Thurs. 4/10 - Opening Night Starters Cycle Back (All Evening Action)

[biedergb]

McGee just not getting out of this jam, as he allow 2 walks after that IF hit, and then a big K, but a solid line drive to RF and two runs are in. 5-2 Redbirds. And then a big K to end the frame.

[brooks_quichenick]

Got home just in time to see Jadher's game-saving leap in the 9th and then the offensive explosion in the 10th. Awesome stuff!

[biedergb]

Suckers lose again, get a couple on base and Cooper grounds in a game ending DP

The TRats give up a double andits 9-4, but then a big out.

Nasville - Seigler triples to lead off the 7th let's start a rally here

[sveumrules]

Stiven Cruz the lone bright spot in the Biloxi pitching box with two scoreless frames (2 H | 2 K).

[biedergb]

OVer in Quad Cities.

Aidan gets an out with a big K, then a 9 pitch ground out to end it. TRats win big 9-4.

Nashville trying to rally, runners on the corners and Hall strikes out, with Spain up

[biedergb]

And then Hall, Spain and Monasterio strike out in order leaving the runners on the corners stranded.  That is not how you get a rally going fellas.

[sveumrules]

Yoho out tor the 8th.

First back to back of the season for Craig.

[biedergb]

2 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Yoho out tor the 8th.

And a Yoho ho-hum, 4 pitch K, 5  pitch K and a 2 pitch grounder. 11 pitches, 3 outs and looked good doing it.

[biedergb]

Durbin single to left.

Then EMJ against a lefty goes down swinging - technically a foul tip caught for strike 3.

Now it's up to Alfaro - Oliva and other in the bottom of 8. And Alfaro with a knock and runners on the corners.

I won't say rally this time since I jinxed 'em last time.

[biedergb]

Got one run in on a sac fly. But that’s it for the 8th.  On to final inning. Still down 5-3.

[Joseph Zarr]

40 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Wow, Nicasia with a grand slam.

[Joseph Zarr]

28 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Stiven Cruz the lone bright spot in the Biloxi pitching box with two scoreless frames (2 H | 2 K).

That's consecutive solid outings in Double-A for Cruz. You love to see it.

[Joseph Zarr]

27 minutes ago, biedergb said:

Nashville trying to rally, runners on the corners and Hall strikes out, with Spain up

Hall's AB's in the International League, as well as his fielding in LF, have felt below replacement level. He legitimately looked out of place in the early part of the season. His AB's I saw were extremely uncompetitive.

[Joseph Zarr]

56 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Areinamo has had three absolutely amazing plays, including a game-saving stab right now

This is what I was speaking to in the reports this past week. I am so over the national prospects 'experts' legitimately entirely sleeping on how stunningly good he is defensively. His feel. His hands. His savvy. His glove. Everything he does on a week-in and week-out basis is legitimately the best in the entire Brewers system. And, it really just isn't all that close. He is the elite of the elite. AND, these prospect gurus are literally like: "Well, ya know he'll give you some solid defense...". I will never forget how ridiculously low he was originally graded at Fangraphs too. It's literally an anomalous uninformed illness in the prospect world. 😅

He is world class. 

[biedergb]

Welp HR Redbirds and it's now 8-3

I don't think the Sounds have that kind of rally in them. I have to head off to bed, early day tomorrow.

Nice pitching outings by Rodriguez and Miz. Some solid bullpen work, and some less than stellar outings. TRats supplied the offense tonight scoring 6 in the 10th which is one more run than the other affiliates scored combined (so far with Sounds still to bat in the bottom of 9)

Mixed day throughout from the big club down. Some good outings and showings, but not quite all put together and a rough inning being costly (except for the TRats so far)

[Joseph Zarr]

48 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Kay Lan Grand Slam !!

Two Long Dongs for switch-hitting cannon-armed Kay-Lan on his birthday. Words can not express how happy this makes me feel. Definitively one of my guys for the past year plus. The vindication is good. BUT, the joy I feel for him is sweet. Keep going young man!

[Jake McKibbin]

 

Some fascinating observations in Miz's latest start:

That zone % is actually.. average? And he was landing the curveball and slider/cutter quite regularly within it, to minimal quality of contact all around.

The changeups are miscategorized as fastballs or now, but even then the average fb velo was down a little but IVB and HB were up a tick. One of the last comments Murphy made about Misiorowski was that he could perhaps lower the velo if it gave him more control and I'm curious if that plays out this season.

