Spencer Michaelis

Sorry, I am not in the habit of putting this out on here yet, so this is late notice, but we will be recording our next episode tonight around 7 PM CT, so if you have questions, please drop them below! We can't guarantee to answer every question we receive, but we will do our best to get to as many as we can!

Luis Peña's back in the lineup

Have until about 5:00 PM CT to get questions in if you have them!

Image courtesy of © Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The Brewers' farm system continues to impress, despite several big-time graduations over the last few years. International signings continue to make names for themselves, which accounts for one of the new additions to our top 20 prospects list this month. Meanwhile, the other was a college draft pick who signed for $25,000 in 2024. The organization continues to find talent through all possible avenues. You can find the full list here! New Additions #18 OF Alexander Frias Frias signed out of the Dominican Republic in the Brewers' 2025 International signing class. His $350,000 signing bonus was tied for the sixth-highest in the Brewers' class. Frias missed the first month of the Dominican Summer League season due to injury, but began to produce the moment he got on the field, posting a 112 wRC+ over the first 112 plate appearances of his professional career. Frias was brought stateside this spring, and there were some whispers that he was performing extremely well in minor-league spring training games. He even posted a video of himself hitting a ball 115 MPH in a spring training game. Those whispers got louder once the Arizona Complex League season began, and Frias started posting ludicrous surface-level stats. Before his promotion to Low-A, which occurred this past weekend, Frias's 191 wRC+ was second among qualified batters between both Complex leagues. He finished with a bang at the level, going 8-for-10 in his final 10 at-bats, including a 6-for-6 game in his penultimate contest. Frias possesses plus-plus raw power. In games played on Statcast-equipped fields, Frias had an average exit velocity of 91.6 MPH, and maxed out at 117 MPH, which would be the hardest-hit ball by a big-league Brewer in 2026, and would trail only Oneil Cruz and Yordan Alvarez's max numbers for all of MLB. Frias is only 18 years old and doesn't turn 19 until March. To tap into that raw power more often, though, Frias will need to learn to elevate the ball more consistently. His ground ball rate was 44.1%, and the average launch angle in Statcast games was -3.9°. Not only does Frias show the potential for big-time power, but he also shows an impressive feel for limiting strikeouts. He only struck out at a 15.3% clip in the ACL. His whiff rates point to strikeouts still being a bigger part of the profile as he gets older, but they appear to be unlikely ever to be a major issue for him. He walked at a reasonable clip, too, though he does have a propensity to chase, which will be something to keep an eye on. Frias has a cannon of an arm (some scouts think he could throw upper-90s as a pitcher if he ever needed or wanted to go that route) and likely fits in right field long-term. He's an average runner, though probably better than average for his size. He could steal double-digit bases in his prime, though he will need to cut down on some of the aggressiveness the higher he climbs. Frias has started to generate major buzz. He just entered this list for the first time, but looks to be the type of talent that could find his way into the upper levels of the list in short order. He has already begun generating buzz among national evaluators for a future Top 100 spot. #19 RHP Jaron DeBerry DeBerry was the Brewers' third-round selection in the 2024 draft, signing for a measly $25,000 out of Dallas Baptist. Less than two years later, he finds himself among the top 20 prospects in the organization. The right-handed pitcher may have been drafted as a college senior, but there was always a lot of untapped potential there, despite his advanced age. DeBerry was mainly throwing in the 89-91 MPH range in college, but had a lot of room to pack good weight onto his frame. It was a six-pitch mix at the time, and has expanded to seven pitches in pro ball. DeBerry throws all three fastball variations, with his four-seam shape reportedly improving this season, while also sitting in the 92-94 MPH range and touching 96. His sinker is used against right-handed hitters as a ground-ball pitch, and his cutter is used against batters on either side of the plate. He spins the ball extremely well, which shows up mainly in his breaking ball mix. He will throw a big sweeper in the low 80s, a curveball with more depth and similar velocity, and also a shorter slider in the mid-80s. The sweeper is mostly used against righties, while the others are used more against lefties. His changeup has come a long way since college, as well. It gives him a solid pitch that fades away from the lefty bats. DeBerry had a slow start to the season, with a 7.25 ERA after his first six starts and a 20.6% walk-rate, which was the same as his strikeout rate in that time. Since then, though, he has posted a 2.51 ERA, while striking out 26.5% of the batters he's faced and only walking 6.6%. He has also gone deep into games, never working fewer than five innings in a start, working through the sixth in all but one of them and getting through seven in two of them. DeBerry has tapped into a lot of that potential he was showing out of college, and could get a chance in Triple-A relatively soon. At that point, he would become an option for the big-league club in short order. Biggest Risers #9 OF Braylon Payne -- Up four spots from #13 Payne got off to a