Austin Tatious

Spencer did a phenomenal job. Lucky to have him here. I’ve got not much more than a hunch because these are basically lottery tickets. I felt like the ‘25 class was underwhelming but I like this group. It’s a tough ask to be as good as ‘24 but I like some of these profiles a lot. I admit my take is closer to a horoscope than actual analysis. But looking at skill sets, positional profiles, frame and athleticism I like a few of these guys a lot for guys so young that the age of 20 years old is still a ways off. Could Moneys turn into a Rafael Devers? Will Salazar’s arm and switch hitting be key in turning him into a top catching prospect? Will Frontado emerge as a quality defender at short with his good hit tool and pedigree? Let’s see what happens but I like the profiles even if I’m functioning closer to a fortune teller than providing anything credible.

1. Brewers are competing and he’s a high end starter. 2. His salary is do-able and he’s reliable so it’s a great value. 3. They are happy to keep him and take the comp pick for him as they compete. 4. The Brewers have very advanced math and analytics where they look at a lot of metrics on skill sets that they want. They’ve studied what succeeds and what they can develop. It’s possible they’ve gotten offers that look good on paper but just isn’t the right fit for what the Brewers want. 5. There have been guys in recent years like Brett Baty or Cody Mayo where message boards put psychotic values on them and then it’s they frankly don’t prove it. Our own Tyler Black fits that. Meanwhile 5’7 second baseman Caleb Durbin from Div 3 Wash U as the 16th rated Yankees prospect ends up at third base for the Brewers and gets ROY consideration. Brewers aren’t worried about brand name. It’s the insights they see. It’s like Fernando Mendoza being a lightly recruited guy getting the Heisman. The Brewers won’t be right every time but they have a process. 6. If I’m another team and I see the Brewers are asking about somebody, it would give me pause with how smart the Brewers have been. Brewers have to go next level and not tip their hand. I have done this before: you pretend to be focused on shiny object A, when you really want B. Then when someone balks at A you act like you’re settling for B. 7. Brewers have quite obviously said make it worth our while or you don’t get him. This means standard measures aren’t going to fly because nothing stops the Brewers from rolling with him. If you’re getting a high comp pick for him anyway, you’d have to way overshoot that value for the Brewers to just not use him. 8. Ultimately, I’m not worried about leverage. Make Arnold happy or the Brewers will keep him and take a high draft pick. The Brewers already have a good farm system and they can afford Peralta and they are competing. If this were the other way around, I could see the Brewers literally trading FOR Peralta in a year with competitive ambitions at that salary.

I bet we already have some quality offers on the table but Arnold is making teams really make it worth our while. I could see a promising upper minors starter, an OF with pop and a lottery ticket type out of left field with certain metrics we like.

I’d keep Ashby and not use him as a starter and focus on him being a weapon out of the pen à la Hader, pre-closer.

I enjoy the work in all these forms so I am not picky. A couple come to mind. Recalling great times is easier for me. But I always find the building phases—successful or not—interesting and fun to generate lessons learned. First topic. I’m in my 50’s and the first season I can recall was 1975 but I was young and learning. Would love to see articles on the 1970-1977 teams before they got on their run. How they tried different pieces and put them together through trial and error until their core nucleus came together. Some of the guys who they tried and didn’t last. Lot of guys came through. Some didn’t last, Von Joshua and Bernie Carbo. Other pieces we had high hopes for like Bill Travers. Then there were the guys who were added one at a time. Gorman. Yount. Molitor. Sixto. The trade for Cooper. Then Oglivie. Getting Caldwell. Second. The other topic would be the draft picks in the 1990s especially pitchers and into the early 2000s when our fortunes turned with Weeks and Fielder, Hardy, Hart, Braun. All those high picks and electric pitching prospects that didn’t make it. A review of that and what changed when we started to have success.

Only eighteen years old. Praying for the best.

I think it’s obvious that the Brewers view Zerpa as a core piece for the next three years based on the trade. They aren’t just going to toss Mears and Collins overboard for nothing, although I suspect they might be thinking they are selling high. I’m sure other teams had interest but the Brewers liked Zerpa as the return they want both in terms of positional value to them and underappreciated skill set they think they can tap into. To me this trade represents two key aspects of the Brewers’ secret sauce: (a) always planning ahead on keeping their bullpen a core strength, and (b) targeting and identifying talent and skill set they think they can optimize better than the market.

