Thurs. 8/11 - Can You Handle Eleven Games? At Least Big League Crew Is Off

[Joseph Zarr]

14 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

Interesting that Ben Metzinger is already playing at High A.

It's been mostly a scuffle. He made nice contact on a fly out to the CF warning track and grabbed his first hit last night but he's having a hard time getting out of his way at 3B at present. He's probably pressing and I truly don't want this to be perceived as a definitive comment whatsoever - he was literally just drafted. But, I am unimpressed with the arm, I have to admit. He'll need to be super-clean or improve the velocity on the throw or he simply hasn't unleashed the arm as of yet. He seems a bit of a soft-tosser if I'm being honest. Warren, for example, has quite a bit more velocity when the ball leaves his hand.

Edit to Add:

This probably has more to do, at present, with the fact Ernesto Martinez is still rehabbing in the ACL (which is awesome) and Ashton McGee and Wes Clarke are both nicked up. My personal opinion is he'll be sent down to Low-A when that resolves itself.

[Jenkins5]

Miller with hard hit to the gap but Crow-Armstrong showing off his 70+ grade speed to make great diving play.

First time watching Rodriquez pitch. Fastball sits low 90s but has life. Not sure if it’s a 2 seam or cutter but has some tight lateral movement. Throws a lot of change ups. Good depth on it. Think also throws a curve. All off speed is more 12-6 or 1-5. Didn’t see any the that sweeps at all. 
 

Metzinger just laced a nice double 

[Joseph Zarr]

6 minutes ago, Jenkins5 said:

Miller with hard hit to the gap but Crow-Armstrong showing off his 70+ grade speed to make great diving play.

First time watching Rodriquez pitch. Fastball sits low 90s but has life. Not sure if it’s a 2 seam or cutter but has some tight lateral movement. Throws a lot of change ups. Good depth on it. Think also throws a curve. All off speed is more 12-6 or 1-5. Didn’t see any the that sweeps at all. 
 

Metzinger just laced a nice double 

Crow-Armstrong is so athletic it hurts. Such a weapon in CF. He ran down a ball at the warning track to deep left center last night too and, just as with this sliding catch, he made it look SO easy. Ridiculously gifted.

[Jenkins5]

Miller after being robbed of double last AB pulls laser down line off the chalk for a double.

[Jenkins5]

Chourio ropes deep sac fly dead center at warning track to give T-Rats 3-1 lead

[Joseph Zarr]

2 minutes ago, Jenkins5 said:

Chourio ropes deep sac fly dead center at warning track to give T-Rats 3-1 lead

Followed by Warren to left field. 4-1 now. That's 3 sacrifice flies and a wild pitch to plate the four runs. Love to see it!

[Joseph Zarr]

In a classic example of: the batting line does absolutely not always tell the story, I've seen Felix Valerio absolutely rope four outs in two nights. Extremely well-hit balls. Popping off the bat. Directly into the shift or at an opponent. Sometimes, you simply have to trust that process and keep at it. The young man can absolutely rake. This is the best contact we've seen in a spell. I trust those will eventually find the grass. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Oh sweet Mammy Pappy! RHP Logan Henderson opened up tonight's contest for the ACL Brewers Blue: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K

[Joseph Zarr]

So, the Sounds outhit the Stripers 9-1 in Game 1 and lose 3-2 in extras. Glorious. The Sounds finish 3-15 with RISP. Wiemer maintains the status quo of his mega-slump going 0-for-4. Nothing like Manfred's man on second base to start the 8th inning. LOL. All the Stripers and Sounds seem to know is one-run games. Since they began playing each other in 2021 on the regular: 21 one-run games. 11 in 2022. The sounds are 4-3 in these games in 2022. 

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP James Meeker does NOT flinch. Man, I love this young man's moxy. He takes on an extremely difficult situation in the ninth inning. Gets charged an auto-ball. Strikes two men down at the top of the order to close it out 5-2 with the bases forkin' juiced! It should be noted: Jeferson Quero can catch the he** out of the ball. He saved a sure-fire up and in wild pitch with absolute ease. He owned the situation as well. Let's go! T-Rats win and lead the series 2-1.

[folly412]

Imagine Frelick, who rarely makes two outs in a game, makes two outs in the same inning. ?