really hot start this season. He cooled off a bit, but in 197 plate appearances has now settled into an .978 OPS and a 139 wRC+ for the Timber Rattlers. His season has been highlighted by his ability to tap into even more raw power, both in terms of his exit velocities and his ability to hit the ball in the air. His PullAir% of 17.3% is well above-average for High-A hitters. One of his home runs left the bat at 115 MPH earlier this season. He’s also a plus-plus runner, though his 14/20 success rate on stolen bases leaves a lot to be desired. The defense has taken a step forward in center, where his athleticism is always on display. The reads and jumps still need some work, but they are much better than in 2025. Payne has the tools to be a power and speed threat, though he will still need to limit his whiffs (35.5%) and strikeouts (28.9%) as much as possible. #16 RHP Craig Yoho -- Not ranked in May update Yoho has proven over and over that he is too advanced for Triple-A. His 0.90 ERA and 2.01 xERA at the level this season emphasize that. The inability to throw his pitches in the zone had cost him in his brief MLB stints in the past. With Nashville in 2025, he generated chases on 32.6% of pitches out of the zone, with 46.4% thrown in the zone, but only got chases on 21.4% of pitches out of the zone in MLB, where his zone rate was 44.3%, both well below average. This year in Triple-A, the zone rate is up to 50.5%, and in his last two MLB outings, it's at 60%. Overall, he's generated chases on 33.3% of pitches out of the zone in MLB this year, which is well above-average. It seems as though he could be on the verge of putting it together and becoming a key piece of the Brewers' bullpen in 2026. #6 OF Josh Adamczewski -- Up three spots from #9 Adamczewski laid waste to Midwest League pitching this season. After a slow start at the level in a small sample to close out the 2025 season, he returned with a vengeance. He posted a 162 wRC+ and a 1.026 OPS at the level. He has already surpassed his career high in home runs with nine (previously five in 2025), and he’s also kept his strikeout rate under 20%. His move to left field has also gone well, showing instincts that are better than expected, given his relative inexperience out there. Adamczewski could continue his climb up this list over the course of this season. He was promoted to Double-A last week and is 7-for-18 with two doubles at the level in his first five games. #5 3B Andrew Fischer -- Up three spots from #8 Like Adamczewski, Fischer also crushed Midwest League pitching this season. He posted an even more impressive 170 wRC+ and 1.118 OPS at the level. He hit 20 home runs in 191 at-bats, averaging one every 9.6 at-bats. Strikeouts (33.3%) and whiffs (39.2%) will be something to keep an eye on, but the overall production has been elite. His defense at third base has been more than serviceable, as well, though he still has work to do at the position. The arm plays more than well enough to handle the spot. Fischer was promoted with Adamczewski to Double-A last week and has already added three more home runs to his tally through five games—and has added a double and triple to the tally to account for all five of his hits. Biggest Fallers #7 3B Jett Williams -- Down three spots from #4 Williams has had a very up-and-down 2026. He got off to a very slow start, had a very strong stretch from the end of April through mid-May, but then slowed down again. The overall numbers in Triple-A are relatively pedestrian at the moment, with an 89 wRC+ and an OPS of .701. He has cut down some of the whiff concerns, but the power has not shown up as hoped, and the peripherals aren't screaming positive regression to the mean, either, as his xwOBA is .310 and his wOBA is .312, He's looked comfortable defensively at third base, and has played more shortstop since Cooper Pratt was promoted to the majors. That said, he will need to show quite a bit more offensively if he hopes to make it to Milwaukee in the near future. #13 C Marco Dinges -- Down three spots from #10 Dinges has performed well offensively in High-A this season. He's got a 115 wRC+ and an .863 OPS, while hitting eight home runs. The strikeouts and whiffs are both in similar places to 2025, and the walks are, too. The bat isn't a big concern, though it would have been nice to see positive steps in year two at High-A, rather than holding steady or regressing a bit in most categories. The defense is the bigger concern and is causing the slippage in the rankings. Some of the concern is that he simply has not been able to catch for the last month or so. He's reportedly dealing with a shoulder injury that has not allowed him to get behind the plate in that time. It's fair to wonder if the shoulder issue has affected the offense, as well. However, when he was healthy, he was showing some progress behind the plate. He had thrown out 7 of 23 players attempting to steal against him and had zero passed balls in his 16 games behind the plate this year. It seems that health, along with so many players performing well in the system, might be causing this fall, more than anything Dinges can control himself. Graduations #3 RHP Logan Henderson Henderson earned himself a spot in the Brewers' rotation, and looks like a potential mid-rotation arm for the future. He is currently on the IL with a back issue, and health will be one of the main things to watch for Henderson moving forward. #17 LHP Shane Drohan Drohan is also currently in the Brewers' rotation. While he could shift back into a bullpen role at some point this season, he has handled that rotation spot extremely well, and that should be his long-term role with the Brewers. Thank you to all of you who voted! View full article

