Wed. 8/2 - DSL Teams Rest; Brewers Fans Recover From an Ugly 9th by Diving Into Five Evening Tilts

[Ro Mueller]

42 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Ruh roh. INF Luke Adams just took a smoking heater inside off his lead elbow/forearm. He was in immense pain on contact and feel immediately Manager Victor Estevez came out with the trainer. And, it appears he has risen and taken first base. Whew. That was a scary moment for us Luke Adams Stans!

Adams exited for a defensive replacement to start the bottom half of that inning. The man should be in High-A. God, please don’t let this derail the plan.

[Ro Mueller]

After trailing 8-1 with a poorly defended 8-run 2nd inning, Biloxi got 4 runs back via a Wes Clarke grand slam in the 5th inning. That’s his 15th homer of the year, though we still trail 9-5. 

 

[TheeAirbender]

Send Cooper to the big league club.

[Ro Mueller]

In their 2nd time up, Pratt singled again and Bitonti flied out. Still 1-1 in the 3rd inning of this 7-inning ACL affair.

[Ro Mueller]

Yerlin Rodriguez collects the 4-out save as the Mudcats win 5-2. His work included stranding 2 baserunners of Tyler Wehrle. Together, they combined on 5 scoreless innings.

This could be a great win, but instead we wait to find out whether that 2nd HBP of the day will cost Luke Adams some time.

[Ro Mueller]

Pratt doubles in a run for a 3-hit debut!

Bitonti grounds out in his 3rd at-bat.

Juan Baez is having a heckuva game. Solo home run. Caught two line-outs at 3rd base. Caught a foul pop and threw to 2nd base to trigger a runner being caught in a run-down for a double play. Lined out his first time up.

ACL Brewers lead 4-1 in the 5th inning.

[Joseph Zarr]

45 minutes ago, damuelle said:

 

In their first plate appearances, Pratt reached on an infield single (scoring on a Mike Boeve single - why is Boeve still in Arizona?) and Bitonti K’d. 1-1 game early. 

Seriously. And, thank you for saying this. 

I think the organization is pondering what to do promotionally at multiple levels?

 

---

INF/LF Isaac Collins just got aboard for the 4th time tonight. He leads off the 9th inning Shuckers comeback effort (trailing 12-7) with a linedrive single to RF. Wes Clarke at the dish now after hitting his 2nd HR in two nights earlier in the contest. AND, WELL HOW ABOUT THAT a 2-RUN BOMB. My gooooodness these Shuckers folks. 

No doubt ABOUT THAT: 455 feet to dead on left center. That may have gone in the drink!

Jeepers. 12-9 ball game now. No outs.

[Joseph Zarr]

A Zavi Warren K. A Ethan Murray K (on a very questionable check swing called strike - I didn't buy it). And a Carlos D. Rodriguez ground out to SS. 

The Shuckers gave up 21 hits in this one. Clearly, the offense was not the issue in this loss. Yowza. Those WHIPS might pop up a wee bit.

Also, hey Marlins...would you please finally promote Griffin Conine. I mean. Seriously.

[wibadgers23]

Quite the debut for Pratt so far. He’s going to be a fast riser through the rankings.

[Joseph Zarr]

I honestly do not know where they go from here with RHP Robbie Baker. He's completely fallen apart since the calendar flipped to June. It makes me blue. 

3 IP, 9 H, 0 BB, 4 ER, 3 K, 2 HR

If you thought RHP Matt Bush gave up long balls, Baker has made it an art form over the past two months. Since May 31st, Baker has now given up 13 HR in just 24 IP. I mean...that's a HR given up in every outing (on average). He's made 13 appearances. It's gotten out of hand.

[wibadgers23]

Baez was removed from the game after he singled and stole a base. Cripes.

[Ro Mueller]

21 minutes ago, damuelle said:

Juan Baez is having a heckuva game. Solo home run. Caught two line-outs at 3rd base. Caught a foul pop and threw to 2nd base to trigger a runner being caught in a run-down for a double play. Lined out his first time up.

