Brewers Minor League Link Report (5/20): Wilken Goes Yard Again; T-Rats Ride Garcia and Perez to Game One Win

Transactions:

• OF José Anderson was assigned to the Carolina Mudcats from the ACL Brewers
• C Ramón Rodríguez was placed on the 7-Day IL by the Biloxi Shuckers
• C Matthew Wood was assigned to the Biloxi Shuckers from the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
• C Marco Dinges was assigned to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers from the Carolina Mudcats
• RHP Jaron DeBerry was assigned to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers from the Carolina Mudcats
• RHP Aidan Maldonado was placed on the 7-Day IL by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Final: Biloxi 4, Knoxville (Cubs) 3

Via the Shuckers website, please be sure to click and read each of the affiliate write-ups as part of your season-long Link Report routine (believe me, it's worth it):

Spain's 3-RBI Night Leads Shuckers to 4-3 Win Over Smokies - Crow Earns First Win with 6.0 Strong Innings

Box Score / Game Log

Game Notes

Context is needed for this tilt back at the Biloxi Shuckers home ballpark. The wind was blowing steady at 18-19 mph with gusts up to 30 mph plus heading straight out to left field. RHP Coleman Crow suffered this fate when an 89 mph ‘line drive’ sailed over the LF fence for a long ball. You read that right: 89 mph. Yikes. Anything hit to right field, no matter how hard, suffered the fates of a smack down. Case and point:

Crow was working his cutter at 87-88 mph and his heater at 92-93 mph throughout. His patented hook was swooping and spinning and, tonight, he featured a heavy dose of a fast developing change up. It caught my eyes and Javik Blake made early mention - it's an intriguing offering. I continue to love what I see from Crow overall. He didn’t have the strikeout stuff on the evening but he certainly did more than enough to hold serve for the late Biloxi comeback: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 K, 0 BB, 1 HR. The majority of the pokes and contact came in the first two frames. He improved to 1-0 on his young season. He continues to be an arm to track given the early success we're seeing from RHP Logan Henderson at the MLB level.

Three Quick Strikes:

1) LHP Mark Manfredi is building and sustaining momentum. A series after I proclaimed he looked the best I’ve seen since early 2024, he pitched another scoreless frame. 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 R. It is a night and day difference April-to-May and I mean this in all the best of ways. After tonight’s shutdown inning, Manfredi sports a fantastic 1.35 ERA over 6 2/3 relief IP - 2 H, 3 BB, 9 K - in this ongoing month. He is giving up a paltry 0.095 BAA with a fabulous 0.75 WHIP to boot. This is what we all thought might be possible when he earned late inning work last season for the Timber Rattlers. We’re all rooting for you, Mark. Keep it going!

2) C Matt Wood had quite a nice debut in Double-A and it shows in the fringes and far reaches of the box score. Trust me: he played a really nice game behind the dish. 0-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K offensively doesn't catch your eye per se, but, he caught a runner stealing in the ninth frame and he ran down the final out up the third base line. We all miss Ramón Rodríguez (heal up, young man!) but it’s hard to complain about this type of work in a level up debut. The throw out at second base was massive and it was a heck of a pop and throw:

3) 3B Brock Wilken came into game one in a four game home run ‘drought’. We’ve grown so accustomed to nearly every game long balls in May, we all wondered if the heater up and in toward his face @ Montgomery had gotten to his head given what we witnessed in 2024. Well, enough of that:

I know Brewers fans everywhere are likely tracking the ongoing Wilken developments. We can only pray to the baseball gods he stays healthy and keeps finding new levels to his offensive approach. 

With the win, the Shuckers improved to 24-16 overall. They remain in first place atop the Southern League South division - 1.0 G ahead of second place Pensacola (23-17).

Final:  Wisconsin 7, South Bend (Cubs) 6 - Final/7 innings (rain)

Rattlers Beat South Bend and the Weather - Eduardo Garcia Drives in Four on a Chilly, Wet Night in Indiana

Box Score / Game Log

Game Notes

It's the beginning of a cellar dwellers series at South Bend. If we thought the T-Rats have been poor to kick off their 2025 season (they have been?), things are even worse in South Bend who fell to 10-30 overall with today's abbreviated loss. So, there is that. Rejoice!

The Timber Rattlers led 6-0 and then 2025 RHP Dikember Sanchez happened...again. I don't know of a more confounding and sobering story in the system than Sanchez's woeful season and regression at large. Sighs. RHP Patricio Aquino got the ball for his second consecutive start and his results were far far better this time around: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HB, 0 R. We can roll with that, young man. Back to Sanchez, after a clean fourth frame it all unraveled and came undone for him (as it has done on too many occasions in 2025) in the fifth frame. His final line reads 1.0 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 1 K, 1 HR (grand slam), 5 ER. He threw 40 pitches and threw 19 strikes. In 11 games over 11 2/3 IP, Sanchez is sporting a truly woeful 3.26 (!!) WHIP with a massive 16.20 ERA. I literally have no idea where we go from here - all arrows are pointing down.

Three Quick Strikes:

1) I can't quit RHP Yerlin Rodriguez. I just can't do it. Sure, he gave up the tying run when he spelled the mightily struggling Sanchez. BUT, Rodriguez also has the capacity to show out with filthy stuff and he came through to close this game out before the rains mercifully ended the game early. 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 ER, 1 5 K, 1 WP. He improved to 3-2 on his season. More importantly, over his last three outings he is sporting a 11:3 K:BB ratio over 6.0 IP. That is what I'm talking about. He has allowed a mere three pokes over that same span. His season WHIP may be 1.75, yes, but that is more due to his penchant for inexplicable blow up outings. Can he ever put it all together? I am sure the Brewers brass scratch their heads and wring their hands pondering the very same question.

