Developing a pure, native app for either Android or iOS is a breathtakingly expensive endeavor, which is why we haven’t done it, despite so many requests over the years. Thankfully, technology has met us halfway, and PWAs (Progressive Web Applications) have reached maturity in the marketplace.
What is a PWA? It’s effectively a pseudo-app that works much like a native application but doesn’t require tens of thousands of dollars in development to produce. It creates a single browser instance and maintains it as if it were an application. It’s basically a standalone browser tab, dedicated specifically to Brewer Fanatic.
From this app instance, you can receive notifications; the typical browser interface is removed, and the site is presented clearly, using as much screen real estate as possible, all without sacrificing any functionality. The site is faster, more reliable, and offers more mobile functionality than a standard web browser.
Additionally, a newer, completely updated Brewer Fanatic is coming later this year, and that will add even more app-like features, making PWA usage even better for all our users.
With that said, here’s how you turn Brewer Fanatic into an app on your mobile device.
Outfielder Jackson Chourio will get ready for his third season in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform by playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. The Brewers made what had seemed a likely decision official via social media Thursday.
This will be Chourio's first WBC. Rosters for all WBC teams are due February 3, which is Tuesday.
Venezuela will be one of the teams to watch in this year's tournament. In 2023, Venezuela went 4-0 in pool play before being knocked off by the U.S. 9-7 in the quarterfinals. The U.S. went on to lose to Japan 3-2 in the championship game.
Despite a weekend scare, Jackson Chourio is also returning to the Milwaukee Brewers' offense.
Chourio, an outfielder, and first baseman Andrew Vaughn were activated from the 10-day injured list Monday and were in the lineup for Monday's series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals. Outfielder Blake Perkins was optioned to Triple-A Nashville and outfielder Greg Jones was designated for assignment to make room on the 26-man roster. Also, right-handed starter Quinn Priester was pulled from his rehab assignment while still remaining on the 15-day IL. The return of Chourio and Vaughn, who hit in the top half of the batting order, is a much-needed boost for an offense that has been missing a spark.
Chourio was a surprising IL placement on Opening Day. He sustained a fractured left hand while playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, but the injury didn't appear to bother him as he continued to play after sitting out two games. The injury popped up during the Brewers' final exhibition games just days before Opening Day.
Chourio then fouled a ball off his left ankle Saturday during a rehab assignment game for Nashville, which put his expected return Monday in doubt. But he went through running drills and was deemed fit enough to be activated.
Vaughn joined Chourio on a rehab assignment last week as he recovered from hamate surgery in his left hand.
Perkins was returned to Nashville, where he started the season. The defensive-minded center fielder has been the odd man out with a healthy Garrett Mitchell able to patrol center field and the emergence of Brandon Lockridge. But the switch-hitting Perkins mustered a measly .109/.212/.174 slash line in 19 games.
Jones was a minor-league free-agent signing this offseason and appeared in 11 games since coming up April 14. He also struggled at the plate, going 2-for-21 (.095). If he passes through waivers, he could return to Nashville.
One of the most electric pitchers in MLB and one of the top two-way catchers will represent the Milwaukee Brewers in the All-Star Game.
Right-handed starter Jacob Misiorowski and catcher William Contreras were selected to the All-Star Game, which will be played July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. It is the second appearance for Misiorowski, who debuted just weeks before the 2025 game, while Contreras is going for the third time and second with the Brewers. He also went in 2024.
Misiorowski is a far cry from a controversial pick this year and has an outside chance to start this year's game, although he is currently scheduled to pitch the Sunday before the All-Star Game. The Miz leads MLB with a 1.47 ERA and 156 strikeouts and has a shutout in his 17 starts and 104 innings. He has a 6.8% walk rate and an amazing 39.3% strikeout rate.
Contreras has a slash line of .293/.358/.416 while playing virtually every day with nine homers and 51 RBIs. His .293 batting average is the highest of his seven-year career. He has made the All-Star Game every other year since becoming an MLB regular in 2022 with Atlanta.
