Samurai Bucky

They were on the floor for a total of 79 minutes together. Middleton was not reliable this year because of his health. However, when they were on the floor, they were the most effective:

IIRC, he was doing pretty well (perhaps even raking...). I was watching when it happened and said, "What the <world> is with that tarp?"

Got it in my late 40's. Got the vaccine right away after turning 50. Nothing since (phew).

Yup... I'm a hitting nerd. I get geeked up about head placement, foot timing, etc. Well, Baseball Savant is now offering four new metrics: Swing Path (Tilt) Attack Angle Ideal Attack Angle Attack Direction All of the info is here: https://www.mlb.com/news/new-statcast-swing-metrics-2025 They highlight attack direction and look who is on the list of the top oppo-direction swings: The most oppo-oriented swings in 2025 11° Brice Turang 8° Rafael Devers 8° Gabriel Moreno 8° Nathaniel Lowe 7° Jackson Holliday 7° Christian Yelich 7° William Contreras Three Brewers. Hmmmm...

Looking at the article about Hoskins' turnaround, I am seriously wondering how much coaching they are doing. Why do the players need to figure things out by themselves?

Thank you for writing the article. I had noticed the small toe touch recently. My question is -- is this something the hitting coaches should notice, or are they trying to figure it out themselves? I'm guessing that if there is something the coaches have been teaching it would be leaning back more to get lift on the ball. If you look at many of the stances, they are starting out with a lot of weight on the back foot reducing the load, but generating more forward momentum when they attack the ball. That would explain why the Brewers have been off in regards to their timing. If you look at the two swings, by toe touching in the second video, it give Hoskins the opportunity to stop his head and fix his eyes. This allows him to react better by not introduce two different moving things (ball and head / eyes). If somebody is struggling, quieting things down, like Hoskins has, is a great start.

Many thanks for the explanation!

Any idea why it isn't Misiorowski?

Let's not forget that he made the decision after Stephen Vogt was hired by Cleveland. Vogt would have fit in well in Milwaukee and Counsell dragged his feet just enough. Maybe it was to make sure Murphy got the job... I don't know. He strung the club along... along with the fan base. I could understand why he did it. If he wouldn't have been a dick about it and didn't go to the Cubs, I wouldn't have as much animosity.

I wonder if other teams mention that on their postgame shows after beating the Brewers?

I was there, too. Our family of six went, so one could say the cribbage boards were very expensive. One thing that I really don't like to see is bad baseball. What I saw last night was bad baseball. Bauers' two plays were trash. I don't care if he's, "Not a left fielder." If he shouldn't be in left, then that is on the manager and/or the ownership. On the other hand, there is so much talent in the minors that a dozen guys can come up and fill the gap, right? Ortiz on the defensive end was good. The one play where he didn't come up with the diving play to his left would have been a ++ (plus-plus) play in any book. Too bad he didn't come up with it. He is still stuck in that wet paper bag that he can't hit out of. Frelick -- what a play on the dive. Too bad he didn't keep his glove on. Then he comes up and hoses the runner out at home. Unfortunately, he was in the same paper bag as Ortiz. Yesterday's poor hitting was probably more to do with Lopez pitching well. Yeah... but I think the Brewers should have done better hitting. I am not a fan of the leg kick if people are not squaring up the ball and are not on time. I think Chourio was the only one to make some type of adjustment. I called the sinker on the first pitch of the at bat. Chourio hits a frozen rope at 107mph that was caught. Keep your head steady -- that can be done with a leg kick (or toe touch, or heel lift...). Freddy is the ace. Hopefully he does what an ace does today.

Please don't tell us about the dreams where you are naked... 😉

My bad. I went to the MLB site and posted that link and since it didn’t show up as embedded, so I found the first thing on Twitter. My mistake.

Hyde out as manager of the Orioles:

@Jake McKibbin Spot on! Another clear sign he has been trying to swing harder is to look at the position of his hands after the swing. In the three examples you provided, his hands finish almost behind him with the letters of his jersey facing the dugout. He tries to keep his head in there, but it is tough when torquing the core so much. In his dinger against the Guardians, he seems much more under control. I don't know how to embed videos, but here is crude picture from the YouTube highlights: He is much more balanced -- hands in a good finishing position and his head is in a great posiition. It might be because it is a two strike count where we would expect him to be more balanced vs. strike zero and strike one. If he could meet somewhere in the middle on strike zero or strike one, that would be great. All I know is he seems to be driving the ball better.

Maybe he was planning on being a politician? 😉

I have had those too. LOL. Of course, I have had one where I am going to watch the football game at Camp Randall, and then somebody says, "Oh, there you are! Did you learn the (halftime) show?"

