Wed. 7/2: Six-Pack Evening (Two Shuckers Games, DSL Idle)

[Jim Goulart]

This thread will be utilized for any minor league news Wednesday. 

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[Jake McKibbin]

Joel Payamps in Triple A, based on these metrics, looks... outstanding. Tons of whiffs, tons of chases, an xWOBA of .112. All contact is aerial but outside of that, this looks like a regular in big league bullpen. Not a single barrel as of yet

[Joseph Zarr]

13 minutes ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Joel Payamps in Triple A, based on these metrics, looks... outstanding. Tons of whiffs, tons of chases, an xWOBA of .112. All contact is aerial but outside of that, this looks like a regular in big league bullpen. Not a single barrel as of yet

He has been very good since arriving. Efficient. The Sounds bullpen, at the moment, is actually a wee shaky. Despite their impressive first half they've been giving up many a run in the early second half. Given that, it's quite easy to say the three arms pitching with consistent results success right now are Yoho, Payamps, and Holub. And, within that group, you could very easily make the argument Payamps is the best pitcher in the Sounds bullpen today. Which, well, it's something.

[Jake McKibbin]

12 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

He has been very good since arriving. Efficient. The Sounds bullpen, at the moment, is actually a wee shaky. Despite their impressive first half they've been giving up many a run in the early second half. Given that, it's quite easy to say the three arms pitching with consistent results success right now are Yoho, Payamps, and Holub. And, within that group, you could very easily make the argument Payamps is the best pitcher in the Sounds bullpen today. Which, well, it's something.

Absolutely! It's a small sample but a healthy, confident Joel Payamps is a good bullpen arm and he looks to be approaching some form.

You do NOT want me to share Elvis Peguero's numbers mind. nasty stuff

[Joseph Zarr]

52 minutes ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Absolutely! It's a small sample but a healthy, confident Joel Payamps is a good bullpen arm and he looks to be approaching some form.

You do NOT want me to share Elvis Peguero's numbers mind. nasty stuff

Elvis has looked quite good at times. Elvis has looked quite not so good at times. The first half of June? That may be the best I've ever seen Elvis Peguero look as a Brewer. The second half of June? Same old Elvis <sad face>. My personal opinion is he remains an unreliable option. Good in spurts. Reverts to too many men on base and still can't be trusted inheriting runners. But, man alive, when he is good? He is filthy. Nearly un-hittable. It remains spotty, however. Which, well, it stinks. 😅 He can be electric.

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP Zach Peek walks batter one (out of a pre-determined 3-2 count). With the bases juiced, he digs deep and calmly K's the next hitter on four pitches. He gets the swing and miss on an inner black 95 mph heater. Glorious work. He also does a real solid to RHP K.C. Hunt's bottom line in his ongoing whack-a-doodle season. Shuckers lead 2-0 headed to the second.

[Joseph Zarr]

Man, I would truly love if One of us was such a nerd they could extract how many first pitch swings we've seen amongst the battery of one INF Juan Baez and LF Bladimir Restituyo. I swear those two might swing at the first pitch in 90+% of their AB's. It's an uncanny amount of over-aggressive between the two.

[Joseph Zarr]

Shuckers go 1-2-3 in their 2nd. Peek opens his 2nd with a second consecutive K on an off-speed delivery. He then walks the next batter. Man on 1st. One down. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Trouble a brewing after Peek gave up an 0-2 single to the next batter (into RF - poor pitch call and location imho). Another single to LF and the Wahoos have the bases juiced. One down. 

[Joseph Zarr]

He walks a run in on a full count on a pitch that was clearly squeezed. That was a strike. Goodness. The booth strikezone also clearly demonstrates it was a K looking. Umps going to ump. Peek clearly peeved and Spence agrees as does the entire Shuckers infield. 2-1 Shuckers. Bases still juiced. 

The Box Score rarely tells the actual story.

