Spencer Michaelis

Jack and Spencer are back to discuss how the Milwaukee Brewers' coaching staff is changing this offseason. Jack and Spencer react to recent news on the coaching staff, including Chris Hook's new contract and Quintin Berry following Craig Counsell to Chicago. 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

Welcome back to Brewer Fanatic's 2024 top 20 prospect breakdown! In this edition, we will be taking a close look at Jesus Made, who comes in as the No. 6 prospect in the system, as voted on and compiled by the Brewer Fanatic community. Image courtesy of Milwaukee Brewers #6 Jesus Made (Dominican Summer League Brewers) Signed out of the Dominican Republic in the 2024 class, Made was ranked 22nd in his class by MLB Pipeline and was given the second largest bonus in the Brewers class at $950,000. Because of this, he went into the season with some hype surrounding him. By the time the season was over he had posted some of the best surface-level stats in the Dominican Summer League, and was being touted as having the potential to be a future number one prospect in all of baseball. Even Jackson Chourio had to wait for his full season debut to start getting his name into those types of talks. Made brings a fantastic blend of analytical data, as well as strong praise from traditional scouts who had eyes on him. What to Like: Made’s surface-level production in the DSL is certainly noteworthy. His 169 wRC+ placed him eighth in the entire league and he did that as the youngest player in the top eight. What stands out more than the surface production though is the means by which he got to it. He showed flashes of all five major tools on his way to being named Co-Brewers Player of the Year. Starting on the baserunning side, Made is said to have plus speed presently. He also appears to have the type of build that should allow him to maintain that speed even as he adds more muscle. He showed his wheels off by stealing 28 bases while only being caught four times in 2024. Posting a 90th percentile exit velocity of 103.9 MPH would have been above average for a Triple-A player, and Made did it as a seventeen year old. According to Baseball America, that number would have ranked third overall for seventeen year olds in 2023. His 47% hard-hit rate shows that he can get to that hard contact with consistency as well. More than anything else, this all shows that Made possesses big power potential, which he also showed by hitting six home runs in the DSL. A number that tied him for fifth all time among Brewers DSL players. The potential of that power and speed combination, from a switch-hitting shortstop, would have been enough for evaluators to take notice on its own. What put Made on the radar of Top 100 lists so quickly was the fact that he showed both of those tools, while also showing the potential for a plus hit tool. Made’s bat to ball ability was elite in the DSL. Made had a whiff rate of 11%, a number that puts him close to the 100th percentile in all of MiLB. He was even better on pitches in the zone, as he had an in-zone whiff rate of only 8%. Not only did he show an ability to put the bat on the ball, he also showed an ability to differentiate between balls and strikes at an elite level. His 15% chase rate would have been the best in all of MLB. Of course, he should never be expected to be able to maintain that number as he climbs higher and higher, but simply for comparison’s sake it shows how impressive that chase rate is. All of those tools showed up in the strikeout and walk numbers, in which he walked 39 times in comparison to only 28 strikeouts. On the defensive side, Made is expected to be given a chance to stick at shortstop, though scouts do worry that he may have to move off of the position as he continues to mature into his body. His arm is said to be plus, and thus third base is seen as a potential landing spot for him down the road. Given his speed, a move to centerfield is also seen as a possible outcome, but the preference is for him to remain on the infield dirt for now. What to Work On: One of the biggest things that could hold Made back from having a plus hit tool is if he continues to hit the ball on the ground at a similar rate to what he did in 2024. His 49.6% ground ball rate put him in the 15th-percentile in MiLB, and once he’s playing against better infield defense it will likely lead to a much lower BABIP than the .369 mark he posted in the DSL. While he has incredibly fast hands for his age, there is a lot of pre-swing movement with the hands that could cause some timing issues against more velocity. As Brewers fans have seen with Christian Yelich, being slightly off on your timing can cause a high ground ball rate, even if you’re still getting the barrel to the ball. Overall, Made’s batted ball profile will likely need to improve a bit for him to reach his absolute ceiling as a hitter. Outside of that, the one main thing to watch with Made is simply his youth. Young players come with inherent risks, mainly due to lack of experience. He hasn’t faced much adversity in his career yet, nor has he ever had this much attention on him. How a player responds to a long slump can tell us a lot about their future. Another issue you can run into with a young player is an inability to adjust once the “book is out on them”, which Brewers fans saw with a Keston Hiura, for example. Hiura never played at a level long enough to have pitchers find the holes in his swing, but they showed up eventually. Made’s plate discipline numbers and bat to ball skills seem to point to that being an unlikely problem for him specifically, but these are the types of things that can suddenly pop up for young players. What’s next: Made appears to be headed for a full-season ball debut with Carolina in 2025. Given his birthday is in May, he might make that debut as a seventeen year old. Meaning he would have made it to Carolina faster than Jackson Chourio, who had turned eighteen a couple months before he made his Low-A debut. Made still has room to grow into his body and will likely be focused on that this offseason. The odds of the Brewers finding two Jackson Chourio level prospects in a span of only a few years are very low, and yet… They may have another one in Made. We will know more about him by this time next year. There is an outside chance that he’s not only the number one prospect on this list in 2025, but potentially the number one prospect in baseball. What are your thoughts on Made? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Let us know in the comments! View full article

