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Manny Rodriguez with 5.2 IP and 80 pitches. He is efficient and gets through innings - he was an innings eater last year. If only, if only his fastball can get up to 91-94 mph range I can dream on a stud starter. But 88-90 is not going to cut it long term, but he is a special pitcher and I think his command and spin will allow him to move up despite the lack of velo.

And miz got 2 outs. looked good. Durbin with a very nice play at 3rd - don't think EMJ makes that play ;) And next batter down to 2 strikes and pokes one between 2nd and 1st base. Bullpen getting close as Miz is over 80 pitches. 2 balls but Seigeler gets the caught stealing, and Miz gets through 5 IP with 86 pitches. So 31 in the 3rd alone, but only 55 in the other 4 innings combined (14 per inning not bad)

Miz with a bounceback inning. He gives up a walk, but I like it. He had 2 balls called balls that were borderline and one was ball 3 which could have been strike 3. Miz looked at home like what's up and then focused and got two outs. That is what I like to see. His command is pretty good tonight, he has not had a ton of non-competitive pitches, just let 2 batters in the 3rd draw walks - but also a lot of fouled off pitches. The hit he allowed would have been an out if EMJ was playing 3rd instead of Durbin ;) Miz is out for the 5th.

So this is what makes Miz so frustrating. 1st and 2nd inning tonight - 26 pitches, 21 strikes, 1 runner reached on an error. Nothing Then 3rd inning quick out on 2 pitches. Then 8 pitch walk, and a 9 pitch walk, and then gets going again and 6 pitch out, then a hit, and an out. But those long at bats and those walks will limit his ability to move as a starter.

Great. And another tough inning in the 2nd, down 0-5 heading to the 4th now The two games worth watching we had no video. And this game is the one televised 😩🙄 I smell Cubbie conspiracy here lol

Wow. That is impressive for the organization as a whole. I had a lot of doubts from the pitching side (maybe still the lingering sting of losing Shane Smith), and exciting to see some very nice results so far in the early season. Not only yesterday, as we have had some really nice pitching performances across the board, with the TRats and Muddies having the youngest pitching staffs in their leagues and being near (or at) the top statistically in several categories. Lots can change but I'll take this type of a start for the organizational pitching top to bottom.

Mendoza. That’s who I was trying to remember - you called him out yesterday I think. He was minor league FA, or a minor league rule 5? And Hardin pitched for TRats yesterday I believe - I need to watch that game Birchard was who is tonight- good stuff but not fully in command. Encouraging outing. And no video of Holobetz and Torres - ugh i will focus on Peek more And I was super impressed with Bjorn Johnson. thank you

Holy Holobetz. And no video 😩 I have the game from last night and tonight playing in my head. Boy the Muddies are looking good to start the season. So I've got to hone in Hardin and Holobetz - who else have I missed Joseph? You find these guys, like last year you got me hooked on to watching Yoho and KC Hunt outings early.

Yoho looking filthy after the first batter. A K, then makes the next batter look foolish and he grounds to SS, but somehow Monasterio didn't get the runner, and still 2 out, but 2 on. And next batter no match for him. Sounds record back to back shutouts for the first time since last August. Nice outing Sounds!!

Nice debut by Mr. Cornielle, still one of my favs in the system. Hopeful he can pop back on the prospect radar. Really nice first step for AA young man.

Interesting slate of starters... Cornielle with his AA debut. Still one of my sleeper favorites. Wande Torres in his state side debut for Carolina, hopefully there is some video feed for that game, otherwise MudcatsFaninBrunsCo will have to do the "play by play". And we will see if Ryan Birchard has developed over the offseason Finally Logan Henderson - let's see how the evolution continues as he tries to reign in his usually impeccable command and develop the dependable 3rd/4th pitches while at it in AAA. Will there be an offensive let down after so many runs last night? Or will some offense (looking at you Mudcats) keep it going??

Whoa - @Joseph Zarr - Darrien Miller defensive praise. It sounds like I must watch this game. Not good to hear. He still gets a little more leash given his age and the vortex of the Southern League. I am still hopeful for him, but his passive approach will definitely NOT fly in that league - pitchers are much better that A ball, and you have to hit/punish the mistakes. This will be sink or swim - can he make contact and impact. Time will tell. Encouraging to hear that Wilken looks better, still a struggle given it's year 2.

And then there is this from Biloxi's "heart of the order" #3-6 batters. That's 2 former first round picks in Wilken '23 and EBJ '22. Adams and Wilken with the exact same lines to start the season. Adams is still so young and first taste of AA. Wilken is in year #2 of the "Struggle". I hate to do this but he is close to being relegated in the EBJ file of prospect status if he doesn't figure it out at the plate soon.

Any video of EMJs first AAA HR??

Happy to be wrong on his potential so far - I was not one of "those" people, but definitely was in the "picked a guy way overslot to save some cash" crowd, expecting him to be 2nd/3rd round toolsy project player. But his end of '24 and start of '25 has me intrigued. Happy to be wrong about him so far.