The nine starters for each team were determined by two rounds of fan balloting, with Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Ernie Clement getting automatically selected to start by virtue of leading the first round in the NL and AL, respectively.
The Milwaukee Brewers have their reliable lefty back in the bullpen.
Left-handed reliever Jared Koenig was activated off the 15-day injured list Friday by the Brewers, who optioned right-handed reliever Craig Yoho to Triple-A Nashville.
Koenig had been out since April 6 with a sprained left elbow. He had made just three appearances before being injured, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 2⅓ innings. Koenig appeared in 11 games on his rehab assignment, pitching 9⅔ innings.
Yoho, once considered a big-time relief prospect, has wavered at the MLB level. In two call-ups this year, Yoho appeared in five games, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in six innings for a 6.00 ERA. He made his MLB debut last season, appearing in eight games and posting a 7.27 ERA in 8⅔ innings with nine walks and seven punchouts.
Shortstop Jesus Made, the consensus No. 3 prospect in all of baseball, was one of nine players in the Milwaukee Brewers' system invited to spring training Tuesday.
Spring training invites allow players not on the 40-man roster but under contract with the team to report when big-league camp opens, which for the Brewers is Feb. 12 for pitchers and catchers and Feb. 17 for position players. Pretty much anyone in the system can appear in a spring training game, but an invite allows prospects and veterans searching for a major-league job to get in extra work with the players on the 40-man roster. For prospects, it gives them a taste of what big-league spring training is like before ultimately joining the team's minor-league camp to get ready for the regular season.
The other prospects joining Made, an 18-year-old who played at three levels in 2025, including Double-A Biloxi, are infielder-outfielder Jett Williams, shortstop Cooper Pratt, center fielder Luis Lara, third baseman Brock Wilken, corner infielder Luke Adams, left-handed starter Tate Kuehner, and catchers Ramon Rodriguez and Matt Wood. It is possible that more prospects are added at some point.
Williams was one of two players recently acquired from the New York Mets in the trade for right-handed starters Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers. The other one was right-handed starter Brandon Sproat, who is already on the 40-man roster.
Fans always hope that key prospects will play their way onto the major-league roster, even if in reality they might not be ready for that move.
That is one way to summarize the moves the Milwaukee Brewers executed Monday. The Crew reassigned top prospect Jesus Made, an 18-year-old shortstop who is a consensus top-four prospect in all of baseball, to minor-league camp and optioned catcher Jeferson Quero, their catcher of the future, to Triple-A Nashville.
Made, who has rocketed through the Brewers' system since being part of the international signing class in January 2024, has posted a .320/.370/.400 slash line (8-for-25) this spring in 10 Cactus League games. After making his pro debut in 2024 in the Dominican Summer League with a .331/.458/.554 slash line with six homers, 28 RBIs, and 28 steals in 51 games. He then began 2025 at Low A Carolina and moved up to High A Wisconsin before finishing with five games at Double-A Biloxi, putting together a .285/.379/.413 with six homers, 61 RBIs, and 47 steals in 115 games. That should line him up to start 2026 at Biloxi.
Quero, meanwhile, has battled injuries the last two seasons, which have sapped his status in prospect rankings. Once a top-100 prospect, the 23-year-old sustained a right labrum injury in the first game of 2024 and missed the rest of the season. In 2025, he had a hamstring and a mild left shoulder sprain. Those two injuries limited him to 69 games, but he still produced a .285/.379/.413 slash line with 11 homers and 57 RBIs. Many analysts cited that his arm strength hadn't totally recovered from his 2024 labrum injury, but the rest of his defensive skills are still elite. This is Quero's last option year, unless there is an appeal due to him missing virtually all of 2024 to get him a fourth option.
Jesus Made, the Milwaukee Brewers' 19-year-old shortstop who has rocketed up prospect rankings, was named the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline on Friday.
