Tue. 5/6 - It's a Weeknight Five-Pack

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, snoogans8056 said:

Dorchies with a real nice outing. Reminder that him and Renz were the two youngest players in their entire draft class.

Yeah, I got lost early in a classic rehabbing LHP Aaron Ashby 1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 3 ER. Shades of his struggles with the Sounds. I just want to be back to last August all the time with him! 😅

[Joseph Zarr]

Another WP for Dorchies (two in the frame) sees the fifth run cross for the Mariners. ACL Crew trail 5-2 now.

[Jim French Stepstool]

A few words on Cooper Pratt, who had two of the Shuckers' three hits tonite:

His #'s are very solid considering it's his first taste of AA, but maybe the most impressive to me is that his whiff rate last year at both A stops was fairly average, while in '25 it's down to 13% while advancing to a level that many struggle at w/the bat.

Boeve had the other hit for Biloxi. I dream about how advanced his bat would be had he been healthy throughout his pro career.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

A few words on Cooper Pratt, who had two of the Shuckers' three hits tonite:

His #'s are very solid considering it's his first taste of AA, but maybe the most impressive to me is that his whiff rate last year at both A stops was fairly average, while in '25 it's down to 13% while advancing to a level that many struggle at w/the bat.

Boeve had the other hit for Biloxi. I dream about how advanced his bat would be had he been healthy throughout his pro career.

 

Very astute points on both. Pratt is the complete package. Had a web gem grab in shallow LF with two runners aboard to boot. He has the whole package. Despite Made's rapid ascension and very intriguing bat, Pratt is the SS of the future. Made doesn't have his polish or his natural feel there whatsoever. Granted, Made is also incredibly young still and that is the most challenging and demanding of positions for young players. BUT...I stand fairly comfortably on this ground.

[wiguy94]

11 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Very astute points on both. Pratt is the complete package. Had a web gem grab in shallow LF with two runners aboard to boot. He has the whole package. Despite Made's rapid ascension and very intriguing bat, Pratt is the SS of the future. Made doesn't have his polish or his natural feel there whatsoever. Granted, Made is also incredibly young still and that is the most challenging and demanding of positions for young players. BUT...I stand fairly comfortably on this ground.

Yeah this is just way too harsh to Made who is nearly 3 years younger than Pratt.

[Joseph Zarr]

Just now, wiguy94 said:

Yeah this is just way too harsh to Made who is nearly 3 years younger than Pratt.

That's fine. It's an understandable POV on your end and one that's easy to make. He's young. I like his movement skills. Etc. I have never seen Pratt struggle in the fashion Made is struggling with basic fielding at the SS position - at any level at any point in time as a Brewer. Every time I've watched Made play SS it's been an adventure. Every time. Nothing is routine at present. We all know SS is a very demanding challenging position. But, it's also very very fair to point out Made had four errors tonight and none of them were classified as errors ( I have no idea what that scorer was watching all game long). None of those plays were a supreme level of difficulty either. He just couldn't gather the ground ball and he couldn't transfer it. The movement skills may be there. BUT, you have to actually field the position. Is it yips? Is it lack of focus? Is it just a bad defender? These are very fair questions and considerations. Obviously, we're only a month in. But, I'm also not going to brush past these ongoing snafus because he's a coveted prospect.

I'm pretty comfortable saying Pratt is the everyday SS in the Brewers future as I sit here today. He is levels above every other player at that position across the entire system and it really isn't particularly close. AND, I sincerely hope Made's ongoing hiccups are simply a factor of age. I personally think I am possibly seeing a defensive player on the level of Juan Baez. I will certainly allow Made to prove me wrong. Production is what matters. I just haven't seen it for any stretch of time whatsoever at SS. I hope it's just a phase. I hope you're right.

 

[wiguy94]

Just now, Joseph Zarr said:

That's fine. It's an understandable POV on your end and one that's easy to make. He's young. I like his movement skills. Etc. I have never seen Pratt struggle in the fashion Made is struggling with basic fielding at the SS position - at any level at any point in time as a Brewer. Every time I've watched Made play SS it's been an adventure. Every time. Nothing is routine at present. We all know SS is a very demanding challenging position. But, it's also very very fair to point out Made had four errors tonight and none of them were classified as errors ( I have no idea what that scorer was watching all game long). None of those plays were a supreme level of difficulty either. He just couldn't gather the ground ball and he couldn't transfer it. The movement skills may be there. BUT, you have to actually field the position. Is it yips? Is it lack of focus? Is it just a bad defender? These are very fair questions and considerations. Obviously, we're only a month in. But, I'm also not going to brush past these ongoing snafus because he's a coveted prospect.

I'm pretty comfortable saying Pratt is the everyday SS in the Brewers future as I sit here today. He is levels above every other player at that position across the entire system and it really isn't particularly close. AND, I sincerely hope Made's ongoing hiccups are simply a factor of age. I personally think I am possibly seeing a defensive player on the level of Juan Baez. I will certainly allow Made to prove me wrong. Production is what matters. I just haven't seen it for any stretch of time whatsoever at SS. I hope it's just a phase. I hope you're right.

