biedergb

So I will make myself eat crow here. Going back to 2024 I really doubted Ashby's ability to be a major league pitcher And there was a whole thread on what is going with him too. But his relief appearances in late 2024 starting to show he could be effective, and obviously was key to 2025 and 2026. This year he was that Swiss army knife, as the opener, longer reliever in middle or late innings. But his playoff run so far has been so great. Obviously another series to go. But for Padres and Dodgers series he may have been the most important pitcher on the staff. Watching him last night (while it made me regret my comments in June 2024 although they were not wrong but premature as his starting adventure was just that adventurous), made me recall that 2018 draft, when we drafted Turang, Ashby and Rasmussen. That draft and moving forward has started the foundation the current team is built on - drafts with multiple MLB caliber players all providing key roles (as players or traded assets) year after year (well except 2019). I doubted you Aaron for that I am both wrong and grateful. Kudos.

I know it's still early but the AFL doesn't seem to have the same crazy offense as the past couple of years, or maybe the pitching quality is better? Again it's only 5 games, so that can change.

Good to see Jett getting some playing time, and this would seem to indicate that he is healthy enough to play.

A little late to the messages. Thank you all who have organized the minor league link report and daily threads. I rarely ever start a day without checking here. This year I wasn’t as able to watch games or post in the in game threads, but kudos to all of you who kept it active. I hope to have more time next spring/summer. A heart felt thanks to @Jim Goulart @Ro Mueller @Ben Lepak, Herculean effort, and Jim’s headlines remain a must read as well MLB playoffs and AFL await but not sure how much time I will have so I know I will watch (i hope) @Joseph Zarrand @Spencer Michaelis “2 hour” minor league reviews- my favorite 3 hour in depth for each minor league level each year. Cheers!

This makes me happy. Excited for young Mr. Cornielle.

Shucker did what they needed to got runners on base, with Wood a single up the middle, and Boeve with a dribbler that got him on base after a bitonti K. But O'Rae up 3-1 on the count strikes out and Payne down 0-2 battles back with 2-2 count a couple of foul balls but watches strike 3 down the middle. Dang it. Congrats Rocket City Geriatric Pandas .... sorry meant Trash Pandas (which isn't really a better name is it)

oh yeah that closer is 28 year old!! Crazy. The prior reliever is 24 but in his 3rd year in AA. In fact the Trash Pandas have 2 players under 23 (Nimmala and Scull), while the Shuckers are all 19-22 year olds with only Wood, Boeve, and Keith over 22. And Keith hits it deep to CF but it's just a loud out #3. Dang it.

Made with an incredibly at bat to draw a walk. Very nice. Now Fischer 0-3 with 3 Ks at bat. C'mon Andrew let's not go 0-4. Ok, a bloop single to right. That's a nice sign. Now their closer is in.

hmm. I don't konw if you need an account, maybe just create an account. Typically for the free game of day it is free. But I have an milb.com account so I'm not sure what to advise since I see all the games, sorry.

it should be free game of the day on milb

Rocket City bullpen has some good arms, so it will need a minor miracle to get Shuckers bats going here. Payne Ks. So there are only 5 more outs separating Rocket City from a championship.

biloxi gets on the board to make it 2-1 but now it's a 3-1 deficit now that BIrchard gives up a HR to uber prospect Nimmala

welp the offense is going to have to wake up here soon.

Well Torres doesn’t strike everyone out - 5 K and then Bitonti to Fischer. 7– win. There will be game 3

7-0 in the top of 9th. Gotta close it pit and get game 3 tomorrow. Let’s go shuckers

And Torres goes 1-2-3 with 3 Ks.

