Article: Brewer Fanatic 2022 Rookie of the Year: Garrett Mitchell

[damuelle]

Garrett Mitchell takes home the Brewer Fanatic Rookie of the Year prize, producing an .832 OPS down the stretch while playing terrific center field defense. In also swiping eight bases without being caught, Mitchell heralds an exciting new brand of baseball in Milwaukee.

Making his major league debut on August 27th, Garrett Mitchell exceeded all expectations at the plate and didn’t disappoint in center field either, blazing by other candidates to capture Brewer Fanatic's first Rookie of the Year award.

Major League Stats: .311 AVG / .373 OBP / .459 SLG in 68 PAs, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 9 Runs, 8 SB (vs. 0 CS).

As the team tried to secure the last National League playoff spot, the only teammates to exceed Mitchell’s .832 OPS over the season’s final 40 days were INF Kolten Wong (.939), INF Luis Urias (.922) and OF Tyrone Taylor (.881).

Garrett’s first dinger in the majors was a game-tying 2-run shot in an August 29th victory against the Pirates and he delivered his first walk-off hit on September 16th against the Yankees.

In all, Mr. Mitchell saw action in 28 games, including 19 starts, with all 176 1/3 of his innings logged in center field. He committed just one error, had one assist and sprinkled in some highlight reel catches.

Although he wasn’t necessarily the young outfielder many fans expected the Brewers to promote for the stretch run, the 24-year-old Mitchell clearly rates as the top defensive center fielder in the system, giving him the edge to secure an early promotion which he took full advantage of.

The exciting finale to Mitchell's season was even more remarkable considering a relatively slow start at AA Biloxi (.676 over his first 30 games), followed by missing 54 days due to injury. However, Mitchell was a man on a mission after his return: .934 OPS in 34 games at Biloxi and AAA Nashville, with 10 stolen bases (vs. 0 caught stealing).

Of course, there’s still some work to be done at the plate (e.g. 28 Ks in 68 MLB PAs), but fans should expect the hard-working, always hard-charging 20th overall pick out of UCLA in the 2020 draft to be a fixture in center field at American Family Field for many years to come.

Runner-Up: Peter Strzelecki, RHP
Major League Stats (30 G): 2-1 record, 2.83 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 40 K, 15 BB, 35 IP, 1 Save

Called up to the majors on June 2nd, Peter Strzelecki debuted the same day, ultimately becoming one of the most reliable arms in an otherwise-struggling bullpen. In fact, he appeared in 28 games over the season’s final 52 days, delivering a 2.63 ERA and .200 batting average against in 24 innings over that final stretch.

After the June debut, the Brewers optioned Peter back to the minors on three separate occasions, but they recalled him to MLB for good on August 13. Given his stellar contributions, several voters selected Strzelecki as their winner, but perhaps two blown saves and a purely relief role left him second to Mitchell overall at the ballot box.

The 27-year-old Strzelecki joined the Brewers’ organization as an undrafted free agent out of the University of South Florida in 2018, producing solid results at Low-A Wisconsin in 2019 (3.22 ERA) and AA Biloxi in 2021 (3.45 ERA), then was even better in AAA Nashville this year (4-0 record, 2.84 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 14.2 K/9).

The question for 2023 will be whether Mr. Strzelecki can maintain this level of excellence. Certainly, the .295 BABIP (vs. .281 team average) indicates that he wasn’t living off undue luck, although the 1.4% HR rate (vs. 3.1% team average) may be difficult to duplicate.

Second Runner-Up: Jason Alexander, RHP
Major League Stats (18 G): 2-3 record, 5.40 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 46 K, 28 BB, 71 2/3 IP

After losing Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff to injury in late May, Jason Alexander debuted on June 1st and provided just what the doctor ordered over his first five starts: 2-0 record, 3.21 ERA in 28 innings.

However, with Woodruff re-activated on June 28th, Alexander was shifted to long relief with various spot starts, which didn’t go quite as well for the 29-year-old: 0-3 record, 6.80 ERA in 43 2/3 innings.

Alexander had originally gone undrafted out of Cal State University Long Beach in 2017, spending three seasons with the Angels before being a Covid roster cut in June 2020, then spending an injury-filled 2021 in the Marlins’ organization before latching on with the Brewers as a free agent in November 2021.