Made, who played at three levels in 2025, including a brief stint at Double-A Biloxi, was slotted behind two other shortstops in No. 1 Konnor Griffin of the Pittsburgh Pirates and No. 2 Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers. In fact, the top five players and eight of the first 10 were all shortstops.
The Brewers were one of eight teams to have at least five prospects in the Top 100. The others were shortstop Luis Pena at No. 26, infielder-outfielder Jett Williams at No. 51, shortstop Cooper Pratt at No. 64, and right-handed starter Brandon Sproat sneaking in at No. 100. Williams and Sproat were the players the Crew acquired from the New York Mets in exchange for right-handed starters Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers.
Made moved up one spot from where he ended the 2025 season on the MLB Pipeline list. Catcher Jeferson Quero was on the list last year at No. 84, but didn't make the Top 100 this time around.
Kuhnel was designated for assignment by the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday. Kuhnel had been on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement since July 4. He had been on a rehab assignment since Aug. 2, but with that 30-day period expiring, the Brewers activated him from the IL and DFA'd him. The Brewers' 40-man roster stands at 38.
Kuhnel, who doesn't have minor-league options remaining, hits the waiver wire and could be claimed. If he goes unclaimed, he could be assigned to Triple-A Nashville, be released or become a free agent.
But the results haven't been there for Kuhnel either. In 10 games, Kuhnel had a 9.30 FIP (6.52 ERA) with a 12.2% walk rate and 16.3% strikeout rate. The Brewers acquired Kuhnel on June 6 for cash after he had been DFA'd by the A's.
With a little over a month left before the start of the tournament, the rosters for each participating nation are all but finalized. Some countries have a few spots to fill, and Joey Ortiz was recently announced as part of the newest crop of baseball talent to join the Mexican National Team. He was added alongside Jonathan Aranda, Alek Thomas, and Taijuan Walker.
Ortiz has Mexican heritage through his parents and should be a big upgrade over Alan Trejo, who served as the team's starting shortstop in 2023. His offensive regression for the Brewers last season was a point of concern, but his defensive production allowed him to stay slightly above replacement, giving him 1.4 fWAR.
He'll be joined in the infield by Ramón and Luis Urías, the latter of whom is a former Brewer. Mexico's roster is now stacked with big-leaguers, including many returning faces from 2023 like Randy Arozarena and Jarren Duran.
The schedule of the tournament will directly conflict with Spring Training, a crucial time for young talent like Ortiz to prepare for the upcoming season. These refusals are often due to injury risk ,but front offices have occasionally been strict with the way that their younger players are managed. Despite his regression in 2025, it's an encouraging vote of confidence by the franchise that he'll be allowed to forego spring training for the WBC.
The long wait for JoJo Romero to make his Milwaukee Brewers debut is over.
The left-handed reliever, acquired at the Aug. 3 trade deadline, was activated from the 15-day injured list by the Brewers, who also called up catcher Bo Naylor from Triple-A Nashville as rosters expanded from 26 to 28 Tuesday.
Romero, picked up along with right-handed starter Dustin May from the NL Central rival St. Louis Cardinals at the trade deadline, has been sidelined since mid-July following an appendectomy. He had two recent rehab appearances and then threw a bullpen to show his readiness before being activated. Romero fortifies the back end of the bullpen and provides another late-inning left-handed option other than Aaron Ashby. In 44 games and 43 innings this season, Romero has a 3.99 FIP (3.35 ERA) with an 8.6% walk rate and 23.1% strikeout rate this year.
Naylor was also acquired at the trade deadline from the Cleveland Guardians along with right-handed reliever Codi Heuer for center fielder Blake Perkins and right-handed reliever Blake Perkins. Heuer was quickly cut loose by the Brewers without making an appearance. Naylor has been at Triple-A Nashville and now comes up to allow manager Pat Murphy more flexibility with how he deploys starting catcher William Contreras and backup Gary Sanchez while having a safety net in Naylor. Unlike his brother, Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor, Bo Naylor doesn't do much offensively. He was slashing .143/.200/.238 with two homers and seven RBIs in 28 games with the Guardians before being sent to Triple-A. He made his MLB debut with the Guardians in 2022 and has a career slash line of .199/.279/.372. Naylor was added as the 27th player for the Little League Classic but did not play.
