Brewers Minor League Link Report (5/14): His Name is Brewer and He Knows How to Mash; Woessner Sets Career-High K Mark

[Joseph Zarr]

As far as Dad puns go, for anyone that actually brews beer and is a Brewers fan that headline is a banger. Carolina and Biloxi were postponed due to inclement weather but, boy oh boy, did we see some fantastic Brewers Minor League baseball for the majority of the evening. The Timber Rattlers and Sounds both won handily. The ACL Crew couldn't build off Monday's momentum. Let's get into the report! 

Image courtesy of Brewer Fanatic

Transactions:

• (5/13) LHP Osbriel Mogollon was assigned to the ACL Brewers from the Carolina Mudcats
• (5/13) RHP Janson Junk was optioned to the Nashville Sounds from the Milwaukee Brewers
• RHP K.C. Hunt was assigned to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers from the Carolina Mudcats
• INF/OF Owen Miller was recalled by the Milwaukee Brewers from the Nashville Sounds
• INF Freddy Zamora was assigned to the Nashville Sounds from the Biloxi Shuckers
• INF/OF Noah Campbell was assigned to the Biloxi Shuckers from the Nashville Sounds
• C/1B Wes Clarke was assigned to the Nashville Sounds from the Biloxi Shuckers
• RHP Brailin Rodriguez was assigned to the Carolina Mudcats from the ACL Brewers
• RHP Cristofher Carrasco was assigned to the Carolina Mudcats from the ACL Brewers

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Final: Sounds 12, Jacksonville (Marlins) 2

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):

Hicklens Two Home Runs Power Sounds Over Jumbo Shrimp in Opener - Tyler Woessner has Career-High Nine Strikeouts in 12-2 Win

Box Score / Game Log

What a difference we saw tonight in RHP Tyler Woessner's work on the bump. Except for a harmless solo shot in the bottom of the fourth frame (making it a tight 2-1 game), Woessner was in control throughout. Oddly, one might say, this 6 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 1 HR, 9 K performance was actually Woessner's first victory dating back to early September of last year. Despite a brief accuracy issue in the first frame, Woessner was pounding the areas in and around the zone to the tune of 52 strikes on 88 pitches. Woessner was primarily attacking with his sinker where he sat 93-94 mph throughout while touching 95's early. The action on his sinker allowed him to play with the combination of his curve ball and slider to good effect while sprinkling in a change-up, cutter and four-seamer here and there to keep hitters honest. This was hopefully a big step in his Triple-A arc. When you aren't walking as many batters, and when you are capably working the edges with decent velocity and a mix of off-speed, your nights typically get a lot easier. And, a career best K mark is always deserving of special recognition.

Three Quick Strikes:

1) It was definitely the Brewer Hicklen show as my title above indicates. Just two extremely well-hit key home runs to give the Sounds all the separation they would need to make this one a laugher. The 6 RBI overall set a career high. It was a very impressive day at the plate for the extremely talented and under-recognized outfielder. These long balls were not cheap. Both smacked at exit velocities over 105 mph.

2) RHP Abner Uribe looked like RHP Abner Uribe. Many sinkers thrown were of the 99-101 mph variety. Many sinkers thrown were low and in the dirt. He walked a batter on four pitches. He plunked a batter to boot. He also struck out two batters. This is the tightrope the Brewers walk with this talented but temperamental young hurler. He threw only sinkers and sliders.

3) Both DH Wes Clarke and SS Freddy Zamora looked more than ready for their Triple-A debuts. Both young men struck out twice - Zamora on two very nice off-speed pitches on the outer half. Clarke struggled to catch up to the heater in his first AB resulting in a K but he settled in quite nicely from there. Zamora ripped two singles at 98 mph and 100 mph, respectively - liners to center field. Clarke ripped a 105 mph single himself to center field and he then managed a nice two men on reach 80 mph liner over 3B into shallow left field resulting in a double down the LF line. Zamora handles his responsibilities quite cleanly at shortstop and looked fluid in doing so. This is exactly what you want to see in a call-up: ready for their moment. Great stuff. I'm excited to see more.

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Final: Wisconsin 7, Beloit (Marlins) 3

Rattlers Respond to Early Deficit with Four-Run First & Beat Beloit - Aquino's Six Solid Innings Backs up Offense for 7-3 Win

Box Score / Game Log  

Pre-Game Media Notes

Full Game Highlights:

RHP Patricio Aquino was back on track for the second consecutive outing. All his pitches showed good movement - a feature he needs given his upper 80's-to-low 90's velocity. Aquino always has a plus slider in his bag, but when his heat flattens out and lacks sinker/two-seam movement as a consistent feature he gets into trouble. Tonight, he was on top of hitters and nibbling in and around the zone expertly. Even in his final sixth inning of work - an inning he ran into trouble via a walk, HBP, and single - he was still calm and collected getting the strikeout and groundout to end the threat. It was a testament to manager Victor Estevez's trust and Aquino's ability to rise up to the situation. Ultimately, this also gave the Timber Rattlers their third consecutive Quality Start. 

Three Quick Strikes:

1) INF Jadher Areinamo continues to demonstrates a fielding savvy well beyond his years. Folks, he is just a natural born silky smooth playmaker. He made three web gem plays in this one that gave me pause. I feel like I say this on a semi-regular basis, but the young man just gives me reason-after-reason to share it: he's special. He doesn't walk a ton. He also doesn't strike out all that much. He's an agressive bat-to-ball attack hitter in the batters box. Can he continue to build out his frame and hit more line drives to the wall and over? He hit his eighth double tonight deep to the low wall in left center field. The fielding is savant-like, I'm dead serious, but the bat will ultimately dictate how far he goes as he matures. 

