sveumrules

NL Rookie WAR Leaders (position players) Baldwin ATL (2.0) Collins MIL (1.4) Kim LAD (1.0) Hicks MIA (0.8) Durbin MIL (0.6) NL Rookie rWAR Leaders (pitchers) Patrick MIL (1.9) Lord WAS (1.0) Henderson MIL (1.0) Casparius LAD (1.0) Misio MIL (0.9) Pretty good stuff from Brewers rookies this year. But it’s not just this year. Going back to Arnold’s first year at the helm in 2023, Brewers rookie position players have put up 12.5 WAR, best in MLB. Brewers rookie pitchers have posted 8.9 rWAR since 2023, fourth in MLB.

FanGraphs uses FIP for their default pitcher WAR and Freeland has been much better in that regard with a 3.63 FIP entering today. BRef (-0.1 WAR) and FanGraphs runs allowed WAR (-0.2 rWAR) are more representative of that 5.13 ERA which is around 10% worse than average after accounting for Coors.

Sure, that would be a true but so far this year Bohm has a .280 average and .319 on base percentage. Durbin only has a .236 average, but since he will take a walk his .318 on base percentage is right in line with Bohm's. Since they reach base at around the same clip, then it comes down to if Bohm's not that great power (96 ISO+ is below MLB average) and extra $7M in salary is more valuable than Durbin's speed and defense.

Burke (#20 on latest BF Top 20) and Areinamo (unranked) are nice prospects, but I think catcher Marco Dinges (#9 on latest BF Top 20) has passed them up in the estimation of most of the farm watchers.

Bohm would offer more power than Durbin, sure, but he is still below average overall with a 96 ISO+ since 2023 which ranks 117th out of 173 hitters with at least 1,000 PA over that stretch. Despite his imposing stature Alec is more of a singles/doubles hitter with a 112 AVG+ that ranks 33rd out of those same 173 hitters with at least 1,000 PA since 2023. His 262 singles over that stretch are tied for 13th, his 86 doubles are 10th, his 42 home runs are only 92nd.

Rumors were the Phillies asked for Mason Miller from the A's, or one of George Kirby/Logan Gilbert from the Mariners. If those were indeed their asks, Bohm was never realistically available. His -49 DRS at 3B is also the worst of the 2020's (Devers is 2nd worst at -41 DRS), so I'd guess that precludes him from consideration for the Brewers too. Especially considering his bat is more good (108 wRC+ from 2023-25) than anything special or difference making.

At home, yes, Freeland has a 7.11 ERA | 4.05 FIP. Get him down at sea level and he has a much better 3.64 ERA | 3.31 FIP.

Love to see it. Fun coincidence that Tobias has 1 walk out of 137 batters faced so far and 1/137 is apparently known as the Fine-Structure Constant in physics, quantifying the strength of electromagnetic interaction between elementary charged particles....so he's got that going for him.

Island Updates... DSL Gold trailing 8-4 top nine. Francis Sosa has provided most of the offense with a single and three run homer. Matthew Moses has also doubled. Christopher Peralta went 4 IP | 2 R | 3 H | 1 BB | 7 K. DSL Blue tied 2-2 bottom seven. Diustin Mayorquin started things off with 5 IP | 1 ER | 5 H | 1 BB | 6 K and Steve Duran has followed with 1.2 scoreless IP of 1 H | 3 K work. Frandy Lafond has a double and RBI while three batters (Brailyn Antunez, Jefer Lista, and Joan Gutierrez) have each walked twice with Gutierrez stealing a pair of bags too.

Couple two tree should do 'er. But all jokes aside, it beats working at the submarine screen door factory.

I'd vote Chourio. He looked like he was turning it around going off for a 313/358/548 (150 wRC+) triple slash over 123 PA from 05/21 to 06/20 but has been brutal the last five games with 23 PA of 095/130/095 (-42 wRC+).

What's the argument for him being mishandled? His minor league numbers backed up across the board in 2024 (both surface level and underlying) while looking overmatched in his brief MLB sample. He started this year injured and has been working his way back.

He doesn’t have enough time in MLB to really be considered in the initial voting, but if he keeps this up twixt now and then I could see him named as a replacement pitcher for one of the guys that inevitably won’t be able to pitch in the game.