In 2022, Mr. Alexander immediately impressed at AAA Nashville by going 6-2 with a 2.64 ERA over his first nine starts, thus earning the early season call-up. He’s a ground ball pitcher, producing a 1.67 ground-out to air-out ratio with the Brewers and similar 1.71 ratio with Nashville.

Other Major League debuts in 2022:

• LHP Ethan Small – May 30 – 6 1/3 IP*
• RHP Luke Barker (now a free agent) – June 3 – 4 IP*

Other 2022 Brewers who qualified as Rookies:

• OF Esteury Ruiz - 9 PAs*
• C Mario Feliciano - 5 PAs*
• INF/OF Mark Mathias (now with Texas) - 17 PAs
• RHP Trevor Kelley - 23 2/3 IP
• RHP Justin Topa - 7 1/3 IP*

* Players marked with an asterisk will still qualify as Rookies in 2023, including OF Garrett Mitchell (award winner), which is based on 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days' major league service time being surpassed

What did you think of the contributions of Mitchell, Strzelecki, Alexander, and other rookies? Do you agree with the voters’ selection? Your comments are welcome!

 

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[Seth Stohs]

My 'vote' would go to Peter Strzelecki just because he was in the big leagues for more than 5 weeks. 

Aaron Ashby would have probably been the easy choice if he would have maintained his rookie status into 2022, but since he didn't, there really weren't a lot of obvious choices... 

[Seth Stohs]

My 'vote' would go to Peter Strzelecki just because he was in the big leagues for more than 5 weeks. 

Aaron Ashby would have probably been the easy choice if he would have maintained his rookie status into 2022, but since he didn't, there really weren't a lot of obvious choices... 

[MrTPlush]

Probably not necessary to even list a second runner up. I mean that dude had a near -1 WAR…

[MrTPlush]

Probably not necessary to even list a second runner up. I mean that dude had a near -1 WAR…

[damuelle]

20 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Probably not necessary to even list a second runner up. I mean that dude had a near -1 WAR…

They’ll make up for it next year with Frelick, Turang, Ruiz, etc.

It’s something of a mystery to me why the Brewers gave Alexander four starts down the stretch (losing all 4 games). I understood giving Alexander a try in June when he was cruising in AAA, essentially in a coin flip with Lindblom at that time.

But the lead-up to the August 30th - September 18th starts was in Lindblom’s favor, who’d discarded some attempted pitching tweaks and was solid from August 11th onward. Refusing to shake anything up on the MLB side felt like part of the front office and coaching staff’s lazy approach to a disappointing season…

[damuelle]

20 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Probably not necessary to even list a second runner up. I mean that dude had a near -1 WAR…

They’ll make up for it next year with Frelick, Turang, Ruiz, etc.

It’s something of a mystery to me why the Brewers gave Alexander four starts down the stretch (losing all 4 games). I understood giving Alexander a try in June when he was cruising in AAA, essentially in a coin flip with Lindblom at that time.

But the lead-up to the August 30th - September 18th starts was in Lindblom’s favor, who’d discarded some attempted pitching tweaks and was solid from August 11th onward. Refusing to shake anything up on the MLB side felt like part of the front office and coaching staff’s lazy approach to a disappointing season…

[MrTPlush]

4 minutes ago, damuelle said:

They’ll make up for it next year with Frelick, Turang, Ruiz, etc.

It’s something of a mystery to me why the Brewers gave Alexander four starts down the stretch (losing all 4 games). I understood giving Alexander a try in June when he was cruising in AAA, essentially in a coin flip with Lindblom at that time.

But the lead-up to the August 30th - September 18th starts was in Lindblom’s favor, who’d discarded some attempted pitching tweaks and was solid from August 11th onward. Refusing to shake anything up on the MLB side felt like part of the front office and coaching staff’s lazy approach to a disappointing season…

Ha....yah, this list could be pretty epic next year. Or even more depressing because there are actually expectations and if they flop it will be real sad to look at. 

The 'shrug of the shoulders' effort down the stretch was pretty sad to watch. Live or die with real contributors blowing chunks is one thing...but Alexander. I mean, that seemed like prime opportunity to throw crap at the wall and figuring the alternative can't be any worse.