I am probably a little hyperbolic, but if we are not doing well in mid-May, then there seems to be many who say, "Blow it up! Get as many prospects as you can." I would want to trade Peralta for the right reason. If he was at the end of his contract and the Brewers would have to pay a huge amount of cash, then I think it would be a good idea to move him. If we are moving him simply because we need to get prospects and rebuild, then I do not agree with that. I am not saying prospects have no value. What I am saying is that just because we get prospects doesn't mean they are necessarily going to equate to something at the MLB level. There is a bit of a gamble. In regards to the Adam Lind for Peralta -- that worked out well. Some do, some don't. I have seen plenty of articles on how trading for a particular prospect yielded good things two, three, or four generations (trade-speaking) down the road. When Lucroy was traded, they had Martin Maldonado and Manny Pina behind him (Maldonado couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag that year). Also, the trade was done at the beginning of August, so the Brewers had thrown in the towel -- finishing fourth. My (probably incorrect assumption) is that people want to get many prospects because in 2, 3, or 4 years they will be contributing to the big club. I can't agree that is always the case. Perhaps my apprehension towards blowing it up is that the margin is so small for the Brewers. I have lived through the Brewers crappy period after '82, the Badger football team being terrible in the 70's, the Packers being abysmal, and the Bucks not making the playoffs after Ray Allen and Big Dog left. So, I'm on board toward trading veterans for the right reason. Simply trading veterans to get prospects -- not so much. If they can pull it off and stay in the playoff hunt (almost) every year, then I'll be on board.

I will follow along -- 🤣 I was in the band, so taking Mike's (Leckrone) Legendary Performers and Big Bands were pretty easy. I took the Orchestra one, too. A little tougher. I remember a lot of people talking about Clap for Credit, but I never took it. It took a turn when they required kids to scan their id. LOL!

When we look at the Yelich or Contreras trades, what was one thing that the Brewers did? They traded... wait for it... prospects! We traded Ruiz to get Contreras (yes... that was a bit of an anomaly). Yelich? They traded Brinson, Isan Diaz, Monte Harrison, and Jordan Yamamoto. Those are two of the best trades in club history, but the thing they have in common is they were willing to trade prospects. I look at the Hader trade for example: Yes, Ruiz was used to get Contreras. Gasser was doing well butt they he got hurt. So he is not contributing to the club. What is the turnaround for a prospect? 3, 4, 8 years before it is considered good? Taylor Rogers and Lamet? What are they doing now? Look at the needs -- they need somebody who is going to contribute at the MLB level on the left side of the infield. I like the article on Bo Bichette that was posted last week. He is a big piece of the Blue Jay roster, so the Brewers would have to give up some decent prospects. Wait... we should really try to get him with a case of Spotted Cow and a sack of potatoes because they shouldn't give up their prospects. Hey, why don't we trade all of the quality MLB-ready players? Then the Brewers can have one of the top farm systems and be able to field one of the best AAA-level teams at American Family field. We all know that every prospect pans out because they rake at Nashville or Biloxi.

My son had a few sessions with Justin Stone, the current director of hitting with the Cubs, before he took the job with the Cubs. I was extremely impressed. I equate his technique to be similar to the "pitching lab" the Brewers have (from my limited understanding). Of course, I think a lot of teams are now using the same type of tools.

A little off topic, but I wanted to mention something about Rhys... We were at the game vs. the Cubs last Sunday. Before Sunday games, they have kids wait for the players at their position. When the players come out, they sign a ball for the kids, chat with them, etc. When I was learning how to coach little kids (aged 4-8 or something like that) in soccer (I had never coached anyone that young), I was told to get down to their level to talk to them. It makes the kids feel more comfortable. Hoskins was the only Brewers player to do that. He might have gotten some dirt on his knee 😉. I know it probably isn't much, but he earned a lot of respect from this Samurai. I am sincerely pulling for him and hope he feels the love in Milwaukee. Back on topic in 3... 2... 1.

Rhys Hoskins is quietly doing well. BA is the highest it has been in his career, I think. His OPS is not as good as it could be. Could use a few more homers. The offense has been abysmal all around. You need to have some type of production out of the left side of your infield (a war of -1.1 and -.2 isn't going to cut it). Oh... and add a -.5 and -.3 for their replacements.

Finished up The Agency with Michael Fassbender. I thought it was pretty good. Reacher Season 3 was ok. Sort of the same old same old. Almost done with Night Agent Season 2. Perhaps Daredevil and Andor next...?