[Joseph Zarr]

Peek K's the next batter looking on the exact same pitch on the other side of the dish. How any fan could every be opposed to an ABS Challenge system is beyond me. He gets away with one in the final AB hanging a heater belted for a line out to Spain in RF. Kudos to Peek for escaping the squeeze - in more ways than One. That will likely be it for him given his workload this season. Shuckers lead 2-1. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Man alive, Mike Boeve loves hitting in Pensacola. He just ripped a 108 mph single into right CF and we have runners on the corners with Pratt moving on the pitch (singled bloop to shallow LF in the lead-off AB). Nobody out. Zavi to the dish.

[Joseph Zarr]

AND a WP and we reclaim the two-run lead. 3-1 Shuckers! Breaking ball way inside in the dirt and to toward the dugout. Boeve moves to 2B.

[Joseph Zarr]

Zavi walks on five pitches. Boeve advances as ball four spiked in front of the plate and high into the air up the 3B side. Men on the corners for Miller. One down - I forgot the lead-off Lara weakly hit groundout to 1B.

[Joseph Zarr]

Now the infield ump joins the squeeze. Zavi clearly made it safely to 2B in a bang-bang play (tie actually does go to the runner). Infield ump calls him out. Once again the Wahoo broadcast booth agrees with me. These umps are having a day. Second out. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Miller grounds out weakly to 1B. We are on to the Wahoos half of the third. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Childers K's his first. Gives up only his 3rd HR of his season (nice swing, honestly) on an inside low 96 mph heater. 3rd long ball in 38 some innings. Pratt biffs a routine hard hit grounder to SS and the Wahoos have a runner aboard. 3-2 Shuckers. One down.

[Joseph Zarr]

Childers ends his first inning of work via weakly hit force out to 2B and another K. Despite the HR (I tip the cap to the hitter on that one), that was a nice first frame. 3-2 and we are on to the 4th.

[Joseph Zarr]

Spain K's on a ball in the dirt. Man, he takes some hacks. 😅 Vargas grounds out weakly to 3B. Restituyo does not swing at the first pitch. But he K's swinging on four pitches on a slow swooping breaker dead center. That was a long pitch.

[Ro Mueller]

After a sloppy loss yesterday, Low-A Carolina needs a bounceback win behind 18-year, 364-day old RHP Melvin Hernandez (2.17 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 6.8 K/9 in  70.2 IP) to even their home series against Fayetteville. 1B Eric Bitonti leads the Carolina League in homers (12) and is 2nd in RBIs (48).

[Joseph Zarr]

1-2-3 first frame for LHP Nate Peterson. K, fly out to LF warning track (pop out that caught in the wind blowing out to LF), ground out to Murray at 3B. On to the 5th. 3-2 Shuckers. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Ethan. Murray. MY MAN.

He scorched an absolute laser 107 mph off the bat that may have cleared the LF wall at 1 foot high. That ball was an absolute 3-0 'go ahead and swing' rocket. Boom. 4-2 Shuckers. May have left the park in 1 second. 

Talk about serious candidate for 'My favorite season of 2025'. That against a hurler who is not easy to go long against - RHP Jacob Miller has only given up 3 this season and the 5th in his Double-A career spanning back a year. 

[Joseph Zarr]

That's all the Shuckers will get. They strand Lara at 3B after he reached via fielding error at the CF warning track (at least it should be - you never know with scorers). Boeve K's swinging. Zavi pops up to 3B. 4-2 on to the bottom of the 5th.

[Joseph Zarr]

I was not lying, btw:

 

[Joseph Zarr]

We legitimately need to talk about the season INF Ethan Murray is having. Like a legitimate discourse. This is possibly an emerging MLB player before our eyes. Full stop.

In the very least, with Seigler getting selected, this is clearly a Triple-A player.

He just set a personal career mark in HR (7 on his season) and he spent time on the IL and it is only July 2nd! He looks chiseled. He's added muscle. He's lost nothing in terms of his innate gifts in the field where he is legitimately plus at every position. Cannon of an arm. This is possibly the most slept on MLB caliber player in the system. I will say yet again: he played 2024 injured.