2022 Minor League Transaction Thread

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP Justin Yeager (acquired in the recent three-team trade w/ Oakland and Atlanta) was officially assigned to the Nashville Sounds.

The highest level he competed at in 2022 was Double-A (40 1/3 IP with the Mississippi Braves). 

[Jim Goulart]

On 12/6/2022 at 5:18 PM, Joseph Zarr said:

The Brewers have signed RHP Adonis Medina to a Minor League contract and assigned him to the Nashville Sounds:

 

Update:

 

[Jim Goulart]

Brewers release RHP Henry Garrido, who did not pitch in 2022.

I provided this post back in February 2022 with as much as we knew about Garrido at the time.

[Jim Goulart]

The Brewers have signed one of the younger minor league free agents available, 23-year-old RHP Christian Mejias, who wrapped up a seven-year association with the Astros organization last fall.

Mejias, a native of Venezuela, topped out at High-A, as you can review on the linked Baseball Reference page above.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

24 year-old LHP Luis Amaya was signed by the Brewers as a Minor League Free Agent. He has been assigned to Double-A Biloxi. He spent 2022 in the White Sox organization.

***

Additionally, the transaction wire is reporting quite a number of 'releases' throughout the system:

INF Ashton McGee

RHP Brady Schanuel

C Edwin Tamoy (DSL Brewers 2)

RHP Marcus Walden

INF Gabe Holt

1B Thomas Dillard

RHP Robbie Hitt

It would appear, as submitted and reported today, all these men have been released. We wish them the absolute best in their next baseball and life decisions.

[Joseph Zarr]

Lastly, we should report this here as well considering it is a Minor League free agent signing:

 

[Ro Mueller]

2 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

24 year-old LHP Luis Amaya was signed by the Brewers as a Minor League Free Agent. He has been assigned to Double-A Biloxi. He spent 2022 in the White Sox organization.

***

Additionally, the transaction wire is reporting quite a number of 'releases' throughout the system:

INF Ashton McGee

RHP Brady Schanuel

C Edwin Tamoy (DSL Brewers 2)

RHP Marcus Walden

INF Gabe Holt

1B Thomas Dillard

RHP Robbie Hitt

It would appear, as submitted and reported today, all these men have been released. We wish them the absolute best in their next baseball and life decisions.

Oh, wow.

Schanuel has some years on him, but thrived when pressed into a 2-3-IP starter role for a time this past season.

Dillard seemed like a tweener - not quite ready for AAA, but not much value repeating AA.

Holt’s BB/K rate was still decent in 2022, though understandably struggled in AA given that he skipped High-A ball. I thought we might hope for a Devanney-type bounce back this year.

[Jim Goulart]

On 12/16/2022 at 4:59 PM, Joseph Zarr said:

Additionally, the transaction wire is reporting quite a number of 'releases' throughout the system:

INF Ashton McGee

RHP Brady Schanuel

C Edwin Tamoy (DSL Brewers 2)

RHP Marcus Walden

INF Gabe Holt

1B Thomas Dillard

RHP Robbie Hitt

It would appear, as submitted and reported today, all these men have been released. We wish them the absolute best in their next baseball and life decisions.

The Brewers are one of the very few organizations who seem to announce week-before-Christmas releases each year.

Not cool.

[CheeseheadInQC]

1 hour ago, Mass Haas said:

The Brewers are one of the very few organizations who seem to announce week-before-Christmas releases each year.

Not cool.

Yah, it seems like they hope they get selected in the minor league phase and when they don’t…

[Jim Goulart]

 

[Joseph Zarr]

More in depth write-up HERE

 

[Robocaller]

On 12/18/2022 at 6:52 AM, Mass Haas said:

The Brewers are one of the very few organizations who seem to announce week-before-Christmas releases each year.

Not cool.

I've got to believe the decisions didn't come as a surprise to the players--that there had been some communication. Some of them might have wanted to move on to a different team, as I think they'll be picked up by someone.

[Robocaller]

1 hour ago, Joseph Zarr said:

More in depth write-up HERE

 

I would have liked to retain him, but I guess the brewers thought otherwise. 

 

[Robocaller]

13 hours ago, Mass Haas said:

 

If he makes the Nashville roster, that will be the 5th! AAA team he's played for. And he's only 24!

[Ro Mueller]

We’re wishing seven recently released players the very best, with some career notes outlined here:

25-year old 1B Thomas Dillard from Mississippi was a 5th round selection ($397,500 signing bonus) out of the University of Mississippi in 2019. Actually announced as a catcher at draft time, that was more of an experiment as he subsequently logged 1737.1 innings at 1B, 150 innings in OF and just 68.1 innings at catcher over three active seasons. Dillard’s bat did not disappoint at any level, producing OPS’ of .784 in Low-A ball, .830 in High-A ball and .753 at AA Biloxi. His 2022 Biloxi stats included a .233/.364/.391 slash, 12 homers, a surprising 14 stolen bases, 81 walks and 157 Ks in 516 PAs. If he wants to pursue it, Dillard should hopefully be able to sign on with another organization.