This is very good context thanks Jim! Also makes sense he calls it a cutter, because it's definitely shaped like a cutter haha

I think the gyro slider is what they were hoping to get out of him yeah. There definitely appears to be an inability to supinate for the glove side pitches. That was the case with guys like Small, but also for Devin Williams. Obviously Williams made it work, but Small was never able to. I would put Henderson somewhere between those two in terms of whether he can make it work or not. I think his command is better than Small's and that he has a much better fastball. But the fastball isn't as good as Devin's and neither is the changeup. And obviously even if he does make it work, he'd likely be in a pen role at that point. Some sort of glove side movement on a pitch would help a lot.

For me personally, that's more in line with where I have him currently. Seven is definitely a bit optimistic imo, but that's what the voters decided!

Unfortunately they did not

Welcome back to Brewer Fanatic's 2024 top 20 prospect breakdown! In this edition, we will take a deep dive look at Logan Henderson. Henderson is the number eight prospect in the system, as voted on and compiled by the Brewer Fanatic community. #8 Logan Henderson (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Biloxi Shuckers, Nashville Sounds) Henderson was the Brewer's fourth-round selection in 2021, out of McLennan Community College in Texas, making him yet another in the long line of Junior/Community College arms to come through the Brewers system. After battling injuries for most of his first year and a half in pro ball, Henderson made 18 starts in 2023, all of which came with Low-A Carolina. He posted really strong numbers, but he was more advanced than the hitters he was facing. After injuring his oblique during the “Spring Breakout” game, he started his season late in 2024, making his first non-rehab appearance on May 24th. While he started late, he did not start slow. He quickly climbed his way from High-A to Double-A and then eventually made it all the way to Triple-A by the end of the season. Henderson has an interesting setup on the mound, starting hunched over, with his front foot stepping towards first base, similar to a hitter with an open stance. Most pitchers start closed off rather than open, as there isn’t really any mechanical reason to start open. It’s likely a matter of comfort for Henderson and potentially a means to help him hold baserunners. What to Like: Henderson showed some gains in his fastball velocity this year, especially early in the season. Previously, sitting in the low-90s the vast majority of the time, Henderson showed flashes of 95-96 MPH, with a bit more regularity in 2024. By the time he reached Triple-A, the fastball only averaged 92.5 MPH, but that was at the end of a hectic season. While the jump in velocity is good to see, velocity is never what has made his fastball a plus pitch. All of the other characteristics make it such a strong offering. The average release height in MLB is slightly over six feet. Henderson releases his pitches from right around five feet. This helps him create an angle on all his pitches, especially his fastball, that can play tricks on the hitter’s eyes. For his fastball, this helps him create an elite -4.1 degree Vertical Approach Angle (VAA), which means it plays exceptionally well at the top of the zone. Henderson has the rare combination of an elite VAA and above-average Induced Vertical Break, of which he generated 17.6” on average. The velocity, shape, and movement all compare favorably to Cristian Javier of the Astros, who has seen a lot of success in using the fastball. The fastball isn’t the only pitch that grades out as a plus in Henderson’s repertoire. His changeup does as well. He takes over 11 MPH off the fastball on average, averaging around 18 inches of arm-side movement. Per Baseball America, he had a 44% CSW% (Called Strikes + Whiffs Rate) against it in 2024, which would have led MLB for changeups, though it should be noted that it was much lower in his small Triple-A sample, down to 25.6%. Henderson showed he could command the fastball and changeup at a high level and did a great job limiting walks all season long, as evidenced by his 97th-percentile walk rate of 4.8% in 2024. What to Work On: While Henderson’s fastball and changeup are both plus pitches, the rest of his repertoire grades out much worse. He added a cutter this past offseason, and it showed some signs of being a fringe-average pitch in the future. It is at least a pitch he can throw at hitters to keep them honest, but the hope is that he can make it more than that at some point. He only used the cutter 3% of the time on the season as a whole, but once he got to Triple-A, that usage went up to 12.1%. Perhaps a sign of the Brewers plans for this pitch mix if/when he does make it to MLB. Henderson’s slider also grades out poorly, but it showed some signs of improvement early in the season. He used it less and less as the season progressed, and only threw one slider while he was in Nashville. It seems like a pitch he currently lacks confidence in, but it’s arguably the pitch that would help his repertoire the most. Even just a fringe-average slider could give hitters a lot more to think about at the plate, as they would need to cover a lot more of the plate than they do currently. The one thing Henderson struggled with statistically in 2024 was with giving up too many home runs. He is a flyball pitcher due to the shape of the fastball he throws, as well as the location of where he throws them, so home runs will always be part of the equation for him. That said, the 1.44 Home Runs per Nine he allowed were in the eighth-percentile in 2024. His 12.9% Home Run per Fly Ball rate wasn’t a complete outlier, but it was still a bit higher than you’d expect it to be in the future. That could help the problem on its own, but avoiding mistakes low in the zone would also help Henderson avoid the long ball more consistently moving forward. What’s next: Henderson has a lot of similarities to a former Brewers pitcher, Marco Estrada. The fastball/changeup combination allowed Estrada to have a really strong prime of his career, even making an All Star appearance for the Blue Jays. That combination does require the command to be very consistently strong though, otherwise the profile starts to look similar to another former Brewer in Ethan Small. The margin for error is slim with a mix like Henderson's, which is why continued improvement in his slider or cutter would go a long way toward giving hitters more to worry about at the plate. Henderson is Rule 5 eligible this offseason, and will almost certainly be protected. Assuming he is protected, he will begin back in Nashville to start 2025, where he will be one of the players most likely to make their MLB debut for the Brewers next year. What are your thoughts on Henderson? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Let us know in the comments! View full article