2) C Matthew Wood hit a much-needed two-run jack over the wall in right field. It was a beautiful and patient swing with a meaningful result. It was a big moment after his 0-for-14 performance at Quad Cities (only 1 K here so let's acknowledge there was bad luck at play here). However, I would say my main take away from this one is the continued inconsistent defense I see from Wood behind the dish. His eighth inning included a PB (I would argue he actually had two PB but that's no matter) and a dropped casual pop foul behind home plate. In fairness on the drop, it was near the top step of the Visitors dugout. However, the ball was at his glove and in his glove before he stepped toward that step and fumbled the ball away. It was a big drop in that situation as the next pitch sent an RBI double deep to the left center field wall. He will need to lessen these types of innings as he progresses as a player.

3) I would prefer INF Luke Adams reined in his desire to charge slow grounders and throw wildly improbable throws to 1B. These valiant efforts nearly always sail wide of first base - they did in Carolina and they do in Wisconsin, at least. His error tonight led to a runner advancing to 2B uncontested. As Adams matures, it would be nice to see him understand when to eat the ball and live to fight another day, so to speak. I wouldn't say this if I saw him complete these throws on a semi-regular basis. 

* Special Shout Out to C/DH Ramón Rodriguez. He picked up from his two home run outing at Quad Cities and put forth several very professional AB's tonight. His sac fly, to deep right center field was especially impressive to me. Just a very solid AB. He's fast becoming a dependable option no matter where manager Victor Estevez chooses to use him.

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(5/13) ACL Brewers 5, ACL Cubs 3
Box Score / Game Log

There are many worthwhile posts concerning this contest at yesterday's Minor League game thread HERE. Special shout out to @sveumruleswho gave us several very informative posts throughout the contest. Of special mention here is the following from the same Sveum:

Quote

And Anfernny Reyes strikes out the side to nail down the win.

That makes it eight of eleven outs secured via K on the young season for Anfernny.

Reyes also managed to notch his first Save in the process. Notable offensive performances came from INF's Luiyin Alastre (3-for-4, 1 3B, 2 R, 1 SB) and Fillipo Di Turi (2-for-4, 1 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI). Also notable: the Crew went a woeful 3-for-17 with RISP. In the end, however, they still managed to put more runs on the board than the Cubs. 

(5/6) ACL White Sox 13, ACL Brewers 6
Box Score / Game Log

It was a 0-0 game with two down in the third frame. LHP Anthony Flores was cruising with 0 H and 7 K. He then proceeded to walk three straight after punching out the first two of the frame. He was pulled for RHP Isaiah Jackson who proceeded to give up a grand slam, ground rule double, and RBI single before getting out of the frame. The early damage was done and it appeared the ACL Crew never recovered.

Every single pitcher the Crew put on the hill on the evening allowed at least one run

3B Eric Bitonti hit his second long ball of his ACL season in a 2-for-5 night at the dish

INF Fillipo Di Turi stayed red hot with a 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 K night at the dish. He's hitting 0.357 with a 1.062 OPS in 28 AB's. To refresh your memory a bit via the Brewers Player Development twitter, Di Turi was fairly fantastic in the DSL last year. And, he clearly has a swing the plays stateside:

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Carolina, Wisconsin and Nashville all play mid-day matinee games tomorrow. RHP Daniel Corniel, LHP Mark Manfredi (in a likely piggy-back scenario), and RHP Chad Patrick will take the mounds, respectively. Biloxi will make-up today's postponed contest in an evening double-header. It would appear RHP Bradley Blalock and LHP Nate Peterson will take on the starting responsibilities there.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting Milwaukee Brewers Minor League baseball and the many players deserving of our time and recognition. 

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[jay87shot]

Do guys like Di Turi and Bitonti go to Carolina when we get players in from the draft or will the be ready in the next couple weeks if strong play continues. It is nice to see Clarke and Zamora move up, hopefully there are is a little more upward movement in the next couple days to fill those guys shoes in AA. 

[Playing Catch]

35 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

Do guys like Di Turi and Bitonti go to Carolina when we get players in from the draft or will the be ready in the next couple weeks if strong play continues. It is nice to see Clarke and Zamora move up, hopefully there are is a little more upward movement in the next couple days to fill those guys shoes in AA. 

Perhaps. Although it's funny. Now that we have some pretty decent depth in the organization, I don't feel any rush to move guys. Now obviously, I'm not watching them everyday, so I have no idea how advanced they are in their development, but it looks like Di Turi can at least be counted on as a guy with great BB/K ratios.

Bitoni, though, should stick in AZ for awhile, IMO. He's only had about 80 professional ABs, and his K-rate is... not good.

[CheeseheadInQC]

I am hoping that Anthony Flores is this year’s Daniel Corniel. Basically settle in eventually and propel himself into next season. The strikeout numbers are definitely there.

[biedergb]

2 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

Bitoni, though, should stick in AZ for awhile, IMO. He's only had about 80 professional ABs, and his K-rate is... not good.

Although he has struck out 7 times in 5 games after starting out 6 K in his first 3 (with only 1 H and 0BB), so we will see if that K rate settles down longer term to 25-30% rate which is fine for his power profile. Not great but if he hits hard and walks some I will take that.