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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.

Finally finished the whole Mudcats game. I had a lot of high expectations for Travis Smith, and while his profile with a mid90s fastball and 3-4 pitch mix, and all I heard was at least one fastball at 95. But he didn't look as smooth, looked like his release was not as consistent, and he did fine but had some hard contact. OK but was hoping for more given the draft profile. Garcia looked better, but really struggled with command I think - 47 pitches but only 26 strikes. His fastball looked good - draft profile had it low 90s but with that angle it looked faster. When he got his offspeed over it looked good. Hard hit ball off his throwing arm, so hopefully he will be OK and ready to go soon. Bjorn Johnson really stood out. The stat line was good, but he looked like he was ready to pitch. From Spencer's write up in 2023: "Johnson has a fastball in the low-90s that he has held deep into his outings. He also mixes in a slider and a changeup; the changeup is probably the better of the two offerings at this moment". Don't know the velo today, but tall lefty with at least low 90s who is young and projectable. His stat line today is in very sharp contrast to his nearly 9.00 ERA from last year in the ACL Very pleasantly surprised by him. I am also impressed with Pena's approach. For an 18 year old he seems comfortable at the plate and has quick hands. Payne also impressed as he has more strength than advertised in that swing. And Joseph's call on Adamczewski is on - he definitely is locked in at the moment. His 'strikeout' today was a ball at least 4-6 inches outside, should have been ball 4. Hopefully Made can return, and let's see if DiTuri gains some strength in his swing as evidenced by his HR today (which was batting right-handed against a LHP), and then you have a pretty solid core of hitters. On the bad end - Bitonti is chasing pitches and not connecting on some in the zone. Nadal seems over-matched at the moment which is to be expected given his young age (still only 20 yo) and the fact he missed last season with injury. OK that was longer than I expected - ha! just like the Muddies/FredNats game today lol

I didn't hear any mention in today's broadcast, but yesterdar Chris mentioned his day off, and he was in the dugout during yesterday's game if I saw correctly. So hopefully just minor I agree. On one of those plays, Pena had to rush it (looked like he was playing deep and maybe didn't charge as quickly, but the throw wasn't bad and I think Bitonti would have made it if he was 1B based upon what I have seen, but Walling did struggle with throws.

Wow missed an adventurous afternoon. I will try to catch some games later tonight. @Joseph Zarr is in mid-season form in the game thread today :) Looks like TRats bats are waking up a bit - particularly Yophery and Burke, with Areinamo and Hall having XBH as well. And the Mudcats line up is good and deep, need to get Bitonti hitting the ball, low batting average and lots of Ks. If he can figure it out at the plate whoa boy. Offense could also look a little deeper if/when Dinges can return. Nice start to the season for Payne, Pena, Adamczewski. And wonder what is up with young Mr. Made? Suckers are what they are - a team without enough runs or hits. And oof to Wilken, and will Lara, Pratt, Adams get sucked into that Biloxi black hole?? Or will they find a way to hit out of it. On the pitching side - kudos to Stiven Cruz, and nice to see quality innings from Childers/Yeager who look like the probable back end of the Biloxi 'pen. Bjorn Johnson and Jeferson Figueroa also with nice scoreless outings. But a rougher day for the season debuts of Welch and T. Smith (both '24 draftees), while KC Hunt had a very very un-"KC Hunt"-like outing. Lots to take in and an off day tomorrow.

Thanks for the updates @Joseph Zarr Haven't watch anything yet - but looks like our pitchers today are not having a great day. Welch 2 runs in the 1st Hunt is really struggling given up 3 runs with a balk and WP. I'll have to watch but none of this sounds like the KC Hunt I watched dominate last year. And T. Smith gave up 4 hits and 2 runs in 2 IP. Looks like the TRats offense is finally going however. And the Muddies keep putting up runs too. And KC Hunt is out in the 1st inning what an absolutely disappointing start to the season for him.

My thoughts exactly. For the "always beating expectations" that this team has done since 2017, and seemingly finding pitching anywhere, and remaining resilient, this year does start to feel like karma payback this season. It will be interesting to see if the pitching staff can hold up yet another year - the task keeps getting taller year after year. It is hard to just offset the major losses from the big league roster the past couple of seasons (Hader/Burnes/Williams via trade; Adames via FA; Woodruff due to injury)

Or not. Looks like weather has intervened earlier than expected - Nashville/Gwinnet game is formally postponed and rescheduled to 5/1.

A consistent third pitch for him with a potential fourth would be so great. Command is his biggest liability now and will be the biggest question for him in the near future. But the can he start or is he a potential closer question will come down to whether there is something else beyond that filthy slider and extreme gas fastball. His development this season is probably one of the biggest storylines for the Brewers '26-'28 teams, as the hitting side is filling out nicely, and the bullpen will always be good. It is the starting pitchers or lack thereof (after this season) that will be key, and a few homegrown starters can do wonders (see '20-'23 teams).

Great wrap up for a mostly successful day on the farm. Lara hopefully adjusts over the next month. And given Wilken's down year, poor showing at AFL and rough start to this season, I think his prospect status is fading, and getting sucked into the same vortex that engulfed Eric Brown Jr. It's like Biloxi has a prospect black hole force, and only rare prospects can escape that gravitational force. He looked good doing so. Again got into trouble and out of it in the 8th. And back into trouble and was given the chance to end it, but couldn't quite, but did limit the damage. That is a good trait to see - being able to work around trouble. And if this first appearance was an indication he may be bound for the T-Rats at some point this season. I thought I saw Made in the team's dugout. Was he truly out of the country or away. In fact Mehring I thought just stated during the broadcast that Made was "given the day off" but that could mean many things. I guess today we may learn more?

And 2 pitches and 2 out for Langhorne. Induces a GIDP, and Mudcats win. Yes sir

Well he walks the next batter. Two on, still only 1 out. And Miles Langhorne in making his professional debut.

They send Gillis out for the 9th. And he makes a throwing error on a weakly hit ball by the first batter. Then a K. Looking good until he gives up a single that was ripped into right. Then a wild pitch and now a mound meeting. He got himself out of his jam in the 8th. Let's see what he does in the 9th.