Tue. 5/7 - Nashville Matinee A Tight One

[Joseph Zarr]

Shookster opens his 5th frame with another K. A swinging, whiffing, failed check swing. The man is on ONE. Love LOVE LOVE It! Let's go TJ! 

[Joseph Zarr]

Two up. Two K's. What. An. Outing. 52nd pitch. 7 K. Lotttttta important zeroes. 57 pitches. 46 strikes?! That can't be right. LOL. He's completed 5.

[Ro Mueller]

Are you not entertained?!? 

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Take in the absolute impressiveness of RHP Manuel Rodriguez's outing:

First Carolina League 7 IP start since Late July of 2023. 48 strikes of 67 pitches. He's 18 years old. Take that in.

[Joseph Zarr]

 Meanwhile, Shook has already set his season high in K's with his 8th K looking to grab his first out of the sixth. He did give up a lead off flare liner single past the deep left shift up the middle. This is Ernesto Martinez Jr's first start in CF since July of 2021? LOL. 

The Brewers certainly love to mix it up. Lead off catchers. Start their mammoth 1B in CF. Why not? LOL.

This is Shook's 9th career start he's completed 6 innings. As I've been saying for over a year: this is one of the absolutely most overlooked high-upside and talented arms in the system. You never hear about him anywhere. It's inexplicable. He has MLB caliber stuff in every way. Consistency in the zone is his major step to get to the MLB level. He's making huge strides in 2024.

[Joseph Zarr]

Boy it sure is nice having misplaced RHP KC Hunt locking down key innings for the Playoffs hungry Mudcats in the early part of this season. He has K'd 3 straight. And has 2 down in the 9th as the Mudcats lead 4-1.

Meanwhile RHP SHane Smith gave us a 1-2-3 7th in relief of Shook ending in a K. 5-0 Shuckers headed to their half of the 7th.

[Joseph Zarr]

LHP Tate Kuehner is showcasing what I've said during his past 3 starts: don't pay attention to the ballooned ERA. Don't pay attention to the hiccup innings. He absolutely has stuff. 5 K through 2 2/3 IP in a 1-1 ball game.

[Joseph Zarr]

AND, the Mudcats move to 19 wins and though they have played 2 games fewer than the rest due to their Home series postponements this past weekend, they do hold the most Wins in their Division. They move 1.5 G ahead of the Fredericksburg Nats who own the 18 'W's but 2 more losses.

[Joseph Zarr]

Mudcats continue to lead the entire Carolina League in ERA. They hold a ridiculous Team ERA of 3.18. The next closest is Kannapolis at 3.53.

HAVE YOU HEARD ME DISCUSS PITCHING IN 2024?

That certainly didn't change tonight. 19-7 on their season. Incredible stuff.

[biedergb]

18 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Take in the absolute impressiveness of RHP Manuel Rodriguez's outing:

First Carolina League 7 IP start since Late July of 2023. 48 strikes of 67 pitches. He's 18 years old. Take that in.

I know I can look back at other reports, but what is his arsenal?

I know he is really young, and hasn't fully developed, so the fastball is not super high. Like 89-92, did I remember reading that?

No matter what. An 18 yo having a good start to low A when most 18 years old are finishing out HS seasons in the hopes of getting drafted, showing up for possible complex league or low A next year. Very impressive so far from this young man.

[Joseph Zarr]

Just now, biedergb said:

I know I can look back at other reports, but what is his arsenal?

I know he is really young, and hasn't fully developed, so the fastball is not super high. Like 89-92, did I remember reading that?

No matter what. An 18 yo having a good start to low A when most 18 years old are finishing out HS seasons in the hopes of getting drafted, showing up for possible complex league or low A next year. Very impressive so far from this young man.

Poised. Poised. Poised. Controlled. Controlled. Controlled.

READ THE REPORTS 😅

AND, he has good ride and spin on his low 90's top end heater. Mainly sits 89-90. Awesome off-speed package for his age. Slider is really good. Has a change-up. Just knows how to pitch. Is already able to locate consistently well. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Areinamo with his 2nd RBI on a weak groundout to SS with Adams and O'Rae on 2nd and 3rd. 2-1 T-Rats take the lead in the top of the 4th.

[Joseph Zarr]

Ernesto Martinez Jr. leads the Shuckers in SB on their season. 😅

He just grabbed his 6th and it wasn't particularly close. He's 6'6" 250 lbs, folks. They started him in CF tonight. I mean...

[biedergb]

8 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Areinamo with his 2nd RBI on a weak groundout to SS with Adams and O'Rae on 2nd and 3rd. 2-1 T-Rats take the lead in the top of the 4th.

