Brewers Minor League Link Report (5/16): Pratt, Williams, Made All Shine Bright; Crew Fans Gotta Wear Shades

[Jim Goulart]

Image courtesy of BrewerFanatic

The Sounds have been beating up on Cubs' farmhands, while the T-Rats have been on the receiving end of that rivalry. The Shuckers and Warbirds have similar sub-.500 records, but it's the Wilson club trending up. Maryvale lost another.

We chronicle game results here as our primary function, but there are days when the overall prospect shine simply overrides final scores and thankfully puts big smiles on Brewers fans' faces.

 

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Transactions:

• Milwaukee Brewers sent RHP Quinn Priester on a rehab assignment to Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
• Milwaukee Brewers optioned RHP Coleman Crow to Nashville Sounds.
• Milwaukee Brewers selected the contract of RHP Peter Strzelecki from Nashville Sounds.
• Nashville Sounds activated RHP J.B. Bukauskas from the 7-day injured list.
• RHP Joshua Quezada assigned to Nashville Sounds from Wilson Warbirds.

 

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Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes (unavailable)
Final: Nashville 12, Iowa (Cubs) 1
Box Score and Game Log

Via the Sounds, game details, and we encourage readers to always review affiliate write-ups as part of their Link Report routine:

Sounds Cruise Past I-Cubs in Lopsided Win - Stallings Records Second Straight Quality Start; Pratt Homers in Back-to-Back Games

That Nashville game summary includes video of:

• Eddys Leonard's 1st inning grand slam (Leonard played 2B in this game, his defensive splits for 2026 can be found here)
• Jett Williams' three-run shot capping the Sounds' eight-run opening frame
• Cooper Pratt's three-run blast in the 3rd, the summary details a current 20-game run of superb production for Pratt
• Starter Garrett Stallings gifts Manager Rick Sweet a wonderful staff-saving effort

When the Brewers pull an A-Ball pitcher up to AAA Nashville, it's to provide a body for a scrambled and tired staff. It's known to not be a long-term assignment, and because of that, it doesn't make sense to interrupt the development path of a Biloxi pitcher for a brief boomerang stint. What an adventure and thrill it must have been for just-turned 22-year Nicaraguan native Joshua Quezada to board that flight from North Carolina to Tennessee. The blow-out conditions and Stallings' 6.2 inning effort allowed Quezada to enter seamlessly, and the kid retired all four men he faced, registering a AAA strikeout as well. Awesome.

Like called-up Peter Strzelecki, it's not hard to envision former big-leaguer J.B. Bukauskas getting a similar reward later this MLB season, but he'll need to provide both results and good health. The Brewers do seem to love themselves some Bukauskas.

Did you miss another story of the day, although the Sounds did manage a "zero" in the error column Saturday.

Two people accused of stealing baseball gloves belonging to Nashville Sounds players

Admittedly, this was my favorite online reaction:

 

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Biloxi Pre-Game Media Notes
Final: Montgomery (Rays) 10, Biloxi 6
Box Score and Game Log

Catch up with the latest Biloxi pre-game audio interview archives - Manager Mike Guerrero's Friday chat recently added

Via the Shuckers, game details:

Made's Career Night Undone by Biscuits in Shuckers Loss - Top prospect becomes 5th Southern League player under 20 years old with multi-home run game

Of course we'll catch up with Jesús Made in a moment, but first a bit of trivia. Earlier this week, we noted former Brewers farmhand Jadher Areinamo as part of this Biscuits' opposing squad. He was idle Saturday. But infielder Gregory Barrios, briefly discussed in the Mike Guerrero interview noted above, did play at shortstop and singled three times after being held hitless in his prior three games in this series. Barrios sports an uninspiring .616 OPS on the season. The $1 million bonus baby for the Crew in January 2021 was traded to the Rays in July of 2024. Do you remember the return? Answer shortly.

 

Allison Mast of MLB.com has an informative article on Made and his big night here. As is often the case, the accompanying video of all three of Made's hits is from the home team Montgomery broadcast. It's so much more fun to provide the Biloxi calls:

 

Made's third hit, a ground ball single up the middle, is within the linked article above.

 

The Biloxi "X" feed has additional video, including two clips of particular note if you're a Matthew Wood fan. Then there's this from Javik Blak'e broadcast partner Max Gifford incorporating the "Choo-Choo" call, which I heartily enjoyed.

