Your 2026 Wilson Warbirds

[Jim Goulart]

WARBIRDS NOTEBOOK: Players come and go — and come back — as season heats up
Amid constant call-ups and returns in their inaugural season, the Wilson Warbirds juggle a shifting Brewers prospect roster, uneven offense, solid pitching and steady crowds
By Paul Durham, Wilson Times

As fans of the Wilson Warbirds become acclimated to the young talent in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, they might want to pay attention because the players might not be here long.

The Wilson roster was set at the outset of Single-A Carolina League play April 3 and didn’t change until April 18 when right-handed pitcher Enniel Cortez went on the Injured List. Since then, the Brewers have made 15 roster changes affecting the Warbirds as players come, go and come again.

Two of the newest Warbirds — outfielder/first baseman Tyler Rodriguez and catcher Rylan Mills — enjoyed a memorable first week in Wilson with homers that led to victories at Wilson Ballpark over the weekend.

Two players on the first Warbirds roster — RHP Garrett Hodges and utilityman Luiyin Alastre — earned promotions to the next rung in the Brewers organizational ladder to High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers over the last few weeks. Two more, catcher Eric Martinez and pitcher Joshua Quezada, were sent to Triple-A Nashville Sounds last weekend. However, Martinez, who just had 19 at-bats in Wilson, has been transferred to the Development List while Quezada returned to Wilson on Monday after throwing 1 1/3 hitless innings Saturday for the Sounds.

Warbirds manager Eddy Morgan is the person who gets to tell the players that they are getting called up and that’s definitely a perk of his job.

“That’s the coolest thing, right?” said Morgan, in his first season of pro ball after two decades as a college head coach in Wisconsin. “You see their face, and they’re like, oh, yeah, this is awesome! Yeah, to me, that’s pretty cool. A lot of people have a lot of influence. It’s just not the manager — coaches, our entire staff.

“I think our staff here is as good as I’ve been around. I know I’ve been in college for a long time, but just talking to people, this staff communicates well. I think we connect with the players really well. And to me, it has everything to do with the staff and (the player) versus the manager. But I get to tell him!”

Hodges, who played at Gardner-Webb University, went 2-1 in Wilson and notched his first victory at Wisconsin on May 13 while Alastre is hitting .310 for the Timber Rattlers after hitting just .160 in 15 games with the Warbirds.

“That’s what they’re all playing for, right?” Morgan said. “And no offense to Wilson — we love it here — but the goal is not to stay in Wilson. The goal is to advance and get to Wisconsin and then to (Double-A) Biloxi and Nashville and the big leagues. So, Hodges was the latest in the way he was throwing the ball. He deserved the call-up now. Ran his fastball to 98 the other day. Very confident. Looks in control. And so, he’s ready for that next stage. And I think we’ll see some more of these guys grow up.”

ATTENDANCE SO FAR

So far, the Warbirds have averaged 2,336 spectators per game with two sellouts (3,700) and Saturday’s game, May 16, with 3,475 in attendance. The smallest crowd so far was 1,003, the opening game of the second homestand.

The average per homestand has decreased from 2,333 in the first six games to 2,202 in the second to 2,164 for this past week.

This week’s games are the first of two back-to-back homestands for the Warbirds in their inaugural season. The next one will run June 30 through July 12 and will be followed by a two-week stretch without games at Wilson Ballpark. The MLB All-Star Game break is July 13-16, then the Warbirds head to Hickory for three games against the Crawdads before going to Charleston for a six-game series starting July 21.

NUMBERS GAME

The Warbirds offense has struggled much of the season with the team ranked last in the Carolina League in hits (248), runs (179), batting average (.202) and slugging percentage (.322) while No. 2 in strikeouts with 429.

However, there are some bright spots in the lineup. Center fielder Jose Anderson has hammered eight home runs, tying him for the Carolina League lead while right fielder Handelfry Encarnacion has slugged six homers. Both are in the top 10 in RBIs with 26 and 25, respectively.

While neither has enough at-bats to qualify for the league leaders, Wilson outfielder/DH Pedro Ibarguen is hitting .315 (23 for 73) and infielder Luis Lameda is batting at a .293 clip (24 for 82).

Wilson’s pitching across the board has been better as the Warbirds rank fifth in both team ERA (4.35) and strikeouts (398) but they have given up a league-high 39 homers, with 24 hit in the cozy confines of Wilson Ballpark.

[Jim Goulart]

Brewers prospect Bonet eager to fulfill family MLB tradition
RHP Jarrette Bonet, from a family of MLB veterans, is turning a strong first pro season in Wilson into a bid to reach the majors on his own terms
By Paul Durham, Wilson Times

While playing professional baseball might be a family tradition for Jarrette Bonet, the Wilson Warbirds pitcher hopes to add to that heritage all the way to the big leagues.

Bonet, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound right-hander, is off to a pretty good start in his first season of pro ball after signing a free-agent minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers last summer. Bonet skipped Rookie ball altogether and came straight to Wilson at the conclusion of spring training.

So far, he’s been very impressive at times, if not consistent in his eight appearances, all starts, for the Single-A Carolina League Warbirds. Bonet is 1-2 with a 5.20 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings. Opponents are batting .246 against him and his WHIP is 1.35.

Bonet has cooled off a bit after a hot start that saw the Brewers name him their Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April after he went 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 23 1/3 innings.

Bonet said that his success has come directly from hard work.

“I’m working really, really, really hard for this, waiting four years for the opportunities,” he said during a recent interview at Wilson Ballpark. “I’ll be here and there’s hard work every day — like every single day — but I’ll never quit. I think this is the reason I’m doing well right now. I think it’s like, my hard work and I never quit.”

Bonet, who hails from Manati, Puerto Rico, has played baseball in the United States before at San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College as well as with the Trenton Thunder summer collegiate team in the MLB Draft League. He said that experience helped him get to where he is, but the pro game is much different.

“My preparation right now is so much better,” Bonet said. “What I did in college, my first year in college, I was a little lazy, but I feel like here, you can’t do this. You need to work a lot. This is one of the adjustments I do, and I work on my mechanics a lot in the offseason, like in the spring training, too. So, I think it’s everything like this that has helped me a lot right now.”

Bonet was a key member of Puerto Rico’s team in the World Baseball Softball Confederation U18 Baseball World Cup in 2023. He threw 4 1/3 innings of hitless relief to get the win in Puerto Rico’s upset of No. 2-seeded United States. Bonet said that playing for P.R. pitching coach Dicky Gonzalez Baez was a great experience as well.

“He played in Japan, and I talked to him (very much), and he’s helped me a lot, like little things I need to learn,” Bonet said. “I think it’s helped me a lot.”

Bonet comes from a big-league family with uncles Jose Valentin and Javier Valentin playing a combined 26 years of MLB baseball while cousin Jesmuel Valentin played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018. All three, like Bonet, are from Manati, a town of less than 40,000 known for its lush tropical beaches. While Bonet hopes to follow in their footsteps, he’s not comparing himself to his relatives — or anyone else.

“No, for me, I don’t feel that pressure,” he said. “But probably, like the people say that you need to be good, like, same or better with your family. But I don’t feel that pressure. I play for me, for my future and for doing better, whether with my family or not.”

While Bonet is eager to climb the ladder in the Brewers organization, he likes the vibe in Wilson so far, especially Wilson Ballpark.

“The park, I think it’s that part of the city is, like, chill,” he said. “I think the teammates here, there’s a lot of good teammates, a lot of good people. I think it feels special here, like, it’s good.”