I like the gear. Brewer apparel has been really good since 2020. But I don’t understand the pants. I am a zero in terms of matching in fashion but they don’t look right.

18. I’d love to see Fischer, Made and Pratt move up to Milwaukee by 2027. How do you see that and how would you handle the awkward timing regarding our prospects and readiness for 2026? It seems like there’s a gap on the left side of the infield but maybe only for a year since we hope the cavalry is coming. I feel like they could make a 1-2 year move on a ss or 3B to bridge the gap. 19. Thoughts on Payne? More pop than advertised but less bat to ball skills than I thought. How do you project his development? 20. Lot of people harp on us having OF depth. I actually am thinking the opposite. I could see us making a sneaky move here to acquire an OF. If we knew Mitchell would put in a full season, I might feel differently. I like Lara in a year or so but I’m not sure as an everyday starter. Josh A can be great but still speculative to me. 21. If you were going to make move for an OF or SS, which prospects would you deal? Depending on the situation, I’d think about Adams and Wilken. Possibly Pena if the return player is a huge pickup. If a pitcher needs to be moved, I’d try to avoid it but Wichrowski would be the guy to me. I wouldn’t touch any of Henderson, Letson, Gasser, Dorchies or Hardin. We don’t have margin for error with pitching. 22. I feel like relief pitching is one of our critical secret sauces. You have a deep and stellar pen that can get you past the fifth and sixth day after day and you can build the makeup of your entire rotation off that. Even psychologically as a pitcher you can let it hang out if you know you’re in good shape if you get through 5-6 strong innings. You see it with a guy like Priester who can give you five and then start to wear down like clockwork. Patrick, Myers, Logan, Gasser. Even Mis. These aren’t the names the Dodgers use but you get 5-6 good innings and kill it with your pen, and the next thing you know, you’re a 97 win team. You can max out guys like that. Do you agree? And then, besides Yoho, who do you see as key bullpen arms added to the mix from our system in the coming years?

Good questions. I’d add your impressions of the key guys we are about to sign internationally. How would you stack them with the ‘25 and ‘24 classes? Maybe it’s somewhere in the middle.

How about these: 1. How do you feel about Bishop Letson’s injury history? He’s yet to put together a good workload. Obviously he’s going to need to prove it but are you seeing any limitations that concern you. Are there other pitchers for comparison purposes who either overcame having trouble building innings or did not overcome it. 2. Could Tyson Hardin emerge kind of like Woodruff did. I see a similar background as far as history. Drafted around the same area IIRC and from a similar collegiate background. 3. How good can Ethan Dorchies be and what does he need to do to get there? 4. How are you seeing Marco Dinges developing, especially behind the plate? 5. Sticking with catcher, is there a feeling that Quero can get his arm strength close to what it was? 6. As an aside I wonder about the insane number of injuries we’ve suffered from guys diving back to a base. Is there something to study there? Jimmy Nelson. Quero. Mitchell. I think there have been others. 7. What might change with the affiliate in Carolina that we need to think about in terms of conditions or anything involving player development. 8. I find Luke Adams to be one of the oddest profiles I have ever seen. You see him get off the bus and he looks like a Paul Bunyan. Yet he’s got surprising speed. His reputation is he lays off a lot of pitches. As he goes up levels, pitchers have better command. Passive swing decisions concern me. What is your feeling on how he needs to develop? 9. I’m really excited about Andrew Fisher. I think he’s the kind of bat we need. Do you project him ripping through the system? Do you think he can stick at third? 10. Blake Burke. I don’t get why MLB has him 29th in our system. What are they seeing? All I see is a productive hitter. 11. Josh A. I’m hoping he will turn out to be the hitter I always thought Keston Hiura could be. Love that bat especially at a young age. This is a guy I would not entertain trade offers. How do you feel about him? Also, do you see LF as his more permanent home? 12. Made vs Pena. Pena really erupted at the start of the year but by the end of the season it sure looked like Made separated himself a bit. How would you compare them? 13. I know he’s a major leaguer but what are your thoughts on Garrett Mitchell? This guy looks like a freaking Adonis. He’s got the swing and miss problem but to me he could be a major talent on the level of Duran of Boston. But I think it would be insane to count on him. 14. Cooper Pratt. Is he using the whole field offensively? I feel like every highlight I see, he’s pulling it. Is that how he can get his hit tool better, I.e., by using all fields? 15. Luis Lara. The defense seems tremendous. Sounds like he’s got range even though he’s not tall. Do you see him as a utility OF, maybe like the next Blake Perkins? Do you see a profile with some similarities to Frelick? 16. Brock Wilken, Lara, or anyone else you see jumping to Milwaukee this year especially in the position player ranks? 17. Looking at the Pirates reportedly moving up Griffin as a teenager, how do you feel about the Brewers’ extremely disciplined approach to promotions? They can be aggressive but it follows a pattern and looks very well thought out. The ML team could use some juice at some spots but the brass knows a guy like Pratt or Made aren’t ready to be force fed. I realize that’s too many, but those popped into my head just as vague ideas.

