Spencer Michaelis

This is super important, and I didn't include it because of what the question was asking, but I agree in saying I don't think Rodriguez needs to get to the mid-90's to be an MLB pitcher either. The fastball has really good characteristics on it and will likely always play better than his velocity would make you think.

As for this question, it's honestly hard to say in terms of the gains from 18-25. There are a lot of factors that go into it. A pitcher that's mostly maxed out physically might struggle to add velocity, but if they have iffy mechanics, they could add velocity through sharpening up the delivery. For Rodriguez, I do think there's room to grow into some more strength at 6'2, 175. Mechanically he might have the cleanest delivery in the system, but he could likely get a bit better in terms of rotational speed. So a bit more of that and he could add a couple of ticks. 95 doesn't seem out of reach, but it's certainly not a guarantee. The Brewers could also find that the impeccable command isn't worth messing with any of his mechanics and rely on physical development to try to add that velocity more than anything else.

Idk about the "expert" label, but I appreciate it haha. I'd be happy to answer some questions in here, but I may actually toss some into the podcast as well if I think they'd be fun conversational questions! If anyone has a question they'd specifically like me to answer just @ me on here and I'll try to get to them.

Janek is such a ridiculous athlete for a catcher, I'd definitely have no complaints with that one. I am weary of Brecht, though I do agree that if anyone will be able maximize him, the Brewers are near the top of the list of teams that can. Wouldn't hate the pick, because even without a ton of positive growth he could probably fall into a decent pen role.

Yep, I read the BA article and figured he'd be one to watch, but my goodness this is a ridiculous start.

Jose Anderson 3-5 with 2 doubles and a homer... Quite the start for him as well. Already 3 bombs and that 1.553 OPS will play.