Hey all, @Jack Sternand I realized we were likely missing out on some great questions from the Brewer Fanatic community when putting the call out on Twitter/X, so moving forward, we will also post a call for questions every week in this forum. We will be recording our next episode this Thursday (6/25) in the evening, so ideally, you can get them in before then. We can't guarantee to answer every question we receive, but we will do our best to get to as many as we can!

Image courtesy of © Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The Brewers have a history of drafting infielders with good gloves, strong baseball IQ to set a high floor, and offensive traits that need patience and development, but if they come together, they can provide a high ceiling. Brice Turang has evolved into one of the best examples of that model, turning elite defensive ability, speed, and contact skills into major league value early on, and then growing into impactful power at the plate, which has elevated him into a different tier. More recently, Cooper Pratt made his big league debut and is already showing similar traits. Brady Ebel may be the latest player attempting to follow a similar path. In fact, the parallels to Turang go pretty deep. They went to different high schools, but both are from the same city (Corona, CA), both are left-handed-hitting shortstops, and both were drafted, and signed, away from LSU commitments out of high school. While Ebel has not received quite the same level of attention or prospect status as Turang and Pratt did at similar stages, there are enough similarities in their profiles to make the comparison worth looking at. He brings a solid defensive floor, a high baseball IQ (Ebel grew up around MLB players, with his father being a coach for the Angels and now the third-base coach for the Dodgers since 2019), and budding offensive ability. Unlike the two before him, there's less certainty that he will stick at an up-the-middle defensive position, though if he winds up at third base, he will likely be above-average or better at the spot. Looking first at a surface level, Ebel has 287 plate appearances this season. How does his production compare to Turang and Pratt through the same sample size in Low-A? Player Season Age PA H 2B 3B HR K% BB% AVG OBP SLG OPS wRC+ SB CS Brice Turang 2019 18.5 288 71 9 3 1 15.60% 14.90% .295 .399 .369 .769 129 15 4 Cooper Pratt 2024 19.7 288 72 10 3 3 19.10% 12.50% .298 .394 .401 .795 133 23 2 Brady Ebel 2026 18.9 287 53 11 2 4 22.60% 18.50% .236 .394 .356 .749 111 21 2 Ebel has gotten off to a slower start than his predecessors, especially when normalized for the offensive environment (wRC+). However, Ebel got off to an especially slow start to the season. He posted a 68 wRC+ through the end of April but has taken off since then. What if we compare the same numbers from Pratt and Turang with the numbers Ebel's been putting up since the start of May? Player Season Age PA H 2B 3B HR K% BB% AVG OBP SLG OPS wRC+ SB CS Brice Turang 2019 18.5 288 71 9 3 1 15.60% 14.90% .295 .399 .369 .769 129 15 4 Cooper Pratt 2024 19.7 288 72 10 3 3 19.10% 12.50% .298 .394 .401 .795 133 23 2 Brady Ebel (since 5/1) 2026 18.9 187 40 9 1 4 23.50% 18.70% .272 .422 .429 .851 134 16 2 He compares much more favorably when you take the April results out of the equation. It should be noted that Ebel is doing it a little differently from those two. Since May 1st, Ebel has a .157 ISO, compared to the .074 Turang was posting in Low-A and the .103 Pratt was showing. He's also walking at a higher clip than those two were, while they were striking out less and had a higher batting average. Turang's power gains came in MLB, and the hope is that Pratt will be able to do the same. Ebel, meanwhile, already seems to be adding legitimate power compared to what he showed in high school. One adjustment he's made has been to the finish of his