Brewers Minor League Link Report (4/24): LHP Robert Gasser Returns and Looks Fantastic; RHP Bradley Blalock Loses Scoreless Streak

[Joseph Zarr]

It was a rare mid-day slate of matinee affairs across the system (typically, we see two mid-day games mid-week and two evening tilts). The Mudcats moved to 5-0 on their season series versus Salem with a tight 4-3 victory. The Sounds lost their second in a row to Louisville in painful 2-1 fashion. The Shuckers corner outfield continues to be a hot mess in their 5-0 loss. And, the T-Rats were done in by some shoddy defense of their own costing an eighth inning one-run lead but they managed to ride the magic carpet of one masterful RHP Craig Yoho to a victory. Let's get into the report!

Image courtesy of Brewer Fanatic

Transactions:

• LHP Robert Gasser was officially activated from the 7-Day IL by the Nashville Sounds (more below)
• INF Cooper Pratt was activated off the 7-Day IL by the Carolina Mudcats

Finally, some fantastic IL news for the much-beleaguered Brewers organization! 

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Final: Louisville (Reds) 2, Sounds 1

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):

Nashville Bats Go Quiet in Loss to Louisville - Robert Gasser Strikes Out Five in Four One-Run Innings

Box Score / Game Log

After last night's high-scoring affair, we witnessed a nail biter in Louisville for game 2 as the Sounds fell just short. But, make no mistake, this game was entirely about the return and immediate positive impact of talented LHP Robert Gasser. What a sight for sore eyes! 49 total pitches with 32 strikes while striking out the side in the second inning was just what the doctor ordered here. Last year's International League Pitcher of the Year was absolutely in call-up form and Brewers fans worldwide should feel quite good about this. 

 

Two Quick Throws to First Base: (hey, it's a two hit affair - oh, and Isaac Collins with yet another XBH for one of them)

1) More good news: during the MiLB.TV telecast the Bats announcers shared it is largely believed OF Brewer Hicklen will not need an IL stint after the beanball to his left kneecap last night. In a season filled with injuries throughout the Brewers organization, this is a huge sigh of relief. It's an even bigger sigh of relief given the two hit snooze fest the Sounds offense put forth.

2) Welcome back to Nashville, Mr. Noah Campbell! Not only was he on base three times on the day (single, reached by error, HBP), but he was also credited with two outfield assists - one to home plate and one at third base. It is quite clear the Shuckers offense and outfield already desperately misses him. Let's hope he can keep putting forth good results and he finds a home in Nashville before making his way to the Major Leagues.

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Final: Pensacola (Marlins) 5, Biloxi 0

Bullpen Strikes Out Seven, Shuckers Fall to Blue Wahoos -  Shuckers Limited to Five Hits in 5-0 Loss Against Pensacola

Pre-Game Media Notes 

Box Score / Game Log  

Well, we knew RHP Bradley Blalock's scoring streak would end at some point. It ended quickly today - before he had recorded a single out. It was certainly his roughest outing to date as the talented young hurler also experienced his shortest outing of 2024 - 3 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 3 ER, 1 HR. 73 pitches in total over the three innings pitched. Given the fabulous start to his season, we'll chalk this up as a mulligan.

Three Quick Strikes
1) I am about at my limit with the ongoing Biloxi outfield mishaps. LF Lamar Sparks had two misplays at the warning track that cost LHP Russ Smith and his teammates - one ruled an error the other graciously gifted as a hit. RF Carlos D. Rodriguez then chose to try out his sub-par arm to home plate while simply allowing the hitter to advance into scoring position in the process - this after last night's walk-off misread and game-losing misplay in right field. When your bats are sleeping on a consistent basis as they have been throughout the early part of the season, you absolutely have to batten down the hatches defensively. In games one and two it just isn't happening in the outfield grass and it is costing the team dearly.

2) INF Mike Boeve certainly benefited from a scoring decision when he was awarded a triple on what was likely a fielding error, but what continues to be true regardless of the scoring anomaly is he is making contact and putting balls in play. I can only hope (or pray) his struggling and scuffling teammates take notice and pick up a thing or two (or three) and the offense finds a pulse. After said triple in the first frame, his teammates followed suit with three consecutive strike outs.

3) Speaking of pulses, and Sparks' misplays, it is important to point out as this game progressed the coastal winds were really blasting in from right-to-left field. OF Justin Dirden suffered the winds' fates when his extremely well hit deep ball with a runner aboard and the game still 3-0 just died at the right field warning track. A surefire two-run homer on most afternoons fizzled into a long out. It was just that kind of game for the Shuckers. And, well, it has been that type of series through two losses in this so far.