Welcome back to Brewer Fanatic's 2024 top 20 prospect breakdown! In this edition, we will be taking a deep dive look at Brock Wilken, who comes in as the seventh-best prospect in the system, as voted on and compiled by the Brewer Fanatic community. Image courtesy of © Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK #7 Brock Wilken (Biloxi Shuckers) The Brewers' first-round selection in the 2023 draft, Wilken had an extremely successful career at Wake Forest, including becoming the career home run leader for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with 71, He set that record in only three seasons as a Demon Deacon. He did so well in his brief introduction to pro ball in 2023 that he was aggressively assigned to Double-A to begin 2024, appearing to be on a potential fast track to MLB. Unfortunately, Wilken dealt with a 94-MPH pitch to the face in April, which caused facial fractures, and he proceeded to struggle to produce for the majority of the season. What to Like: According to Baseball America, Wilken limited his chase rate to a very solid 22% in 2024, a number that was markedly better than average in Minor League Baseball. His ability to avoid fishing out of the zone led him to a strong 13.3% walk rate, which helped him post an on-base percentage over 100 points higher than his batting average. As one might gather, based on the home run record mentioned above, Wilken possesses a ton of raw power. At Wake Forest, he posted multiple exit velocities over 115 MPH and carried a 90th-percentile exit velocity of over 108 in his final season. His 71 career home runs were topped off with 31 in his draft year. Statistically, there were not a ton of positives to pull from for Wilken in 2024, but his 17 home runs are certainly the biggest. Wilken got to his power as often as he did largely because of his batted-ball profile. He pulls the ball a lot, and he hits the ball in the air a lot, which can be a deadly combination when you hit the ball with authority. The power output, as well as his proclivity for drawing walks, led to him posting a 106 wRC+, meaning he was a slightly above-average hitter for the Double-A level, despite batting only .199 for the season. The Southern League ended up being a very pitcher-friendly league in 2024, and that (along with the HBP to the face) is an important piece of context to consider when looking at Wilken’s season on the whole. Despite being a below-average runner in terms of speed, Wilken does show good baserunning instincts. It won’t show up in stolen bases, but he has demonstrated an ability to get good reads on pitches in the dirt, as well as being able to read balls well off the bat. He appears to cut the bases well too. Those little things can at least partially help him make up for his lack of straight-line speed. While Wilken still doesn’t grade out very well as a defender at third base overall, he did a respectable job at the hot corner in 2024. His hands are solid, he does a good job of throwing off-platform when charging in on the ball, and he has a very strong arm. What to Work On: Wilken showed that he can make the majority of the plays that are hit right to him or in front of him, but his range when moving laterally is still lacking. He also had some issues throwing the ball accurately across the diamond, with throws often sailing high on him. A move to first base still appears to be the most likely outcome in the future, which will put even more pressure on his bat. While Wilken did not chase at an alarming rate overall in 2024, he did show a weakness on low-and-away breaking balls. He struggled to lay off of them, especially in two-strike counts. According to Baseball America, he only swung at 66% of in-zone pitches, which meant he was in two-strike counts quite often. A patient approach is usually a positive trait, but this approach bordered on passive. Finding his pitches to drive, and not burying himself in pitcher’s counts, could go a long way toward Wilken being more productive in the future. That passive approach was further hampered by his 30.5% whiff rate. A player like Luke Adams doesn’t swing very often either, but he only whiffs at a 20% clip. The high whiff rate, combined with a low swing rate, can often result in a low batting average and a lot of strikeouts, and that was the case with Wilken. While he had shown signs of a potentially average hit tool in 2023, his 2024 profile was more in line with a below-average hit tool. Wilken’s BABIP was abnormally low, coming in at .249 for the season, placing him in the 7th percentile among all minor-league hitters. While that number is likely due for some positive regression on its own, improving upon his 18th-percentile line drive rate would go a long way toward helping that happen. Wilken batted .776 on liners in 2024, compared to the .695 number that was the league average for Double-A. On the other hand, he hit .186 on grounders in 2024. The league average was .236, which does seem to show some bad luck for Wilken, especially when considering the fact that he hits the balls pretty hard. However, Wilken’s lack of speed does play a part here too, as infield hits are few and far between. What’s next: Wilken is currently taking part in the Arizona Fall League. Unfortunately for him and the Brewers, the results have been even worse there than they were in Double-A, and signs are pointing to him most likely returning to Biloxi to begin 2024. The hope will be that he makes some big strides this offseason, especially as he gets further removed from his hit by pitch to the face. It’s impossible to know the effect that ended up having on Wilken as the season progressed, but it would be understandable if it took a mental toll on him. If that is the case, a mental reset could be the most important thing he does the entire offseason. His profile will always be carried by his offense, and if he can get off to a hot start, the Brewers will likely want to move him to Nashville pretty quickly. While it will only be his second season of professional baseball, 2025 is going to be an important one for Wilken to prove that his status as a top ten prospect in the system is warranted. What are your thoughts on Wilken? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Let us know in the comments! View full article