Carlos F. Rodriguez is reportedly on his way to Milwaukee, to make his MLB debut on Tuesday night. While he is known for throwing the "kitchen sink" at hitters, there is more to dream on than you might expect your average junkballer to offer. Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports Carlos Rodriguez was selected by the Brewers in the sixth round of the 2021 MLB Draft, out of Florida Southwestern State Junior College. That means you can include him on the growing list of juco pitchers who have succeeded (or are showing signs of future success) in the Brewers system. Rodríguez is a six-pitch pitcher who throws the kitchen sink at hitters and keeps them off-balance. This profile isn’t always the most exciting for fans, but Rodríguez is more than “just a junkballer”. A number of his pitches come in as pretty solid offerings. The Repertoire To begin, Rodríguez throws three different “fastballs”: a four-seamer, a sinker and a cutter. The four-seamer is a riding fastball that plays above what the movement metrics would indicate, due to a low release point that gives it a Vertical Approach Angle (VAA) of -4.4. It sits in the 90-93 MPH range and can get up to 95 or so on occasion. His sinker averages 15 inches of run; he gets the majority of his ground balls with it. The sinker sits in a similar velocity band to the four-seam, while his cutter is a bit slower, coming in around 87-88 most days. He often uses it to keep the ball off the barrel, but in Triple-A, the cutter has started to miss more bats than it did in the past as well. As is true for Bryse Wilson and some other recent Brewers hurlers, it bends toward the breaking ball end of the spectrum on which cutters exist, but has fastball-like power. To go along with the three heaters, Rodríguez also throws three different offspeed pitches: a changeup, a slider, and a curveball. The change is often graded as his best pitch out of the six. Usually thrown in the 83-86 MPH range, it’s his go-to swing-and-miss pitch against lefties, and he can generate ground balls with it, as well. His command of it can come and go, and when it isn't there, he does sometimes allow some loud contact. When it is on, though, it can carry him through a start. You could also make a case for the slider as his best pitch. With its velocity usually hovering around 80 MPH, it shows flashes of being another big-time swing-and-miss pitch, but (again) with some inconsistencies in command that can be costly, the results he has had show a lot of variance. That has changed in 2024, and we will get into just how successful the slider has been for him recently, a bit later. His curveball has mostly been used to “steal a strike,” by landing a slow one in the zone. Coming in with both sweep and drop, when he’s throwing it as a swing-and-miss pitch, the velocity is usually around 73-75 MPH. When he wants to land it for a strike, he has dropped as low as the 60s at times. It isn’t a great pitch on its own, but he can use it to help all his other offerings play up, and it does give a hitter more velocity bands to worry about. 2024 Performance at Triple-A Having made one start at Triple-A in 2023, Rodríguez returned to the level to begin 2024 and got off to a very rough start, causing a lot of his season-long numbers to look pretty rough. Through April, he had posted an ERA of 8.13 in 27 2/3 innings pitched. He had a strikeout rate of 19.7% and a walk rate that was only slightly lower, at 15.2%. His WHIP was hovering up close to two hitters reaching base per inning, at 1.81. While he certainly didn’t get off to the start that fans were hoping for, given his prospect status, it’s hard to imagine there was much panic coming from the Brewers' side at that time. They likely knew that there was a chance Rodríguez would need to go through an adjustment period at this level. After all, he did come into the season as the fifth-youngest pitcher in all of Triple-A. Whether the organization was worried at that time or not, since the calendar flipped to May, Rodríguez has done everything he can to put any concerns there may have been to rest. In that span, Rodríguez has posted a 2.83 ERA in 35 innings pitched. His WHIP is nearly an entire point lower than before May 1, down to 0.89. His strikeout rate is up to 29.2%, and his walk rate is down to 6.6%. Per TruMedia, over that same period, among pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched in Triple-A, his ERA places him in the 87th percentile and his WHIP is in the 98th percentile. The strikeout rate he has posted is in the 95th percentile, and his 28.2% whiff rate is in the 82nd percentile, while his walk rate is also in the 82nd percentile. It’s also important to note that, of the 127 Triple-A pitchers who qualified for this list, Rodríguez was the second-youngest. After being rewarded with