Baez added a single and stolen base in the 5th inning, then comes out for a defensive replacement. Hopefully he’s being promoted (along with Wilken, Boeve and O’Rae); not injured nor stuck dominating ACL ball for the rest of the season.

The lead is down to 4-3 though, with 1 1/2 scheduled innings to play.

[Joseph Zarr]

It would appear y'all were mistaken:

Baez shifted to SS - Pratt and then Bitoni (DH) were pulled - and remained in the game where he proceeded to rip a two-run double. The man has what you call 'gas in the tank'. My baseball gods has been on an offensive tear ALL ACL season. Woot woot! 6-3 ACL Crew. Absolutely key insurance runs. You never know how the pitching scene is going to play out in the wily ACL.

[Ro Mueller]

1 minute ago, Joseph Zarr said:

It would appear y'all were mistaken:

Baez shifted to SS and remained in the game where he proceeded to rip a two-run double. The man has what you call 'gas in the tank'. My baseball gods has been on an offensive tear ALL ACL season. Woot woot! 6-3 ACL Crew. Absolutely key insurance runs. You never know how the pitching scene is going to play out in the wily ACL.

Box score shenanigans!

Yeah, the powers that be corrected themselves. Pratt exited, not Baez. Then Bitonti also exited for a pinch hitter, so it’s clear these were planned early exits for their debut games.

Pay that man his money…er…promote that (Baez) man to Low-A!

[Joseph Zarr]

Here's a one-two punch for y'all. Pratt's first hits in the ACL as a Brewer:

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, damuelle said:

Box score shenanigans!

Yeah, the powers that be corrected themselves. Pratt exited, not Baez. Then Bitonti also exited for a pinch hitter, so it’s clear these were planned early exits for their debut games.

Pay that man his money…er…promote that (Baez) man to Low-A!

Baez, my goodness. Averaging over an RBI per game, hitting just under .400. The man doesn't walk, which almost always translates into an ugly K rate at that level, yet his K total is paltry. He just turned 18 a month or 2 ago & we all know about the defensive ?s, but it has to be tempting to think about giving him at least a little taste of Carolina at some point.

Great debut for Pratt.

You'd hafta think Boeve & Wilkin are on the cusp of getting a taste of full-season ball.

[Jake McKibbin]

Having not watched a ton of games, where does Wes Clarke swing and miss a lot? has he got any hit tool that's developing or is it always going to hold him back? Looks like the potential of a slugging 1B in there with even an average hit tool, massive power

[wiguy94]

5 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Having not watched a ton of games, where does Wes Clarke swing and miss a lot? has he got any hit tool that's developing or is it always going to hold him back? Looks like the potential of a slugging 1B in there with even an average hit tool, massive power

What's interesting about Clarke is he only has a 14.9% swinging strike rate which is really low for someone with a K-rate at 31%. Seems to me he might be a bit too patient but the huge BB-rate really counteracts the high K-rate. Just a real TTO type player. All he's done in the minor leagues is BB, K, and SLG. Interesting player, but I imagine it just won't translate to the MLB if he's striking out this much in the minors.

[Joseph Zarr]

54 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

What's interesting about Clarke is he only has a 14.9% swinging strike rate which is really low for someone with a K-rate at 31%. Seems to me he might be a bit too patient but the huge BB-rate really counteracts the high K-rate. Just a real TTO type player. All he's done in the minor leagues is BB, K, and SLG. Interesting player, but I imagine it just won't translate to the MLB if he's striking out this much in the minors.

Fair assessment. 

What I do know about Clarke is I love having him in the Brewers organization given his availability and ability to get on base and his gap power. Given this is his age 23 season, I anticipate his real work will ultimately come when he matures his approach a bit more after he is bumped to Triple-A. I could very easily see him in Triple-A for several years and suddenly he gets a chance as a power bat off the bench or as an emergency fill in at 1B/C. If he ever gets that shot I absolutely hope he runs with it.