After acquiring the two-time World Series champion in a trade July 15, McCullers was designated for assignment Sunday by the Brewers. Right-hander Garrett Stallings was called up from Triple-A Nashville. The Brewers now have two open spots on their 40-man roster as the trade deadline approaches.
McCullers was a relatively low-cost acquisition, costing the Brewers minor-league outfielder Jadyn Fielder, son of former Crew slugger Prince Fielder, and covering $2 million of his remaining salary. But McCullers, a starter with six career relief appearances before being traded, made both of his appearances out of the Brewers' bullpen, including one Saturday in an 8-3 win over the Colorado Rockies.
McCullers had a 4.18 FIP (3.86 ERA) in 4⅔ innings, giving up five runs (two earned) on three hits with five walks and five strikeouts. These were McCullers' first two MLB games since going on the injured list in mid-May with right shoulder inflammation.
The Brewers are still looking for a quality arm to replace veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff in the rotation.
Stallings was called up at the end of June and made his MLB debut with a pair of appearances, allowing just one hit and one walk with four strikeouts over three innings.
After a tremendous 2025 regular season in which they had MLB's best record, the Milwaukee Brewers won't have a lot to work with regarding a 2026 draft bonus pool.
The slot value for the Crew's top pick is $3,696,000. Last year, when the Brewers picked 20th and selected corner infielder Andrew Fischer, their pick had a value of $4,268,100.
The top bonus pool belongs to the Pittsburgh Pirates at $19,130,700, while the smallest pool goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of those four teams who had their top pick moved back 10 spots as a CBT penalty.
The Chicago White Sox hold the No. 1 pick, which has a slot value of $11,350,600. They also have the No. 3 bonus pool of $17,592,100. Each slot value went up 2.5% based on increased MLB revenue.
The Milwaukee Brewers have one of their key arms back.
Right-hander Logan Henderson was activated from the 15-day injured list and will start for the Brewers in Thursday's series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals. Right-hander Garrett Stallings was optioned to Triple-A Nashville.
Henderson has been out since late May with a strained lower back. Henderson was not on the Opening Day roster and then made an early spot start before coming up again in early May. Overall, he has made five starts and pitched 23 innings, with a 2.42 FIP (2.74 ERA) along with a 6.7% walk rate and 33.3% strikeout rate.
If Henderson goes 2⅓ innings today, he will match the number of innings he pitched last year with the Brewers in his MLB debut season. Henderson also returns to the rotation as the Brewers have lost veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who is considering shoulder surgery with a new injury.
Stallings made two appearances since being called up June 30, including his MLB debut. In those two outings, Stallings pitched two scoreless innings, allowing a hit, walking one and striking out four.
Logan Henderson is back. And this time, it will be more than just a spot start.
The Milwaukee Brewers called up Henderson, a right-hander, from Triple-A Nashville in order to start Sunday's series finale vs. the Washington Nationals. Right-handed reliever Easton McGee was sent back to Triple-A.
Henderson figures to be the replacement for right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who was injured in his start Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks and went on the 15-day injured list Friday with right shoulder inflammation. Henderson slotting in Sunday pushes everyone in the rotation back a day.
This is the second call-up this year for Henderson. He started the second game of the April 4 doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals, going just two innings, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts in an 8-2 loss. He was called up specifically as the extra player for the doubleheader and went back to Nashville the next day.
But with Woodruff down, Henderson joins the rotation for a more extended stay. Henderson made five starts for the Crew in 2025 before a strained right flexor ended his season in August. He was very good in three call-ups, putting together a 3.02 FIP (1.78 ERA) in 25⅓ innings with an 11.1% walk rate and 33.3% strikeout rate. Henderson had an elbow issue in spring training that knocked him out of the rotation battle.