International League Pitcher of the Month in May, Rodríguez’s first start in June picked up right where he left off, as he carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He eventually lost it on an infield hit and was immediately pulled from what would be his final Triple-A outing prior to making his MLB debut. His final line in that one was 5 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 7 K and 2 BB. Potential Pitfalls Early On and How the Brewers Could Look to Proactively Solve Them Rodríguez has still shown a propensity for allowing homers, even during the post-April renaissance. He allowed five homers in those 35 frames, which comes out to 1.29 per nine innings. As someone who has largely been a fly-ball pitcher in the minors, this will likely always be part of his profile. However, the Brewers may be able to help. One way the team may try to help him reduce his vulnerability to home runs is to have him increase his sinker usage (while lowering the four-seam usage) in hopes of trying to keep the ball on the ground a bit more. Over these past six starts, the ground-ball rate on his sinker has been 53.3%, while the four-seamer's has been 23.8%. The Brewers have also already employed that strategy once this year, when they increased Robert Gasser’s sinker usage upon his promotion to the big leagues. While it has been a pretty small sample, Gasser's ground-ball rate of 43% in MLB is 6% higher than it was in Triple-A this season, and 11% higher than the number he had in a full season with Nashville in 2023. As the chart below lays out, the four-seam fastball is the one of the three fastballs Rodríguez throws that has had the most damage done against it, by a pretty wide margin. While those are the season-long stats, the only pitch Rodríguez had any issues with in the past six starts is his curveball. On balls in play, hitters had an xwOBA (Expected Weighted On-Base Average) of .503 against that pitch. However, it also generated a whiff rate of 43% in that time. It seems that if he can keep it down in the zone, the pitch works fine. But it loses its shape the more he leaves it up, and the generally slow nature of the curve gives hitters some extra time to adjust to a mistake. His slider, on the other hand, generated a 42% whiff rate, while also limiting hard contact extremely well. The xwOBA against the slider is only .103, meaning there's next to no damage being done against the pitch. This is another pitch he could probably use more often than he has for most of 2024, and it would not be a surprise to see the Brewers go in that direction. The changeup got fewer whiffs than you would expect a changeup to, but it continued the trend of avoiding much hard contact and was the only pitch with a higher ground-ball rate than the sinker during that span, coming in at 55.7%. All of the fastballs were above-average in terms of xwOBA, and the cutter’s whiff rate of 31.6% was well above average for that pitch type. Going with a heavier usage rate on the sinker and cutter combination (while lowering that four-seam usage) could prove to be beneficial for Rodríguez, even beyond the increase in ground balls. Sneaking four-seamers past hitters at the top of the zone (or above it) becomes a lot easier if the hitters haven't been seeing the four-seam over 30% of the time. Wrap-Up To put a bow on what fans can expect to see from Rodríguez, first, remember that his season-long stats do not tell the full story and that he has shown a lot more of the qualities that make him a top prospect in the Brewers system of late. Beyond that, you can expect to see a very deep repertoire, with six solid offerings. You can probably expect to see him get burned by the home run ball at times, but also to see some swing-and-miss and a lot of fly ball outs if he keeps the same pitch mix he has had in Triple-A. It's worked well for Wilson, for instance. You could see an increase in grounders if the Brewers take a similar approach to the one they took with Robert Gasser. We should be clear, though, in saying that Rodríguez is unlikely to ever be a top-of-the-rotation arm, at least without a sudden increase in his velocity. What he could be, instead, is a Colin Rea-type of pitcher who can go out and consistently give the Brewers a chance to win the game the day he starts. While that may not be the most exciting profile, it’s a very valuable one for almost any rotation--especially when that profile is attached to a 22-year-old who is under team control for the next six to seven years (minimally), and who also has more room left to develop than a pitcher like Rea does. What are you hoping to see from Rodríguez in his debut? Do you expect him to stick around, or do you think he will spend more time in Nashville after this start, even if it goes well? Let us know in the comments! View full article