[Jenkins5]

1 minute ago, folly412 said:

Imagine Frelick, who rarely makes two outs in a game, makes two outs in the same inning. ?

Was just about to say that! 6 hits and 5 runs in one inning....was not expecting Sal being the guy to make 2 of the outs.

[markedman5]

 

[Brewcrew82]

14 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

 

This is getting very exciting. A guy who has every tool but was so wanting for power is now absolutely crushing the ball. 

[sveumrules]

Went to the last three TRats games & just wanted to dump some random observations here…

Chourio: Looked like he was really working on being more selective, tracking pitches. Hit a Rickie Weeks lazer beam bomb that was a sight to behold along with a couple that just missed down each of the LF/RF line with a roped double & a couple loud outs also included.

The bad, I don’t think he’s a CF in MLB, especially with the other OF ahead of him in the system. The few competitive throws he had to make were average at best & there was a marked difference to my eye between JC and Pete Crow Armstrong on the grass.

Quero: looks like the real deal behind the plate, very impressed with his receiving for such a young backstop. Also seems to have a pretty good idea what he is doing in the box. Did not look overwhelmed being dropped into the cleanup spot straightaway as a teenage catcher in A+.

Garcia: impressed with what I saw of him at SS, but his approach is going to need to be overhauled. With the caveat that he is young for the level & freshly called up he still made Orlando Arcia look like Joey Votto.

JGJ: made a couple costly errors on the grass, looked mostly lost at the plate. Feel like next year will be make or break for him.

Metzinger: agree with @Joseph Zarr that if what he has shown with his throws is representative of his true arm strength he is not a 3B. Thought the bat came around nicely after a K heavy first couple games though.

Jarvis: skinny Tyler Thornburg. From the mechanics to the FB/CB combo. 

Rodriguez: very impressed with his start tonight. Athletic on the mound with nice secondaries and command. Don’t think he quite has Peralta’s extension/vertical approach angle on the FB, but shades of Freddy nonetheless.

Meeker: doesn’t have that plus plus stuff on the mound, but he just competes and gets outs in tough spots.  Don’t think he’ll ever be a high leverage MLB guy, but do believe he will keep moving up & get to the show in the next couple years which would be a major success in & of itself for an Indy ball sign.

[Joseph Zarr]

2 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Went to the last three TRats games & just wanted to dump some random observations here…

Chourio: Looked like he was really working on being more selective, tracking pitches. Hit a Rickie Weeks lazer beam bomb that was a sight to behold along with a couple that just missed down each of the LF/RF line with a roped double & a couple loud outs also included.

The bad, I don’t think he’s a CF in MLB, especially with the other OF ahead of him in the system. The few competitive throws he had to make were average at best & there was a marked difference to my eye between JC and Pete Crow Armstrong on the grass.

Quero: looks like the real deal behind the plate, very impressed with his receiving for such a young backstop. Also seems to have a pretty good idea what he is doing in the box. Did not look overwhelmed being dropped into the cleanup spot straightaway as a teenage catcher in A+.

Garcia: impressed with what I saw of him at SS, but his approach is going to need to be overhauled. With the caveat that he is young for the level & freshly called up he still made Orlando Arcia look like Joey Votto.

JGJ: made a couple costly errors on the grass, looked mostly lost at the plate. Feel like next year will be make or break for him.

Metzinger: agree with @Joseph Zarr that if what he has shown with his throws is representative of his true arm strength he is not a 3B. Thought the bat came around nicely after a K heavy first couple games though.

Jarvis: skinny Tyler Thornburg. From the mechanics to the FB/CB combo. 

Rodriguez: very impressed with his start tonight. Athletic on the mound with nice secondaries and command. Don’t think he quite has Peralta’s extension/vertical approach angle on the FB, but shades of Freddy nonetheless.

Meeker: doesn’t have that plus plus stuff on the mound, but he just competes and gets outs in tough spots.  Don’t think he’ll ever be a high leverage MLB guy, but do believe he will keep moving up & get to the show in the next couple years which would be a major success in & of itself for an Indy ball sign.