25-year old RHP Brady Schanuel from Illinois (though born in Missouri) was a 27th round selection ($50,000 signing bonus) out of the University of Iowa in 2018. Pegged as a reliever, he made 99 relief appearances over four active seasons before making 5 spot starts at the end of the 2022 season. Over his first three seasons in Rookie and High-A ball, he produced a terrific 13.7 K/9 ratio but with a 5.94 ERA and 1.66 WHIP. Repeating at High-A Wisconsin in 2022, he improved to a 2.96 ERA and 1.46 WHIP though with his K/9 rate dropping to 9.4, though these figures were supported by a .209 BABIP. We wish him success in his future endeavors.

24-year old 2B/3B Gabe Holt from Georgia was a 7th round pick ($450,000 signing bonus) out of Texas Tech in 2019. The keen-eyed Holt drew 90 walks vs. 79 Ks over three active seasons, though a 2019 injury and the 2020 Covid wipeout essentially limited him to just two years with the Brewers. After a .740 OPS at Low-A Carolina in 2021 (62 walks, 47 Ks, 1 HR, 17 stolen bases), he jumped to AA Biloxi in 2022 and struggled mightily: .500 OPS in 312 PAs, though suppressed by a .223 BABIP. If he’s interested in continuing his baseball journey, hopefully another organization gives him a chance to bounce back in 2023, similar to what Cam Devanney did at Biloxi this past season. Good luck Gabe!

26-year old RHP Robbie Hitt from Connecticut was a 24th round selection (bonus unknown, so likely small) out of Quinnipiac University in 2017. Pitching purely in relief over five active seasons, Hitt amassed 238.1 innings, producing a 3.81 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 9.0 K/9 ratio. After impressive 2019 and 2021 seasons split between Low-A, High-A and AA (combined 2.93 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 9.1 K/9), the Brewers had him repeat at AA Biloxi in 2022 where he unfortunately regressed slightly: 4.80 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 9.6 K/9). Perhaps another organization can assist him to succeed at the next level (AAA) to continue his career. We wish Robbie tremendous success in the future.

24-year old 1B/3B Ashton McGee from North Carolina was an 18th round pick ($125,000 signing bonus) from the University of North Carolina in 2019. After a ho-hum OPS of .701 in Arizona, he made a tremendous leap forward at Low-A Carolina in 2021 (.953 OPS with 10 HRs in 297 PAs) and was respectable in a late season promotion to High-A Wisconsin (.714 OPS in 60 PAs). However, pushed up to AA Biloxi to commence 2022 put him into an unthinkable 30-game funk (20 at Biloxi, 10 at Wisconsin after demotion): .494 OPS with 52 Ks in 105 PAs. After righting the ship in late May, he was able to produce a .749 OPS in 174 PAs over his final 45 games at Wisconsin. If Ashton needs inspiration to continue his pursuit, perhaps he can look at the recent career arc of former Brewer minor leaguer Ryan Aguilar. Best of luck to you, Mr. McGee!

34-year old RHP Marcus Walden from California signed with the Brewers in June 2022 in his 16th professional season. Drafted by the Blue Jays in 2007, he had stints with the A’s, Reds, Twins and even in independent ball (2015 Lancaster) before reaching the majors with the Red Sox from 2018-2020 (106 MLB innings, 4.50 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 8.5 K/9). After a rough AAA in 2021 with the Red Sox and Cubs, he found himself back in independent ball in 2022 (Gastonia) before joining the Brewers’ Nashville squad and registering a 4.53 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 7.8 K/9 in 59.2 innings. Good luck to you, Marcus.

18-year old C Edwin Tamoy from Venezuela signed with the Brewers in June 2022 and went to work with DSL-Brewers2 in the Dominican Summer League. For a first-year player, he had a respectable .244/.296/.342 slash in 44 PAs and also threw out 14 of 34 basestealers (41% rate) in 14 games over 29 days. We can’t possibly know why Edwin’s road with the Brewers is ending so quickly, but we wish him success and happiness in the life ahead of him.

[Joseph Zarr]

And we have a new round of releases in the Brewers DSL realm:

INF Arnys Rodriguez

RHP Jairo Castillo

INF Richard Rojas

RHP Braudin Ciprian

INF Erick Reyes

OF Manuel Vargas

OF Mendy Ferreira

RHP Stanley Encarnacion

We wish these young men the best of luck in their journeys from here.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

Spoke with Manuel Vargas on two separate occasions.  One of the nicest guys in the organization and my heart goes out to him.  Looks to be, at this point, a career-ending injury that prevented him from ever making his pro debut.