The Brewers had a volatile week of baseball, let's dive into the details. Jack and Spencer discuss the recent two series stretch against the White Sox and Phillies, what can be gleaned from those six games, whether people should be concerned about the offense, Aaron Ashby’s return, and much 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/ View full article

Hunt was actually on my list for the honorable mentions and it appears I completely forgot to include him… whoops! I’m a big believer as well though, have been since you turned me onto him lol. Those breaking balls are ridiculous.

Yesavage to the Cubs makes me sad, but I’d love the Cam Smith pick.

We continue our Player of the Month series with our top four Relief Pitchers in the Brewers system for the month of May. Image courtesy of Wisconsin Timber Rattlers The Brewers' minor league pitching was very impressive on the starting side of things this month, and the relievers had a lot of strong candidates as well. Beginning with a few honorable mentions: HONORABLE MENTIONS RHP - Jeferson Figueroa - Carolina Mudcats - 5 G, 8.0 IP, 1-0, 2.25 ERA, 4.82 FIP, 1.13 WHIP, 4 H , 5 BB, 16 K Figueroa was the Brewers' 32nd round pick in 2019 (which was the last draft that expanded beyond round 20) as a high schooler out of Florida. Currently showing a fastball with life at the top of the zone and touching 96-97 at times, he also throws a wipeout slider. He generated whiffs on 43.1% of swings in May. RHP - Kaleb Bowman - Biloxi Shuckers - 8 G, 19.1 IP, 2-1, 2.33 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 0.72 WHIP, 11 H, 3 BB, 11 K Bowman was signed out of Independent ball before the 2023 season and performed well at High-A in 2023, and has continued that strong performance through the first two months of 2024 with Biloxi, mainly by limiting walks and extra-base hits. RHP - James Meeker - Nashville Sounds - 10 G, 13.2 IP, 1-0, 1.32 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 9 H, 8 BB, 14 K Another Indy ball signing for the Brewers back in 2021, Meeker throws a four-seam, cutter, sinker, and slider and mixes them all. None stand out as above average, and he’s more of a sum of his parts pitcher, but he continues to get the job done at every level. TOP FOUR RELIEF PITCHERS FOR MAY #4 LHP - Anfernny Reyes - 7 G, 11.1 IP, 2-2, 1.59 ERA, 2.09 FIP, 0.88 WHIP, 8 H, 2 BB, 10 K Unranked by all publications Reyes was signed out of the Dominican Republic in August of 2021, at 17 years old. After a great first season in the Dominican Summer League in 2022 finishing with a 1.54 ERA in 11 starts. He moved stateside in 2023 where he continued to post solid, if unspectacular, numbers as a reliever in the Arizona Complex League, finishing with a 4.85 ERA. He returned to the level in 2024 and got off to a tremendous start in May. Unfortunately, there has been little to no information on Reyes put out to the public, so all we know about him is that he throws left-handed and has been able to rack up strikeouts at a pretty solid rate. He continued to rack up those punchouts in May, striking out batters at a very strong 32.7% for the month. That number placed him 15th at the rookie level out of 140 pitchers with at least 12 innings. Reyes is already 20 years old, and seems like a candidate for a promotion to Carolina soon, based both on his performance and the advanced age for the level. Hopefully, then we will be able to learn more about what he's doing to get all of this swing and miss! #3 RHP - Sam Gardner - Biloxi Shuckers - 7 G, 13.2 IP, 0-1, 1.98 ERA, 1.26 FIP, 0.88 WHIP, 10 H , 2 BB, 17 K Unranked by all publications Gardner graduated from Murray State in 2021, and after going undrafted following his senior season he signed with the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League. The Brewers purchased him from the Grizzlies in early June of 2023 and he had a strong finish to the season. He continued that run in the Australian Winter League this past offseason when he only allowed one earned run in 22.2 innings while striking out 50 batters for an absurd 19.9 K/9. This earned him a Double-A assignment to start the season where he has gotten off to a really strong start. Gardner throws a fastball that sits in the 93-94 range and can get up a bit higher at times. The fastball works well at the top of the zone. He plays off of that fastball with a curveball that sits in the high 70s. The curve he can both land for strikes, as well as throw it out of the zone to get hitters to chase. It’s his put-away pitch, and might even be his primary pitch as he uses it quite a bit. In May, Gardner was able to continue doing what he does best; racking up strikeouts and limiting walks. His 8.5 K/BB ratio placed him in the 95th percentile among Double-A pitchers with at least seven innings in May. He generated whiffs at an above-average rate of 31.7%, which placed him in the 73rd percentile. However, in two-strike counts, his whiff rate balloons to 41.2% which is in the 95th percentile. He aims to get soft contact early in counts and then knows how to put a hitter away when he has him in