Spencer Michaelis

Episode 2 is out 🙂

Spencer Michaelis continue their in-depth examination of the Brewers' farm system in yet another special episode of the podcast. Spencer and Joseph recap the Carolina Mudcats' season, tier the Mudcats position players and pitchers and answer your listener questions! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View full article

I simply wasn’t reading it at the time, was trying to remember off the top of my head for some reason, instead of sticking with Finn lol. I think I may have said Bruins Colorado or something. Now realizing it was standing for Brunswick County which makes way more sense.

Of course! Should be out Monday or Tuesday I’d imagine! Btw, now that I’m looking at it again, I am pretty sure I completely butchered your username when I said it, but we also gave you the actual shoutout of your first name so that ought to help 😂

It has been a quiet offseason so far but the Brewers are going to start making moves, possibly soon. With the Winter Meetings a few days away, Jack and Spencer attempt to plan their own versions of the Brewers offseason and make new observations based on the experience. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View full article

We will be recording Episode 2 tomorrow night, focused on the Mudcats. If you have Mudcats questions for us, make sure to get them in ASAP! (FYI, because Jack and I will be recording a normal episode tonight, this minor league episode will likely be uploaded early next week to spread them out a bit more)

Curt Hogg just posted an article with 20 names that the Brewers are expected to sign on the Journal Sentinel. A few names I had not found, and/or was not sure if they were 2025's: - Leander Matos, infielder, Dominican Republic - Enrique Velasquez, pitcher, Venezuela (Here's his TikTok) - Jefer Lista, outfielder, Venezuela - Cristian Montilla, infielder, Venezuela - Erkys Rivero, outfielder, Venezuela Some names not listed that I found (not sure if they were simply not listed by Curt because he lacked info on them, if they are not 2025 signees, or some other reason): I am nearly certain both of the first two are 2025's. - Raymon Sarmiento, RH Pitcher - Sebastian Franeites, Catcher Not as sure on these three... - Alejandro Guerrero, Infielder - Salomón Millán, Catcher - Manny De Los Santos, LH Hitter (unsure on position, would guess outfield)

A couple more interesting MiLB Signings per Curt Hogg

It appears Arias is signing as part of the 2024 International Class, from what I can tell. They must have a bit of money left over. Found his TikTok and his Instagram. Not much video, but you can see some of the mechanics.

Back-to-back podcasts; today Jack and Spencer look at the lead-up to the Rule 5 Draft. Jack and Spencer break down the potential impact of losing Walker McKinven to the White Sox, the upcoming Rule 5 draft, how the Brewers can fix Deivi García, and more. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View full article

You won't need X to listen! It's available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and almost anywhere you can get a pod! It's also available on the site 🙂 and you can listen directly through there. Hoping it'll be on YouTube soon as well, as we used a lot of graphics and video on this episode. https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers-podcasts/special-episode-1-2024-minor-league-recap-r2819/?do=getNewComment&d=1&id=2819

In the first part of five, Brewer Fanatic's Joseph Zarr joins Spencer to talk about the Brewers minor league system. In an extended episode and the first of a five part series, Joseph Zarr joins Spencer to discuss the Brewers 2024 MiLB season, some of the departures and additions, updates on how players from the organization have fared in the AFL and winter leagues, and also placed DSL and ACL prospects into tiers based on their future potential. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td\ iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ View full article

I think that's a fair POV for sure. It's the main reason he isn't my number one. But the pure upside of being a legit ace is also a solid reason to vote him so highly I think. So I get how he ended up here.