More I've come across that I believe are signing in this upcoming class: Romano Donato -- No video available, right handed hitter with a lot of room to add physicality based on his IG Highlights Frankller Mayora -- LHH middle infielder. Some video of a quick lefty swing within his IG Highlights. Raymon Sarmiento -- RHP without his own IG, but Bobby Abreu's Baseball Academy has some video. Sebastian Franeites -- C with a loud operation in the swing it seems, but quick hands. Same as Sarmiento, there's some video from Bobby Abreu's Baseball Academy. (If you search through that page enough, you'll find some future non-2025 Brewers signings as well) Merwin Manrique --RHP with some video courtesy of GPA Baseball Academy's IG Johanderson Tarazona -- C who appears to have a good arm, hard to find information on him, but confirmed signing with the Brewers by Future Stars Baseball Academy's IG

Quintana also apparently had immaculate swing decisions, based on this Baseball America article so I have to imagine he's brought stateside like you said. Ereu will likely be over as well. I'm sure it will work itself out, but it's going to be extremely interesting to follow next year.

Oh yeah, I agree with this for sure. I'm just not sure if Boeve will hit enough to fit into that category. If the power starts to show more often, it can be a totally different story.

That makes plenty of sense to me, yeah. That's probably the way they'll go.

I am inclined to agree, especially because he was starting to show signs of it more often at the end of the season, before his final injury.

Yeah, it's a tough balance. Like I mentioned in the article, heavy hit tool players are tough to make work if they don't have speed. If he can get to 15+ HR power consistently, I think that makes him a lot more likely to stick as a major leaguer. But as you mention, there is always risk in trying to add some lift and get to that power more often as well.

I personally think he's comparable to Monasterio at third, which they been willing to put up with in a utility role. But yeah for him to be an everyday starter, that does feel like it would be something they'd want to avoid.