pitcher’s counts. Unfortunately, Gardner ended the month on the 7-Day IL for the Shuckers, and we are currently unsure of what his return timeline is looking like. Once he does return, he’s a definite candidate for Nashville with him being 27 years old and having so much success with Biloxi. #2 RHP - Bayden Root - Carolina Mudcats and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 9 G, 12.1 IP, 1-0, 0.73 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 1.38 WHIP, 10 H, 7 BB, 16 K, 4 SV. Unranked by all publications Root signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State, following the 2023 draft. He began his career at Ohio State before transferring to the other OSU for his final season, where he worked exclusively out of the bullpen. While he performed decently in college, the combination of age and being a relief only prospect kept Root from being drafted. What interested the Brewers was likely his pure stuff and his competitiveness. He’s a very fiery competitor who isn’t afraid to show some emotion after recording a big out.. Root throws a two-seam fastball in the 94-95 range with up to 19 inches of run on it. His best secondary is his mid-80s slider that gets up to 19 inches of glove-side movement on it and can show very sharp breaks at times. He also throw a four-seam fastball that he can throw a bit harder than his two-seam, though the metrics on the four-seam aren’t great. He rounds out the repertoire with a mid-80s changeup that can also get up to 18 inches of run, though he doesn’t use it much and it’s a pitch he hasn’t shown a propensity for being able to command. Root’s first eight appearances of the month came as a member of the Mudcats, before being promoted to High-A for his final outing. Root did not generate a ton of whiffs (39th percentile), though his strikeout rate of 30.8% placed him in the 78th percentile for Low-A and High-A pitchers who threw at least seven innings in May. What he did do well though, was keep the ball out of the air. His 65.5% ground ball rate placed him in the 98th percentile for the month and helped him to only allow one extra-base hit (a double) for the entire month. He did walk hitters a bit too often, coming in at a 13.5% clip, but even if you walk a lot of guys, you can limit the damage with strikeouts and ground balls which is what Root did to get through the month. Having just been promoted to High-A, Root will likely be there for a while as he continues to work on sharpening his command. He has the stuff to be a pretty decent reliever if he can be in and around the zone more often. #1 RHP - Craig Yoho - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 8 G, 12.1 IP, 0-0, 0.73 ERA, 1.65 FIP, 0.73 WHIP, 5 H , 4 BB, 21 K, 4 SV. Unranked by all publications The Brewers 8th round selection in the 2023 draft out of Indiana, Yoho is the only one of these arms that appears to already be slotted into a relief role in the future. At one time a position player in college, he transitioned to a two-way role for a couple of seasons, but after battling quite a few injuries, he finished his college career as a pitcher only. 2023 was his first season focusing solely on pitching. Because of his lack of experience, despite his advanced age, he likely came into pro ball with some untapped potential. Yoho may not throw as hard as most elite relievers, only sitting in the 91-93 range with his fastball, but his pitch mix is as impressive as any pitcher in the system. He throws his fastball with nearly 20 inches of arm side run, a changeup that appears to be very similar to the Devin Williams “Airbender”, as well as a sweeping curveball and a high-80s cutter. You can read more about the pitch mix in this article from April 22nd. As he did when he took second place on this list in April, Yoho used his four pitches to keep hitters off balance all month. Per Tru-Media he racked up a whiff rate of 44.4%, which placed him in the 98th percentile among High-A pitchers with seven or more innings. Under those same qualifications, Yoho was in the 98th percentile for called strike rate, coming in at 41.5%. He was freezing hitters and landing his pitches in the zone as often as anybody, and when they did swing, there was not much contact. That is a good place to be as a pitcher, and that’s not to mention that when hitters did make contact, it was on the ground 60% of the time, which also placed him in the 93rd percentile. While Yoho did finally allow an earned run in May, hitters still looked completely hopeless against Yoho in both April and May. Yoho has been promoted to Double-A as of this article being published, and his first outing was two innings pitched, no hits, no free passes, and five strikeouts. The only runner that reached was on an error. Yoho could impact the Brewers bullpen this year, but even if he doesn’t get to MLB it would seem that Double-A could be a short stop for him and Nashville could be in the cards soon. Thanks for following along with this three-part series on the Brewers minor league system. Let us know your thoughts below! Did we miss anybody? View full article