swing. Ebel looks to be extending through his swing more consistently now, and also finishing higher, which can be a cue that helps the bat path have more loft to it for some hitters. Video from his debut in 2025, compared to a swing from 2026, shows the difference pretty clearly. eycme4.mp4 The other thing that stands out in the comparison video above is that he seems to have already added some good weight to his frame. Brice Turang is listed at 190 pounds now, but he was only 170 pounds when he debuted in MLB, and even that seemed generous. Ebel is already listed at 195 pounds, and that was his weight at draft time. Looking at the difference in his lower half from last season to this season, he is likely over 200 pounds already. Another way to illustrate the power Ebel shows compared to the other two is in his exit-velocity data. According to Baseball America, thus far Ebel has a "102 mph 90th percentile exit velocity along with a league-average hard-hit rate, barrel rate, and air-pull percentage." Pratt's 2025 90th percentile exit velocity in Double-A was 100.7 MPH, and Turang's was 100.8 in MLB, as recently as 2024. While they were facing tougher competition, they were also multiple years older than Ebel at that time. As mentioned earlier, Turang and Pratt had lower strikeout rates than Ebel does at the same level. However, his swing decisions and contact skills are still well above average. There's a strong argument that Ebel is actually further ahead of those two offensively at the same stages of their career. If you look only at the power part of the equation, there's not much of an argument for the other two. Defense is where it's a bit of a different story. Ebel is no slouch with the glove. He's grading out well at shortstop this season, and in a lot of organizations, he'd likely have a chance to stick at the position in the long term. In fact, he likely will remain there as he continues to climb the ladder. To continue the comparison with the other two, Ebel has a .970 fielding percentage this season, while Turang had a .949 fielding percentage at shortstop in Low-A, and Pratt was at .973. Fielding percentage is a bit of a misleading stat, however, and the other two showed better range and more fluid actions, which are extremely important traits for middle infielders and tend to translate into better defensive metrics at the big-league level. Ebel has a cannon of an arm, garnering a 70 on the scouting scale from Baseball America, which would play extremely well at third base if that is where he eventually winds up. That arm helped make up for a couple of bobbles in the Spring Breakout game earlier this year. Jesse Borek of MLB Pipeline wrote that, "All three assists came with a throw that exceeded 88 mph, including the final out of the frame, which clocked in at 91.8 mph." ivqlte.mp4 Pratt is probably the best comparison for Ebel when it comes to running the bases. It's more about instincts and IQ than pure speed for both of them. They have both shown an ability to steal bases at a very efficient clip, and both show a good ability to read balls off the bat, go first to third on singles, and take advantage of defensive mistakes or laziness. Turang is a good baserunner, but he relies a bit more on his pure speed than on the intangibles that Pratt and Ebel have. Ebel seems to be paving a slightly different path than Turang and Pratt, or perhaps he's just ahead of schedule in the power development portion of the blueprint. Either way, there are still two recent, shining examples of high school infielders for him to look to when envisioning his path to an MLB debut in the future. Given his background, his advanced profile, and his early power gains, Ebel has the looks of a player who could rise through the system pretty quickly, much like Cooper Pratt did. What are your thoughts on Ebel? Do you think he's the next in line? View full article