2) CF Eduardo Garcia is quietly putting together a fairly solid season for the Timber Rattlers. It's fair to say Garcia's progression has been far from linear but he showed serious glimpses this past winter south of the border and he's beginning to show he can sit on off-speed mistakes:

It seems a foregone conclusion at this point, yes even at just 22 years of age, Garcia will always be strikeout prone - he still chases far too many off-speed pitches off the plate. But, there is still quite a bit of talent in this young man's game and an increasing amount of utilitarian diversity to his defensive game. 

3) Let's go one slot over on the outfield grass to discuss our other 22-year-old strikeout prone but equally intriguing talent in RF Hedbert Perez. With a 3-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR evening Perez flashed yet again. Perez is a very streaky player. Yet, his power and his swing are very very hard to quit. Maybe I'm a sucker for a lefty. Maybe I just love when a young man capitalizes on a hanging mistake.

None the less, we are ride or die in early 2025 with our boom-or-bust duo here. I was extremely happy to see both Perez and Garcia show out in a game one road tilt.

With the victory, the Timber Rattlers improved to 17-23 on their season. They remain in fourth place 7.5 GB first place Quad Cities (24-15).

Final: Fredericksburg (Nationals) 2,  Carolina 0

Mudcats Drop Series Opener at Fredericksburg 

Box Score / Game Log

This was the first time all season when I tuned into a Mudcats contest and thought to myself: "This very much looks like a Low-A baseball team." With Dinges promoted to High-A, with Payne shelved with injury, with Adamczewski shelved for nearly the entire month so far, and with Peña a late scratch we were witnessing a still very young but increasingly thin Mudcats squad facing the Nationals best pitching prospect in RHP Travis Sykora. Speaking of Sykora, he has allowed a mere four hits to the Mudcats in 24.0 IP in outings spanning 2024 and early 2025. It's very safe to say: the Mudcats continue to be completely outclassed here. Now, this being said, Sykora is likely pitching in Double-A as a Brewer. He is still working through the early rehab innings after off-season hip surgery. Much to the Mudcats misfortune, that doesn't mean much.

RHP Travis Smith may be giving up a 0.327 BAA, but I don’t begrudge the two infield singles he surrendered in the second frame. Both pokes were to the third base side. Both pokes were extremely tough plays for Filippo Di Turi. This being said, he gave up two runs in the fifth frame and that was a four hit inning. He's only walked six batters in 25.0 IP on his season but that's likely due to the fact he's leaving way too many pitches in hittable locations. Development is very much the name of Smith's game at present. I still see a young arm that can touch 95-96 mph on occasion (though he sits more 93 mph). I see a couple intriguing off-speed offerings. I see a raw ball of clay and a young player that simply needs to keep working. There's tools in the bag but there is little refinement at this stage of his career. In a game where the Mudcats were near victims to a perfect game all the way into the eighth frame and only broke up the no hit bid in the ninth frame, we'll leave it here.

The Mudcats fell to 26-13 on their season. They are 2.5 G ahead of second place Lynchburg (24-16).

Final (5/19):  ACL Brewers 5, ACL Royals 1
Game Log / Box Score

The ACL Brewers received standout pitching performances from two 2024 high school draft picks - RHP Jayden Dubanewicz (who got the start) and RHP Ethan Dorchies (who got the Save - his second of his season). Though Dubanewicz grabbed three of his first six outs via punch out, he did surrender the early second inning run after allowing a double and a triple. We had access to StatCast data throughout the evening tilt so we were able to get a decent idea of the quality of stuff from both young hurlers. It looked as though Dorchies had quite good spin and was fitting in and around the zone quite adeptly for an 18-year-old. Our very own @Terry gave us a look at some of the amalgamated stats via his twitter feed:

If you’d like to look through some of the many posts on the cumulative pitching performances from last night’s game thread, simply look through page one of the thread HERE. There are good insights throughout that first page. The young duo combined for 4 H, 2 BB, and 11 K with that lone run charged to Dubanewicz as alluded to above. Each young man was also credited with an illustrious not so coveted pitch clock violation. 

On the offensive side of things, RF Handelfry Encarnacion’s sixth inning grand slam was the difference. That was his second long ball of his season and his 13th RBI crossed when he touched home plate. Elsewhere, rehabbing 1B Tyler Black went 1-for-3 with 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 2B, and 1 CS. SS Jorge Quintana continues to heat up with a 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, and 1 SB evening. LF Jayden Fielder and 2B Juan Ortuno also collected pokes - Fielder with the double - while Ortuno stole a base and Fielder was caught stealing. The young Crew, with the win, improved to 10-3 on their season. They are tied atop their Central division with the ACL Angels. They'll pick things back up tomorrow night when they face the ACL Padres (4-9).

Wisconsin will be back at it, weather permitting, at South Bend for a late morning matinee. LHP Anthony Flores will be leaned on to make the start. Nashville will try to complete two 7-inning games for a twin billing. RHP Jacob Misiorowski will take game one with game two 'TBD'. Carolina, and their extremely thin pitching corps, is also 'TBD' at this juncture. RHP Alexander Cornielle will try to help the Shuckers take a 2-0 series lead.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting Brewers Minor League baseball.

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