Wow - I missed a heckuva night of minors ball. Muddies - man that team is so potentially exciting. Last year I was a T-Rat fan - my go to team to watch, followed by Muddies and Suckers (yes they still get no H in the name until they get more Hs in the boxscores consistently 😡). Carolina is now going to be my top feed. Wish we could have had video for this contest - wowza, highlight after highlight. And Shuckers hit tonight only to be undermined by the vaulted bullpen - Costello and Yeager - hopefully just some early season yips for them. But Lara and Pratt with HRs is so nice to see. I will take Joseph's advice and watch me some Tyson Hardin.

And that is just it - very little chance he was going to sneak through waivers, he was on a lot of lists of likely Rule 5 targets, and those who have watched his rise over the past 2 minor league baseball season likely had a gut feeling he was a MLB pitcher, and his velo and stuff over this past winter/spring speak to staying power - low end a high leverage reliever, average is a MLB starter, and highest end is ace potential. For a team that had been so good at pitching development, we let the most recent success story go to another team for nothing, and now try to patch together a starting rotation.

Exactly for me. It’s the unknown. A few years back I would have assumed - pitching development lab, get him going and we churn out another. But honestly since the Woodruff/Peralta/Burnes/Hader/Williams golden years of 2017-2020, we have helped Megill unleash, but other than that? Got the most out of Rea, and had a good season from Myers, but not much which is more the norm. A lot of assets for a very unknown commodity, when we could have had a similar unknown commodity if we added Shane Smith to our 40 man roster. Ugh

I presume all of these are procedural announcements - as they were injured and now assigned and designated with 7 day IL so that they can come off when ready, not necessarily that they are only 7 days away from being reinstated off the IL?

I think we all have different thoughts on the matter, which is why opinions may differ greatly. Obviously any fan wants success now and in the future, so that is the ideal goal. My personal wishes for how the team goes (since overpaying for a free agent or 2 is not going to happen, and losing stars to free agency will ultimately happen) is to try to dominate in those truly competitive windows (like we had from 2018 - 2022). The team did that mostly in 2018/2019 and lesser degree in 2021 (should have paid to get an impact bat to go along with that generational pitching staff). I was fine taking a mulligan this year to try to stay as competitive as possible in the 2026-2028 window when the core (Chourio, Contreras, and Mitchell/Frelick) are under control, and when Quero, Pratt could join them. Keeping the pieces until then and then using assets to try to get that key slugger or key pitcher. I think Preister is a nice get, but don't see him being a core piece, and we don't know the value of Yophery, the CBA pick and the PTBNL will be, and those values could be very high, particularly the CBA pick since the extra bonus pool money has been something this organization has done well with (see '23 draft, and lesser degree '24 drafts). It does seem like the "bite of the apple" comment Stearns made on his way out has been the new motto for the current front office and that is what I disagree with. I want this team to be competitive every year but will take a down year to "retool". But that is just me, and others don't have to agree, and clearly Arnold & Co don't need to listen to me. OK that's the end of this rant. (Plus I am way way to invested in our young prospects as I love to watch 100-200 minor league games on milb.tv per year)

Thank you @ARobsBrewCrew - that is great to hear, as it was worrying he wasn't even assigned. Hoping he gets a few starts in Carolina, then off to Wisconsin soon. .... And then later on for his Cy Young seasons in Milwaukee 😉

Boy, does it just seem that the Front office is beginning to loose it's "edge" Maybe it was a Stearns thing, and Matt Arnold & co did OK the first off season because of the in house knowledge, and now they are more over-reacting or panicking, or just not making the moves. The Burnes trade seemed pretty meh, and Ortiz is good D, and still trying to see if he can have consistent offense, otherwise Hall has been not available for 2 seasons now. Burke could be a key piece. The Williams deal looks even worse with a limited upside Durbin, and Cortes is inconsistent and now injured. Otherwise, this trade looks pretty poor since they were not supposed to need to panic for a SP so soon, and gave up on a talented OF prospect as well as the pick, AND a PTBNL. Plus losing Shane Smith for essentially Connor Thomas was just a complete head scratcher, and started to make me question the front office

Three of the four youngest in the Carolina league, and three of the five youngest. That's pretty good. And many are true prospects (Made, Pena, Payne for Carolina; Lara, Pratt, Adams for Biloxi). Sadly Yophery was the 2nd youngest in the Midwest league, no longer. Still upset at this trade, as it seems like a massive overpay.

Seems like an overpay. I would have rather just let this be "re-tooling" year than give up some of the key assets we have acquired (Yophery, draft pick, and a PTBNL). Really steep price for an unproven pitcher. If this was for an established starter I'd be all in And yes this is a problem because the Cortes, Civale, Quintana, Hall additions have been relatively fruitless (save a good start by Cortes and some quality starts by Civale last year), but the hope was no more desperation moves, and this reeks of desperation move. Sorry that's the end of my rant. Will miss Yophery - I think he has a shot at being not just a regular MLB player, but a possible all star with his raw tools, personality and energy.

Funny - just wrote up my review from the game today, and we both walked away impressed with Johnson and Garcia (who needs to improve command, but looked better than I expected) Here is hoping his (Garcia) injury today will be a mild bruise, hoping for the best, but given he used his left arm to get himself up from the grass that is encouraging.