Jesus MadeLuis PenaCooper PrattJett WilliamsJosh AdamczewskiAndrew FischerJeferson QueroLuis LaraBraylon PayneBishop LetsonTyson HardinMarco DingesBlake BurkeLuke AdamsJD ThompsonJaron DeBerryBrady EbelColeman CrowJayden DubanewiczAlexander Frias

Jesus MadeLuis PenaCooper PrattJett WilliamsJosh AdamczewskiAndrew FischerJeferson QueroLuis LaraBraylon PayneBishop LetsonTyson HardinMarco DingesBlake BurkeLuke AdamsJD ThompsonJaron DeBerryBrady EbelColeman CrowJayden DubanewiczAlexander Frias

Matos definitely grabbing some attention. Exit velocities are strong from what I’ve seen and heard, seems like he gets to good angles too. Think there’s a little whiff so far, so that’ll be one thing to watch. Looking like a very interesting signing for sure.

Sort of late now, but the Gold game is being streamed again by the Orioles:

Fair point, I think they're still going to be able to get some guys in those rounds, but I'm just saying I'd be surprised if it's close to what we've seen these last three drafts. Somewhere between the two extremes, would be my guess. Maybe somewhere between $750-900k of the pool? Of course, they could also go heavy on senior signs in 5-10 and give themselves some more room for 11-20, so who really knows.

He was definitely grabbing at his leg after reaching on a dropped third strike last week. Looked like it was around the hamstring area but couldn't say for sure.

Think it is probably worth pointing out that this is the smallest pool the Brewers will have had in quite a while, so I could see it being a little more difficult for them to go as heavy on the HS types in 11-20 as they have been of late. It's a bigger pool than they had in 2022, when they only gave one player more than the $150,000 (Luke Adams), but the slot values have also moved up quite a bit in that time. Including the 5% overage (signings over the $150,000 mark post round 10): 2026: $8,445,045 2025: $13,795,005 (CJ Hughes, Luke Roupe, Rylan Mills, Chase Bentley, Ma'Kale Holden -- $1.59 mil of pool) 2024: $12,345,480 (Joey Broughton, Travis Smith, Jayden Dubanewicz, Tyler Renz -- $1.91 mil) 2023: $11,498,130 (Bishop Letson, Bjorn Johnson, Hayden Robinson, Josh Adamczewski, Justin Chambers -- $1.3 mil) 2022: $7,424,865 (Luke Adams -- $132,500 toward pool) 2021: $10,571,925 (Caden Vire, Quinton Low, Jace Avina -- $353,400 toward pool)

