Tue. 4/8 - First Week of (4) Six-Game Series

[Joseph Zarr]

Manfredi was ahead 1-2. Walk. He is now behind 2-1. 2-2 on a ripped foul ball into the 1B netting. Dig deep, Mark. Come on. Bases juiced. Two down. 2-2 count. High and inside he just misses. 3-2 count again. Nowhere to put him. Gets the grounder to Wilken's right. He lunges. Grabs. Away from his body throws a one-hopper and Adams makes another expert stab. Phewwwwww. The threat ends. Thanks in no part to this cardiac Pen tonight. Yeeeesh.

[Joseph Zarr]

EBJ goes down looking. Shuckers lose. 0-4. And they are very very much an 0-4 team. Let me tell you. They earned that loss. Just a complete meltdown and then no fight and classic Shuckers inability to make a moment. Sad face for this ol' Farmhand. They had zero business losing that game. A complete failure to execute. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Enough Boo Hooing about the Shuckers. That's their own set of issues to figure out.

Let's have a moment of Zen. Remember when Spencer and I were discussing the massive pool of talent at the lowest of levels in the Brewers system. That massive pool showed out tonight. My goodness:

[ghostdrew]

5 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Enough Boo Hooing about the Shuckers. That's their own set of issues to figure out.

Let's have a moment of Zen. Remember when Spencer and I were discussing the massive pool of talent at the lowest of levels in the Brewers system. That massive pool showed out tonight. My goodness:

Remember when all those people were complaining about Payne as our 1st rd pick last year 😅

[biedergb]

Wow - I missed a heckuva night of minors ball. Muddies - man that team is so potentially exciting. Last year I was a T-Rat fan - my go to team to watch, followed by Muddies and Suckers (yes they still get no H in the name until they get more Hs in the boxscores consistently 😡).

Carolina is now going to be my top feed. Wish we could have had video for this contest - wowza, highlight after highlight.

And  Shuckers hit tonight only to be undermined by the  vaulted bullpen - Costello and Yeager - hopefully just some early season yips for them. But Lara and Pratt with HRs is so nice to see.

I will take Joseph's advice and watch me some Tyson Hardin.

[biedergb]

2 minutes ago, ghostdrew said:

Remember when all those people were complaining about Payne as our 1st rd pick last year

Happy to be wrong on his potential so far - I was not one of "those" people, but definitely was in the "picked a guy way overslot to save some cash" crowd, expecting him to be 2nd/3rd round toolsy project player. But his end of '24 and start of '25 has me intrigued. Happy to be wrong about him so far.

[biedergb]

Any video of EMJs first AAA HR??

[Joseph Zarr]

2 minutes ago, biedergb said:

Any video of EMJs first AAA HR??

I gotchu:

 

[Joseph Zarr]

9 minutes ago, ghostdrew said:

Remember when all those people were complaining about Payne as our 1st rd pick last year 😅

It was quite silly at the time. It certainly looks downright hilarious today. The young man has tools for days. A legitimate 5-Tool All-Star caliber talent. So well put together. 

[biedergb]

15 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Enough Boo Hooing about the Shuckers. That's their own set of issues to figure out.

Let's have a moment of Zen. Remember when Spencer and I were discussing the massive pool of talent at the lowest of levels in the Brewers system. That massive pool showed out tonight. My goodness:

And then there is this from Biloxi's "heart of the order" #3-6 batters.

That's 2 former first round  picks in Wilken '23 and EBJ '22.

Adams and Wilken with the exact same lines to start the season. Adams is still so young and first taste of AA. Wilken is in year #2 of the "Struggle". I hate to do this but he is close to being relegated in the EBJ file of prospect status if he doesn't figure it out at the plate soon.

[Joseph Zarr]

6 minutes ago, biedergb said:

And then there is this from Biloxi's "heart of the order" #3-6 batters.

That's 2 former first round  picks in Wilken '23 and EBJ '22.

Adams and Wilken with the exact same lines to start the season. Adams is still so young and first taste of AA. Wilken is in year #2 of the "Struggle". I hate to do this but he is close to being relegated in the EBJ file of prospect status if he doesn't figure it out at the plate soon.