Love baseball talk deep in the winter with the windows all iced up. Honestly I think I like it better than in-season because it makes me wistful for spring and summer. Appreciate the year round work you put into the Intel. I also like you keeping it real yet optimistic.

I really wanted to keep Crow and that’s done. I can’t see it with anybody else from your list. How about Yeager? Without looking at any lists, I suspect next year might be a different story.

Since Milwaukee is a contender, I would keep Peralta and just take the draft pick compensation. You’d have to blow me away or else I’m riding with him. For Burnes, Baltimore gave us the draft pick (turned into Burke) but then the delta was Ortiz and Hall. That type of delta from the draft pick alone is not close to enough to give up a year of Peralta when you’re coming off the best record in baseball and you already have a solid farm system.

Personally, I’d have more of a job sharing situation and keep both catchers more fresh. Contreras and Quero both getting a lot of PT is how I would do it.

If Woody declines the mutual option, do the Brewers owe the $10M? Or is that only if the Brewers decline it?

The Dodgers grabbing all the JP players coming over is also extreme BS. That system needs to be equitable. For them to have the most money for MLB free agents AND THEN STILL cherry picking the best JP players is crazy land. Those JP guys never played in the MLB and haven’t earned six year service time for total free agency. The typical player enters the league through the draft (US territory) or a cap (international). I get that they’ve been pros already but not in our system. Giving them a benefit for total free agency that other players don’t get is absurd IMO.

I’m calling Montgomery on a prove it deal.

I would keep Turang at second for the long term and see what they can do about an extension that might be a win-win. He’s perfect for our philosophy as an organization. They want a shortstop caliber glove at second, i.e., a plus defender and athlete on both offense and defense. I’d also look at Frelick similarly.

Ricky Moneys is like a combo of two of the all time great Brewer names, Ricky Bones and Don Money. But seriously, three of the top 50 looks like a good haul. I love how we approach it. Spread out the lottery tickets rather than skewing the budget all at the super top guys. At age 16-17, it’s so early to tell which of these guys turn into Made or Chourio and which ones become Gilbert Lara. Regarding Moneys, his profile sounds legit. Love to hear about his potential pop and competitiveness. Maybe he ends up in right. Who knows, at this point. Frontada also sounds very intriguing. Love his frame for a SS. I like a bit of a lankier frame at the position for range etc. He’s got the defense and hit tool you like to see. With the international market, the US draft system, player development, pitching lab, it’s so nice to be able to trust the process here because it is an understatement to say Milwaukee is excelling in these respects. From 2017 to now, we are consistently going to the playoffs while we have stealthily rebuilt the bulk of the roster. To keep winning rather than having to start over at the bottom with financial constraints is a testament to the organization’s process.

Thank you! Hard to rhyme it though!

That was a very advanced piece of hitting, no question.

Good grief, what a win. Hard to believe what these guys do. Durbin and Mona with the dagger baby. Grit. Mona sporting an OPS over .800

Bauers is white hot. Added some excitement late there.

Priester Uribe Durbin Turang Collins Ashby Frelick Even Blake Perkins. Without even getting into more brand name players like Peralta, Yelich, Chourio, Contreras, Woody, or even the hyped Miz, this org has a type and it’s seen in how they have been identifying guys with grit, who are team oriented, and make the little plays to win. I bet they targeted Lockridge and Siegler similarly. Pitchers like Henderson and Gasser. Synergy and chemistry over buying every star they can a la the Dodgers.