Misc. Offseason Updates - AFL, Winter Leagues

[Spencer Michaelis]

Figured it might be worth starting a topic on notes or tidbits that come out during the MiLB "offseason" here as we get into Instructional League play, and the AFL begins soon. If I hear anything, I might drop some notes myself.

I'll start with a couple articles from this morning:

Eric Longenhagen wrote about a few Brewers in his "A Week of Instructional League Scouting Notes" article (JD Thompson, Jarrette Bonet and Kevin Garcia)

Chris Clegg wrote about Luke Adams as a "bat who could increase stock" in the AFL, while previewing the Surprise Saguaros roster

Both should be free to read. 

[jay87shot]

Bonet wasn't really a name on my radar, would it be expected he will be in Rookie ball or A ball next year. The stuff seems really solid if he is at 94-95.

I had read that Thompson breaking stuff was going to need some improvement that it was relatively low spin, so to read/see that it is pretty solid is a big positive for me,

Has there been any updates on the Brett Wichrowski injury from the last week of the season and if it will have any AFL ramifications?

[Joseph Zarr]

20 hours ago, jay87shot said:

Has there been any updates on the Brett Wichrowski injury from the last week of the season and if it will have any AFL ramifications?

We have not heard anything, no. In year's past we've also seen Brewers players with injury unknowns travel to the desert and never play an inning. We'll likely have to wait til October to get a real read on the situation.

[biedergb]

On 9/25/2025 at 11:54 AM, Spencer Michaelis said:

Eric Longenhagen wrote about a few Brewers in his "A Week of Instructional League Scouting Notes" article (JD Thompson, Jarrette Bonet and Kevin Garcia)

Thanks again for sharing

Agree Bonet sounds interesting, and not sure what to take from Garcia, as his numbers implied some contact, but we will see if he can continue to hit as he moves up.  Gotta keep that catching depth going, and with Quero, Dinges, and maybe Wood, would love to see Garcia or Corobo step up as the next prospect to follow.

[Jim Goulart]

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Just a refresher from mid September. the plan for Adamczewski is indeed a predominance of action in left field in the AFL:

Quote

 

“We hope to have Josh play the bulk of the time in left field in the AFL. This is going to be a big position for him moving forward,” Brewers senior VP of player operations and baseball administration Tom Flanagan said. “Not eliminating second base entirely, but he has a special bat and with his athleticism, he is capable of moving around the field a bit. The early returns have been very positive in terms of how he has looked in left field.”

 

[Jastro]

Adams and Dinges begin their AFL season with a double each in the 1st

[Jim French Stepstool]

I love (and am not surprised by) the move of Adamczewski to LF.

Not AFL related, but also looking forward to seeing how they sort out assignments for Boeve, Burke & Adams in '26. I'm assuming Wilkin is ticketed for AAA.

[jay87shot]

6 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I love (and am not surprised by) the move of Adamczewski to LF.

Not AFL related, but also looking forward to seeing how they sort out assignments for Boeve, Burke & Adams in '26. I'm assuming Wilkin is ticketed for AAA.

My hope would be AAA= 3B Wilken, Adams, Boeve (Turn Boeve into a utility guy of sorts 3B, 2B, 1B, and start some OF work) AA=1B Burke, 3B Fischer (maybe spends the 1st couple weeks in Appleton but not much more.

This might change some depending if we can keep EMJ and what they do at the mlb level with Bauers, Black, and possible EMJ. I could possibly see us trying to keep all 3 and then Adams would likely stay at AA for a bit with Fischer in A+ a bit longer. I wouldn't be to surprised to see one of Wilken or Adams traded this offseason as a 2nd/3rd piece in a bigger deal. If Made plays well and Pratt continues to develop I think we could see one of them playing more 3rd which would cut into that groups playing time.

[Joseph Zarr]

Box Score / Game Log:

Surprise surprised us with a Game 1 9-6 victory. Adams went 1-for-3 batting clean up with 1 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI, and 2 BB while playing some savvy D at first base it would appear:

Batting sixth, C Marco Dinges put forth a solid 2-for-4 with 1 R, 1 RBI, and a 107 mph double we see here via Prospects Worldwide (link embedding not allowed for this post). Adamczewski appears to have subbed on as a PH in the middle innings. In two AB's he struck out on foul tips.

On the pitching aide of the ledger we see clean 1 K innings from both Fowler and Flores. In RHP Edwin Jimenez's first live action since his 2024 season-ending injury, he allowed 1 ER on 2 H including a solo HR surrendered.

Surprise plays again tonight, Wednesday 10/8, vs Glendale.

[jay87shot]

18 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Box Score / Game Log:

Surprise surprised us with a Game 1 9-6 victory. Adams went 1-for-3 batting clean up with 1 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI, and 2 BB while playing some savvy D at first base it would appear:

Batting sixth, C Marco Dinges put forth a solid 2-for-4 with 1 R, 1 RBI, and a 107 mph double we see here via Prospects Worldwide (link embedding not allowed for this post). Adamczewski appears to have subbed on as a PH in the middle innings. In two AB's he struck out on foul tips.

On the pitching aide of the ledger we see clean 1 K innings from both Fowler and Flores. In RHP Edwin Jimenez's first live action since his 2024 season-ending injury, he allowed 1 ER on 2 H including a solo HR surrendered.