** Special Shout Out to RHP Nick Merkel. He continues to impact the Southern League and is showcasing his fantastic knuckle curve in the process. His crucial scoreless middle innings of work gave his team an opportunity today even tho they were not up to the challenge. 3 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 K? Yes, please. Season ERA down to 1.80. Hitters hitting a 0.212 BAA with a fantastic 0.80 WHIP (10:1 K:BB). Hey, it's yet another relief arm crushing in April. Have you heard of this PITCHING theme?

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Final: Wisconsin 3, Peoria (Cardinals) 2

Wisconsin Takes Down Chiefs in Extra Innings - Areinamo's Two-Out Single in Tenth Puts Rattlers Ahead to Stay

Box Score / Game Log  

Pre-Game Media Notes

LHP Mark Manfredi continues to make a name for himself. LHP Tate Kuehner had a fantastic bounce back outing validating my previous remarks - ie his stuff is better than the early results - and deserved much better than a Blown Save mark (it certainly wasn't his doing). And, well, RHP Craig Yoho continues to blow my socks off in every inning he pitches. Seriously, Yoho on the 2024 ticket and we're going to set some things right! All in all, the three talented hurlers combined to strike out 16 Chiefs. In a year of PITCHING (you may have heard me mention this before?), the combined efforts of the T-Rats staff drove that point home in spades.

Three Quick Strikes:

1) INF Luke Adams made it back to the Timber Rattlers lineup after a brief absence and he impacted the game in nearly every way. A 2-for-3 line, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2 RBI and a crucial game-tying throwing error to boot. Since seeing Adams play 3B in Carolina throughout 2023, I continue to share: I don't know if he has a natural position but, regardless, 3B does not come natural to him. His throwing error (1B Ben Metzinger, brought in as a defensive substitution, certainly didn't help his cause) was just a classic short-arm toss that fell a good 6-9 feet before the bag. Thankfully, it didn't cost the team the game. I'll be curious to see if he can't slot over to 1B more now that he's healthy and playing again.

2) After three knocks on his afternoon, including the game winning poke bloop to right field (a thing of beauty), one might be wondering why talented INF Jadher Areinamo is only sporting a 0.642 OPS. He's batting 0.271 on the season, after all. Look no further than his mere two walks. Every young player has work to do to take their game to new heights. Given his immense talent defensively, Areinamo's largest body of work continues to be in the area of learning plate discipline and selectivity. If we can continue to get more line drive loft that will be an added bonus. He still has a tendency to be over-aggressive in the batters box. 

3) I spoke to it above. I spoke to it at length in the game thread. I'm going to state it again here should anyone need to hear it: RHP Craig Yoho is an inevitable promotion in the days and weeks ahead. He is absolutely over-matching High-A bats. Everything he delivers moves. He changes speeds routinely in AB's. The ball drops precipitously out of the zone. He can tail it. He can raise it. He can level it out and surprise you. You simply do not know what is coming and even if you do it likely won't matter. This is what we like to call a 'fast riser'. I can't imagine he will be a Timber Rattler much longer. Shortly thereafter, as discussed last night, I see RHP Yerlin Rodriguez following in his footsteps. 
 

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Final: Carolina 4, Salem (Red Sox) 3

Mudcats Come Back Again Late to Stun Red Sox 

Box Score / Game Log

RHP Daniel Corniel absolutely bounced back on the comforts of his home mound. What a difference a new game and a new setting can make for a young man. 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 6 K is just what the doctor ordered. It's important to remember, like Rodriguez yesterday, Corniel is much younger than the average age of the Low-A Carolina League at 19 years of age until early July. In many regards, these young men are still just getting comfortable. RHP Yujanyer Herrera moved to 3-0 on his season pitcher 4 1/3 IP of 1 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 6 K ball. He continues to execute much greater control to his mix in 2024 moving his K:BB ratio to a very pleasing 27:6 over 17 IP already. If we see a Yoho or Rodriguez promotion at High-A, one has to imagine Herrera will be one of the promotions heading north.

Three Quick Strikes:

1) Let's keep the feel good injury news rolling. An INF Cooper Pratt highlight:

The hand certainly looked healthy on that muscled liner to right field on the inner portion of his bat! Please stay healthy young man. Every rep is so valuable. I say this because we see Pratt did leave for a defensive substitution in the late innings. We'll take this as early precautionary. Plenty more highlights on the Carolina Mudcats X Page - including a C Blayberg Diaz home run blast. 

