Brewers Prospect Cooper Pratt Had a Huge Day, and Other Statcast Cactus League Nuggets

[Jake McKibbin]

The Brewers' fourth spring training game saw some more Statcast data on under-the-radar pitchers for the coming season, but the biggest story of the day was the metronomic hard contact from the team's fast-rising infield prospect.

Image courtesy of © Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

We should probably start with the obvious here. Several Brewers left notable marks in the data collected from the team's trip to Goodyear to play the Guardians Tuesday, but none were more eye-opening than the way a 20-year-old took to some big-league pitching.

Cooper Pratt
Cooper Pratt put four balls in play on Tuesday afternoon, acquiring two doubles and a single for his efforts. The balls came off the bat at 106.5 mph, 99.9 mph, 97.5 mph and 92.2 mph—all well-hit balls. Pratt's big question in 2025 is whether he can tap into more power, having showed strong skills to square up baseballs in his first minor-league season. We'll wait on the top-end velocities (if you're hoping to see a forward leap in the power department from a player, you want to see them hit a few balls 108 or 111 mph, that kind of thing, rather than merely hitting it in the upper 90s or low 100s consistently), but this was certainly a nice start for the Brewers' top-100 prospect.

Jacob Misiorowski
Control yet again eluded him, but perhaps that's too harsh a criticism for a pitcher merely beginning to ramp up. It's become a common theme for Misiorowski, however, and in his 30 pitches yesterday he showcased his incredible arsenal and his faults in equal measure:

"The Miz" got a few impressive swings and misses. Hitters couldn't square him up. Yet, after getting two outs on his first seven pitches, he proceeded to walk the bases loaded and concede two earned runs with a ground ball, perhaps misplayed by Jake Bauers. The misses with the fastball weren't massive, but he struggled to land his curveball for strikes at the bottom of the zone. It almost had too much movement (something he mentioned in his postgame talk with reporters).

For more on Jacob Misiorowski take a look at Matthew Trueblood's piece here, but for now, let's not beat a dead horse. Onward!

Will Childers

Childers's fastball doesn't quite get the rise you would normally associate with a pitcher of his arm slot, but he was touching 98 mph early in his outing, and the slider/cutter combo graded out extremely well. Childers is the type of unheralded bullpen arm we should definitely be watching toward the end of 2025, if all goes well—although, like Misiorowski, one would hope the control of his four-seamer is better as the season comes closer to starting.

Nick Merkel

Limited exposure for the 6-foot-7 Merkel didn't stop him from showcasing his devastating raw stuff. Merkel possesses a large mix, but only got the chance to showcase two of them in his four-pitch outing, Both offerings showed strong movement profiles, with great extension from the big man.

On a side note, who did he strike out you may ask? Only Steven Kwan, no biggie:

Oliver Dunn
Dunn is a divisive figure among Brewers fans. The space between his ceiling and his floor is quite large. It took four games for Dunn to finally swing and miss at a pitch—and then he crushed a 105-mph lineout just afterward. Whether Dunn can mitigate his in-zone swing-and-miss (and whether he can stay on the field) will determine what he can do in 2025, but he's started spring training well in both regards.

In other mentions, Bryan Hudson has rediscovered the velocity he held at the start of 2024, on both his sweeper and his fastball; Blake Burke appears to have some serious raw power on top of almost doing the splits; and Isaac Collins is continuing to hit the ball hard without (seemingly) being noticed for it.

Tune in for more observations after Wednesday's split-squad game in Scottsdale, against Arizona; that contest will be under the watchful eyes of Statcast too. The Crew will also host the Dodgers at Maryvale Wednesday, so expect lots of young prospects to make the trip to Talking Stick.

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[MJD17]

FWIW, Savant has Pratt's top exit velo from yesterday at 106.5, not 102. 

[Jake McKibbin]

2 minutes ago, MJD17 said:

FWIW, MLB.com has Pratt's top exit velo from yesterday at 106.5, not 102. 

Too many numbers on the brain at once, you are correct! All the more impressive for it

[wiguy94]

You missed that Bryan Hudson threw a changeup! Was classified as a cutter and the RPM number was surely bugged but it was 84mph with -1 IVB and 15 inches of arm side run. Savant incorrectly classified it as a cutter.

[Jake McKibbin]

5 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

You missed that Bryan Hudson threw a changeup! Was classified as a cutter and the RPM number was surely bugged but it was 84mph with -1 IVB and 15 inches of arm side run. Savant incorrectly classified it as a cutter.

Great eye!

It appears as though he did, and if so that's one heck of an offering for him. Sub 0 IVB and 15+" of run? Yes please

[Joseph Zarr]

You failed to take into account yesterday's game wasn't actually a baseball game but, rather, a competitive game of cricket. That 'y' axis is actually a wicket. 

[Jake McKibbin]

1 minute ago, Joseph Zarr said:

You failed to take into account yesterday's game wasn't actually a baseball game but, rather, a competitive game of cricket. That 'y' axis is actually a wicket. 

When will baseball learn the art of cover driving a googly?

[jesusoftheapes]

6 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Great eye!

It appears as though he did, and if so that's one heck of an offering for him. Sub 0 IVB and 15+" of run? Yes please

Seeing Hudson after Mis was proof of how much more polished Hudson is with years of training at his position and how much more Mis has to grow (and he will) before he is ready for Prime Time. .     The difference between the two players was glaringly obvious and for me it just says our special pitcher won't be ready for the 2025 season in MLB .   That is more than okay with me .  He is just so young that taking the time to do this right has to be the mission with him no matter what the Talking Heads say .   

The ball speed recorder went out yesterday after inning 1 so we got nothing to see all these numbers or pitch types.     Hudson threw a Changeup which i believe would be the first one I have seen him throw.      Nice!    Thanks for posting this.