This year at Nashville, he made five appearances (three starts), walking nine and striking out 26 in 17⅔ innings.
McGee, in his second brief call-up this season, pitched one scoreless inning Friday against the Nationals, allowing a walk.
Coming off his best start of the season, it will be at least another two weeks before Logan Henderson takes the mound again.
The Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday placed Henderson, a right-handed starter, on the 15-day injured list with a strained lower back and called up right-handed starter Coleman Crow.
Last week against the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, Henderson struck out seven over five shutout innings, allowing two hits and walking three. He has allowed two runs or less in all five of his starts, including just one in that start before facing the Dodgers. That was another five-inning, seven-strikeout performance.
Henderson has a 6.7% walk rate and 33.3% strikeout rate in 23 innings this year.
Crow won't start Wednesday's series finale vs. the St. Louis Cardinals, which remains vacant. Instead, the Brewers will wait to slot Crow into the rotation with Friday's series opener against the Houston Astros. Crow has done very well in his first two MLB starts this year, allowing a total of three hits over 10⅓ innings with one walk and seven strikeouts. With Henderson on the shelf, Crow could be up for multiple starts, although veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff is inching closer to a return to the rotation.
Following his signing a long-term contract extension last month, Luis Lara has been called up to make his MLB debut.
The Brewers on Tuesday promoted Lara, Brewer Fanatic's No. 4 prospect, from Triple-A Nashville and sent center fielder Blake Perkins back to Triple-A. Lara will make his debut in Tuesday's doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Brewers also called up left-handed starter Robert Gasser from Nashville as the extra player for the doubleheader.
Lara, a 21-year-old switch-hitting center fielder, a seven-year, $31 million extension on June 9. He was the second top prospect at the time to ink a long-term deal with the Brewers while still in the minors, joining shortstop Cooper Pratt. Pratt, who signed his deal in April, was promoted about a week after Lara got his deal finalized.
In his first season at Triple-A, Lara has had a breakthrough season offensively. He has a .321/.432/.470 slash line with career highs of nine homers and 42 RBIs in 78 games with still about half a season to play. Lara had never hit better than .286 (2023), hit more than four homers (2024) or driven in more than 41 runs (2024) before this year.
Lara won a minor-league Gold Glove last year for his defense in center field and also is a speed threat on the bases, having swiped 24 in 31 tries this year.
Perkins did not make the Brewers' Opening Day roster and has been called up twice, yet has not been able to get going offensively. Perkins has a slash line of .157/.250/.258 in 53 games with one homer, 11 RBIs and three stolen bases.
Matt Arnold has been promoted to President of Baseball Operations; he will continue to oversee baseball operations, a responsibility he has held since October 2022 after the departure of David Stearns, who also held the PoBO title. Arnold originally joined Milwaukee in October 2015 as vice president and assistant general manager, advanced to senior vice president and assistant general manager in June 2019, and was promoted to senior vice president and general manager in November 2020.
During his tenure in Milwaukee, the club has qualified for the postseason seven times and secured five National League Central Division championships in 2018, 2021, and 2023 through 2025. The team has won at least 92 games in each of the last three seasons, including a franchise-record 97 victories in 2025.
Arnold was named MLB Executive of the Year for 2024 in voting by executives from all 30 clubs. He also received Executive of the Year honors from The Sporting News in 2024 and 2025 and from Baseball America in 2024.
Before joining the Brewers, Arnold spent nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2007 to 2015, most recently as director of player personnel. Earlier in his career, Arnold held roles with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2000, the Texas Rangers in 2002, and the Cincinnati Reds from 2003 to 2006. He has 25 seasons of professional baseball experience.
David Stearns once held the position of both PoBO and General Manager, as Arnold does now. Will Arnold hire a new General Manager to work under him, just as he was promoted to that title in 2020 under Stearns?
