Wed. 9/14: Shook and Castaneda get Game 2 Starting Nods

[Joseph Zarr]

Thread will be utilized for any minor league news Wednesday, lineup updates, etc.

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

Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth

Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth

[Joseph Zarr]

It would appear LHP Ethan Small was swapped out for RHP Victor Castaneda. Wiemer, Ruiz, and Frelick are protecting the outfield grass. Jonny Davis is taking the DH spot. Let's hope this is the start of some much needed winning. 

 

 

[wiguy94]

16 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

It would appear LHP Ethan Small was swapped out for RHP Victor Castaneda. 

 

I hope this means they shut down Small for the year. At this point I am not sure more pitching will help Small. Think he would be better off heading to the lab.

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP TJ Shook looks to get things going again. Let's hope he can close his season strong! Chourio is back in the two-hole. The Shuckers as a whole are riding a five game winning streak - quite the feat and quite the late season turnaround. Let's grab this series and run for the off-season!

[Joseph Zarr]

Shuckers just put up 4 runs on 2 hits in the 2nd inning. They lead 4-0. Castaneda scuffles through inning one giving up 2. The Sounds grabbed one back in the first off a Turang single. Keeping the error party going, Pablo Reyes skies a routine backhanded stab and throw deep in the hole bringing Singleton off the bag. That's now 6 Sounds errors in 10 IP.

[Joseph Zarr]

Frelick BABY! He just extended his on base streak to 31 games while ripping a three-run blast over the wall in right field. Wowsers. That was FUN. Sounds lead 4-2. Meanwhile, Columbus is trailing 9-1 in the middle innings. 

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Esteury Ruiz just stole his 3rd base and we've completed two innings. ?

[Joseph Zarr]

Nick Kahle, welcome to the partayy! His two-run blast knocks home Corey Ray (double) here in the top of the 4th inning and the Shuckers now lead 6-0. Let's go!

 

[wibadgers23]

11 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Frelick BABY! He just extended his on base streak to 31 games while ripping a three-run blast over the wall in right field. Wowsers. That was FUN. Sounds lead 4-2. Meanwhile, Columbus is trailing 9-1 in the middle innings. 

 

Against a lefty too. You gotta love it!

[Joseph Zarr]

And, another Joey Wiemer laser shot double. This one a lead-off knock to the wall in left field here in the bottom of the third inning. The man can turn on a ball. 

[Joseph Zarr]

With the earlier single and then the double in the fourth frame, OF Corey Ray extended his hitting streak to 9 games. Man, there is so much good mojo going on even with only two teams playing these final week(s).

[Joseph Zarr]

Esteury Ruiz just tied the Sounds single-game record with his 4th stolen base in a single game. It's the 4th inning, for crying out loud. My goodness.

[Joseph Zarr]

LOL. FIVE stolen bases. IN THE FOURTH INNING. My word. He is unreal. In case you're curious, he just broke Otis Nixon's Sounds record. Yes, that Otis Nixon. Wild. If you don't know early 1980's Sounds history, those teams had some talent. Big time talent. And, managed at the time by a young upstart named 'Buck Showalter'.

Best part about tonight's steals? They're all against Payton Henry who instigated the ol' bench clearing scuffle back in Jacksonville a couple weeks back:

 

[markedman5]

 

[markedman5]

2 hits a wild pitch and a run allowed in 1 inning so far

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, markedman5 said:

2 hits a wild pitch and a run allowed in 1 inning so far

Yup. Watched it. Looked better, honestly. The wild pitch was obviously not desirable. BUT, all in all, his control was quite a bit better. Frelick biffed a tough fly ball down the line. He got there. Dove. But, in diving, missed the ball by a foot behind his glove.

BUT, Severino just hit a blast over the left field wall.

[Joseph Zarr]

How about a TWO Home Run game for Sal Frelick?!? Whewwwwwwww. Ripped another rope over the right field wall.

[Joseph Zarr]

Shuckers have now won 6 straight. I am here for it. And it is sweeeeeet.

