Your 2026 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

[Jim Goulart]

Timber Rattlers' Opening Night is Thursday 4/2 - at home vs. Beloit (Marlins).

NOTE: The Rattlers begin a day early as they do not play on Easter Sunday 4/5.

The eventual Wisconsin formal roster announcement will come directly from the Timber Rattlers, not the Brewers, once the Brewers have given the Timber Rattlers the official go-ahead to do so.

Feel free to link to any formal Timber Rattlers notices you see.

Sometimes, but not as often as we used to, we learn via player social media, who has been assigned where, prior to the formal affiliate announcements. We'll link to any of those posts in this thread as they come out.

As you might know, we use the "Your 2026" team threads to post and link to feature stories, including audio and video, that are outside the scope of game activity covered in the Daily Minor League Link Report.

These threads have become among the most popular for viewing here.

Please do not speculate on any player releases. Brewers Player Development or MiLB.com will update us formally.

[Spencer Michaelis]

 

 

[liveforoctober]

As an Appleton native, this week is always oddly exciting to see who we get to have to open the season. The timing of Pena/Made/Fischer all coming through last year for 9 minutes was unfortunate to us here... but understandable.

Payne is a great start! Keep 'em coming..

[Jim Goulart]

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Broadcast Information for 2026

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

On 3/25/2026 at 11:32 AM, liveforoctober said:

As an Appleton native, this week is always oddly exciting to see who we get to have to open the season. The timing of Pena/Made/Fischer all coming through last year for 9 minutes was unfortunate to us here... but understandable.

Payne is a great start! Keep 'em coming..

Braylon starting with yall???

[Zad Fnark]

I'll be there next Saturday.  Hopefully I won't freeze my tail off, like most April games.

I'm looking forward to my steak sandwich.  I think food here is much better than Brewers games.

Plus, I'll be getting my free Frelick jersey.  It should be fun.  My son in Mississippi has us set up for a Shuckers game in June, so I'll be touring some of the minors.

[Jim Goulart]

Folks in Nicaragua love tracking their minor leaguers -

“Right-handed pitcher Bryan Rivera has been promoted to High-A by the Milwaukee Brewers with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers team, and there he will begin the 2026 Minor Leagues season. Rivera is characterized by pitches that reach 95 MPH.”

Rivera turns 21 in June.

[Jim Goulart]

 

[Jim Goulart]

2 minutes ago, Jim Goulart said:

 

Accompanying press release

[liveforoctober]

I know it had been rumored but I'm still surprised Fischer and Pena are starting in Appleton. This lineup is as nice as we've had here in a while.

Pena, Fischer, Bitonti, Adamczewski, Dinges, Payne, etc

Pleased Meccage is here as well. Dorchies, Galindez, Baez, Dickinson, Ragsdale ... 

I'm not sure we could have asked for more to start up here in the Fox Valley.

[wibadgers23]

Dinges and Fischer starting the year in Appleton is certainly a choice.

[Tedaldtada]

Lots to dissect here. Should be a fun squad. 

[cragi]

yeah seems the talent barely stops in Appleton, but nice for us to get to see some young stars for a change

[biedergb]

2 hours ago, wibadgers23 said:

Dinges and Fischer starting the year in Appleton is certainly a choice.

I wonder if Fischer starting there is a reaction to 2024 when they bumped Wilken up to AA. Yes the injury both years were big factors, bit imagine if Wilken started hot in Wisconsin, and continued that all year.  Maybe the hole is give Fischer a good environment to excel in to start, and assuming he does then bump him up. 

[Joseph Zarr]

That pitching staff is absolute Aces. I'm excite.

[liveforoctober]

2 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

That pitching staff is absolute Aces. I'm excite.

 

Amongst the hoopla of looking at who WAS on the rosters I didn't consider who is starting the year off of them.

Let's just soon add Thompson to our hand up here. No complaints.

 

[jay87shot]

Strong roster, I would expect Fischer and Dinges to be in AA before June for sure. I am surprised by Dorchies in A+ ball but he pitched well enough that I don't see any issues with it.

[Tedaldtada]

17 hours ago, Jim Goulart said:

 

This is what I'd trot out there on opening day. It's an incredibly malleable set of offensive profiles. 

1. Luis Pena - SS
2. Andrew Fischer - 3B
3. Marco Dinges - C
4. Josh Adamczewski - LF
5. Eric Bitonti - 1B
6. Daniel Dickinson - 2B
7. Braylon Payne - CF
8. DH Spot
9. Josiah Ragsdale - RF

• Luis Peña may not find himself on another roster where he’s the primary shortstop after this, so this is a massive opportunity to prove he can truly handle the position. I’d expect they’ll mix in Guilarte, Dickinson, and maybe even Báez at times, but the door is wide open for Peña to claim it.

• I’m probably most surprised they couldn’t find a way to squeeze Adamczewski into that AA outfield. It feels like he belongs in that mix.

• On the offensive side, this has to be in the conversation for one of the best collections of prospect hitters anywhere in the minors.

• And the pitching staff is just as intriguing. An excellent group with a little bit of everything: true headliners like Dorchies, a wave of ascending arms in Torres, Meccage, Smith, Seppings, Johnson, and Flores, some helium guys like Fowler and Owens, and a handful of reclamation bets in Galindez, Woodward, and Low.

[Joseph Zarr]

Chomping. At. The. Bit. 

One of my favorites in the entire system is returning. PLEASE experience a build-up year of FULL health.❤️‍🩹

 

[Jim Goulart]

 

[liveforoctober]

Timber Rattlers have already postponed their opener tomorrow as we are getting a storm pushing through. Hopefully it is just a cold rain/sleet and doesn't turn into any flurries. It looks like we will be fighting the rain all day and the temps should hold above freezing though past dawn.

Double header currently scheduled for Friday - it will be a chilly one. High of 43, low of 32. Saturday doesn't look much warmer.

The Rattlers won't be home again then until the 14th and we should be ok by then. But these first 3 games are going to be cold.

[Jim Goulart]

 

[Jim Goulart]

 

[CheeseheadInQC]

Maybe something has been mentioned, but I wonder if the Timber Rattlers do a modified tandem system. They have Meccage, Dorchies and Torres going the first three games and then five guys who started games this spring (Galindez, Woodward, Owens, Smith and Low). While I am skeptical of Low being anything more than an opener, any of the others could be starters for them.

[Jim Goulart]

Via WSCO's "The Show with Tony G and Leo" (download link): Voice of the Timber Rattlers Chris Mehring (go to the 20:40 minute mark)