Harold Hutchison

I've decided to put together an All-Star type roster for the Brewers farm system. This is a 30-man roster, and will be sorted out with a starting rotation, lineup, bench, and bullpen. CATCHERS: c: David Fry - A.961 OPS at Helena showing a very huge offensive bat, played a plurality of his games at catcher c: Jacob Nottingham - Bat came to life this year at Colorado Springs c: Payton Henry - Showing a 3TO bat STARTING POSITION PLAYERS: 1b: Jesus Chirinos - A .394 OBP in the DSL at 16 is very hard to ignore. Also can play catcher 2b: Keston Hiura - An outstanding hit tool that will be in Milwaukee for Opening Day 2020 ss: Bryce Turang - Small sample, but flashing some real potential 3b: Lucas Erceg - Showing signs of putting it together of: Troy Stokes, Jr. - Quietly has been the most consistent offensive performer in the Brewers system of: Corey Ray - It was a make or break year - and Ray broke out of: Tyrone Taylor - Bounced back from injury-plagues seasons and did so at AAA BENCH/UTILITY ut: Cooper Hummel - OBP near .400, .810 OPS, and plays OF, 1B, and C ut: Weston Wilson - Rebounded fom 2017 to post .752 OPS as of 9/2 and plays six positions of/1b: Ryan Aguilar - Quietly added power in 2018 to go with excellent OBP skills of: Tristen Lutz - First full season of pro ball required adjustments, but looks like a stud if: Dylan Moore - Played well in the IF if: Jake Hager - Did very well at AA/AAA ss/2b: Yeison Coca - A switch hitting speed merchant with some doubles and triples power ROTATION sp: Cam Roegner - Broke out big time in 2018 sp: Zach Brown - See Roegner sp: Trey Supak - Just a smidge behind Brown sp: Conor Harber - Rx: Just keep him in the rotation next year sp: Scott Sunitsch - Beats out Andy Ashby by a smidge for the #5 spot - allowed 1 HR all year. sp: Aaron Ashby - Struck out more than a batter an inning, but .353 BABIP is a question mark BULLPEN rp: Jon Olczak - 1.39 ERA, just shut teams down rp: Clayton Andrews - He's 5'6" and he'll put a team's lights out in the late innings rp: Quintin Torres-Costa - Also lights out. rp: Miguel Sanchez - He's the fourth-best reliever in the Brewers system - and he strikes out 13 batters every 9 IP. rp: Nate Griep - He has 34 saves, but is behind four other relief pitchers rp: Michael Mediavilla - Posted a 0.59 ERA. No, not a typo. rp: Jose Alberro - Made huge strides in control. Could be a fast riser with a 5.09 K/BB ratio Your thoughts?

I think that would be a good idea - if the Crew can keep Miley and/or Gonzales in the fold for 2019. He'll have option years. But to me, Peralta emerging with Woodruff as right-handed versions of Hader is not a bad thing, either.

My sense is the Brewers could get Miley back - arguably, Derek Johnson worked some magic, and the Crew did stand by him with the injury issues. That could buy some loyalty in return. He got almost $9 million in 2017, but that and 2016 were bad years, and 2018 had injuries. In any case, what would his likely deal be? I'd go with a Chase Anderson-type deal. Call it four years, $34 million. Gio Gonzales may take a one-year "show me deal," but I think a more solid approach would be a Chacin-like contract, only with team options, like the deal the Crew signed with Jeremy Jeffress.

I wonder if Woodruff's future is in the pen, as a right-handed version of Hader. Counsell's been talking about needing to manage innings for Hader after some interviews. If you have a rotation that could consist of a mix of five of the following: Gonzales, Nelson, Burnes, Anderson, Miley, Davies, Guerra, Freddy Peralta, and Chacin, that's a lot of spots. Yes, Davies and Nelson have health questions, but... imagine, if you will, that Woodruff and one of Guerra or Peralta join Hader in the pen. Now, this means Knebel, Barnes, and Taylor Williams likely get moved, but the Crew got a great return for Thornburg. Now, got a lead in the sixth, Counsell has two or three options besides Hader... The key isn't having one Andrew Miller - it's having two or three.

Top 5: Chacin, Miley (if re-signed), Davies (still relatively cheap), Anderson, Burnes Bubble: Nelson (health an issue - maybe 60-day DL and rehab?), Guerra, Wilkerson, Gonzales (if re-signed) Moved to pen: Peralta, Woodruff Out for season: Suter (2020?) Emerging from minors to AAA: Zach Brown, Trey Supak, Cam Roegner, Bubba Derby

Schoop is trending in the right direction after a rough start. The trend can be a friend. I'll take an .865 OPS at short any day of the week. Re-sign Moose, Schoop at short, Shaw at second, Jesus at first. Trade Arcia.

I can see the Crew trying to move: Albers Guerra Jennings Thompson Wilkerson Broxton I'd like to see them also try to ship out Arcia. In some cases, get some lottery tickets at the full-season A or rookie levels. Arcia might be useful for closer prospects (someone will overpay for web gems). But recharge the system a little. I know there are pending free agents, but I want Moose back, and go with Schoop at short and Shaw at second for the whole season.

2018 was, IMO, a make-or-break year, and Demi was in the middle. The only prospects I really don't like losing in the July-August deals are Meideiros and KJ Harrison. The former had put it together to a Hader-lite potential. The latter was arguably the best offensive prospect at catcher for the Crew. The rest... I'm not that upset about.