Surprise plays again tonight, Wednesday 10/8, vs Glendale.

I really expect Adams and Dinges to be 2 of the best players in the AFL and hopefully get some more top 100 prospect cred moving forward. Thanks for the update

[Spencer Michaelis]

Some notes on the three pitchers to throw yesterday...

LHP Anthony Flores:
The "changeups" are actually his sinker, and he flashed one as low as 0 IVB and as much as 20" of run. It was inconsistent on the three he threw, but there is a pretty fun pitch in there if he can find it consistently. Spins the hell out of the curveball at over 3,200 RPM and has a lot of spin on his pitches in general. He needs a velo jump of at least a couple ticks, but there's a fun baseline here.

RHP Michael Fowler:
Fowler was up to 96.8 and showed signs of a very interesting cut/carry fastball shape, though the amount of carry he generated on the pitch was a little inconsistent, as was the spin rate, which is a bit low for a four-seam. The curve is a big breaker, with above-average spin, I just wonder if they'll attempt to bridge the gap between the two at all, either by adding a truer cutter or short slider, or by trying to shorten up the curve and have him throw it harder (think Trevor Megill).

RHP Edwin Jimenez:
First game back from TJS, so will be interesting to follow moving forward, but the fastball velo and shapes are pretty meh, especially from his high release point. He did mix a couple 4FB with over 20" of IVB, though even those aren't anything too special from his release height. The slider isn't an awful shape, but the spin is quite low. Changeup is a pretty good-looking pitch.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Adamczewski has now struck out in four consecutive AB's to start his AFL campaign. Very uncharacteristic beginning for the young man. Let's hope he can start finding success.

[Fungo]

 

Speak it into existence Joseph!!

 

[Joseph Zarr]

It certainly wasn't looking good heading into the late innings with Surprise trailing 8-1. BUT...

Box Score/Game Log 

A Grand Salami from Adamczewski pulled Surprise within 2 in the 8th. Massive knock. That pulled the Saguaros to an 8-6 deficit. A Luke Adams two-run jack in the 9th tied it at 8-8. Then Dylan O'Rae (!!) walked it off in the bottom of the 10th with a two-out, two-run single. What a win. 11-10. Yowza. The Crew lads were all up in this comeback. Not a single Brewer pitched .

(There are highlight clips in that Game Wrap linked above including Adams' majestic game-tying blast)

[Joseph Zarr]

Noice!!!

 

Noice!!!!

[Jim Goulart]

 

[Jim Goulart]

 

[snoogans8056]

19 minutes ago, Jim Goulart said:

 

That picture of Adams dumping the cooler on O’Rea with Adamczewski in the background (all wearing Brewers jerseys) goes hard.

Two home runs and 8 RBIs in the last 3 innings for those guys.

[jay87shot]

I am excited to see Dylan O'Rae on the team, I didn't remember seeing him on the roster. Good to see he is healthy.

[snoogans8056]

32 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

I am excited to see Dylan O'Rae on the team, I didn't remember seeing him on the roster. Good to see he is healthy.

They play today at 3:30 our time. You can watch it on HERE

The lineup for today looks to have Adamczewski, Dinges, and Adams all hitting in the top 4 of the lineup with O’Rae batting 9th to set the table for them.

[Joseph Zarr]

Saguaros moved to 3-0 with another dub, 7-2 over the Javelinas. It does appear DH Marco Dinges (0-for-4, 2 K) was removed for an 8th inning pinch hitter. This after he grounded out weakly to 3B in the 6th. Let's hope it's nothing but given his mid season multi-week absence due to that hammy...I'm a wee jumpy.  

LF Josh Adamczewski  led off and went 1-for-4 with 1 BB, 1 K, and 1 2B - that's consecutive games with XBH's if we include last night's grand salami.

1B Luke Adams  is settling in quite nicely to a nightly clean-up role: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SB, and 1 K. He did commit his first fielding error

After hitting last night's two out 2-RBI oppo walk-off single, 2B Dylan O'Rae was awarded nine-hole duties. He responded with a 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 2B, and 1K effort.

For the second consecutive game, no Brewers pitchers were afforded the opportunity to toss the white rat.

[Jim Goulart]

11 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

 

For the second consecutive game, no Brewers pitchers were afforded the opportunity to toss the white rat.

RHP Brett Wichrowski no longer listed on the Surprise roster.

And at that link, give LHP Jesus Broca his Brewers logo, dang it!

[Joseph Zarr]

58 minutes ago, Jim Goulart said:

RHP Brett Wichrowski no longer listed on the Surprise roster.

And at that link, give LHP Jesus Broca his Brewers logo, dang it!

Yeah, given the very obvious injured way he left his SLDS post-season start this was always a concern or possibility. Sigh. And in typical fashion, it wasn't even hinted at in the discourse leading up the AFL season by the journos or people getting paid to cover the Brewers. I really really do not look forward to that random and sudden drop of transactional data in mid winter telling us he is going to miss the 2026 season. Really do not want to see that!

[Joseph Zarr]

It is 'monsoon' season in the Southwest it would appear. Yesterday's Saguaros game vs Glendale was canceled. Today's game vs Salt River is postponed.