Brewers Minor League Link Report (4/16): The Feel Good Theme in Early 2024 Continues to Be Pitching

[Joseph Zarr]

With the Timber Rattlers rained out, we still witnessed some wild innings of baseball throughout the evening. We saw some good. We definitely saw some bad. In the end, we had a mixed bag of results. As they say: that's baseball. We'll touch on a little bit of all of it below but, suffice it to say, as my title indicates: the pitching continues to impress across the system in a very big way. Let's get into the report!

Image courtesy of Brewer Fanatic

Transactions:

• LHP Darrell Thompson was activated by the Nashville Sounds off their Temporarily Inactive List
• OF Justin Dirden was officially assigned to the Nashville Sounds
• INF/OF Owen Miller was recalled by the Milwaukee Brewers from the Nashville Sounds

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Final: Omaha (Royals) 10, Nashville 9

Via the Sounds' website, please be sure to click and read each of the affiliate write-ups as part of your season-long Link Report routine (believe me, it's worth it):

Brewskis Come up Just Short, Fall to Omaha in Series Opener - Tyler Black Hits First Homer of Season

Pre-Game Media Notes 

Box Score / Game Log

I was looking forward to my first viewing of newly picked up RHP Vladimir Gutierrez. After a 35-pitch first inning that resulted in a 4-0 deficit and after seven runs allowed in 2 2/3 IP, I can avow that initial excitement has waned considerably. For a 28-year-old veteran, I expected better velocity and better location. What I saw, instead, were a bevy of hanging off-speed pitches and low-90's 'heat' with very little movement. There isn't much else to write about here. It was an unimpressive debut. Let's hope it gets better in future starts.

Three Quick Strikes:

1) It wasn't all on Gutierrez. It is hard to describe the manner in which 2B Andruw Monasterio let a shallow pop fly drop to the shallow outfield grass with one down in the first. CF Chavez Young was nowhere in sight and, yet, Monasterio just stopped pursuing the ball and, kind of, well, just stood there. It was a very odd play. The ball plopped to the grass and another runner was aboard. The inning got worse from there. It's plays like this that leave you wondering. Maybe Gutierrez settles in from there? We'll never know.

2) Here's the good from 1B Tyler Black. A classic turn the hips laser shot - we've grown to love this swing over the past two years:

Here's the bad from 1B Tyler Black: a crucial fielding blunder in a 7-7 ball game. There is a distinct reason Black hasn't sniffed the MLB diamond as of yet and that reason continues to be his defense. It was a crucial spot to help his suddenly scuffling LHP Nick Bennett. Instead, the botched catch on as routine a pop up as one gets, loaded the bases with only one down. Like Monasterio's error, Black's was equally inexplicable - if you are going to sprint full speed and call everyone else off you absolutely have to catch the ball. As the Brewers desperately try to find ways to use Black's bat and speed at the MLB level, they continue to look for trust in any facet of his defense - as a whole, it is simply too untrustworthy no matter where the young man is positioned.

2) INF/OF Isaac Collins continues to validate my ongoing fandom of his game. I've been touting his skills for over a year now and his work in early 2024 at Triple-A Nashville has done nothing but validate my sentiments. How about three XBH's to quiet the naysayers? A three-bagger. Two doubles. And a near three-run go-ahead home run that missed by roughly 1/2" off the barrel and, instead, flew out to the deep left field warning track. He's a switch-hitter. He's athletic. I beg of you ye' Brewer fans: It's time to take serious notice. 

3) With the Brewers bullpen needing more arms to toss into their overworked mix, let's tout the fantastic rehab outing we witnessed from RHP Trevor Megill. He was dominant. He was controlled. He was peppering the zone with his arsenal - sitting 99 mph in the flame throwing department. Toss in that tasty knuckle curve for good measure:

*** Special shout out and mention for RHP Ryan Middendorf. He's touching 97-98 mph on the gun in 2024. This is a massive step up from 2023. He still drops in that 78 mph curve. He still has that patented 3/4 slot slider. He looks fantastic so far in 2024. Keep it churning, young man!

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Final: Biloxi 3, Chattanooga (Reds) 1

Peterson Ties Career-High with Six Innings, Shuckers Extend Win Streak to Four - Shuckers Score Three Unanswered in 3-1 Win over Chattanooga

Pre-Game Media Notes 

Box Score / Game Log  

LHP Nate Peterson has very clearly taken a step early in 2024. The collective Shuckers bullpen and pitching staff has taken a step early in 2024. If we only had a better camera angle to verify this down in Biloxi 😅

Peterson finished his evening with a very impactful 6 IP of 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 ER ball. The strong compact lefty has now allowed a mere single run in over 10 IP as a starter for manager Joe Ayrault and his staff. It's hard to tell with the early-season dominance of the press box (behind the catcher) view in Biloxi, but it certainly looks like his mix is better. It looks like he may have added a wrinkle to the off-speed and it looks as though his velo may be up a couple ticks. We'll have to monitor this as the season progresses and (hopefully!) the camera angles change. The aforementioned bullpen was once again scoreless - that's 16 consecutive scoreless innings. Shutdown is the word.