[Joseph Zarr]

The surprising and continued output of High-A mainstays, INF's Ethan Murray; Zavier Warren; and Wes Clarke is definitely a late-season highlight for me as this Minor League season comes to an end. These young men have come to ball since being sent down to Biloxi. So many highlights in the Brewers system in 2022 - this collective late-season output is up there.

[phnxcrew]

I’m not sure if stearns knew of the new rules on defensive positioning helping speedsters like Ruiz and frelick bunt, but man could we see a lot of bunts and stolen bases between them In the future.  With those two on second and third with yelich and no shift, we might actually score some runs next year!

[Robocaller]

6 hours ago, wibadgers23 said:

Against a lefty too. You gotta love it!

He's got a slight reverse split, so hitting it off a lefty isn't that big of a deal (though I think his slugging is a little lower vs LHP).

[Robocaller]

4 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

How about a TWO Home Run game for Sal Frelick?!? Whewwwwwwww. Ripped another rope over the right field wall.

This is really gratifying. If he can become a 15-20 HR guy rather than a 5-10 HR guy, he'll be a lot more valuable. Without more power, he'd probably have to hit .320 to be a top notch LF (assuming Mitchell or Ruiz will eventually be the starting CF).

[Robocaller]

3 hours ago, phnxcrew said:

I’m not sure if stearns knew of the new rules on defensive positioning helping speedsters like Ruiz and frelick bunt, but man could we see a lot of bunts and stolen bases between them In the future.  With those two on second and third with yelich and no shift, we might actually score some runs next year!

How would the rule changes improve the effectiveness of bunts? The larger bags might help SB, and a pitch clock might also do so.

 

[wiguy94]

30 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

This is really gratifying. If he can become a 15-20 HR guy rather than a 5-10 HR guy, he'll be a lot more valuable. Without more power, he'd probably have to hit .320 to be a top notch LF (assuming Mitchell or Ruiz will eventually be the starting CF).

That is a funny way of spelling Chourio will eventually be the starting CF! 

[UpandIn]

2 hours ago, Robocaller said:

How would the rule changes improve the effectiveness of bunts? The larger bags might help SB, and a pitch clock might also do so.

 

Yeah, the bunting would have been more advantageous prior to the rule change. Forced teams to play them straight up.

That said, if they still pull their GBs, teams will still shift on him as much as they can. I don't know if Stearns logic or the organizations in general was just simply...we can't rely on the HR ball as much, we need to put the ball in play and have some guys who can steal bags. 

Just a WAAY too early look at what 2024 could look like(at some point)

1-Frelick(CF/LF)
2-Adames(SS)
3-Yelich(DH)
4-Wiemer(RF)
5-Rowdy(1B)
6-Chourio/Mitchell/Ruiz(CF/LF)
7-Turang-(2B/3B)
8-Quero-(C)
9-Black-(2B/3B)

First thought is...my GOD is it going to be tough to get a ball to drop in that OF. Particularly on days when you throw Frelick/Mitchell and Ruiz, Wiemer, Chourio in the OF. 
Also, Black may be a defensive question, but that could be a very good defensive IF. I've also caught myself picturing Devanny in there at 3B due to Zarr's effusive praise of his defense.

And the most obvious...this is like one of those Baseball reference lineup's where they get like 3 right. BUT, this would be ideal. 6 guys in their pre-arby years(MAYBE allowing some expenditures for certain pitches with 98MPH cutters). 

But there is speed up and down that lineup. Even for a catcher, Quero has solid speed...at least not Molina-esque speed(also, expecting him to be an MLB starter at C in 2024 is very optimistic, but it's my list.I'm also ready to offer about 6 of these guys 6 year contract extensions with 3 team options RIGHT NOW).

A lot of guys who make contact, get on base and you've still got all types of power. IF Wiemer hits, if Chourio carries on, Adames at least has power, if he gets back to last years version, he'll be a 200M type FA(luckily we've got another plus defensive SS ready to step in) and Rowdy.

And, in theory, you could also have Devanney, Urias, Feliciano, and Hiura on the bench to balance out a HEAVY LHed lineup. Predicting what in the hell Hiura's going to be doing and what role he'll have moving forward is the definition of a fools errantd though!

 

Still, very bright and exciting offensive future!