[MrTPlush]

4 minutes ago, damuelle said:

They’ll make up for it next year with Frelick, Turang, Ruiz, etc.

It’s something of a mystery to me why the Brewers gave Alexander four starts down the stretch (losing all 4 games). I understood giving Alexander a try in June when he was cruising in AAA, essentially in a coin flip with Lindblom at that time.

But the lead-up to the August 30th - September 18th starts was in Lindblom’s favor, who’d discarded some attempted pitching tweaks and was solid from August 11th onward. Refusing to shake anything up on the MLB side felt like part of the front office and coaching staff’s lazy approach to a disappointing season…

Ha....yah, this list could be pretty epic next year. Or even more depressing because there are actually expectations and if they flop it will be real sad to look at. 

The 'shrug of the shoulders' effort down the stretch was pretty sad to watch. Live or die with real contributors blowing chunks is one thing...but Alexander. I mean, that seemed like prime opportunity to throw crap at the wall and figuring the alternative can't be any worse.

[UpandIn]

On 10/11/2022 at 3:23 PM, damuelle said:

They’ll make up for it next year with Frelick, Turang, Ruiz, etc.

It’s something of a mystery to me why the Brewers gave Alexander four starts down the stretch (losing all 4 games). I understood giving Alexander a try in June when he was cruising in AAA, essentially in a coin flip with Lindblom at that time.

But the lead-up to the August 30th - September 18th starts was in Lindblom’s favor, who’d discarded some attempted pitching tweaks and was solid from August 11th onward. Refusing to shake anything up on the MLB side felt like part of the front office and coaching staff’s lazy approach to a disappointing season…

I really thought I was the only one dumbfounded by the Lindblom thing. Even when he got hit around at the big league level, you could see how much movement he had. 

He seemed to improve his control and with his movement, at least offered the potential for a couple of good outings. The potential for blowup's as well, but...that's what we were getting already. 

It's almost like, "well, if we're paying him over 3M a year, at least he's going to help OUR AAA team and we're not going to call him up, just to DFA him if it doesn't work out." I would hope that wasn't the logic, but it's hard to figure out what else it'd be.

[UpandIn]

On 10/11/2022 at 3:23 PM, damuelle said:

They’ll make up for it next year with Frelick, Turang, Ruiz, etc.

It’s something of a mystery to me why the Brewers gave Alexander four starts down the stretch (losing all 4 games). I understood giving Alexander a try in June when he was cruising in AAA, essentially in a coin flip with Lindblom at that time.

But the lead-up to the August 30th - September 18th starts was in Lindblom’s favor, who’d discarded some attempted pitching tweaks and was solid from August 11th onward. Refusing to shake anything up on the MLB side felt like part of the front office and coaching staff’s lazy approach to a disappointing season…

I really thought I was the only one dumbfounded by the Lindblom thing. Even when he got hit around at the big league level, you could see how much movement he had. 

He seemed to improve his control and with his movement, at least offered the potential for a couple of good outings. The potential for blowup's as well, but...that's what we were getting already. 

It's almost like, "well, if we're paying him over 3M a year, at least he's going to help OUR AAA team and we're not going to call him up, just to DFA him if it doesn't work out." I would hope that wasn't the logic, but it's hard to figure out what else it'd be.

[UpandIn]

On 10/10/2022 at 12:04 PM, Seth Stohs said:

My 'vote' would go to Peter Strzelecki just because he was in the big leagues for more than 5 weeks. 

Aaron Ashby would have probably been the easy choice if he would have maintained his rookie status into 2022, but since he didn't, there really weren't a lot of obvious choices... 

I thought Ashby did maintain his rookie status this year?

By what measurement did he not?

[jerichoholicninja]

A player shall be considered a rookie unless he has exceeded any of the following thresholds in a previous season (or seasons): 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues. 45 total days on an active Major League roster during the Championship Season (excluding time on the Injured List)

 

Looks like he had 46 days in 2021.

[jerichoholicninja]

A player shall be considered a rookie unless he has exceeded any of the following thresholds in a previous season (or seasons): 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues. 45 total days on an active Major League roster during the Championship Season (excluding time on the Injured List)

 

Looks like he had 46 days in 2021.