Wed. 7/8: Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Night

[Jim Goulart]

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

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Wednesday's Birthdays:

None

[Ro Mueller]

Starting lineup for High-A Wisconsin, who have the early game today and seek to even their home series against Beloit at one game apiece. 

[MilwaukeeBeers]

Man that Appleton lineup got stinky in a hurry. Hope to see Handelfry and Ebel up soon to give it an entertainment boost.

[wiguy94]

1 minute ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

Man that Appleton lineup got stinky in a hurry. Hope to see Handelfry and Ebel up soon to give it an entertainment boost.

Would look much better with Payne and Pena in the lineup.

[Jim Goulart]

I can’t do Ro justice, but I know he’d want to see the Wilson starting lineup here from a few hours ago.

There will be details in the overnight Link Report, but you can read the Wilson game summary here.

[wiguy94]

Bitonti with a 2 HR day. Hit the first to LF and the second was absolutely cranked. 113.8 EV to right field.

[snoogans8056]

13 minutes ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

Man that Appleton lineup got stinky in a hurry. Hope to see Handelfry and Ebel up soon to give it an entertainment boost.

Eh. They’re good with Payne, Dinges, Bitonti, and Pena.

I kind of want the Wilson lineup to stay as it is. That is a fun group that should stick together, and no one is really kicking the door to Appleton down just yet.

[eklinka]

17 minutes ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

Man that Appleton lineup got stinky in a hurry. Hope to see Handelfry and Ebel up soon to give it an entertainment boost.

I think we might be a little spoiled here 😂 T Rats lineup is missing a few injured players and a lot of promotions this year. Healthy, its still a damn good one.

[biedergb]

Well that TRats line up banged out 14 runs. And Dinges, Bitonti, Hall and Dickinson hit well. Add pens and Payne and it can be a really solid line up. But compared to Biloxi it’s hard to compare. It was like comparing to last years Mudcat line up in April. Which is like most of Wisconsin and Biloxi line ups - early 2024 Mudcats plus a few of the  2025 picks.  

[CheeseheadInQC]

They might not top prospect lists, but Hall and Castillo have both had success this year, and Tyler Rodriguez has been really good since joining the Timber Rattlers.

[Joseph Zarr]

8 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

They might not top prospect lists, but Hall and Castillo have both had success this year, and Tyler Rodriguez has been really good since joining the Timber Rattlers.

As a Tyler Rodriguez 'Truther', his season pleases me greatly. I almost fainted last week: he hit a long ball! Castillo's bounce back is a BIG deal for his career - he really struggled mightily in 2025. Hall has always had it in Him - you could see the athleticism and he's always had a really pretty lefty stroke. All three guys just adding truly meaningful depth play in 2026. I keep saying it but it's (probably not, actually 😅) worth saying again in this Echo Chamber of wonderment: the system is just SO deep. When we have these depth guys elevating their play and consistently producing?

[Joseph Zarr]

2 hours ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

Man that Appleton lineup got stinky in a hurry. Hope to see Handelfry and Ebel up soon to give it an entertainment boost.

12-4 in the second half. 1.0 G lead in First Place over this same Beloit team they just put an absolute throttling to...and the 'lineup got stinky'?!? If anything, we've seen the T-Rats lineup showcase what we should all be truly excited about: the top end depth of our system has pushed the greater system depth to new heights. Guys are stepping up! No Payne? No Pena? No worries. They still have very good improving youth in that line up. Don't sleep on the very improved plate approach and results of Daniel Dickinson. Don't sleep on the much improved output from the pitching staff.

[Joseph Zarr]

Juan Martinez hit his first Low-A long ball today and I am still trying to determine if he hit it out with a sand wedge. What a nice poke! You can just see he has the frame and build to become a real threat. Really nice specimen of a ball player.

 

[MilwaukeeBeers]

56 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

12-4 in the second half. 1.0 G lead in First Place over this same Beloit team they just put an absolute throttling to...and the 'lineup got stinky'?!? If anything, we've seen the T-Rats lineup showcase what we should all be truly excited about: the top end depth of our system has pushed the greater system depth to new heights. Guys are stepping up! No Payne? No Pena? No worries. They still have very good improving youth in that line up. Don't sleep on the very improved plate approach and results of Daniel Dickinson. Don't sleep on the much improved output from the pitching staff.