With Lara, O'Rae you get a lot of on base (walks, some hits, and HBP with O'Rae), and Barrios hitting. Speed on the base paths too. The club can score some runs without ever hitting the ball out of the infield.

[biedergb]

Biloxi - nice to see Brown, Boeve, Wilken, Clarke and Miller at 1-5. I can only hope this wakes up that offense. The past 2 weeks have been ... challenging for the offense.

[Joseph Zarr]

7 minutes ago, biedergb said:

With Lara, O'Rae you get a lot of on base (walks, some hits, and HBP with O'Rae), and Barrios hitting. Speed on the base paths too. The club can score some runs without ever hitting the ball out of the infield.

Lara just smashed a high heater to the wall in deep right CF scoring Barrios (HBP). He took 3rd on the poor throw to Home. 3-1 T-Rats.

😁

Excuse me, Barrios knocked Lara home on a hard hit single through the left side of the infield. Who did Lara send home? LOL.

[Joseph Zarr]

Shane Smith with a 3 inning shutout Save. That's a shutout 5-0 for the Shuckers in Game 1. The pitching staff's 5th shutout of their season. They improve to 14-14 on their season. Big 'W'. They gain a game back in the Standings.

[biedergb]

1 minute ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Shane Smith with a 3 inning shutout Save. That's a shutout 5-0 for the Shuckers in Game 1. The pitching staff's 5th shutout of their season. They improve to 14-14 on their season. Big 'W'. They gain a game back in the Standings.

Nice to see a solid outing from Smith. He was a great story and I loved watching Seth’s interview with him

Shane just loves baseball and he seems like a good guy to root for.

[Joseph Zarr]

Oh, hey, 2 more K for RHP Craig Yoho. A perfect bottom of the 7th. 21 K in 11 IP on his season. Dominant.

[biedergb]

1 minute ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Oh, hey, 2 more K for RHP Craig Yoho. A perfect bottom of the 7th. 21 K in 11 IP on his season. Dominant.

The older college pitchers from last year are doing nicely. Manfredi, Austin, Kuener, Yoho, and I throw Hunt in that mix as a UDFA. Now they are all definitely older for the league they are in, but they are first year professional nonetheless.

I hope they develop and rise up the system, this would be a fun group to see succeed together in the big leagues someday/

[Joseph Zarr]

4 minutes ago, biedergb said:

The older college pitchers from last year are doing nicely. Manfredi, Austin, Kuener, Yoho, and I throw Hunt in that mix as a UDFA. Now they are all definitely older for the league they are in, but they are first year professional nonetheless.

I hope they develop and rise up the system, this would be a fun group to see succeed together in the big leagues someday/

Of the group, Yoho has the most dominant stuff. Hunt and Manfredi the next tier of 'stuff' - also very dominant. If Hunt was drafted he wouldn't still be sitting in Low-A. He has no business sitting down there - he is absolutely dominating the Low-A hitting pool. He needs a promotion in the very near future. Kuehner and Austin are also pitching well but I put them in a tier below (currently) of the above mentioned arms.

[Joseph Zarr]

We are on the verge of a 4-0 mark for the full-season clubs (top of the 9th - 4-1 T-Rats). The ACL Crew are in the 2nd frame vs the Athletics 0-0; men on 1st and 2nd for the Crew with one down. AND, it looks like OF Antony Gomez just drove in some run(s).

[Joseph Zarr]

Ahhhhh, yes the classic ACL 'missed catch error' scored the first Brewers runs. LOL. 2-0 Crew now after Walther's Sac Fly. Two down. 2-0 Crew.

[biedergb]

Tayden Hall first high A ball hit. 😀

 

And @Joseph Zarr - agree on relievers, Yoho and Hunt are tops on my radar.With Manfredi next (starter vs reliever) but nice to see Kuener and Austin do well.  plus Wichrowski who I don’t put in that group due to younger age and the fact he’s at AA already.

Imagine if Yoho or Manfredi move up to AA. 3-5 of 2023 picks at AA or higher by seasons end.

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, biedergb said:

Tayden Hall first high A ball hit. 😀

 

And @Joseph Zarr - agree on relievers, Yoho and Hunt are tops on my radar.With Manfredi next (starter vs reliever) but nice to see Kuener and Austin do well.  plus Wichrowski who I don’t put in that group due to younger age and the fact he’s at AA already.

Imagine if Yoho or Manfredi move up to AA. 3-5 of 2023 picks at AA or higher by seasons end.

Oh make no mistake about it: Yoho is going to Double-A. He is ridiculous. Manfredi 'should' follow for sure. BUT, to my point, Yoho is just electric. The movement on his pitches is not normal. It's a very rare set of tools.