Brewers Minor League Observations: Anthony Seigler is No Longer Switch Hitting, and Ethan Dorchies Makes His Low-A Debut

We're back for another week of farm system observations. This week, we cover two pitchers seemingly flying under the radar and a position player who's made a major adjustment, while knocking on the door of the big leagues.

All statistics are season-long unless otherwise noted
Anthony Seigler - UTIL - Nashville Sounds: 245 PA, 149 wRC+, 19.6 K%, 18.4 BB%, 7 HR
Seigler was signed as a minor-league free agent this past offseason. Drafted in the first round by the Yankees in 2018 as a catcher. He's a switch-hitter, who also throws with both arms. He moved to second base for the Yankees in 2024 and had a bit of an offensive breakout, which has continued into 2025 with the Nashville Sounds. The Brewers have used him at both catcher and second base this season and, more recently, have mixed in some time at third base.

Seigler has been hitting the ball well all season and was featured as the second-best hitter in the system for May. You can read more about his hitting ability in that article. However, something notable happened with Seigler at the plate this week that was not discussed in the article from earlier this month. It came to the forefront on one of his two game-winning hits over the weekend. 

I mentioned in the opening paragraph that Seigler is a switch-hitter. But did you notice that the second game-winning hit came against a left-handed pitcher, while Seigler also hit lefty? That is a new development for him. He has five plate appearances as a left-handed hitter against a left-handed pitcher. He had only one such plate appearance in the first six seasons of his professional career. 

Looking at his splits this season, Seigler is slashing .325/.455/.569 for a 1.024 OPS in 202 plate appearances as a left-handed hitter against right-handed pitchers. In 38 plate appearances as a right-handed hitter, he has posted a line of .097/.263/.097, for a paltry .360 OPS. While he's been better than ever from the left side, the right-handed numbers are not abnormal throughout his career. He has long struggled as a righty bat.

Just watching the quality of the at-bats in lefty-lefty matchups, I like the change and hope he commits to it fully. Despite being a switch-hitter, Seigler was likely to be a platoon-only option. As backward as the logic feels, if he's more comfortable in same-handed matchups, he might become less platoon-dependent if he only hits left-handed.

Caleb Durbin has been performing much better lately, allowing Seigler to continue working on things in Triple-A. Continuing to get reps at third base and potentially getting more opportunities to face lefty arms as a lefty bat could help him be more well-equipped for his eventual MLB debut.

Ethan Dorchies - RHP - Carolina Mudcats: 32.2 IP, 2.20 ERA, 2.82 FIP, 31.5 K%, 6.9 BB%, 27.3 Whiff% (Whiff% in Low-A only)
Another 18-year-old, Dorchies was the Brewers' 10th-round selection in the 2024 draft out of Cary-Grove High School in Illinois. He spent the first month of his professional career in the Arizona Complex League, posting dominant numbers over 27 innings spanning six appearances (three starts). He was recently promoted to Low-A and made two appearances this week, finally allowing me to get eyes on full outings rather than highlights.

Let me start by saying that Dorchies absolutely looks the part. He stands six feet, five inches, and weighs 215 pounds. He has filled out well already but likely still has some body projection left at his height. That's exciting, because his fastball is already touching 95 MPH and sitting in the 91-93 range. 

Dorchies pitched in one game in the ACL with Statcast data, which means we know more than just his velocity on the pitch. We also know he generates nearly seven feet of extension and can get 15-17 inches of vertical break on the pitch, from a relatively low release height of 5-foot-6. You could see how the fastball can jump on hitters on Sunday, as he used it to generate two of his six strikeouts by going up with the pitch. With a jump in velocity, it could border on being a plus offering.

Dorchies has a five-pitch mix, mixing in a cutter and a sinker, meaning he has the three-fastball mix that the Brewers covet. The sinker is thrown at a similar velocity to the four-seam, generating nearly 10 more inches of run than the four-seam and around 10 inches less induced vertical break. They do not blend together. His cutter is thrown in the 87-89 MPH range, again separating well from the other fastballs. He uses the cutter more than the sinker at the moment, and has shown an ability to command it to both sides of the plate early on. One of his strikeouts on Sunday came via a backdoor cutter.

His offspeed portfolio consists of a shorter sweeper that can sometimes look more like a slurve. He throws this in the low to mid-80s and uses it mainly to get chases away from right-handed hitters. It's possible he's trying to throw different types of breaking balls, but I believe it's an inconsistent slider or sweeper shape.

I mentioned it's a five-pitch mix and am saving the best for last. His splitter is in a similar velocity band to his breaking ball, but it looks like a potential plus pitch. He kills the spin on the pitch extremely well, and it has late and sharp depth to it. He's looked comfortable throwing it as an out pitch against hitters from both sides of the plate. He recorded two strikeouts with the splitter on Sunday.

The Brewers and area scout Ginger Poulson got a steal in the 10th round, signing Dorchies for $162,500 out of high school, below the slot value of $180,400. Like Hernandez, Dorchies shows an impressive understanding of his pitches and attacks the strike zone. With his build, pitch mix, and early ability to attack the zone, it is easy to imagine a future number four starter. If he can add some velocity and continue developing the breaking ball, he could eventually be considered more of a middle-of-the-rotation arm. 

Melvin Hernandez - RHP - Carolina Mudcats: 63.2 IP, 2.40 ERA, 3.41 FIP, 18.7 K%, 5.0 BB%, 25.8 Whiff%
Signed out of Nicaragua in 2023, Hernandez spent his first season in the DSL, moving to the Arizona Complex League in 2024 as a 17-year-old, even getting a short, six-inning cup of coffee in Low-A at the end of the season. Currently 18, Hernandez has gotten off to an awfully impressive start in his return to Carolina this year.

I have been able to tune in for most of Hernandez's starts this year, but this past Friday was probably his best yet. In that start, he threw six shutout innings, with eight strikeouts and no walks, while only allowing four hits. Hernandez showed off his elite strike-throwing ability while using his full repertoire, headlined by his impressive changeup. One of his strongest suits is his ability to command all four (or five) pitches.

The changeup is thrown in the 80 MPH range, with a lot of depth and fade to his arm side. It's his go-to pitch for generating whiffs against left-handed hitters, but he is also very comfortable throwing it against righties. The velocity difference between his fastballs and changeup is around 10 MPH, and he appears to tunnel it well with the fastballs.

Hernandez throws a sinker as his primary fastball, sitting in the 88-90 range and getting up to 92 MPH. His heavy use of the pitch is a big reason for his above-average 55% groundball rate. His four-seam is mixed in more rarely, getting up to 93 and sitting around 90-91. He uses the four-seam at the top of the zone or above, often throwing it with two strikes. Some pitches have the appearance of cutting, but I have yet to figure out if they are actual cutters or if he is simply cutting his four-seam a bit.

His curveball is thrown in the mid-70s and offers a nice counter to his changeup. He uses it much more often against right-handed hitters but has also shown an ability to land the curveball against left-handed hitters. It's probably his worst pitch presently, but it projects to be a fringe-average pitch.

At only 18 years old, Hernandez shows an extremely impressive command of his repertoire. His frame shows the potential for added strength, which could help him add some much-needed velocity to his fastball. That velocity is one of the few things holding him back from being a legitimate prospect worthy of getting votes in the Brewer Fanatic Top 20. If he can sit around 92-94 MPH with his fastballs, there would be the potential for a Logan Henderson lite profile with Hernandez.

That's all I've got for this week; let us know what you think in the replies!

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