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Man Reyes cannot find the zone. I mean not close. 35 pitches and only 11 runs. Good news - no hits. Bad news only got one out. Awful news - and 2 runs on 6 walks. Lamghorne in now in a tied game. Still 0 outs

25 pitches and only 8 strikes. Reyes is struggling if time. And a pitch clock violation. Bases loaded, no out, Kannapolis top hitters up and it’s 3-0 count. Reyes is not doing it tonight. Can’t find the zone. And he walks in the run. 28 pitches and only 8 strikes, ugh.

Let’s put in a position player. Reyes had 9 pitches in the 7th and 8 balls. Two on, no out 4-2 lead. Reyes is not sharp. 20 pitches only 7 strikes. Yikes meanwhile TRats trying to rally. Wood 2-run double. 7-4 deficit

Mikey Kane - position player pitching for Kannapolis. Eephus pitches. Bitonti with a solid grounder hit. DiTuri grounds out. Then Nadal swings and misses an eephus begore he pops out. Then Walling swings and misses three eephus pitches. Oh embarrassing. Now wait it’s a foul. He gets another chance but called strike 3. Top of zone if your head is the top of the zone. And walling is ejected. That’s crazy. Position player in a close game and gets 4 key outs. Oof

Reyes induced a grounder to 2nd. Mudcats still up 4-2 on to the 7th and hopefully last inning. BUT Yerlin - 3 walks, 2 hits and a WP. And it’s a 7-4 deficit . 29 pitches and only 12 strikes.

And the Yerlin and Reyes combo not working. Yerlin had given up 2 runs Reyes walks his batter and then a WP and it’s now only a 4-2 lead. Reyes has runners on 2nd/3rd. Ugh

Yerlin in for the TRats. An out and a single. Trying to keep it a 2 run deficit. Hernandez gets an out ,and a slow roller up third and Nadal,can’t make the throw needed and it’s an infield single, then a K and then a walk and Hernandez is out. Looks like Reyes is in

A 4 pitch walk to Payne and then Dinges flies out. Bottom 6 for Kannapolis and Hernandez still in for Carolina Mudcats still up 4-1

Ok. Old friend Morris Austin in for Kannapolis pitching against Carolina. Cats get the bases loaded and a 3 run double by Tyler Rodriguez Meanwhule in Peoria Hardin goes out for the 6th. And gets a quick out. Then a strike out, and a beautiful pitch on 2-2 count and Hardin and catcher start to walk away when they realize it’s not called a strike. Next pitch grounder for an out and it’s end of inning. Now he’s probably done after 6, right? Back in kannapolis and Austin Ks Made - his third K tonight And Austin is out and a position player is in to pitch in the 6th inning of a 3-1 game. Wow EDiT - sorry 4-1 game, mudacts lead

Haven’t seen the other innings but Hardin getting hit in the 5th. Soft hit to left that becomes a double. Well struck ball to Burke and the out at first. Then a well struck single to center, then a ball hit hard to RF just shy of a HR and it’s a triple with the batter out at home. Then a very nice play be Areinamo at 3rd and it’s end of inning but 4-2 deficit now. Hardin may be done at 5 IP and 82 pitches

And McGee gets the out. So 6.2 scoreless innings for Miz. Atta boy Jacob Hardin has a good if not great start for Wisconsin in Peoria. Tie game now 2-2

Misiorowski. 100 mph in the 7th on pitch 95. Still trying to get him thru 7. 3-1 on the batter… ‘and ball 4. Shoot. First walk of the game , and he’s out of the game. And he wasn’t happy at first which I love to see. Then comes off the field all smiles. holy heck 99 pitches, 11K and 1 Bb and 2 hits. And 1 hit and the walk happened in the 7th with pitches 90+ That is a solid outing. I think he’s had a good outing or two recently 😉

Mercedes was a late 2024 signing - I saw him mentioned in the BA 2024 IFA class review, but very little else on him. But looks like someone who could be a good pick up. He was signed in March 2024, for a reported $50k. FYI