Couldn't agree more on all points. Glad we were watching the same contests - I hope you had a blast! Nothing more intense than a bases loaded 2022 Minor League game in the bottom of the ninth inning and the infield umpire calls a pitch clock violation for an auto-ball to start you at 1-0 eh? Sheeeeesh. 

[Joseph Zarr]

33 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

This is getting very exciting. A guy who has every tool but was so wanting for power is now absolutely crushing the ball. 

I'm just saying because, well, I've been just saying:

You can very very credibly say Brice Turang is the Brewers best prospect today. He is just so dang good and so dang consistent with an evolving approach at the plate. I mean this completely whole-heartedly. There is more flash across the system, sure. BUT, nobody plays as day-in and day-out as Turang. And, his athleticism is vastly underrated.

[Joseph Zarr]

Also @sveumrules: How impressived is Crow-Armstrong covering the CF grass? My goodness he made two utterly ridiculously difficult plays look 100% routine. The Miller sliding grab? My goodness. Tracking the deep bomb yesterday at the nook at 395 in deep left center? Also, unfair. He's a special talent. I also like that he clearly plays with a bit of 'anger' or a 'chip on his shoulder' type of in-your-face aggressiveness. Man, I'd love to pair him with Tyler Black.

[UpandIn]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I'm just saying because, well, I've been just saying:

You can very very credibly say Brice Turang is the Brewers best prospect today. He is just so dang good and so dang consistent with an evolving approach at the plate. I mean this completely whole-heartedly. There is more flash across the system, sure. BUT, nobody plays as day-in and day-out as Turang. And, his athleticism is vastly underrated.

Trea Turner 2.0, new and...slightly worse, but still pretty damn good!

[Brewcrew82]

19 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I'm just saying because, well, I've been just saying:

You can very very credibly say Brice Turang is the Brewers best prospect today. He is just so dang good and so dang consistent with an evolving approach at the plate. I mean this completely whole-heartedly. There is more flash across the system, sure. BUT, nobody plays as day-in and day-out as Turang. And, his athleticism is vastly underrated.

Agreed. There's a reason why the guy was once widely expected to be taken in the top 5 of the draft. Loved the pick then and am loving it even more now. 

[sveumrules]

6 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Also @sveumrules: How impressived is Crow-Armstrong covering the CF grass? My goodness he made two utterly ridiculously difficult plays look 100% routine. The Miller sliding grab? My goodness. Tracking the deep bomb yesterday at the nook at 395 in deep left center? Also, unfair. He's a special talent.

For sure. Of the guys mocked in our range that draft was hoping PCA would make it to our pick because after years of watching Cameron, Gomez, that one Krynzel play, Keon, Cain, heck, even JBJ, I’m somewhat of a CF defense fetishist now. 

On the bright side, outside of PCA and Owen Caissie (ginger Canadian Corey Hart), I wasn’t really too blown away by any of the other South Bend Cubs.

[Joseph Zarr]

2 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

For sure. Of the guys mocked in our range that draft was hoping PCA would make it to our pick because after years of watching Cameron, Gomez, that one Krynzel play, Keon, Cain, heck, even JBJ, I’m somewhat of a CF defense fetishist now. 

On the bright side, outside of PCA and Owen Caissie (ginger Canadian Corey Hart), I wasn’t really too blown away by any of the other South Bend Cubs.

I appreciate the glove work and overall savvy of SS Kevin Made but, if I'm being dead honest, when Piñero is making contact like he has of late...you get my drift. 

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP Zach Brown looks fantastic pitching a clean 9th inning and the Sounds split the double header. I still can't believe they lost 3-2 in game 1 out-hitting the Stripers 9-to-1. Woooof. RHP Lucas Erceg also looked fantastic in the 6th inning. Also just in: I do not like 7-inning games. No I don't. I do not like them no I won't!

[Joseph Zarr]

I honestly think the true victories of tonight are:

(1) Hendry Mendez back in the Mudcats line-up and grabbing 2 RBI's.

(2) Logan Henderson pitching a clean 3 K inning. 

That has me all sorts of fuzzies.?

[AKCheesehead]

4 hours ago, nate82 said:

A little late but the Trats game is free on MLBTV today.

https://www.mlb.com/news/watch-minor-league-baseball-games-for-free

So do they not archive the free minor league game of the day on MLB like they do for the MLB games?  Because I don't see it.