Three Quick Strikes:

1) As the Shuckers offense continues to idle at trolling speed, it doesn't really matter all that much. Having now won four straight games, the collective offense isn't exactly tearing the cover off the ball only averaging 4.25 runs. The thing is, the Shuckers pitching staff is only surrendering 1.25 runs per contest over the same streak. There are a lot of low 0.200 and 0.100 batting averages across the lineup adorning the ongoing box scores. BUT, the pitching staff continues to hold serve while the bats stay deep asleep. Given the talent across the board, however, those offensive results 'should' start to perk up soon sooner than later. 

2) It wasn't all a snooze fest at the dish. C Darrien Miller managed to raise his batting average to a whopping 0.182 with a go-ahead rbi double to the right field wall:

His impactful night also happened defensively when he nabbed a runner at second base. We know that has historically been an issue for the young catcher but he has definitively improved in that department over the past year plus. It was a beautiful strike them out throw them out double play and it was made even more impressive given the jump at first base:

Let's reward the man behind the dish in a 3-1 affair!

3) We'll wrap this section up with special mentions for the collective bullpen performances: RHP Kaleb 'Bo' Bowman, RHP Nick Merkel, and RHP Justin Yeager (2nd Save) were fantastic. Having seen Yeager in Double-A Biloxi in 2023 before his untimely injury and having watched him several times in the AFL, his shutdown start isn't all that surprising. But, the ongoing bounce back work from Bowman and the early season effectiveness of the mountain of a man in Merkel are extremely gratifying. The Southern League is a very rough adjustment. Bowman can attest to this after his rough promotion in 2023. It is very pleasing to see Merkel's breaking ball can absolutely play in Double-A. He lives and dies in his off-speed toolkit. Hopefully, more good things are on their horizons.

** Special shout out to the Shuckers bats: Please wake up. 😁

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Final: Augusta (Braves) 7, Carolina 5

Rodriguez Goes Five Strong in Mudcats Defeat - Carolina drops series opener in Augusta despite late push

Box Score / Game Log

18-year-old RHP Manuel Rodriguez absolutely deserved a better result in this one. He was absolutely fantastic. I loved the body language on the hill - he was locked in, eager, and hitting his marks throughout. Rodriguez is a case of a young arm that currently lives on the ride and rise of his upper 80's heat (though it currently lacks velocity it certainly has good depth and good action - it induced several swings and misses throughout) and his slider. He even dropped in some change-ups as his outing progressed. Given he is standing 6'2", I envision a future where Rodriguez will be sitting 93-94. Lets hope his off-speed continues to progress alongside. I would opine his slider is currently already a very impactful pitch and, as I said, despite the low velo his heater is missing bats. All told, taking a loss to the ledger after 5 IP of 5 H, 0 BB, 1 ER, 7 K ball feels wildly inappropriate. 

Three Quick Strikes:

1) Just when you thought RHP Jeison Pena had possibly turned a corner after a fairly roughshod 2023 in Low-A Carolina, he pitches a single inning conceding 6 H, 1 BB, and 6 ER. Yikes. A one run game was suddenly 7-0. Pena did manage two punch outs so there is a faint silver lining here. However, I can only imagine the leash is short here given the greater context of the new roster constraints MLB league wide.  

2) OF Kay-Lan Nicasia manned the DH spot on the evening. He missed a possible go-ahead homer late when the ball somehow fizzled at the deepest part of the park and was caught at the warning track. However, he also managed to send a ball over the wall with his team trailing 7-0: 

I will continue to tout this young man's game (Nicasia just turned 22 on April 10th). I will continue to encourage manager Nick Stanley to look at moving his bat up in the lineup. He has surprising line drive power in what is an otherwise thinner frame. Nicasia's defense plays anywhere on the outfield grass with a cannon of an arm to boot. He simply continues to be one of my favorite players in the system seemingly nobody else talks about. I love watching this young man get after it and continue to work on his craft - can he had more meat on those bones? This is an improving player who could be an ascending player in time. I hope the Brewers see the same. After the long ball, Nicasia moved to a 0.250 BA on the season with an 0.816 OPS.

3) 1B Tayden Hall continued his scorching start. The young man is a bat-to-ball machine. The line drive and gap power is improving (just look to the Aussie Winter season) but it's the overall production that takes the cake. With a 2-for-5 evening (including a line drive rbi single up the middle), he moved his overall production to a whopping 0.444 BA and a 1.176 OPS. He has the whole package in his extremely chiseled and athletic frame. It's really just a matter of: can he continue to develop the tools? I love the swing. I love the swing path. No wasted movement in the box. This is absolutely a prospect whose development we should be glued to.

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Wisconsin will (hopefully) be back at it tomorrow with a newly scheduled double-header starting as a mid-day matinee. Remember, these games will be abbreviated. All other affiliates will be evening tilts. We will see if RHP Carlos F. Rodriguez has indeed found his footing and we will see if RHP Jacob Misiorowski can give us a patented strikeout buffet.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting Milwaukee Brewers Minor League baseball and the many players deserving of our time and recognition. I now pass the baton to Daniel and Jim for the remainder of these ongoing series.

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