Welcome back to Brewer Fanatic's 2024 top 20 prospect breakdown! In this edition, we will be taking a deep dive look at Mike Boeve. Boeve comes in as the ninth-ranked prospect in the system, as voted on and compiled by the Brewer Fanatic community. 9. Mike Boeve (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Biloxi Shuckers) The Brewers' second-round selection in the 2023 MLB Draft, Boeve stood out as someone the franchise could potentially have interest in even before he was taken, due to some of the analytical traits he possessed. The Brewers aren’t strictly model-based when making draft decisions, but they do value them quite a bit, and Boeve was a model darling. After a strong start in the Arizona Complex League, Boeve finished 2023 in High-A with Wisconsin and struggled a bit with the Timber Rattlers. He began 2024 back in High-A, and proved to be up to the challenge this time around, posting a .553/.642/.632 line in 13 games before a quick promotion to Double-A Biloxi. He would remain there the rest of the season, battling injuries throughout but producing whenever he was playing. What to Like: Boeve is not the most visually appealing player of all time, but he seems to consistently get the job done, and also stands out in a lot of analytical models. Always known for making a lot of contact during his time at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, he capped that off in his senior season by posting a minuscule 4% strikeout rate, paired with a 15.2% walk rate. He has continued that trend in the minors, with a very strong 15.8% strikeout rate, and an above-average 11.7% walk rate. Even beyond the plate discipline numbers, his whiff rate of 16.1% was in the 97th percentile for all of MiLB. He has plus-plus bat-to-ball skills, and makes strong swing decisions. At one point seen as a contact-only type of bat, Boeve has shown a few signs of being more than that. After signing and reporting to the Arizona Complex League, he posted wood-bat exit velocities of up to 112 MPH in the couple of weeks he spent down there. While he only hit six home runs in 2024, he was posting strong exit velocities throughout the year and broke 110 MPH on multiple occasions. The other good sign is that the power was coming around as the season progressed, including hitting three home runs in a three-game stretch in August. His build shows signs of being able to hit for more power, especially if he can pull the ball a bit more often, and if he can get some of his hard-hit line drives to turn into fly balls. Turning some of those line drives into fly balls could help Boeve’s power numbers, but the 29% line drive rate he posted in 2024 is an elite number in its own right. His hit tool shows signs of being plus. He wouldn’t want to sacrifice much of that to be able to get to the previously mentioned power potential, so finding the right balance will be important for him moving forward. What to Work On: After being drafted, Boeve had played second and third base for the Timber Rattlers and in the ACL. His arm is fringe-average for third and average for the keystone. However, he didn’t spend any time at second base in 2024, instead exclusively occupying the corners. He essentially split his time with Biloxi between first base and third base. He did well at first, despite having minimal experience, showing pretty good hands and comfort with the requisite footwork. Third base is a spot where he appears to be able to hold his own as well, but at both spots, he could use improved work on his range, especially going to his forehand. At the plate, the raw power will need to show up in games more consistently, if he wants to reach his full potential. The good news is that he has the juice in his bat to do it; he simply needs to alter his batted-ball profile a bit. That's easier said than done, to be sure, but pulling the ball in the air a bit more often could help Boeve rapidly increase his power production. The power is especially important for Boeve because, while a plus hit tool is certainly a positive, that profile doesn't play as much if the hitter lacks speed, which Boeve does. Players who live on line-drive singles would ideally steal a decent number of bases and “turn singles into doubles,” which he is not able to do. What’s next: Boeve dealt with a lot of injuries in 2024, so he only played in a little over half of the games available to him. Because of this, he might begin 2025 back in Biloxi, simply to get a bit more experience. However, his production does point to a player who is ready for the challenge of Triple-A, so neither assignment would be a big surprise. Depending on what the Brewers do this offseason, third base could be a wide-open position at the MLB level, and first base may end up needing some help, as well. If Boeve can stay healthy, show improvement in the areas mentioned above, and things break right for him, a 2025 MLB debut can’t be ruled out. What are your thoughts on Boeve? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Let us know in the comments! View full article

Perfect timing by the Mudcats to post their Top 5 Moments of the season for Yophery this morning 🙂