Image courtesy of © Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Cooper Pratt signed an eight-year, $50.75-million contract extension in April, and he got the call to the big leagues over the weekend. A lot happened between then and now, with many fans wondering when Pratt would come up—mainly due to the lack of production from the trio who have been patrolling the left side of the infield since Opening Day, in David Hamilton, Joey Ortiz, and Luis Rengifo. All of that is in the past now, though. Pratt is on his way to Milwaukee, and is expected to debut on Tuesday, June 16. As of this writing, a follow-up move on the 26-man roster has not been announced. Now, though, a new question arises. What should fans (realistically) expect from a rookie Cooper Pratt at the big-league level? On the field, one of the more reasonable expectations for any player is that good defense will translate at any level. Pratt was a 2024 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner at shortstop, awarded to the best defensive player at each position in all of Minor League Baseball. While there is reasonable skepticism about these awards and how they are decided, the prevailing opinion on Pratt is that he is an above-average shortstop, or better. Baseball America gives him a 55 grade on the 20-80 scale, as does FanGraphs, while MLB Pipeline labels him as a 60-grade defender (considered "plus"). At Pratt's height of 6-foot-4, he can appear to be a bit slower going after groundballs than many smaller shortstops do, but his range is strong, due in part to his tremendous ability to read swings and read the ball off the bat. His arm garners 60s from all three sites as well, and he has shown a strong ability to make "off-platform" throws while on the run, or even airborne. Pratt Throw 2.mp4 Another tool that should translate well at the big-league level will be Pratt's baserunning. In terms of straight-line speed, he's an average runner, maybe a bit above average. However, he shows great instincts on the bases, and will pick pitchers apart if they don't pay close enough attention to him. He has successfully stolen nearly 90% of the bases he has attempted in his minor-league career (79/88), including 17 of 18 in Triple-A this season. Pratt 2 SBs - 1 Inning.mp4 At the plate, there will be more questions for Pratt in the immediate future. After a very slow start to the season, with a 41 wRC+ in his first 70 plate appearances, Pratt posted a 125 wRC+ in his next 188 plate appearances. The chart below, courtesy of TJStats, shows the difference in some of the peripherals during those same two time periods. The contact quality still does not indicate much game power, even during the much better stretch, but he does show tremendous bat-to-ball skills, and the angles at which the ball leaves the bat have improved over the course of the season. Pratt will probably not hit for much power in MLB this season, except on the rare occasions when he gets an opportunity to pull his hands in and pull a pitch, but his bat-to-ball skills have the potential to translate pretty well. Pratt HR.mp4 One thing to keep an eye on with Pratt will be how he handles the better breaking balls he will see in MLB. Handling fastball velocity has not been an issue for him this season, despite that being a concern of some evaluators heading into the season. When facing fastballs, in general, he posted a .358 xwOBA and only whiffed on 10.8% of his swings. To further emphasize the lack of struggle with velocity, he has seen 132 fastballs thrown at least 95 MPH, and against those offerings, he has posted an even better .393 xwOBA, while only whiffing on 9.8% of his swings. Breaking balls, on the other hand, have been a different story. When thrown a breaking ball, he's posted a .270 xwOBA, with a whiff rate of 26.3% in 325 pitches seen. Big-league teams will look to expose that more often than Triple-A pitchers did, and teams will have more pitchers equipped to do so. The Brewers believe there is power to come down the line, and Brice Turang could provide a blueprint for eventually realizing it. The Brewers believe Pratt can follow a similar path in that regard, but Turang also provides a crystal ball for how Pratt's inaugural season could go. Turang finished his rookie season with a 61 wRC+, 12 Defensive Runs Saved, and he went 24 of 30 on stolen base attempts. He did that over 137 games, meaning Pratt's first campaign will need to be scaled down for comparison, as the Brewers will only have 93 games remaining when he debuts. The general scope of the production, though, is most likely going to look similar to Turang's rookie year. Pratt's value will be derived from his defense and his baserunning, and the Brewers will hope that they get a bit more out of the bat than Turang gave them. That said, even the Brewers' internal projections probably project Pratt as a below-average hitter in 2026. The good news for Pratt is that he won't have a very high bar to clear at the position. A 59 wRC+ is all the Brewers have received from the shortstop position in 2026. Pratt is capable of clearing that mark, and could still be a relatively significant upgrade, even if he only winds up posting a 75-80 wRC+ line in 2026. That's what the Brewers are hoping for here. Patience could prove to be challenging for fans and the Brewers alike. Struggles at the plate should not come as a surprise when they crop up. As Turang has shown, though, patience can be rewarded in a major way. The former surprise sixth-round pick, Cooper Pratt, is officially a big leaguer. He earned the opportunity. Now, it's all about how he continues to grow while at the highest level, and how quickly he can show that growth. View full article

I do believe Trey Ebel is flying up boards FWIW. I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't make it to the 66th pick. Not sure I'd go round 1 on him personally though.

