his last relief outing, pitching a scoreless seventh inning.

Final: ACL Padres 7, ACL Brewers Gold 3, seven innings as scheduled
Box Score / Game Log

The loss dropped the Gold team to 9-7.

Although they trailed 6-0 early and never really threatened the Padres, Gold had solid traffic throughout: 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, ten men left-on-base. They left men on base in every inning of the seven-inning contest.

Starting 20-year old RHP Domingo Mejia had his shortest outing (2 innings, 5 runs, 4 hits, 3 walks, 2 Ks), then RHP Trevor Tietz didn’t fare much better (2 innings, 2 runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, 2 Ks).

However, let’s give credit to 19-year old LHP Fraudy Maldonado, who covered three scoreless innings, conceding just one hit and no walks. Normally reliant on strikeouts (38 Ks in 26 1/3 career innings entering the game), he managed to get the job done without registering any K in this one. The 2019 international signee of the Mets never got to debut with them (2020 Covid wipeout, March 2021 release), so let’s hope he continues to show them what they’re missing.

Offensively, 18-year old INF Jadher Areinamo has to feel good about the first homer of his minor league career, a solo shot in the seventh inning to raise his season OPS to .851.

18-year old OF Luis Castillo reached base twice (single, walk) to keep up his average (.407 this year) and OPS (1.153).

19-year old INF Jesus Parra still has a troublesome BB/K ratio (3/14 this year; 4/35 last year), but the 2018 signing ($210k bonus) is seeing better results: .265 AVG / .333 OBP / .469 SLG. He doubled, singled and walked in a 2-for-3 effort in this game.

18-year old major 2021 signing SS Gregory Barrios picked up two singles to lift his season OPS to .685.

19-year old INF Jose Caballero went 0-for-2, but still reached base twice (walk, hit-by-pitch), so his season OPS didn’t suffer much (now .918).

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Final: DSL Brewers #1 Squad 8, DSL Cardinals 1
Box Score / Game Log

Any win over the Redbirds is a reason to celebrate. Dominant win, all the better!

19-year-old 2nd-year Venezuelan RHP Kevin Briceno was wondering why he's not stateside prior to the game (our words, not his, obviously) and he simply went out and dominated over five innings - 2 H, 1 R (a home run), zero walks and nine K's.

Six of the 12 Team Uno hits were doubles, including two by switch-hitting first baseman Arnys Rodriguez. A double was among the four base hits by 17-year-old bonus baby third baseman switch-hitting Jhonny Severino, a good point to turn the corner on his pro debut season. Severino handled his one ground ball chance cleanly, as he has struggled in that regard early on. Switch-hitting (catch a theme here?) center fielder Luis Lara, the 17-year-old who has been featured prominently here since Day One, doubled and singled.

Here's how I look at complex league box scores. Once it's established that there is a level of really solid numbers being put up by a collection of youngsters, give me the crooked numbers on their lines. Clearly this will mean more in another month. It's a nice note if a player with a .500 OPS coming into the game gets three base hits, but give me sustained success, produce "stars" within their current level, and move on. So, for instance, Lara has been a stud in this way.

Wonder how many of these switch-hitters will still be doing so in two years? Splits too small to analyze at this point, but love that the Brewers are both targeting and encouraging this.

Poor St. Louis organization, not enough prospects to field two DSL teams...

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Final: DSL Phillies Red 12, DSL Brewers #2 Squad 2
Box Score / Game Log

A double and two singles for 18-year-old 2nd-year Venezuelan native Brayan Oropeza. Primarily a catcher, this was his second game at first base this season. A 1.502 (!) OPS tells us he's off to a sizzling seven-game start to his season.

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It's nothing but home cooking for the Brewers' top four affiliates this week - 

Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores

Arizona Complex League Scoreboard

Dominican Summer League Scoreboard

Standings and sortable stat pages

Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth

Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth

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