Welcome back to Brewer Fanatic's 2024 top 20 prospect breakdown! In this edition, we will be taking deep dives on each of the top 10 prospects in the system. Yophery Rodriguez comes in as the No. 10 prospect, as voted on and compiled by the Brewer Fanatic community. Image courtesy of © Curt Hogg / USA TODAY NETWORK #10 Yophery Rodriguez (Carolina Mudcats, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) The Brewers handed Rodríguez their largest signing bonus in the 2023 international class, giving him $1.5 million to join the organization. He spent 2023 in the Dominican Summer League, posting a 125 wRC+, and was viewed as a potential breakout candidate heading into 2024. The Brewers had Rodriguez follow the Jackson Chourio and Luis Lara path of skipping the Arizona Complex League. However, unlike Chourio and Lara, he made the Opening Day roster for Carolina and would wind up spending the entire regular season there. What to Like: Rodriguez was one of the youngest players at Low-A. In fact, he only had five plate appearances the entire season against a pitcher who was younger than him. He went two for three, with two doubles and two walks, in those plate appearances. Rodríguez projects to have an above-average hit tool in the future, with plus bat speed and a short path to the ball. After posting a lowly 13% line drive rate in 2023, he boosted that to an above-average 23.2% in 2024. Line drives are the brand of batted balls that are most likely to end up a hit, and that held true for Rodríguez, as he batted a staggering .814 on them in 2024. Continuing to elevate will be important for him, and he has the type of swing that should help him to do so. Spending the majority of his time in center field this year, Rodríguez performed very well. Like most outfielders in the Brewers system--and at the major-league level, for that matter--Rodríguez plays with reckless abandon in center. He’s not afraid to run into a wall. Nor is he afraid to lay out for a ball. His reads and jumps both made significant progress throughout the season and he currently grades out as a good defender in center. Because his speed is not on the level of most of the current and past center field prospects the Brewers have had, he may wind up in a corner. He could be a plus defender if he does end up making that move, and his arm is good enough to handle either left or right field. One other thing that jumps off the page with Rodriguez is his maturity and his ability to speak fluent English. He showed both of those traits off as he was featured heavily in the Brewers video showcasing their new complex in the Dominican Republic earlier this year. The baseball tools will always be the most important part of the equation for a player, but off-field abilities matter as well and can take stress off of the player and the organization. Rodríguez appears to have a good mix of all of the above. What to Work On: After showing fantastic ball/strike recognition in the Dominican Summer League, Rodríguez did struggle a bit with that portion of his game in Low-A. His 26% whiff rate is not a huge cause for concern, but it is higher than what would have been expected of him, based on the DSL reports. Chase rates are not publicly available for Rodríguez, but he did appear to struggle to lay off many of the offspeed offerings he saw with Carolina. This is not uncommon for an 18-year-old who is likely seeing the best breaking balls he has ever seen. While his strikeout rate ended up worse than average for the season, he improved significantly as the season progressed. In April, his strikeout rate was over 35%, it dropped to 25% in May, and then was never higher than 21.8% in any month for the rest of the season. While Rodríguez does have the potential to hit for power, home run pop has yet to really show itself in games. He has natural loft to his swing, and his exit velocities are above-average for his age, so it was a bit surprising not to see more than seven home runs this season. He did at least show gap power, posting 23 doubles and six triples. There’s a chance that the power numbers will suddenly show up in 2025 as he continues to mature, but for now, that is all still based on power projection, rather than in-game production. As mentioned above, Rodríguez grades out as better than average in terms of pure speed, but he has struggled to steal bases in pro ball, including a 58% success rate in 2024. His jumps need a lot of work, and his instincts don’t appear to be great. Learning more about how to read a pitcher and improving those jumps could go a long way, as he has the speed to be more successful than he has been so far. What’s next: While his results in 2024 likely didn’t blow anybody away, he did post a 117 wRC+ as one of the youngest hitters in the league. It’s important to keep that in context. Rodríguez was actually promoted to High-A Wisconsin for the Midwest League championship series and had four hits in 13 at-bats in his three-game sample there. He will likely begin 2025 back in Appleton, where he will once again be one of the youngest players at his level. What are your thoughts on Rodriguez? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Let us know in the comments! View full article

No disagreement on this. It's definitely something that I've noticed as well. I think he's trying to do a variation of what the tweet below shows Arenado, Bregman, etc doing, but he doesn't actually keep his body moving toward first, and falls backwards, or off toward the 3B line like you guys are talking about. I have to imagine that will get corrected at some point.

It's not public info, but also not a database I have specific access to. I am lucky enough to have a couple sources I can ask for stuff like that once in a while. Some of the random EV data is also just from watching the games and having the announcers tell the listeners how hard it was hit.