Nice when it's the other team's bullpen doing an impression of a baby seal in the Canadian arctic...

I have my eye on Hummel and Carroll to break out in 2019. Hummel as a Mickey Tettleton-type bat, Carroll as another Cirillo.

A big part of last year was to see where the young talent was. At the start, the intention was that 2017 was part of the rebuild, NOT a year to contend. The right move then was to see how much the young talent could do, both from the farm and what had been acquired. They obviously weren't quite there, and knowing the progress was far greater than expected, they made off-season moves. But in 2017, the Crew needed to know if Thames, Shaw, Villar, Aguilar, and others were real or if it was just a hot season. They got those answers in 2017. This year, they made the right moves for a team that needed a few final pieces.

Not even close. #41 viewtopic.php?f=64&t=37395 This is what he meant. I had KJ at 20 (before the Perrin trade, which happened after my ballot and before the Top 25 was posted, making him 19). I'd seen some regression from his Helena numbers to the Wisconsin, but his July and August were convincing me that was more an issue of him adjusting to his first full-season assignment in pro ball. I had David Fry and Cooper Hummel higher than Harrison, but considered Harrison to have the potential for a Lucroy-type bat once he'd adjusted to full-season ball. Nottingham was 26 on my list (pre-Perrin trade).

Keon Broxton is currently at Appleton...

Defense matters, though, especially at the catcher position. Feliciano is 19, and playing at High A. Might want to tap the brakes on benching him. I have a feeling there might be some development left in him. McDowell is 24, so its possible he might be more of a finished product. Hummel is 23, and at a level below McDowell, so age really isn't on his side either. Hummel, made the adjustment from rookie-ball (short-season) to full-season pro ball at Carolina last season, and improved his OPS by 116 points. We have a slightly smaller climb this season, but I'm feeling confident Hummel could make the jump to AAA. I think he's got a good approach. Maybe he needs to tweak his swing a little, the way Troy Stokes did.

I agree. Lara has been pretty horrible his whole minor league career, and Harrison wasn't going to stick as a catcher, and hasn't shown the bat for 1B. Both are very meh prospects. Harrison was making the adjustment to full-season after Rookie ball - the July and August numbers were enough that I'd have wanted to see more. I'd rather have seen Mario Feliciano go if the Nats wanted a catcher.

To add to my point - five players who have seen time in the system at catcher still with the Crew aside from Jake Nottingham (DL) and KJ Harrison (traded): A: .213/.291/.331 - .622 OPS B: .235/.325/.382 - .707 OPS C: .229/.329/.313 - .642 OPS D: .255/.391/.395 - .786 OPS E: .319/.413/.573 - .986 OPS A is Mario Feliciano B is Payton Henry C is Max McDowell D is Cooper Hummel E is David Fry Right now, I don't want to see Feliciano and McDowell getting ABs... they're black holes. Henry looks promising with the OBP skills and power to be a 3TO bat. Hummel and Fry, thoughm, are on a different level offensively. I'd rather give them the playing time.

I imagine it is a combination of things. First is opportunity cost. If you give more time to someone like Hummel (and you’d have to if they are that far away on defense) that is less time for others who have a better chance to stick at catcher like McDonald or Feliciano. Also it seems like the more time is spent focusing on defense for catching the more the offense stalls (see Nottingham’s down year or two or Harrison this year). If you think the chance of the defense coming around is slim, do you want to stall the offensive progress as well? Well, maybe if you have a good bat (a Cooper Hummel, a David Fry, or the since-traded KJ Harrison) maybe you don't sweat the defense so much. Henry Blanco was a black hole at catcher when he was with the Brewers, and they had a better option in Raul Casanova. Dave Nilsson was a good option behind the plate, but they went with Mike Matheny - and gave up about 150 points of OPS for at least three years. I've seen Jason Kendall, Johnny Estrada, Damian Miller, and Chad Moeller, among others, just be offensive black holes. I liked having an offensive threat like Lucroy there. I want Lucroy back, or the next Lucroy.

KJ was turning it around - we have Nottingham, Hummel, Henry, and Fry in the system still. HATE losing KJ...

If it sounds stupid but works, it ain't stupid.

Maybe Derek Johnson can figure something out for Gio... In D.J. and D.S. we trust...

Harrison is a looooong way off from being a legitimate catching prospect. With the emergence of Payton Henry, I think Harrison holds more value being brought up as a 1B. The Crew found Thames/Aguilar at first base from Korea and a waiver claim. When Yelich came up, he was a first baseman. I don't see the logic of giving up on KJ Harrison or Cooper Hummel as catchers at all. Honestly, Hummel, Harrison, Henry, and Fry could give th eBrewers some outstanding depth at catcher.

Two minor leaguers for one month of a total washed pitcher. Garbage. Last year, Gonzales had a sub-3.00 ERA. Probably a bit unluckier this year. Might be interesting to see if he comes back on a one or two-year "prove it" deal.

Two minor-leaguers...

Love Cooper Hummel's OBP skills! He's got a power bat, too!

I wonder if the Brewers should give Cooper Hummel more time behind the plate next season. His bat's really looking good, the OPS has climbed, and he's a switch hitter with good power. Might be a Mickey Tettleton type of player - and Tettleton put up some darn good numbers.