It should have been obvious I’m not talking about Payne or Peña it was in reference to the lineup card put out today and more so a testament to all the talent recently pushed to AA Biloxi. I really was not referring to the squad as a whole sorry for not clarifying.  Outside of Bitonti and Dinges there wasn’t a real legitimate prospect today when a few weeks ago there were 8 a day/night. I do not believe in Dickinson. The underlying data is not great just because he’s having an hot stretch doesn’t really change my mind.

[Ro Mueller]

3B Andrew Fischer brings his 47-game on-base streak into Game 2 of this week’s series at Knoxville. RHP Travis Smith (3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 1 K) makes his 2nd AA start (5th appearance) as Biloxi tries to even the series. 

[Joseph Zarr]

10 minutes ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

It’s incredibly obvious I’m not talking about Payne or Peña it was in reference to the lineup card put out today and more so a testament to all the talent recently pushed to AA Biloxi. Outside of Bitonti and Dinges there wasn’t a real legitimate prospect today when a few weeks ago there were 8 a day/night. I do not believe in Dickinson. The underlying data is not great just because he’s having an hot stretch doesn’t really change my mind.

You are not alone in your disbelief in Dickinson and it's hard to get jazzed about a 100 mph HR to CF as a 3rd on his season. BUT he is seeing improved results and that means something. Regardless of latching on solely to big names, when the org depth players start producing it is noteworthy and worthy of celebrating, imho. As someone who cares about the players, and who wrote ML reports for many years, I personally think using 'stinky' when the team has seen fantastic results since losing real Blue Chippers is a strange approach. BUT, that may just be me. I'm not trying to, nor do I want to, change your mind on any of this. Just offering my own opinion. I don't think anything you said above is incredibly obvious, btw. I don't think other posters did either.

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

3 hours ago, Jim Goulart said:

I can’t do Ro justice, but I know he’d want to see the Wilson starting lineup here from a few hours ago.

There will be details in the overnight Link Report, but you can read the Wilson game summary here.

We won 6-4 and r tied for 1st 

[Ro Mueller]

22-year old 1B Luke Adams (.942 OPS in 155 PAs) returns for AAA Nashville after missing 3 games, as they seek to even their series at Charlotte. RHP Tyson Hardin needs to rebound from 2 tough starts (9 IP, 10 R, 9 Ks).

[MilwaukeeBeers]

8 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

You are not alone in your disbelief in Dickinson and it's hard to get jazzed about a 100 mph HR to CF as a 3rd on his season. BUT he is seeing improved results and that means something. Regardless of latching on solely to big names, when the org depth players start producing it is noteworthy and worthy of celebrating, imho. As someone who cares about the players, and who wrote ML reports for many years, I personally think using 'stinky' when the team has seen fantastic results since losing real Blue Chippers is a strange approach. BUT, that may just be me. I'm not trying to, nor do I want to, change your mins on any of this. Just offering my own opinion.

Yeah it wasn’t my opinion of the T-Rats team as a whole just today it lacked that star power. I’m one to focus on tools rather than outcomes at these lower levels. so I get the disconnect. I’m glad the depth guys showed up. Hopefully they can prove me wrong and become a pop up guy or two. 

[Joseph Zarr]

10 minutes ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

Yeah it wasn’t my opinion of the T-Rats team as a whole just today it lacked that star power. I’m one to focus on tools rather than outcomes at these lower levels. so I get the disconnect. I’m glad the depth guys showed up. Hopefully they can prove me wrong and become a pop up guy or two. 

Thanks for clearing that up. Focusing on the Tools and the underlying data is generally the consensus approach across baseball - no disagreement there whatsoever! Here's hoping! We all know the odds are likely not in favor of anything but a small handful.

BUT...as a dreamer

[MilwaukeeBeers]

Holy moly what a swing by Martinez on a low curveball. Reaaallly impressive barrel control to golf that one out. I highly recommend everyone take another look at that one. That entire AB was fantastic. He is a bonafide dude. 

[cragi]

I guess i have the opposite impression of the current T-Rats, as someone living in appleton. Feels like we rarely have blue chippers to watch for any length of time. This year it was so over-loaded but the remaining crop still feels way more impressive than what's usually here.

[wibadgers23]

The top of the Shuckers lineup has stunk up the joint but they have one more inning to put up a rally.  Fischer with three more strikeouts.

[Joseph Zarr]

The 2026 Mike Boeve Reclaiming My Status Tour continues. You love to see it!