Brewers Minor League Link Report (8/18): DSL Brewers Sweep a Pair from Royals on Penultimate Day of the Season

Transactions:  Milwaukee Brewers recalled RHP Chad Patrick from Nashville Sounds.

                          Milwaukee Brewers optioned 3B Tyler Black to Nashville Sounds.

 Game Action:

Final: DSL Brewers Blue 6, DSL Royals Fortuna 3

Box Score

The DSL Brewers Blue overcame a first inning one-run deficit with rallies in the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings to beat the Royals 6-3 on Monday in a seven inning affair. Frandy Lafond supplied the big blast of the game with a two-run homer in the fourth, which came after Sharlisson De La Rosa had socked a RBI triple. Lafond was the only Brewer with multiple hits in the game.

Here’s some footage of Lafond in action from last August:

The other three runs scored by the Brewers came on an RBI ground out, a botched pick-off, and a wild pitch.

Josue Toledo worked 5IP with 9H, 2R, 0BB, and 5K to earn his second win of the season. Lenin Mendez worked a perfect seventh with two strikeouts to earn the save.

Final: DSL Brewers Gold 5, DSL Royals Ventura 4

Box Score

The DSL Brewers Gold also fell behind in the first inning, this time a two run deficit, before rallying back and eventually holding off the playoff-bound Royals Ventura squad by the score of 5-4. Three Brewers accounted for eight of the Brewers’ ten hits. Leadoff man Kenny Fenelon had two hits and two runs scored. Shortstop Cristian Montilla followed Fenelon in the lineup with three hits and two RBI. Alexander Frias stayed hot with two singles, an RBI and a steal. Frias now has a 1.075 OPS in 46 plate appearances in August. Spencer had some highlights of Frias on his X account:

Elsewhere around the affiliates:

The Carolina Mudcats had an up and down week, as they took three of seven games at Fayetteville with the three wins sandwiched around a four game losing streak that included a 20-3 loss on Friday. Carolina still holds a one game lead in the second half standings despite the losing week, as they head to Salem to take on the Red Sox affiliate.

Josh Adamczewski continued to swing a hot bat for the Mudcats, going eight for 18 last week, with seven walks, good for a 1.211 OPS on the week. Josiah Ragsdale, a 2025 seventh round pick, made his debut in Carolina last week and collected three hits, four walks, and two steals in his first five games.  

On the mound, Melvin Hernandez continued to dominate with five more scoreless innings last week, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out six. The 19 year-old Hernandez has to be one of the front runners for Brewers’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year with his sterling 2.27 ERA in 103 IP this season. Jayden Dubanewicz took a tough loss last week, as his own throwing error cost him the only (unearned) run in his four inning appearance last week. Dubanewicz has really blossomed in his first year of pro ball, and is now sporting a 1.76 ERA in 46 innings at Carolina after an early promotion from the ACL.

In Appleton, the Timber Rattlers started the week with a lot of buzz, with the High A home debuts for top prospects Jesus Made and Luis Pena, as well as the debut of 2025 first round pick Andrew Fischer. In addition, catching prospect Marco Dinges recently returned to give the Rattlers an imposing top four in the lineup. Unfortunately, after winning two of three to start the week, the weekend ended with a thud as the Rattlers dropped the final three games of the series. Wisconsin will travel to Beloit this week to take on the Sky Carp, who are in first place in the second half standings.

Made absolutely dominated the week, looking like the best player on the team while collecting 11 hits in six games for a 1.227 OPS for the week. He’s also riding a nine game hit streak at the moment:

Fischer looked comfortable in his debut with five hits, three RBI and three steals in four games. Pena supplied some power for Wisconsin, socking two bombs and driving in seven runs, though he did strike out eight times in four games.

You can find the weekly Rattler pod here:

In AA ball, Biloxi and Columbus had a wild series that made the Brewers-Reds series tame by comparison by combining for 88 runs in the six game series, with the teams splitting the series. Five Shuckers – Cooper Pratt (1.395), Blake Burke (1.254), Luis Lara (1.233), Matthew Wood (1.139) and Garrett Spain (1.080) had OPS over 1.000 for the week. Pratt had three homers last week to give him eight on the season and he also knocked in eight runs, which was second to Wood’s nine RBIs for the week. Check out one of Pratt’s homers and his Tuesday walk-off hit here:

Burke clubbed two more homers to give him four in 14 games at Biloxi after just five homeruns in 95 games with Wisconsin. Here’s an oppo taco to start your Tuesday:

Jaron DeBerry was one of the lone bright spots for a Biloxi run prevention unit that allowed 39 runs in six games last week. DeBerry made two starts and worked 11IP with a 13:2 K:BB ratio with four runs allowed.

The Shuckers host Chattanooga this week.

Finally at AAA, the Nashville Sounds split their six games with Durham last week. Catcher Jeferson Quero led the way for the Sounds’ offense with eight hits, two homers, and nine RBI in the week. For August, Quero has a 1.325 OPS in 30 plate appearances. One of Quero’s homers last week might have flown over the bull:

The rehabbing Jake Bauers hit homers in first two games at Nashville last week. Unless the Brewers want to option down Anthony Seigler, Bauers may have to wait until September 1 to get the call back to the major league club.

The big development on the bump for Nashville was the AAA debut of Tate Kuehner last week. Kuehner took a tough luck loss last week as he worked into the sixth inning scoreless before allowing a solo homerun for his only run allowed. At this point, Kuehner may be the front runner for Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the year with 2.46 ERA in 106IP across two levels. Kuehner’s 116 strikeouts are the most across all Brewers’ minor league pitchers who have not pitched at the MLB level this year.

The Sounds host the Louisville Bats this week as both teams are mired in the middle of the pack in the International League standings.

On a personal note...

This might be my last minor league link report for the season, with no more DSL games to recap, and no other minor league games played on Mondays. Unless one of the regular minor leaguers writers need a long reliever, I'll make like 2006 Chorizo and hit the Mexican Leagues for more seasoning. 🤪 I just wanted to say that I appreciate everyone who read these reports, or gave feedback in the comments. Thanks for being part of my rookie season on Brewers Fanatic.

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