Thursday 4/5: Nashville at Memphis (Cardinals) Doubleheader, 5:05 CT

[Jim Goulart]

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

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

Reminder, the other three affiliates open tomorrow, Friday April 7th.

[Joseph Zarr]

I will be tuning in late to Game 2, hopefully, this evening. Bummed I'm going to miss Gasser's start but, perhaps, late night I'll review the tape. Go Sounds!

[Joseph Zarr]

Given the affiliates across all affiliated levels kick-off tomorrow, it would be appropriate to also post here that we are 4 AB's away from watching the #1 MLB Prospect in all of baseball. No big deal. Really, not that big of a deal:

 

[Ro Mueller]

AAA Nashville aims turn its 2-game losing streak into a 2-game winning streak, as it plays a doubleheader in Memphis tonight. 23-year old LHP Robert Gasser, the organization’s top pitching prospect, makes his season debut, having produced a 3.94 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 11.3 K/9 ratio in 137 IP across three minor league levels last year. Hey, look who’s playing second base: 

[Joseph Zarr]

Game 1 is in the books. Gasser went 4 scoreless - 1H, 4 BB, 3 K (87 pitches); Erceg and Peguero followed with the 3 shutout innings and the Sounds win game 1 4-0. Frelick bounces back with a 3-for-4 mark from the lead-off spot (1 2B, 1 SB). Navaretto, Henry, Monasterio, and Naquin with single rbi's apiece. Looks like Alvarez was given the SS spot and Monasterio pushed to 3B for this one with Hiura back at 2B. I was hoping to see this and there we have it. 

[Joseph Zarr]

And, it looks like we have the line-up card for Game 2. Let's keep it rolling Mr. Boushley:

 

[wiguy94]

Frelick in RF both games is interesting. Seems Brewers want him to get some time out there. Think last year he largely just played LF and CF. 

Gasser's command was pretty poor today. First game of the year, so I won't read too much into it but it has been a problem since he got to AAA. Only 38% of his pitches were in the zone today which is really, really poor.

[wiguy94]

Clayton Andrews comes in inheriting a runner on 3rd base and 1 out and strikes out both batters. His stuff is absolutely electric. Hard to believe he's throwing 94 from his frame. Hope he stays healthy this year.

[wiguy94]

Man rough outing for Ethan Small. Velo back down to his usual numbers after being up in his 1st outing of the year and just absolutely zero command/control. 

Jon Singleton also lets the runner score from 2B on an attempted double play because he wasn't paying attention. 

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, wiguy94 said:

Clayton Andrews comes in inheriting a runner on 3rd base and 1 out and strikes out both batters. His stuff is absolutely electric. Hard to believe he's throwing 94 from his frame. Hope he stays healthy this year.

Yup. There's a reason the Brewers were super high on him before his lost year. That slider is wild. 

[Joseph Zarr]

35 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Man rough outing for Ethan Small. Velo back down to his usual numbers after being up in his 1st outing of the year and just absolutely zero command/control. 

Jon Singleton also lets the runner score from 2B on an attempted double play because he wasn't paying attention. 

This post just makes me all sorts of sad face. Ugh on both counts. I thought we might have turned a corner. Lo and behold, it was the small sample teaser. Let's hope Small can reclaim outing number one. He was fantastic. It appears tonight was a reversion to late 2022. 

[wiguy94]

5 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

This post just makes me all sorts of sad face. Ugh on both counts. I thought we might have turned a corner. Lo and behold, it was the small sample teaser. Let's hope Small can reclaim outing number one. He was fantastic. It appears tonight was a reversion to late 2022. 

What's most concerning is he isn't even throwing other pitches. He threw 27 FB and 2 CH tonight. Of his 27 FB only 6 were inside the zone. I feel like it's one thing if he's struggling locating a breaking ball, but struggling to locate a 91 mph FB is a tough look. Just a mechanical mess is my guess because he misses so many pitches super high (early release) or super low and in (late release)

[wiguy94]

11 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Yup. There's a reason the Brewers were super high on him before his lost year. That slider is wild. 

Let's hope he is healthy. His stuff looks very real. Think he's a darkhorse shuttle option later in the year if he continues to look like this.

[Joseph Zarr]

6 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

What's most concerning is he isn't even throwing other pitches. He threw 27 FB and 2 CH tonight. Of his 27 FB only 6 were inside the zone. I feel like it's one thing if he's struggling locating a breaking ball, but struggling to locate a 91 mph FB is a tough look. Just a mechanical mess is my guess because he misses so many pitches super high (early release) or super low and in (late release)

More sad face. That is 2022 form. What was outing one, then? We'll have to wait and see. Lotta ball game left. Definitely concerning.

[Outlander]

6 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

Let's hope he is healthy. His stuff looks very real. Think he's a darkhorse shuttle option later in the year if he continues to look like this.

Agree, with the Ashby injury and Small still having issues it really opens the door for Andrews as there is limited left handed options. Gasser is obviously the better prospect but would likely want to keep as starting depth until at least the second half of the season. Claudio is also there but Andrews could be a shuttle guy if added to the 40 while Claudio could not 

[brewmann04]

Small control issues have not gotten much better and that a Concern. Good for Andrews we can use another lefty

[wiguy94]

3 hours ago, Outlander said:

Agree, with the Ashby injury and Small still having issues it really opens the door for Andrews as there is limited left handed options. Gasser is obviously the better prospect but would likely want to keep as starting depth until at least the second half of the season. Claudio is also there but Andrews could be a shuttle guy if added to the 40 while Claudio could not 

Claudio also has been used in pretty low leverage so far in AAA. I don’t think he’s really viewed as an MLB guy anymore.