I agree on Smith. Now that he's starting, he's moving up my list pretty quickly. Yoho will be in the reliever version of the article 🙂

We continue our MiLB Player of the Month series with our top five Starting Pitchers for the month of May. Image courtesy of Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Not quite as strong a month as it was in April for the starters, but there were still quite a few candidates for this month's top five. We will begin, as always, with a few honorable mentions. Honorable Mentions: RHP - Hayden Robinson - ACL Brewers - 5 G, 3 GS, 15.1 IP, 0-0, 2.93 ERA, 3.94 FIP, 1.30 WHIP, 13 H , 7 BB, 21 K. RHP - Carlos F Rodriguez - Nashville Sounds - 5 G, 5 GS, 29.2 IP, 3-1, 3.03 ERA, 4.52 FIP, 1.18 WHIP, 21 H , 7 BB, 33 K. RHP - Melvin Hernandez - ACL Brewers - 4 G, 2 GS, 13.2 IP, 0-0, 3.29 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 14 H , 3 BB, 18 K. TOP 5 STARTING PITCHERS FOR MAY #5 RHP - Jacob Misiorowski - Biloxi Shuckers - 5 G, 5 GS, 21.0 IP, 0-1, 1.71 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 1.67 WHIP, 17 H, 18 BB, 26 K. The Brewers' second-round selection in the 2022 draft has one of the highest ceilings in all of 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. Those traits have carried him into the top 50 on pretty much every publication's Top 100 lists. In May, Misiorowski showed the ceiling, and also some of the concerns with his profile. Sporting a fastball that reaches triple digits, but sits in the 96-98 range the majority of the time, Misiorowski’s fastball is about more than just the velocity. At 6’7 he generates up to 7’6” of extension. For reference, Bryan Hudson is averaging 7’4” of extension and ranks in the 98th percentile. He also throws the fastball from an extremely low release height for somebody as tall as him, which also helps the fastball play up. His slider has been seen as his best secondary offering, and it is a very good pitch, sitting in the low-90s and misses a lot of bats. His mid-80s curveball made a huge leap in 2023. It has late drop, with above-average sweep, and hitters take it for a lot of strikes because of how tough it is to pick up. It probably surpassed the slider as the best secondary. Both of them have shown signs of being plus pitches. In May, Misiorowski used his pure stuff to allow him to work around having nearly a walk rate of 18.8%. Some of his stuff is so filthy that umpires struggle with calling strikes on borderline pitches, but he did also have quite a few misses that were uncompetitive. The reason he was able to get through these starts with such a strong ERA, despite all the baserunners, was his ability to generate swing and miss. His whiff rate of 36.2% was 10th in Double-A for pitchers with at least 15 innings pitched in May (per TruMedia). Misiorowski’s pure stuff is ready for MLB innings, but as he showed in May, the command still has a ways to go. He would likely be able to work around the command issues in a bullpen role, but if the plan is to continue starting he may be more than a year away from big league starts still. Either way, there are not many arms as talented as his and one way or another he will likely make a positive impact for the Brewers in the coming years. #4 RHP - Chad Patrick - Nashville Sounds - 5 G, 5 GS, 29.1 IP, 3-1, 2.15 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 1.23 WHIP, 25 H, 11 BB, 31 K. Unranked by all publications Patrick was acquired this past offseason in a one-for-one trade that saw Abraham Toro go to the Oakland Athletics. He had been traded from Arizona to Oakland in exchange for Old Friend Jace Peterson this past trade deadline. At 25 years old and without any true standout pitches, the trade felt like a bit of a flier at the time. Patrick’s performance so far this season has shown that there might be more than what originally met the eye. Patrick’s primary pitch is a cutter in the 86-89 range, a pitch that gets more swing and miss than most cutters do. He had a whiff rate of 29% on the cutter in May, while using it 35% of the time. His four seam fastball was used around 30% of the time, and while the average velocity on it is only around 92-93 he was able to get whiffs on 39% of the swings against it in May. He does this with a low release slot and a -4.4 Vertical Approach Angle that helps the fastball play well up in the zone or above. He also throws a changeup in the mid-80s, a low 90’s sinker and a low 80’s slider in for a five pitch mix. For the month, Patrick was causing hitters to swing and miss at a very high rate on a per-pitch basis, with a swinging strike rate of 14.3%, which placed him in the 90th percentile for Triple-A pitchers with