The Milwaukee Brewers have been busy making option decisions over the last two days. Yesterday, they exercised the option on Freddy Peralta, while declining Danny Jansen's option. Additionally, starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff informed the team that he would be opting out of his deal, making him a free agent.
Today, they declined three more options: William Contreras, Rhys Hoskins, and Jose Quintana, per the team's official X account. Hoskins and Quintana are set to become free agents, while Contreras will be retained via arbitration.
Hoskins was limited to 90 games in 2025 due to injury, but once available, he was a plus bat in the lineup. Across 328 plate appearances, he carried a .748 OPS with 12 home runs and two stolen bases. This resulted in a 109 wRC+, indicating he was 9% better than the average MLB player. The Brewers will pay him a $4 million buyout instead of a $16 million salary in 2026.
Quintana, who was set to make $15 million in 2026, will receive a $2 million buyout after making 24 starts and sporting a sub-4 ERA. However, his 4.61 FIP and 7% K-BB suggested he wasn't as effective as his ERA would suggest. Though he is a solid innings eater and provides a veteran presence, FanGraphs Value metric estimated he was worth just $6.8 million in 2025. At 37 years old, he will look to find a major league deal with another club.
Contreras is in his second year of arbitration and is projected to make slightly less than his $12 million option would have paid him.
Do you think the club made the right call on Hoskins and Quintana? Would you like to see them bring either player back? Let us know in the comments!
Baseball America has updated their Top 100 prospect list at the start of June and it's unsurprising that the Milwaukee Brewers systems leads the charge with four prospects in the top 33. While they don't have the most prospects in the top 100, they aren't far off from Los Angeles Dodgers who have five.
Jesús Made(#4), Jacob Misiorowski (#21), Luis Peña (#31), and Cooper Pratt (#33) are the four names to crack the list.
Made has arguably been the hottest name in the prospect word as he's torn apart Single-A Carolina with an .837 OPS, four home runs, and 21 stolen bases. Misiorowski has a sparkling 2.31 ERA and a so-so 19.2% K-BB rate for Triple-A Nashville. Peña, at the same level as Made, is another prospect who's been a popular topic of conversation this season. He has a .964 OPS with five home runs and 23 stolen bases. Finally, Pratt hasn't had quite the same level of success for Double-A Biloxi with just a .650 OPS. He does have four home runs and 10 stolen bases on the season.
When will the Brewers call up Misiorowski? Was anyone snubbed from the top 100 list? Join the conversation in the comments!
For the second time this week, the Milwaukee Brewers have lost a member of their coaching staff. The first move involved associate head coach Rickie Weeks shifting into a scouting role. The second announcement has the hitting coach leaving the organization.
David Lesky of Inside The Crown is reporting that Connor Dawson is being hired as the Kansas City Royals' hitting coach. He had been with the Brewers for the previous four seasons.
Dawson, who grew up near Kansas City, is making a lateral move to return to his hometown team. The Brewers' offense flourished under his watch, ranking among the best run-producing teams in the league despite limited standout performances. Especially in 2025, the offense had the second-best walk-to-strikeout ratio in baseball. In addition to being analytically minded, Dawson knows that life is bigger than baseball. Stringing together quotes from prior interviews, Dawson shared his philosophy, stating, "The thing I talked about the least with players and coaches is a swing. The thing I talked about the most is how we connect with players. That's what matters, the people matter."
He brings that philosophy to a young team that was one of the lowest-scoring teams in baseball. How do you think the Brewers will react to his loss?
Joshua Flores hails from the same high school as 2023 pick Josh Adamczewski and 2024 pick Griffin Tobias, making it three years in a row the Brewers went to the well at Lake Central High School in Indiana.