2) Sitting 14-3 and the class of the Carolina League early in 2024, it is quite easy to see why: the Mudcats get contributions from nearly everyone on their team. A game like this is a prime example: look at that box score and you'll see a lot of ones in a lot of different places. 'Scrappy' is a clichéd term used in sports but when it is used there is often legitimate evidence to back it up. It's extremely encouraging that the youngest group of full-season players in the Brewers system quite often play the cleanest most fundamentally sound version of baseball as well. They may lack the size, strength, and experience but they certainly don't lack in fight, smarts, and resilience. They've also already demonstrated they can trail throughout contests and can regain leads at any point. This is quite simply an extremely entertaining team to watch.

3) Much like his prospect hype counterpart in OF Jackson Chourio, CF Yophery Rodriguez is prone to big moments in key spots just as he is prone to striking out and mini stretches of '0-for' at the plate (currently in a mini 0-for-10, 4 K, 1 BB slump dating back to the last Augusta game). The two young men are very different players and very different human beings. in the best of ways, and I continue to feel quite fortunate we can watch the development paths of such talented baseball players. Yes, the ups and most definitely the downs. These are not linear progressions.

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I hand it off to Jim and Daniel for the remainder of these ongoing series. Let us hope we see continued health and good baseball weather through the weekend. Letson, Ashby, Woessner, and Rudy will be back on the bump tomorrow evening.

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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[Brock Beauchamp]

How long until we see Gasser in Milwaukee?

[Brian]

Yes, Robert Gasser and Tyler Black both because Joey Wiemer for sure needs to be sent down and Chourio may need a little touch up work before he looses to much confidence in himself.  Chourio just turned 20 years old less than a month ago, so a week or two in Nashville may do him a lot of good. JMHO

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

How long until we see Gasser in Milwaukee?

It seems to me the writing is on the wall for one more outing with Nashville and then the serious conversations start taking place (at least with Murphy's post-game comments last night). He looked fantastic last night.

[Playing Catch]

- When was the last time Dylan O'Rae went 0-5 with 3 Ks?

- Was Blalock working on something? That was a really surprising line.

- Yoho. Just how quickly is he gunna go through the system? I guess there's no rush with the wealth of RP prospects, but I have to think he's gunna be an option for the big club by June next season.

- This system is so so fun to watch. I'm so glad to see Gasser and Pratt back. I also loved to see them perhaps getting something from Russ Smith!

[Joseph Zarr]

19 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

- When was the last time Dylan O'Rae went 0-5 with 3 Ks?

- Was Blalock working on something? That was a really surprising line.

- Yoho. Just how quickly is he gunna go through the system? I guess there's no rush with the wealth of RP prospects, but I have to think he's gunna be an option for the big club by June next season.

- This system is so so fun to watch. I'm so glad to see Gasser and Pratt back. I also loved to see them perhaps getting something from Russ Smith!

- I got to the T-Rats game in about the 3rd frame. I can say O'Rae hit a well hit line drive to the LF fringe warning track that looked quite good off the bat. And I also saw him K on a wicked off-speed pitch down and in. But, to your question: he has never had a 3 K game in the Brewers system. This was a first. 

- I can't tell you whether Blalock has been working on anything specifically but I can tell you the entire Shuckers team has been struggling with the wind coming off that Pensacola coast. 

- Yoho, I said it above, I'll say it again here: he's an MLB pitcher today. Just ridiculous set of tools. The closest thing we have to an Airbender Air Appairent. (I'm sorry, I'm a dad).

- LHP Russ Smith has come a long long way and finally entered the conversation. Now, it's about maintaining this current effectiveness and fine-tuning and taking his 'stuff' and elevating it another notch. It's all right there for him. I'm bullish.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

@Brock Beauchamp: We have a video clip, now, the Sounds posted of Gasser's last K. This is some of the filthy I was seeing. He is bigger, stronger, and throwing harder in 2024. IF this is the Gasser we are suddenly working with (he looks like a man), I think our vistas of possibility suddenly open wider:

(sorry no embed option - top video)

Gasser Collects Fifth and Final Strikeout

[Trax]

Great news on Gasser and he should be on the fast track to getting a start with the Brewers.

Also nice tidbit on Russ Smith, was wondering about him.....

[Joseph Zarr]

15 minutes ago, Trax said:

Great news on Gasser and he should be on the fast track to getting a start with the Brewers.

Also nice tidbit on Russ Smith, was wondering about him.....

It is nice news. What's most important here is he carried last year's late-season momentum and it is now his base layer. SO, where does the talented mammoth of a hurler go from here? He is still very much a work in progress but there is upward growth there for the taking with raw tools you can't teach. His slider has come light years and is now an elite pitch. I'd personally like to see continued refinement of his heater and change-up tho to bring them to the slider's level. He still has a propensity to fall back into those early-career release-point issues and the ball runs away from him arm-side.

Anywho, to your point: it is a nice tidbit 😅