I think it is too early to say on last year’s group, especially given the context of the year. Mitchell and Frelick (and Taylor) getting hurt early forced them to keep playing Wiemer even when it became obvious he could use more triple-A time. The key, though, is going to be producing enough legitimate prospects where when a couple inevitably don’t develop it isn’t as big of a deal.

21 hours ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

I think it is too early to say on last year’s group, especially given the context of the year. Mitchell and Frelick (and Taylor) getting hurt early forced them to keep playing Wiemer even when it became obvious he could use more triple-A time. The key, though, is going to be producing enough legitimate prospects where when a couple inevitably don’t develop it isn’t as big of a deal.

I tend to not put much stock in bad rookie performances. Wiemer has long-term concerns with his contact but we'll see how that progresses in the next couple of years.

If a team is going to operate in the market the Brewers operate (~20th in payroll), we all have to grin and bear it as rookies and young players fall on their faces.

Too early to make determinations on The Freshman. Giving up too early cost us Scooter Gennett.

But there's a lot to be learned from last year. For me, it's that offensive player development has been sub par for years.

Fundamentals haven't been stressed for years and it shows frequently. We were TERRIBLE getting men on base around.  Turang has to make better contact and put on some muscle in the off season so he doesn't look like a scarecrow by seasons end. He swung a tired bat by seasons end.. BUT, he's the ONLY Brewer that could advance runners with bunts and ground balls..We stole bases well (again, Turang was the best) and Yeli as well as others ran bases well.

Frelicks job and strength is getting on base. They tried to make him drive the ball and he neither drove the ball and stopped getting on base. There's too much evidence that the problem is in the player development and that's a coaching problem. 

Adames and Tellez hit homers and little else and were allowed to be lousy hitters two years running. Batting 3 and 4, they BOTH struggled to reach a .300 OBP and hit into DPs and struck out while running half speed in clutch situations.

Neither appeared concerned at their failures and Tellez is gone. Willy has had good September's to make his season numbers acceptable, but 3 to 4 months of nothing for the second year in a row makes him a must trade guy.

Hope Murphy has the guts to make this a productive offense again.

Great blog post my friend!

All of these players have different ceilings, I'm still hot on Wiemer finding some really effective performance towards the end of the 2024 season, but  all have workons. Look at Henderson as a good example however, won rookie of the year after a horrid opening few months this season where he wasn't even close to the Mendoza line in May