MLB Pipeline has Flores ranked 243rd overall, and wrote, "Indiana's high school pitching crop runs deeper than usual this year, and Flores has the loudest stuff of the group. He features one of the best curveballs in the national prep class, though he also averaged a walk per inning as a senior. He comes with a high ceiling but also a good deal of reliever risk. Flores' hammer curveball ranges from 82-85 mph with downer break, grading as a well above-average pitch at times but also moving so much he has difficulty landing it in the zone. He has better command of a tighter slider with similar velocity. Hitters can't really guard against his breaking balls because his fastball sits at 92-95 mph and touches 97 with some armside run and carry. Flores barely utilizes his mid-80s changeup, which flashes some interesting tumble. The Kentucky recruit has a long arm action and effort in his delivery, which hampers his ability to throw strikes, let alone locate his offerings with much precision. He'll be an intriguing project for a team that believes in its ability to develop pitchers."
The Brewers' next selection will be 155th overall, in the fifth round.
Sean Episcope is from the Chicago area originally, but has spent his college career at Princeton. At 6'0, he throws from a higher slot than you would expect. After undergoing Tommy John Surgery his senior year of high school, he is dealing with another elbow injury currently that will likely keep him out for a while.
MLB Pipeline has Episcope ranked 215th overall, and their write-up discusses how he, "made 10 uneven starts as a freshman with the Tigers in 2024, but came out of the gate this year like gangbusters, with 26 strikeouts and just four walks in 20 innings, including a nine-strikeout, five-inning start at Wake Forest that opened a lot of eyes. But he came out of his fourth start with his biceps tingling, and it was eventually determined that he required another procedure, getting internal brace surgery in May."
They then dive into his interesting pitch mix, saying, "Episcope does have the pitch mix to potentially start when healthy. He was topping out at 97 mph with his fastball and averaging a touch over 94, while maintaining that velocity throughout his starts before he got shut down. He has two legitimate breaking balls, with a mid-80s gyro-like slider and more of a 12-to-6 power curve up to 82 mph that registered elite-level spin rates north of 3,000 rpm. Combined, the two breakers elicited a 60-percent miss rate over his four starts, according to Synergy. Episcope did an excellent job filling up the strike zone this spring, but given the lack of history on the mound and the multiple elbow procedures, it's a little more difficult to pinpoint where he belongs in a Draft class. Some thought he could go as high as the second round as a future starter had his success continued, while others see his size and injuries and see a reliever profile."
The Brewers' next selection will come in the sixth round, 185th overall.
While some Major League Baseball teams have transitioned to a direct-to-consumer model, the Milwaukee Brewers will stick with the regional sports network (RSN) model for at least one more season.
Adam McCalvy of MLB.com is reporting that the Milwaukee Brewers extended their agreement with Main Street Sports, which owns FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. This will be the Brewers' third season on the network.
While the product offered by MLB helps market fans avoid blackouts, RSN deals typically generate more revenue for teams. It's worth noting that there were plans for the team to be broadcast by MLB following the 2024 season before they reversed course and agreed to a deal with the network.
While it's unknown how long the deal will run, Rob Manfred has targeted 2028 as a date to make sweeping moves with baseball's local television contracts. It is unlikely this Brewers' contract goes beyond the 2027 season, at most.
Sentiment on X seems generally negative toward the announcement, specifically citing major issues with the app. What has your experience been with the network and its app?
In a recent roundup on MLB.com, early results on MLB television ratings were revealed. They include:
MLB on Fox is up 10%
MLB on ESPN is up 22%
MLB Tuesday on TBS is up 16%
Perhaps most importantly, it appears substantial gains are being made in the 18-34 age demographic, a decades-long weakness of Major League Baseball.
This is in sharp contrast to the World Series, which has been in decline for years and is often used as a benchmark for the overall popularity of the sport. I was able to find World Series ratings dating back to 1968, and until 2007 the World Series never carried a rating under 10. That slowly spiraled until it hit its low-water mark of 4.7 in 2023 as the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks squared off.
MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred have aggressively pushed rules changes, largely in an attempt to capture younger demographics that have abandoned baseball in favor of football and basketball.
Is baseball on the rebound with fans or is this just a blip on the radar?