This week's Mock Draft Monday is free on my Patreon if people would like to read the write-ups for the players below. The tool makes it a little difficult for me to draft as many prep players as I'd like to. Nobody signs for the money that guys like Dorchies, Tobias, Vucinovich have signed for, but I think the Brewers will at least take a couple more prep guys in lieu of all the college players I have in there from rounds 6-10. I really like Schaffner the more I have looked into him. He has a ton of Brewers traits too.

I think the range is solid, but it’d just be hard to make that arm work. Agreed that it’s tough if he’s in left only.

He’s played center before and looked solid out there. He’s a good defender at second but the arm probably limits him to that spot if he’s on the infield.

Mission accomplished on the title then 😉 Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing what he does too. It's just a really talented arm.

Image courtesy of © Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK Cameron Wagoner was an 11th-round selection by the Brewers in 2022, out of Eastern Michigan. He had not actually pitched for Eastern Michigan that season, due to academic ineligibility, but still caught the attention of area scout Ginger Poulson as a talented arm. He jumped into pro ball and quickly made a name for himself. For the rest of the season, he led all 2022 draftees in wins (3), innings (19 2/3), and K/BB ratio (24/2) while posting a 1.83 ERA between the complex and Low-A. Wagoner moved to High-A for the 2023 season and had an up-and-down season. His ERA (5.67) paints an uglier picture than the 4.20 FIP. Still, he struggled to generate strikeouts (19.2%), and his velocity was mainly in the 92-94 MPH range, rather than touching 97 MPH as he had shown in his brief professional debut the year before. Wagoner finished the season strong, including a tremendous August, even winning Midwest League pitcher of the month after going 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA in five games. However, he underwent Tommy John surgery after noticing problems in his elbow as he prepared for the 2024 season. As he was rehabbing from the surgery, fluid in his elbow required another six months of rehab, and then an elbow fracture set him back even further. When Wagoner returned to the game mound on May 2, it had been 972 days since he had last taken the ball in an official game. The return was not initially met by much attention, but that changed when he touched 99 MPH in a dominant three-up, three-down inning that included three strikeouts. That moment already made for a cool story, but Wagoner appears to be aiming for something more. Including that first outing, Wagoner is currently posting an ERA of 1.46 through 12 1/3 innings, with 19 strikeouts and only three walks. (He has hit five batters, as well.) His 40.2% whiff rate puts him in the 97th percentile for Double-A pitchers. The only two runs Wagoner has allowed have come via two solo home runs. Not only has Wagoner performed well, but the velocity continues to sit at the same level as he showed in his first outing. In fact, he even touched 100 MPH in the outing in which he recorded the first save of his career. While he has dropped down to 95 MPH on a couple of fastballs, the vast majority have been in the 97+ range. It's not just the fastball that deserves attention, though. His "cutter" (more of a short slider shape) has been elite, as well. Going into his most recent outing, he had generated whiffs on 64% of swings against that pitch. An overlay of the two pitches helps illustrate how well the two offerings can play off each other. Wagoner.mp4 This isn't just a good pitch mix for a Double-A reliever. Wagoner is showing a level of stuff capable of playing in a big-league bullpen. Given that he is Rule 5-eligible this winter, the Brewers may consider moving him up to Nashville soon, and once you're in Triple-A, a big-league debut is only one call away. Can he limit the free passes enough to let his stuff play? Will the velocity hold up as he continues to throw more innings? These are questions Wagoner will need to answer if he is going to push himself to that highest level. For now, though, his return is a tremendous story, and every inning he pitches in Double-A is must-see (MiLB) TV. View full article

We did talk about O’Rae! 1:32:35 mark 😉 (Fully understand how it could be missed during a 2 1/2 hour pod)