 

Regarding that changeup, it grades out very nicely from a stuff+ point of view

 

I would maybe like to see a bigger mix of pitches in his next outing, being less fastball dominant and see if he can keep landing the breaker and cutter/slider for strikes. I feel a couple of the walks manifested from hitters staying on the four seam, and they couldn't square it up but they could foul it off and drag him into some deeper pitch counts.

To the eye test, it is looking like a step forward from his 2024 iteration albeit with work still to do

[biedergb]

2 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

To the eye test, it is looking like a step forward from his 2024 iteration albeit with work still to do

I absolutely suck at reading this data, and heck even knowing the pitches when watching games (without the aid of pitch speed or the announcer to help me figure it out).

But when watching games, body language, and location and what the hitters do tell me something. Last night Miz was on. For someone who hounds his command/poise a lot, I will say that he was locked in last night. And the batters looked off. Even the hits he allowed were defensive swings that found holes. What I loved was that after a rough 3rd where he either couldn't quite locate as well, or put the guys away with 2 strikes, and had a 31 pitch outing, in the past that was it, and he tired and didn't really recover. But he wasn't too wild and still got out of that inning.

Then in the 4th, when he walked a batter on a questionable call, he looked at the ump with the body language that he knew he located the pitch and was wondering where that was, and instead of sulking/losing focus/over-compensating, he then delivered for the next few batters and put together a good 4th and 5th. It is that stuff that I didn't see as much last year - when he was on he was on, but when he was off he had a tendency to spiral by over-compensating or maybe sulking (again I'm not in his head but by body language). So it was great to see him get back on track and fully execute and keep the command late. Still 80+ pitches to get through 5, and his velocity doesn't hold as long, but now I'm nitpicking. Given the appearance that he knew what he was doing, and just saying OK I'll keep doing it is a step in the right direction.

Boy I can only dream that this is his new norm. But we will have to take outing to outing for now. As I said I tend to echo the Keith Law - Miz is a reliever and won't ever start - but I want him to prove that wrong.

[Playing Catch]

2 hours ago, biedergb said:

Boy I can only dream that this is his new norm. But we will have to take outing to outing for now. As I said I tend to echo the Keith Law - Miz is a reliever and won't ever start - but I want him to prove that wrong.

I keep looking for comps, and I just can't find any. I guess he is what he is. I hate contemporary superlative buzzwords like unicorn or goat, but he's really unusual. Current tall pitchers like Bailey Ober or Logan Gilbert came up with plus command from the jump. Guys can't hit him, and don't hit dingers when they do hit him. But his walk rates look unsustainable. Can he survive as a good five-and-dive starter? I just can't help but believe that if he were to come up and start, there would be some UGLY outings sandwiched between 5 IP 0 R outings.

The Brewers recipe in the last couple of years has been to avoid ugly anything. They don't always have pretty, clean outings, but they keep you in the ballgame.

[sveumrules]

55 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

I keep looking for comps, and I just can't find any. I guess he is what he is. I hate contemporary superlative buzzwords like unicorn or goat, but he's really unusual.

Tall skinny pitcher, explosive fastball, iffy command.

I know it’s irresponsible to throw out certain comps because they are so far fetched (Nolan, Maddux, Pedro) but Misio is one of the very small handful of pitchers with the combination of stuff / physiology to have even a fraction of a chance to approach the heights reached by Randy or deGrom.

For maybe a more realistic potential ceiling, how about Blake Snell (140 K+ | 138 BB+ since 2021)? Big stuff but questionable command has caused him to vacillate between Cy Young seasons and long stretches of being more of a good but frustrating SP.

Other recent SPs with big Ks and high walk rates would be guys like Freddy (133 K+ | 104 BB+), Hunter Greene (132 K+ | 109 BB+), Dylan Cease (131 K+ | 116 BB+), Michael King (123 K+ | 101 BB+), Cole Ragans (121 K+ | 110 BB+), or Cristian Javier (121 K+ | 121 BB+).

If he could dial in the BBs you get into the range with guys like Strider (165 K+ | 96 BB+), Glasnow (147 K+ | 92 BB+), Ohtani (138 K+ | 99 BB+), Crochet (138 K+ | 99 BB+), Carlos Rodon (131 K+ | 93 BB+), or Robbie Ray (130 K+ | 97 BB+).