 

Starter Bishop Letson only worked three innings and threw 42 pitches, 34 for strikes (no walks). Three of the four hits he allowed were doubles. Somehow his 6.66 ERA seems appropriate for his season thus far, there's a long way to go to exorcise early mound demons.

When short starts lead to a parade of relievers, all it takes is for one blow-up outing to spoil the fun. It was RHP Nick Merkel, in just his 5th appearance after an injury-delayed start to 2026, with the tough night here.

Trivia answer: Aaron Civale, so we thank Gregory Barrios for Andrew Vaughn!

 

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Wisconsin Pre-Game Media Notes (download link)
Final: South Bend (Cubs) 24, Wisconsin 4 
Box Score and Game Log

Via the Timber Rattlers, game details: 

Cubs Drop Rattlers

You might think you don't want to sit through five minutes of game action for this one, but it's oddly mesmerizing. The Braylon Payne and Andrew Fischer blasts ease the pain (my goodness, Andrew, such conviction!), and Chris Mehring's call on a South Bend blooper that dropped near the first base line late in the game is worth the movie ticket. 

 

The Quinn Priester angst is real, and I'll pull up one important March 2021 article by Adam McCalvy for you, fully aware that Priester has not undergone surgery, and at this time, has no surgical procedure scheduled. This is an important read.

Brewers prospect Antoine Kelly recovering from TOS

Kelly is still just 26 years old and is currently toiling in AAA in his first year in the Dodgers' system. 

The game summary made mention of Caleb Thielbar, my goodness, 2010! A former Helena Brewer as well.

We won't overly pile on except to say 24-year-old RHP Jose Nova is having a season to forget, though it'll likely be remembered in Link Report annals for decades down the road.

 

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Wilson Pre-Game Media Notes
Final: Wilson 8, Hill City (Guardians) 4
Box Score and Game Log

Rodriguez Rockets Wilson Over Hill City - Meneses Majestic in Relief

This was a fun one.

Shortstop Brady Ebel with a double among his three hits, adding to the prospect luster in the system Saturday. Handelfry Encarnacion walked three times to lift his season long BB% to 17.0%.

A total of six Warbirds reached base at least twice. The 4-5-6 hitters (Frederi Montero, Luis Lameda, Filippo DiTuri) each reached once and contributed an RBI apiece. So that's all nine batters contributing in significant ways, one of the prettiest offensive box scores we've seen across any level of the system this season.

***Here's a tip that we should have been taking advantage of previously within our reports. Notice that when you click on the word "Video" on that box score header via the link above, you'll be presented with a column for all the individual highlights for the game (both teams). The audio will always be from the home team broadcast, but that suits us just fine here. The plays will be listed chronologically from bottom to top. And best of all, unlike when we link to individual plays within our reports, you don't have to sit through annoying 15-to-30 second advertisements.

Take a few moments now to follow the video link in the paragraph above and take in the sights and calls.

Workhorse starter Jarrette Bonet plowed through 5.1 innings (93 pitches). We now are learning why the organization has placed faith in LHP Jose Meneses despite sub-par surface level figures in his pro career leading up to 2026. Meneses only turned 21 years old in March, while Bonet won't reach that age until August.

Nicely done, Warbirds!

 

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Final: ACL Reds 7, ACL Brewers 3, seven innings as scheduled
Box Score and Game Log

The A-Crew were outscored, outhit and outdefended in this one.

Left-handed slugging RF Alexander Frias only turned 18 years old in March. He doubled twice, topping at 102 MPH on a pulled line drive. As his MiLB Player Page indicates, eight of his 15 hits have gone for extra bases, and his ten-game line is a beautiful .375/.405/.675 (1.080 OPS).

Switch-hitter Juan Martinez (player page) arrived in Maryvale coming off his .977 OPS Dominican Summer League 2025 breakout, and while not reaching that lofty figure yet, is off to a fine small-sample nine-game start splitting time at second and third base.

Starting pitcher Diustin Mayorquin limited the free passes (none) but not the hits and runs. Reliever Dariel Jaquez limited the damage but not the walks (four).

Usual day off for the Maryvale boys Sunday.

 

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Primarily early afternoon action Sunday, though the folks in Montgomery selected the uniquely quaint 4:33 PM for their getaway day Shuckers start time. Weather is improving, spring is really here (well, most places, hopefully), enjoy! Go Brewers!

Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores
Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth
Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth

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