EBJ has a better approach early. He did get that 2-RBI poke in there. Miller missed a walk-off two run shot in the 10th by about 6' - deep into the right CF warning track and he had some incredible play behind the dish tonight. When is the last time I praised Darrien Miller behind the dish? He absolutely deserved it. Wilken's approach is sounder this season - he isn't swinging and missing at as many sliders away and the Southern League has the scouting report there. BUT, he's still not barreling anything. I remain concerned. He made some very clean plays at 3B tonight in key spots. Adams is the most worrisome of the bunch at the dish at present, honestly. He's still too passive and he isn't making contact or timing anything early. He is a bit of a fish out of water. His leg lift and pre-swing set up have waned immensely but he's also really hyper-actively wiggling the bat. The timing is still going to be a thing and it will likely be a painful adjustment unless he can tone down the action through the zone. He had some hittable pitches tonight but his swing path wasn't level it was a chop down. He also made some fantastic plays at 1B - I continue to really like him there and think his athleticism is a real gift there. BUT, that swing...I had concerns in the Double-A jump. I remain concerned. 

IF the Shuckers simply take care of business in the late innings you can still come away from this game thinking some semblance of progress was made. That collective off-bullpen meltdown from Costello and Yeager really hurts as it puts everything under the microscope. 

[biedergb]

1 minute ago, Joseph Zarr said:

and he had some incredible play behind the dish tonight. When is the last time I praised Darrien Miller behind the dish? He absolutely deserved it. 

Whoa - @Joseph Zarr - Darrien Miller defensive praise. It sounds like I must watch this game.

 

2 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Adams is the most worrisome of the bunch at the dish at present, honestly. He's still too passive and he isn't making contact or timing anything early.

Not good to hear. He still gets a little more leash given his age and the vortex of the Southern League. I am still hopeful for him, but his passive approach will definitely NOT fly in that league - pitchers are much better that A ball, and you have to hit/punish the mistakes. This will be sink or swim - can he make contact and impact. Time will tell. Encouraging to hear that Wilken looks better, still a struggle given it's year 2.

[Joseph Zarr]

12 minutes ago, biedergb said:

Whoa - @Joseph Zarr - Darrien Miller defensive praise. It sounds like I must watch this game.

 

Not good to hear. He still gets a little more leash given his age and the vortex of the Southern League. I am still hopeful for him, but his passive approach will definitely NOT fly in that league - pitchers are much better that A ball, and you have to hit/punish the mistakes. This will be sink or swim - can he make contact and impact. Time will tell. Encouraging to hear that Wilken looks better, still a struggle given it's year 2.

Yeah, other than a first AB passed ball, Miller was legitimately locked in and saved many many pitches high and wide or in the dirt. The staff at large was very much wild and he really kept it all together. He also nabbed Cargo trying to swipe 2B in an attempt to get into scoring position after the Shuckers blew the lead in the 9th - it was the final out. He deserved better in the game. Truly. 

[Joseph Zarr]

SO, after tonight's shutout the Sounds now lead the entire International League AND all of Triple-A baseball in Team ERA. That's a 2.21 Team ERA. The bullpen is sitting 1.22 through 9 games. They've allowed six runs in 44 1/3 IP. Whewwwwww.

[Ro Mueller]

Nearly a perfect night of Brewers MLB, Bucks and Brewers MILB victories.

I feel bad that Biloxi’s managing a 26-man (one could argue 25) roster, further stretched after Hunt’s (rare) rough Sunday.

Some combination of Peek, Fitzpatrick, Crow, Wichrowski, R. Smith, Bowman and/or Knarr might help immensely.

[Jim Goulart]

Just because it's so rare to see, you'll find video of the Cooper Pratt popup misplay on the first batter of the home season here.

[narwhalattack]

9 hours ago, ghostdrew said:

Remember when all those people were complaining about Payne as our 1st rd pick last year 😅

I’m certainly eating crow. Maybe they are smarter than me after all…. Except when they burn prospects and draft picks for bad relievers 😂

[Playing Catch]

12 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

AND, there is a myth around he can't play defense elsewhere.

👀

Please elaborate. Where else can Adamczewski play?

[Joseph Zarr]

44 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

👀

Please elaborate. Where else can Adamczewski play?

Well, I'm being a bit cheeky and a bit snarky to the proverbial void there. 😅In reality, the Brewers won't know until they place his name on a line-up card somewhere other than 2B...so there is that deeply insightful analysis, first and foremost. 

I don't need him to play anywhere else. He has played a very solid 2B early in 2025 and with his insanely gifted bat even if he ultimately ends up pigeon-holed there the DH/2B route could work out just fine. 2B clearly is a comfortable position and he has made every play so far in the first four contests. I just see no reason why he can't ultimately get the same opportunities like Isaac Collins down the line - LF/3B. He's 19. He's an extremely well-built athlete. I do want to see him let loose throwing it - we haven't really had the opportunity to see that yet. When he was in high school I know he was lauded for having good movement and looseness in his arm - I think I recall him peaking at 90-92 mph back then?