[Jim Goulart]

18 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

And we have a new round of releases in the Brewers DSL realm:

RHP Braudin Ciprian

Reminder from September:

 

[Jim Goulart]

I will say this when it comes to Brewers DSL releases, they invariably never release a young man after just one pro season, regardless of the numbers. We've seen this from prior years as well.

They stuck with the released players listed above through a second season (RHP Jairo Castillo never did pitch in 2022 (assumed injury), and RHP Staney Encarnacion was actually a four-year pro (though don't count the lost 2020, statistics for three seasons).

Not sure if that's an understood standard across baseball, but there is a seeming nobility about that "policy".

[Jim Goulart]

I've been able to confirm there are two line items on the MiLB.com rosters that MiLB.com need to update:

UT Weston Wilson is still listed as on Nashville's roster, but he indeed became a minor league free agent as scheduled, and was not among the few re-signed to an additional year of control.

OF Garrett Whitley is still listed on Biloxi's roster. Like Wilson, Whitley also became a minor league free agent, and has since signed with the Phillies organization on a minor league deal.

[Ro Mueller]

Some quick notes on the young men recently released, all of whom we wish exceptional years ahead:

19-year old 1B/2B Arnys Rodriguez from the Dominican Republic was signed in August 2019 but didn’t debut until 2021, producing a slash of .192 / .328 / .256 in 247 PAs over two active seasons. A .654 OPS in 2022 wasn’t bad, but it likely wasn’t enough for someone who principally plays first base.

21-year old RHP Stanley Encarnacion from the Dominican Republic was signed in August 2019 and threw 66.2 innings over three active seasons, registering a 4.73 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and 8.9 K/9. His 1.27 WHIP and 27/9 K/BB ratio this past season appear solid, but his age is perhaps a key factor against him at this point.

18-year old 3B/2B Erick Reyes from the Dominican Republic was signed in January 2021 and produced a slash of .128 / .299 / .313 in 177 PAs over two seasons. An encouraging .717 OPS and 14 stolen bases (vs. 1 caught stealing) in 2022 were hindered by a .177 batting average.

19-year old OF Mendy Ferreira from the Dominican Republic was signed in July 2019 but didn’t debut until 2021, delivering a .204 / .325 / .275 slash in 203 PAs over two active seasons. A somewhat encouraging 24/34 BB/K ratio with 16 stolen bases in 2021 was unfortunately followed up with 7 BBs vs. 28 Ks and 11 stolen bases in 2022.

18-year old 3B/2B Richard Rojas from Venezuela was signed in January 2021 and delivered a .185 / .290 / .221 slash in 228 PAs over two seasons.

21-year old RHP Braudin Ciprian from the Dominican Republic was signed in July 2021 and threw 23.2 innings over two seasons, posting a 5.32 ERA, 1.69 WHIP and 8.4 K/9. As posted above, he was recently suspended after testing positive for a controlled substance.

19-year old RHP Jairo Castillo from the Dominican Republic was signed in August 2021, but was limited by injuries as he pitched just 2.1 innings over two seasons.

19-year old OF Manuel Vargas from the Dominican Republic was signed in January 2021, but unfortunately suffered a serious injury before ever making his minor league debut.

20-year-old Dominican native RHP Hamlet Vasquez made 25 relief appearances over the '21-'22 DSL seasons. In 36.1 innings Vasquez put 39 men on base via walk or HBP. He is one of only four "Hamlet's" to ever play professional baseball, none to reach the majors yet.

[Jim Goulart]

On 12/24/2022 at 7:50 AM, Mass Haas said:

I will say this when it comes to Brewers DSL releases, they invariably never release a young man after just one pro season, regardless of the numbers. We've seen this from prior years as well.

They stuck with the released players listed above through a second season (RHP Jairo Castillo never did pitch in 2022 (assumed injury), and RHP Staney Encarnacion was actually a four-year pro (though don't count the lost 2020, statistics for three seasons).

Not sure if that's an understood standard across baseball, but there is a seeming nobility about that "policy".

Well, the above is not always so.

Brewers released 17-year-old corner outfielder Deylin Gomez, who was a $10,000 signing this past July. Gomez posted a tough line over 84 DSL at-bats (striking out 43 times, five walks) as the linked Baseball Reference Page will show.

So, Gomez would have been just 15 years old when this video posted in 2020:

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

I was slightly intrigued by Dillard, especially since we now have the DH in the NL. He had a knack for driving in runs & also drew his walks, not a common combination. I guess the high K totals did him in. Good luck to him.