Brewers News: Simulated Games, Simulated Panic, and Real Promise at Third Base

The biggest headlines of the day might have been made before the official game was even played, as top arms Aaron Ashby and Jacob Misiorowski threw simulated games on the back fields. Ashby struggled to get chases against the backfoot curveball that remains a crucial part of his arsenal against right-handed batters, but did show some feel for a strike-to-ball version of his slider. Most importantly, his stuff looked lively and induced contact mostly on the ground.

"Strikes," manager Pat Murphy said, when asked what he wanted to see from Ashby. "Hopefully the stuff will continue to get better, and be around the zone." When Ashby did pitch, Murphy set up just to the third-base side of home plate, behind the chain-link backstop: he was much more concerned with seeing his young lefty compete and pitch with intention than in zeroing in on mechanical cues. Those boxes will be checked another day. Monday was just a step along the path back to the team's starting rotation.

As expected, Misiorowski showed an explosive fastball, but command eluded him in his brief outing. He's still finding his way to mechanical consistency on the mound, and a few deliveries ended with him falling off the mound in fairly unbalanced fashion, but he continued to work on his secondary offerings and impressed spectators with the power of his arm.

He isn’t ready to step into an MLB rotation (or even a pen, in any kind of leveraged spot), but #Brewers Jacob Misiorowski shows you how zesty the stuff can be every time he toes the rubber. (Please enjoy my expansion on the Grainy Video genre, whereby you also get motion sick.) pic.twitter.com/uGx64FaRBm

— Matthew Trueblood (@MATrueblood) February 26, 2024

Full Panic, Every Day
Though he wasn't called upon to perform or otherwise put himself out there in Monday morning's team meeting, Abner Uribe is going to be in the spotlight whenever Murphy can manage it--whether the hurler is comfortable with the attention or not.

"Abner's gonna be on every assignment in there," Murphy said. "He's involved in it. So, hes panicked. We've gotta prepare him for that role, right? Full panic every day."

That's the only way, in spring training, for the new skipper to reliably prepare his least experienced relief ace for the regular season, and the pressure and intensity of each contest. When Uribe entered in the top of the third inning of a scoreless game Monday, the cool Arizona day and small, languid Maryvale crowd didn't exactly force an adrenaline spike. Uribe packed his own panic, instead, giving up two runs on three hits (though only one was hit especially hard) in an inning of work. He didn't record a strikeout.

Four-plus weeks out from Opening Day, though, Uribe has plenty of time to learn the art of controlled panic. Murphy clearly has an action plan to ensure that that happens on schedule.

Elvis Peguero and the Gloveside Sinker
Unlike Uribe, the journeyman Peguero gave the Brewers a scoreless frame Monday, striking out two and allowing just one baserunner (via walk). A couple of sinkers that got down and in on left-handed Reds hitter Will Benson were of special interest.

Typically, pitchers in the modern game are coached to pitch according to the natural movement patterns of their offerings. Cutters and sliders are usually thrown to the glove side of the plate (away from a same-handed batter, in on an opposite-handed one), whereas sinkers and changeups usually work to the arm side. Peguero's success with a couple of gloveside sinkers was intriguing, because it jibes with what happened when he pitched there with that offering last season.

Over half the inside sinkers Peguero threw against lefty batters last season missed the zone for a ball. When he hit his spot with the pitch, though, he got tremendous results: no hits, very little hard contact, and a good number of called strikes. 

Given Peguero's repertoire (exclusively sinkers and sliders, in roughly equal mixture), he's an unlikely arm for the job of getting out left-handed batters. If he can start locating that sinker on the inner edge against them, though, he could force them to cover the whole plate and set up his breaking ball for better results. It's an important ingredient in the stew, if Peguero wants to play a big role in the Crew's excellent bullpen in 2024.

A Sal Frelick at Third Base Update
There's no reason not to update you on the looks we're getting at Frelick's play at the hot corner on a daily basis, at least when he's slotted in there. The updates might get repetitive in a hurry, though, because he looks... fine. He looks normal and solid at the hot corner. The ball only found him once Monday, but he deftly picked a ball to his left and quickly fed second baseman Andruw Monasterio to start a 5-4-3 double play.

Frelick's pre-pitch actions are a little less athletic and a little less seasoned than those of an old hand at the spot, and he looked slightly awkward on a relay play later in the game, but it wasn't his fault and there was no base or opportunity to record an out lost in the process. More tests loom, but Frelick moves well enough and looks comfortable enough to play the infield often in big-league games, even when they count. That count be a transformative development for the Brewers.