Welcome back to the final edition of Brewer Fanatic's 2024 top 20 prospect breakdown! In this edition, we will take a deep dive look at Jacob Misiorowski. Misiorowski is the new number one prospect in the system, as voted on and compiled by the Brewer Fanatic community. Image courtesy of © Curt Hogg / USA TODAY NETWORK #1 Jacob Misiorowski (Biloxi Shuckers, Nashville Sounds) In terms of pure ceiling, the Brewers' second-round selection in the 2022 draft has one of the highest in baseball. A junior college standout from Crowder College in Missouri, Misiorowski is a freak athlete on the mound, with long levers and a blazing fastball. Since selecting Misiorowski, the Brewers have been extremely cautious in managing his workload. He only appeared in two games in 2022 and was built up very slowly in 2023. In 2024, they managed the workload differently, as he began the season making starts but finished in the bullpen. During that time, he moved from Double-A, where he had started the season, to Triple-A, where he would ultimately finish it. He continued to show his immense potential along the way, but also the qualities that have evaluators hesitant to label him a starting pitcher in the long term. What to Like: Misiorowski has, arguably, the most electric fastball in the minor leagues. Sitting in the 96-99 range most of the time, he has proven capable of running it up all the way to 102 in shorter stints. Not only does his fastball have 80-grade velocity, but it also has really good characteristics. Despite being 6’7", he releases the ball at just over five feet off the ground, which helps him generate a Vertical Approach Angle of -4.1, an elite number. Misiorowski also gets an insane 7.4 feet of extension, which would have finished in the 99th percentile in MLB this past season. His fastball compares extremely well to Zach Wheeler’s regarding release height, movement, and extension. However, Misiorowski’s fastball is thrown a couple of miles per hour harder than Wheeler’s. The consensus is that somebody with around 6.5 feet of extension will have essentially the same perceived velocity as their actual velocity. Each foot of extension beyond that adds about two MPH from the hitter's point of view. That means that a 98 MPH fastball from Misiorowski looks like 100, and if he runs it up to 102, it looks like 104. His fastball is his best pitch, but his secondaries don’t lag far behind. His slider has long been considered his best secondary offering, and it is a very good pitch, sitting in the low 90s with more of a cutter shape than a true slider. It missed a lot of bats at the lower levels but was more of a barrel-missing pitch for him in Triple-A, as he only generated whiffs at a 16.7% rate. His mid-80s curveball made a huge leap in 2023 and got even better in 2024. The curve shows a big, late drop with an above-average sweep, and hitters take it for many strikes because of how tough it is to pick up. It also became his primary “out pitch” in 2024, as he used it far more often than the slider. At the Triple-A level, the curveball generated an elite chase rate of 39.6% and a similarly elite whiff rate of 41%. It has surpassed the slider as his best secondary and is a borderline 70-grade pitch. What to Work On: It’s not a secret that Misiorowski has command concerns. It was the main knock on him during the draft, and it has followed him early in his career. A walk rate of 14.39% and over five walks per nine innings is not something he will be able to get away with in MLB, especially if he wants to continue down the path of being a starting pitcher. Along those lines, there is still concern over whether Misiorowski will end up being forced into a full time relief role at some point. His delivery does involve a lot of effort, and has a lot of moving parts. From the time he was drafted to the present, there has been quite a bit of improvement in terms of repeating his mechanics and staying within himself more often, so he will look to continue to build upon that. Adding some bulk to his frame could help keep the body in sync more consistently. While his fastball, slider and curveball combination have done the majority of the work for Misiorowski, he does also throw a changeup. The changeup is a distant fourth offering at the moment, and one he never actually broke out in Triple-A. He has very little command over it and is almost completely unable to throw it for strikes. The pitch shows signs of having good, late depth on it, but if he can’t learn to command it better he will likely need to scrap it, which he may have already done. What’s next: Misiorowski has moved very quickly through the Brewers system. He will almost certainly begin 2025 back in Triple-A Nashville. The bigger question is whether they will have him starting games, or if he will be preparing for a bullpen role in MLB. His stuff is good enough to pitch in the majors right now, especially in that aforementioned bullpen role. He showed a better ability to hold his velocity deeper into games in 2024, which means if he can make strides with his command (a big if), then starting games should still be on the table. Either way, assuming full health, it feels like a safe assumption that Misiorowski will make his MLB debut in 2025. The role in which that will happen is all that’s left to find out. What are your thoughts on Misiorowski? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Do you think he can stick as a starter? Let us know in the comments! View full article

Ironically, Jimmy Nelson's was very similar. He didn't actually lose much velo on his fastball after returning (it was more of a command issue for him post-surgery), which makes me hopeful that Quero's arm won't suffer the consequences. I can't find position players with the same injury, suffered the same exact way, at least to the point where we have data to see how it affected throwing post-surgery. It might be out there, I just haven't been able to find a good example. From what I can tell, it's not expected to affect him swinging, which is good news. The fact it's on his back shoulder for that and not the arm he finishes his swing with makes it less of an issue at the plate. The throws are the one question, from what I can tell.