 

You've also never seen Pratt play baseball for the Brewers as a 17 year old. Pratt was 4 months from turning 20 during his first streamed game as a Brewer.

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, wiguy94 said:

You've also never seen Pratt play baseball for the Brewers as a 17 year old. Pratt was 4 months from turning 20 during his first streamed game as a Brewer.

Also fine. I'm just not going to play the age game. It's an easy crutch. Let's go another route: when Made turns 18 in two days does that means it's worse or better when he absolutely botches three routine slowly hit grounders to both sides of his body in the late innings? OR does that only happen when he was 17 for a month. Look, I get it, baseball is hard. I don't care if Pratt was 19 and 8 months versus Made turning 18. Pratt is 10 x the SS. It's not particularly close.

[wiguy94]

10 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Also fine. I'm just not going to play the age game. It's an easy crutch. Let's go another route: when Made turns 18 in two days does that means it's worse or better when he absolutely botches three routine slowly hit grounders to both sides of his body in the late innings? OR does that only happen when he was 17 for a month. Look, I get it, baseball is hard. I don't care if Pratt was 19 and 8 months versus Made turning 18. Pratt is 10 x the SS. It's not particularly close.

It's not an age crutch. You're just being hyperbolic and overly critical. I've watched most of Made's games at SS and you're over exaggerating about how frequently he looks bad there.

For perspective on the age difference. Made won't play a professional game being at least the age Pratt was during Pratt's full season debut until minor league opening day in 2027. When Pratt was Made's age he was just about to start his senior year of high school and was 11 months from even being drafted.

[Joseph Zarr]

Just now, wiguy94 said:

It's not an age crutch. You're just being hyperbolic and overly critical. I've watched most of Made's games at SS and you're over exaggerating about how frequently he looks bad there.

For perspective on the age difference. Made won't play a professional game being at least the age Pratt was during Pratt's full season debut until minor league opening day in 2027.

I'm not going to pound my fist and be a stubborn arse. And, perhaps you are right. As I said before, I actually hope you're right and I will certainly leave the room there for you to be so. But, man, natural defense that looks and plays that way at shortstop is a very elusive thing. Pratt is a born natural - in nearly every way and has the arm to back it up. Made's defensive lapses at SS are very worrisome (I say this casually, I don't worry about any of these players or lose sleep about any of their plays or trajectories. I just want them to reach their full potentials) for me - in more ways than one. It isn't just the type of miscues it's the how of the miscues and then there's the arm. What type of arm are we actually looking at here? And, well, that's what being a prospect is. The journey. And, well then, that gets back to your age thing. So, I will wait. But, my little tiny 'red flag' is currently waving in the distance. 😂

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Very astute points on both. Pratt is the complete package. Had a web gem grab in shallow LF with two runners aboard to boot. He has the whole package. Despite Made's rapid ascension and very intriguing bat, Pratt is the SS of the future. Made doesn't have his polish or his natural feel there whatsoever. Granted, Made is also incredibly young still and that is the most challenging and demanding of positions for young players. BUT...I stand fairly comfortably on this ground.

Agree. Made has talent just dripping out of every pore, but it's waaay too early to know if he's a SS? 3B? OF? Pratt, yeah, you just plug him in at SS & let him grow.

[ghostdrew]

Facts made has great upside but Pratt has it all right now 

[biedergb]

I think all those points are reasonable on Pratt vs Made.

The good news - we have two young players who could be viable options at SS at the pro level some day.

Pratt is older, and is much further along, and has a good profile, but less ceiling. I will say his defense is definitely better and he is more than holding his own at AA.

Made has an incredibly high ceiling with a lot of variability in outcome. And his defense is not good, but also not as bad as maybe alluded to by Joseph. He can make routine plays, but also will have difficulty with the transition (glove to hand) and earlier on I saw a lot of throwing errors, which are the types of things that can be fixed. I didn't watch last night, but getting to balls wasn't the concern I saw, but body position, throws, transfer etc and those I feel can be taught or improved with repetition, but I don't play the game so I'm not sure and maybe too optimistic.

For context, the age factor is a thing but also competition, coaching and culture factor in too - remember Cooper has trained in the US and been in multiple summer leagues/circuits, and has experience now playing against high level competition for over a year.

Made is learning a new country, and while he played against good competition in the DSL, it is different, and we don't see what happens in the ACL, but I can imagine there are plenty of 17-19 year olds who struggle in the ACL but with coaching/experience can improve. If Made were in Arizona we would see several hits against last night and no idea he botched plays, and if he did improve over the season and next offseason, we would never have known those glitches. But his games are televised and we can see these struggles real time. So for all that I will give him some slack, and if next year he is not great at SS, then we may have a case to move him since his hitting tools will move him. And if he can stick as a decent SS long term that is a good problem to have (Turang, Pratt, Made). If he can't then 3B or OF certainly are options, but he has a lot of time and adjustment process to get through in the next several months.