Bucks have Bird Rights on Portis. Wouldn't blame him if he wants to get out of town after having his house robbed, his grandma dying, and then getting a ticky tack drug suspension to round out the trifecta of a bummer year, but unless someone offers a truly insane deal I think he'll be back in Milwaukee. He's also got a clear line to the starting spot if Brook isn't retained, or is brought back on a lesser salary in more of a situational role. Also not sure if there is anyone out there that can offer KPJ a better gig to continue rebuilding his value than the Bucks can starting next to Giannis for the year with Dame out. If it comes down to GTJ or KPJ for the mid level exception give me Trent, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Porter is back with the Bucks after they made a concerted effort to acquire him at the deadline.

Got a little interesting with a two out walk to Victor Mesa Jr. and a wild pitch, but Yoho came back to strike out the last batter and seal the 7-6 Sounds win.

Only times he has thrown 4 IP or fewer in MLB were his first career start (4.0 IP) and his last start of last year (2.0). Has only had three games with fewer than 6.0 IP this year before today.

Or when they complain that teams only score on dingerzz nowadays

Misio and Skenes squaring off and we're over here talking about Hendry Mendez and Isaac Collins...true junkies that we are.

Even Skenes fears Isaac Collins.

Mendez is having a nice year, no doubt (& I'd rather have him than Dunn) but I'm not sure he'd do anything about our lack of premium OF prospects. He's still a corner only guy lacking in athleticism, defensive chops and power production. Plenty of time for that last one to come around still, but without it his hit tool and strike zone judgement can only carry him so far with the other limitations. I'd still have him easily behind Lara (who is outside my personal Top 20) among upper level OF prospects. Pulling Isaac Collins out of thin air gives us 4.5 outfielders still under long term control at the MLB level so it's not like things are too dire in the near or long term.

Sounds have tacked on two more top of six with singles from Avans & Black followed by an RBI groundout from Vaughn and an RBI single from Dalbec.

Rodriguez has faced the minimum over the first two frames (1 K) with a 3-6-3 double play wiping out a leadoff HBP in the first inning. TRats have already plated five runs on a Eduardo Garcia single, Dinges walk, Areinamo RBI single, Burke two RBI double, Yhoswar RBI triple and Alastre RBI single sequence.

Nashville out to an early 3-1 lead top of five. Two out rally in the first got them two runs via Vaughn single, Dalbec walk, Seigler RBI single, and Dunn RBI single. Then picked up another in the fourth when Dunn got HBPed, went to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a Zamora RBI single. Henderson has given up 1 R | 1 H | 2 BB | 2 K thru four frames with 54 pitches (35 strikes).

Haase's last game in Nashville was June 23rd last year. Misio didn't make his Nashville debut until August 3rd.

Red Sox prospect list dropped at FanGraphs today and thought it was interesting that Eric had Holobetz (#26) higher in the ordinal rankings than Yophery (#31), though both ultimately have the same 40 FV grade. Holobetz... He’s built like a starter, moves like a starter, and commands the baseball, giving Holobetz a very high floor as a lock depth starter. Whether he roots himself in a big league rotation is going to depend on the growth of his secondary pitches. His low-80s slider lacks the raw power of a good modern slider, but Holobetz dots it. His changeup has long-term projection because of his fluidity and lovely arm stroke, but it isn’t a nasty pitch yet. His cutter probably needs more velo (it’s averaging about 85 mph right now) to be a real weapon. Holobetz is athletic and young, and was only recently drafted, so he has a ton of time to develop. He has a great pitchability foundation and looks like a low-variance backend starter. Yophery... He’s a tightly wound athlete with some effort to his swing, and it’s likely he’ll whiff underneath high fastballs as he faces better velocity. Against Low-A pitching he’s been able to cover most of the plate and spray low-lying contact from foul pole to foul pole. He can turn on pitches on the inner third but tends to be oppo-oriented throughout most of the zone...He isn’t overtly projectable and is definitely a “skills over tools” type whose offense is seasoned by his advanced feel for the strike zone. His feel does not extend to defense, where Rodriguez is fast, but also frustrating and unpolished. He may need to play a corner eventually, and the power to profile there likely won’t materialize. Improved defense is the biggest developmental key for Rodriguez and would allow him to play a sizable big league role as an oft-used fourth outfielder.