Welcome back to Brewer Fanatic's 2024 top 20 prospect breakdown! In this edition, we will be taking a deep dive look at Jeferson Quero. Quero comes in as the number two prospect in the system, as voted on and compiled by the Brewer Fanatic community Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images 2. Jeferson Quero (Nashville Sounds, Full-Season Injured List) The Brewers signed Quero out of Venezuela in the 2019 international class. He garnered the sixth-highest bonus in the Brewers class at $200,000. While the Brewers did not have as much success as they would have hoped on their biggest bonus players, such as Luis Medina and Hedbert Perez, Quero has been a revelation since signing. From the moment he was signed, Quero has been heralded for his makeup and his ability to handle a pitching staff, both within the organization and externally. Coming into the 2024 season, he was seen as someone who could potentially impact the big-league club by the end of the season. Unfortunately, his season was flipped on its head after only one plate appearance. After drawing a walk in that plate appearance, the pitcher attempted a pickoff, Quero dove back into first base somewhat awkwardly and ended up dislocating his right shoulder, tearing his labrum in the process. Though it happened differently, the injury was the same one Shohei Ohtani sustained in Game 2 of the World Series: the shoulder pops out and back in, but in the process, the labrum tears under the strain of trying to stabilize the joint. Quero would miss the rest of the season, delaying his potential debut until at least 2025. The stats below are from 2023, when he had played a full season. What to Like: As mentioned above, Quero has been lauded for his moxie behind the plate. Having only turned 22 in early October, he's considered to be extremely mature for his age. He has the respect of his pitchers and coaches as a game-caller and is a vocal and energetic competitor. He’s more than just a smart defensive catcher though; he’s an extremely talented one as well. His arm grades out as plus, posting pop times as low as 1.86 and averaging around 1.9, which would have placed him in the top 10 in MLB last year. His shoulder injury was to his throwing arm, so his throwing will be something to keep an eye on in 2025. Quero also does a good job as a receiver, stealing his pitchers strikes and fighting for every close pitch. Defense is his calling card and assuming the arm returns to where it was pre-injury, it gives him a pretty high floor as an MLB-level backup. The reason his prospect status has grown so much over the last couple of years is the improvements he has made on the other side of the ball. At the plate, Quero has always had above-average bat-to-ball skills and shown some pop to all fields. That continued in 2023, and the pop turned into more in-game power than he had shown in the past, hitting 16 home runs. Those 16 home runs surpassed his previous career high of 10 in 2022, in fewer plate appearances. His batted-ball profile points to continued improvement in the power department. He hits the ball in the air quite a bit, and he hits the ball with authority, posting exit velocities of up to 110 MPH in 2023. His 105.2 MPH 90th-percentile exit velocity was fourth-highest for his age in 2023, and he was sandwiched between two big-time prospects in Marcelo Mayer and Jasson Dominguez. Quero has the potential to hit for a decent average and for power, all while playing plus defense at a premium position. What to Work On: While Quero has very good contact skills, he would do well to exercise a bit more patience at the dish. His walk numbers aren’t awful, but they were below-average in 2023. He’s a very aggressive hitter, and he swings out of the zone at an above-average rate. We aren’t talking about a Javier Báez level of chase, so it’s not something that should ever hamper him completely, but improving his swing decisions would go a very long way toward helping him reach his full potential offensively. Speed is the least important tool for a catcher, so it’s not a big deal, but Quero is below-average in that regard. He appears to be a heady base runner, though, and was able to go 5-for-5 on stolen bases in 2023. Despite that, his legs are more likely to be a negative than a positive at the MLB level. On the defensive side, Quero did at times struggle with receiving lower fastballs, but even that improved as the season progressed. He allowed more passed balls than you would hope for. However, that's not uncommon for younger catchers, for a multitude of reasons. Losing concentration from time to time or simply being too focused on attempting to frame a pitch rather than making sure the ball is actually caught are often the culprits. At times, Quero can also have a bit too much faith in his arm, which over the years has caused a few throwing errors on plays on which he didn't have a chance of recording an out. On one hand, the majority of these “concerns” appear to simply be youthful mistakes and energy. On the other hand, if he’s going to be impacting the big-league club in 2025, they are mistakes that would be harder to swallow. Cleaning up some of those lapses would go a long way toward building trust with Pat Murphy and company, though Quero certainly impressed Murphy last year in spring training, anyway. What’s next: Quero was able to get some at-bats as the DH for the Brewers in their instructs games, and is expected to be ready to catch by spring. He is already on the 40-man roster, so depending on how the rest of the offseason goes, he could enter spring training with a chance at the backup catcher position. The more likely scenario, though, is that he will begin next season back in Triple-A, ideally avoiding any major injuries this time, and get the chance to play every day at the level. Either way, he will be on the doorstep to the majors, where he could have a chance to make an immediate impact with his defense and power potential. With those tools on his side, Quero's long-term ceiling is becoming a multi-time All Star, and a top-five catcher in baseball. What are your thoughts on Quero? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Any concerns about his injury? Let us know in the comments! View full article

I know that the assumption seems to be that the Brewers are going to be cutting payroll (I don't think it's as much of a foregone conclusion, though I get why people are thinking it is), but even if that is the case I'm not sure I buy that adding $12 million for 2025 is something that should be considered unrealistic. Especially if you were to, for example, cancel out close to $8 million of that with a Devin Williams trade.

The Brewers got to work on their offseason by making a small trade and shedding a bunch of 40-man roster spots. Jack and Spencer break down Willy Adames's free agency and a flurry of Brewers moves to begin the offseason, including declining club options for Colin Rea and Devin Williams. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td\ iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ View full article