at least 15 innings. His walk numbers were more reasonable than some of the other pitchers that made this list, but he did struggle a bit with the extra base hit, as he allowed six doubles, two triples and two home runs. His pitch qualities will likely always lead to the ball being elevated, so he will always need to miss some bats to help combat the damage that he will inevitably run into at times. In May he did exactly that. Given the Brewers lack of healthy starting depth at the moment, Patrick seems to have moved himself into consideration to get an opportunity, if another starter underperforms or is injured. #3 LHP - Tate Kuehner - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 4 G, 3 GS, 17 IP, 2-0, 1.59 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 11 H, 10 BB, 21 K. Unranked by all publications The Brewers 7th round selection in 2023 out of Louisville, Kuehner was used in a swing man role by the Cardinals his senior year. He only threw three innings at the Complex League level last year after being drafted, but began the 2024 season with High-A Appleton where he has continued that swing man role, but in a more consistent starter role. Five of his eight appearances have come in a starting role and three of four in May. Kuehner was sitting in the upper-80’s as a junior in college, but made a jump into the 92-95 range as a senior, which is where he is at now. He throws from a very low slot, and started generating more run on the pitch his senior year. That slot allows the pitch to play well up in the zone due to the Vertical Approach Angle, and also to play down, because of the run. His best secondary offering is his low-80s sweeper, which has a lot of sweep, but also quite a bit of vertical drop and is his best swing and miss pitch. He mixes in a changeup as well, which appears to be in a better spot than where it was at Louisville, where he struggled to land any of his secondaries for strikes. In May he posted a whiff rate of 34%, placing him in the 87th percentile for High-A pitchers with at least 15 innings pitched. His 30.9% strikeout rate placed him in the 83rd percentile. He didn’t generate ground balls at the same level as he had in April, but he did still do a good job of limiting the extra base hits, allowing one home run and one double. Not unlike a lot of the pitchers on this list, the one knock on his month would fall in the “too many walks” category. His 14.7% walk rate was in the 8th percentile. However, he was able to work around those issues to have strong surface level results and find his way onto this list. Kuehner is 23 years old, so he’s certainly a candidate to see Double-A at some point this year, though it might behoove the Brewers to allow him to continue to work through some of his walk issues at the lower level in Appleton. #2 RHP - Shane Smith - Biloxi Shuckers - 6 G, 3 GS, 22 IP, 1-1, 2.86 ERA, 1.50 FIP, 1.09 WHIP, 18 H , 6 BB, 29 K, 1 SV An undrafted free agent that was signed out of Wake Forest following the 2021 MLB Draft, Smith seems to have been a great find by the Brewers scouting department. The Demon Deacons closer in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Smith had grabbed hold of a starting spot in 2021 before he suffered a season ending UCL injury after only two starts. His loss in this case appears to have been the Brewers gain. Smith only threw three innings in 2022 as he was rehabbing from the Tommy John surgery he had undergone while at Wake Forest. With a fastball that sits in the 94-95 range, reaching as high as 97, Smith has been able to hold that type of velocity even as he throws more pitches and more innings. His low-80’s curveball has fantastic characteristics as well, with a shape and velocity reminiscent of Sonny Gray’s curveball. He also throws a slider less often than the curve, in the mid-80’s. It’s a shorter slider that has very little horizontal movement, but late, sharp vertical movement. In 2023, he flew through the system, in a strictly relief role, going from Low-A Carolina and making it all the way to AA Biloxi, which is where he began this year as well. In April he had still been in a strict relief role. However when May began, he was starting to stretch those relief appearances out. His first three outings were of three innings apiece. At that point he began making starts, and his final three outings were in a starting role. In those three starts, Smith posted a 2.84 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 13 innings. Smith generated a 31% whiff rate in May which put him in the 76th percentile for Double-A pitchers with at least 15 innings. His called strike rate of 37.5% placed him in the 97th