And Fischer adds 2 more RBI.

agree. OK. I am starting to feel better. Still bummed on the lack of success of Harrison/May/Senzatela. And the slow minor league pitching development. But your points are right and encouraging, still hasn't removed the disappointment I have. THanks

I hear you @sveumrules and I am not ignoring these things. But Stallings has been fine in the limited time here, and I was using Kuhnel as an example, along with McCullers, Woodford as types of pick up in years past we were able to develop a couple into serviceable outing. And yes Stalling has been fine but 6 appearnces and 2 of them in mop up games (our 20-0 blowout and another bad loss earlier I think), I would say that he is given some innings to save bullpen arms. In the minors, yes Hardin stats look good but has been uneven, Letson/Thompson have been hurt a fair bit, and Dubanewica/Dorchies are very young and fine numbers/peripherals but I don't think we can argue they broke out. I have been touting Mercedes and Torres as breakouts, and have to admit I fogot about them when posting this, along with Owens. I am not ready to point to the DSL crew yet (but yes Hoff/Sarmiento have been very good). But in years past I could rattle of a dozen pitchers who had truly break out seasons. This year in terms of truly great performances I will go wtih the 2 I posted about in Wagoner and Knoth, and add the ones I forgot in Owens/Torres/M. Mercedes. Also Mayorquin has been a surprise. But that is about it. Of course I have a lot belief that Letson/Thompson/Dubanewicz/Dorchies can be solid prospects but not quite the year we expected (partly due to health and partly due to whatever they did with that ball). But going back to the bigs, the "midas touch" that has seemingly been there since 2017 has not had the same impact this year. Again I am talking about the Priester of 2025, or the Jason Alexander of 2022, or the Montas of late 2024. We had a solid 2 months from Harrison, but Sproat really faltered. Gasser does not have Murphy trust. I am not trying to make too much of all this, as regression is expected, but the disappointments of Harrison/Sproat and then even McCullers or even Senzatela or May have not really provided much spark.

So serious question here - does anyone think that the brewers lost their “edge” in pitching development, or did the rest of the league start to adapt, or just reversion to the mean? I am not just picking on Harrison, but I recall back early in the season when we picked up Kuhnel and he was throwing triple digits, and the story was the brewers can turn anyone into a solid pitcher. But in the minors we had a lot (most) stall out due to injury or ineffectiveness (Letson seems oft injured and Thompson missed most of the year, while Hardin very up and down along with DeBerry). But in the bigs, Sproat is a mess, Harrison a 2-3 month wonder, and no real new breakthrough pitchers. In the past we turned waiver pick up or minor trades into Megill, Patrick, Koenig, and even got solid starts from Teheran, Montas among others. It seems the pitching we rely on this season are the ones we had in the past (uribe, Megill, Ashby, Patrick) and the key development was Henderson. Otherwise Kuhnel, McCullers, woodford did not make an impact, and zerpa injured and senzatela has been very up and down. In the minors Knoth and Wagoner have emerged but little more beyond those two. It had seemed for a decade the team can basically turn anyone into a competent pitcher (think Jason Alexander, or Adrian houser), and this year when an #3/#4 innings eating starter or a bullpen arm to complement Ashby/Uribe/Megill was needed they couldn’t replicate the successes of prior seasons.

once again love the title, Mass Let's see if Gordon can string together another solid start to close out the year. His last 4-5 starts have been solid/decent, although not spectacular.

from what I watched (mostly in 2024-2025) he is absolutely a catcher. His offense and age limited his ceiling, but I still see him as the most likely to be a back up or at worst 3rd catcher on a good MLB club. I think his floor is Payton Henry, but ceiling could be a Manny Pina, not truly in terms of talent/strengths/etc but in terms of a AAAA #3 catcher to a solid back up and occasional starter as the range.

Wow that is depressing and worse than I had imagined. Hard to read the names of players that we follow closely here (Moneys and Fenelon) specifically named. I do wonder if the academy the brewers have is a help - not beforehand as MLB and the owners and GMs are clearly fine looking the other way - but the despair and depression one could get from being used. Could the academy help them through what feels like a 'curse'.. Maybe too rose colored glasses that the Brewers are helping these kids out the right way, but certainly that could be an edge, if you can focus on the sport you love and not feel like every future deal is a losing proposition. Anyway, nice link, good (and long) read, and very sad, but given the state of a lot of the world not surprising ... won't go into any tangents here.

and it is not lost on me that as of last time I checked Craig Yoho was playing very well for Cleveland.

Yeah not sure if Sproat is all mental (like he is afraid to trust his stuff), or mechanical somehow. He just cannot locate Harrison seems to be major mental, but as had been written about he has a different arm angle and reduced velo. He reminds me of Eric Lauer in his 2021 break out when he was on he was great, but very small margin.