Losing their fans- no. I think this is a pretty resilient fan base. Fan base attention? Sure to some degree, as the team has not grabbed the reigns and competes with the Cubs who jumped out of the gate, and the Reds are dangerous, and the Cards show life. Plus the wild card will almost certainly go to teams in the East or West with little competition from teams in the Central, so it feels like division or bust early Is attendance going to decrease? That could be very likely. But that can be do to a multitude of things that may affect multiple teams - such as economic forces (still lingering pinch of years of inflation, coupled with uncertainty about the next year or two), access to sports (ie streaming), competition (NHL/NBA playoffs, the 13 month NFL season, increased interest in soccer, golf, racing sports) all have affected the average fan’s ability and or willingness to go to games live. For the Brewers, an auspicious start (which was made worse by national media covering their 0-3 start to the Yankees) and the lack of real investment in the teams payroll despite losing big name players (Burnes, Hader, Williams and Adames) have not helped. I would imagine like many who posted above that the attendance will pick up, but I do worry there could be a dip after a few years of rising due to cyclical factors and the economic factors that may affect MLB as a whole (even if it is like everything in MLB uneven where NY, LA for example may see attendance rise while many markets see it fall)

The early season 2025 Shuckers offense is a far cry from mid/late 2024 anemic Shuckers offense

Alright alright alright Missed a pretty solid night on the farm. Solid outing by Letson, good rehab starts by Civale and Hall. Really good start by Crow. Debut by Rena tonight. Nice relief by Henderson & Yoho. A Wilken homer. Lara with 2 hits, Burke also with with 2 hits. EMJ back in the line up. A top 100 prospect turns 18. A lot to digest. Wow. Will watch some video of Letson and Crow tomorrow.

In last weekend’s game the scoreboard had him 94-96 the first few innings. I think he hit 96 a few times.

Dang it Hedbert and Areinamo get to 3-2 counts Hedbert strikes out swinging on a nasty slider. Areinamo pops up to the catcher. Had a chance. But they lose 3-1

Just to be quirky. 😉 But some use it as the home team, or your team first, and the other last I guess. I've seen it more in europe in soccer matches.

T-Rats need to make a late comeback here. Still down 0-3, late in the 8th, and they have a few guys on base Maybe they can break into that Peoria bullpen like last night (he says being greedy)

Meccage is out after 39 pitches over 2 IP. @Jake McKibbin - any insight into why? Pitch count, or was he hurt or laboring? Hoping it's just keeping his overall pitch count low, and innings low since it's his first season, but you never know.

That is impressive to have still 5 top-100 prospects again (and 3 top 5 prospects) and Payne (in the consensus top 7 around here) could also add his name to that list if he were to have success at low-A this year.

I think all those points are reasonable on Pratt vs Made. The good news - we have two young players who could be viable options at SS at the pro level some day. Pratt is older, and is much further along, and has a good profile, but less ceiling. I will say his defense is definitely better and he is more than holding his own at AA. Made has an incredibly high ceiling with a lot of variability in outcome. And his defense is not good, but also not as bad as maybe alluded to by Joseph. He can make routine plays, but also will have difficulty with the transition (glove to hand) and earlier on I saw a lot of throwing errors, which are the types of things that can be fixed. I didn't watch last night, but getting to balls wasn't the concern I saw, but body position, throws, transfer etc and those I feel can be taught or improved with repetition, but I don't play the game so I'm not sure and maybe too optimistic. For context, the age factor is a thing but also competition, coaching and culture factor in too - remember Cooper has trained in the US and been in multiple summer leagues/circuits, and has experience now playing against high level competition for over a year. Made is learning a new country, and while he played against good competition in the DSL, it is different, and we don't see what happens in the ACL, but I can imagine there are plenty of 17-19 year olds who struggle in the ACL but with coaching/experience can improve. If Made were in Arizona we would see several hits against last night and no idea he botched plays, and if he did improve over the season and next offseason, we would never have known those glitches. But his games are televised and we can see these struggles real time. So for all that I will give him some slack, and if next year he is not great at SS, then we may have a case to move him since his hitting tools will move him. And if he can stick as a decent SS long term that is a good problem to have (Turang, Pratt, Made). If he can't then 3B or OF certainly are options, but he has a lot of time and adjustment process to get through in the next several months.

And whomever had 5/6 in their bingo card for the first Bitonti jack, you have won the jackpot.

More notice on a few Mudcats' hitters by @Aram Leighton, as a couple of Mudcats get mentioned in his Just Baseball post from today: https://www.justbaseball.com/mlb/mlb-hitting-prospects-stock-rising-news/