percentile, and is largely carried by his ability to command his fastball, as well as to drop his curveball in at the bottom of the zone. His overall strikeout rate of 33.3% for the month also placed in the 97th percentile. His ability to strike hitters out, while also limiting walks and not allowing any home runs helped contribute to the FIP that checked in over a run lower than his ERA for the month. Smith’s move to the rotation is extremely interesting. He had the appearance of a reliever who could potentially impact the Brewers this season, but he would obviously carry more potential value if he can stick as a mid-rotation type of starter. Either way, one has to wonder if a promotion to AAA Nashville is on the horizon, and whether this is an arm we still might see in Milwaukee this season. #1 RHP – Alexander Cornielle – Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 4 G, 4 GS, 23.2 IP, 2-0, 0.76 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 0.89 WHIP, 10 H, 11 BB, 19 K. Unranked by all publications Cornielle was signed by the Brewers in the 2019 International signing class and at first was moving quickly through the system, making it all the way to High-A in 2022. He spent all of 2023 back with the Timber Rattlers and returned there again this season. After a slow start in April, Cornielle had a very strong May to take the top spot in this month’s article. For the past couple of seasons, he has been sitting in the 89-92 range on his four seam fastball. Cornielle mentioned in an interview with Brewer Fanatic’s Seth Stohs that one of the reasons for his successful May was a slight uptick in his velocity due to a more enhanced focus on his throwing program and with the help of his pitching coach to smooth out some of his mechanics. He touched 95 MPH multiple times in May, something we had not seen much (or possibly any) of in the past, and it was sitting more 92-93, rather than 89-92. The fastball plays well at the top of the zone, and appears to get a good amount of ride. His cutter usually sits in the mid 80’s but was touching 88-89 at times in May. He rounds out his repertoire with a low-80’s slider/sweeper and a changeup in the upper 80’s as well. In the aforementioned interview, Cornielle also mentioned that he used his entire pitch mix more often in May, and believes that helped contribute to his success as well. Beginning the month with 20 consecutive scoreless innings, Cornielle did not allow a run until the third inning of his final start on May 26th. In his first three starts he went six, seven and five scoreless. He struck out six, seven and four in those starts, respectively. The only real blemish on the month for Cornielle was the number of walks. His 12.1% walk rate for the month is higher than you would hope for it to be, but even with that number he did such a fantastic job limiting base hits that his WHIP was still only 0.89. He wasn’t generating a lot of swing and miss, but he did a fantastic job limiting hard contact. For the month he only allowed three extra base hits, all of which were doubles. Courtesy of TruMedia, Cornielle’s 0.79 ERA ranked seventh in all of High-A for the month of May (min. 15 IP). Cornielle will be Rule 5 eligible this offseason, and if he continues to perform anywhere close to what he showed in May, he could be a candidate for a promotion to Double-A at some point. Please share your opinions! Who should have made it that didn’t? Who made it, but should not have? View full article

Appreciate it 😂 Curt and JR are a lot of fun. Was definitely an enjoyable experience.

It's the Brewer Fanatic Podcast! Jack and Spencer discuss the Boston series, Craig Counsell’s return, openers, mustaches, the Blake Perkins Game and much 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/ View full article

The Brewers stumbled a little this week and there's a lot to talk about. Jack and Spencer recap a tough start to the road trip, Pat Murphy’s decision-making in the Marlins series, Robert Gasser’s outlook, 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/ View full article

Fastball is sitting in the mid-90's this year, he had a really good curveball last year but that was pretty much it for secondaries. His slider has made huge strides and he's now mixing the breaking balls in a ton, at different speeds and shapes, along with that mid-90's velo. He's having a legit breakout season in my opinion.

Are the Brewers good again? Yes, they probably are. Jack and Spencer discuss another successful homestand, an offensive onslaught, Robert Gasser's debut, Jake Bauers breaking out at the plate, and much 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/ View full article