Ro Mueller

The Brewers’ minor league season finale is a nod to the future, with 19-year old Jackson Chourio getting his first start in center field for AAA Nashville, who aims to finish off a 5-1 home series win over Jacksonville and hold onto sole possession of first place in the West division second half standings. Rehabbing LHP Aaron Ashby will open for RHP Janson Junk.

This thread will be utilized for any minor league news Sunday, lineup updates, etc. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores

- RHP Ryne Moore released by ACL Brewers (though I’d say it’s more accurate to mark his level as High-A Wisconsin, after which injuries pushed him down)

Cutting stateside minor league rosters from 180 to 165 for all clubs won't be pretty, with 450 players getting pushed out into the wilderness between September 2023 and April 2024. Some of these cuts are perhaps a casualty of this. Releasing Hall was a semi-surprise for me, given the expectation that Quero and Clarke will immediately move up to AAA. Maybe we'll bring Brent Diaz (free agent) back or entice Jose Sibrian with a AA roster spot (I'd been expecting Sibrian to re-sign for High-A ball). Either way, we'll definitely be on the lookout to add one or two catchers via the Rule 5 draft or free agency, although the 2019 Alex Alvarez Rule 5 experience at AA Biloxi wasn't that inspiring to me.

For some reason, they only planned for 4 teams to make the AAA playoffs: 2 from the 10-team PCL and 2 from the 20-team IL. Maybe it’s because MLB teams want to feel at more liberty to call up AAA players. Still stinks. For Ashby, they probably just want to end his season on a better note: 4 walks to 6 batters in last game. Managing the mental side, I guess. Hope it goes well today!

That’s a nice comeback win, really picking up struggling pitchers. OF Chris Roller looks like quite a late season find, though he’s headed to free agency. With St. Paul rained out, Nashville has clinched at least a tie for the second half West division title. It looks like Ashby is opening again tomorrow (gulp), followed by Junk (who pitched Tuesday). I guess we’ve shut down Gasser and McKendry.

Nashville holds a 0.5-game lead in the International League West’s second half standings over St. Paul with two games to play. LHP Adam Seminaris makes his first AAA appearance of 2023, as they take on Jacksonville at home. 3B Tyler Black has a 12-game hitting streak.

- C Alex Hall released by High-A Wisconsin

Respectable final outing for Lauer - 10 Ks in 7 IP.. Will that be the last we see of him in the Brewers’ organization? Seems like a non-tender candidate, unfortunately, at his expected arbitration price range. Look at Ethan Small bailing out Alex Claudio there in the tense 8th inning. He hit 95.2mph in the 9th inning. Maybe he’ll be in the Brewers’ pen in 2024. Elsewhere, St. Paul won and Iowa lost, so it’s basically just Nashville and St. Paul battling to win the second half West title (but alas no playoff berth). Two games left on the season.

The AAA Sounds looks to take a 3-1 series lead over Jacksonville at home, with starting LHP Eric Lauer playing his 10th Nashville game since return from injury (3.94 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 13.5 K/9 in 32 IP during this period). RF Jackson Chourio has a 12-game hitting streak, including 3 games in AAA ball.

This thread will be utilized for any minor league news Friday, lineup updates, etc.Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores

C Jhonnys Cabrera released by Low-A Carolina LHP Adam Seminaris assigned to AAA Nashville from AA Biloxi

Should we cap Burnes’ pitch count - e.g. 70 today, 70 on Sep 27th, then raring to go on Oct 3rd?

Aaron Ashby’s rehab start went poorly, with the Sounds trailing 5-0 before the offense had a chance to bat. Three games remain on the season, as Nashville tries to hold onto the second half International League West title. Image courtesy of Brewer Fanatic Transactions: C Jose Sibrian released by Low-A Carolina OF Arbert Cipion released by High-A Wisconsin Sibrian’s been a loyal soldier for eight seasons in the Brewers’ organization, re-upping in 2023 even after hitting free agency. Releasing him likely enables him to commence this year’s free agency a bit earlier, so he can see what’s available in the market. I have to believe that the Brewers will keep the door wide open for Sibrian's return in 2024, where he could pair up with Matt Wood at Wisconsin. Cipion missed the 2023 season with an injury, during which he was expecting to be an integral part of the Wisconsin outfield. A 2018 draft pick (9th round - $138,200 signing bonus), the parallel with Micah Bello is difficult to ignore. Drafted the same year, each had one exceptional month with Low-A Carolina in 2022 (Bello – .994 April OPS, Cipion – 1.051 May OPS), struggled a bit with injuries after promotion to High-A Wisconsin and never quite got to make their mark at that level. We wish best of luck to both young men in their future endeavors. Game Action: Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Jacksonville 7, Nashville 0 Box Score / Game Log Via the Sounds’ website, game details, and we encourage readers to review the affiliate write-up as part of their Link Report routine: Sounds Shut Down by Jumbo Shrimp For the second time in a week, LHP Aaron Ashby’s (2/3 IP, 4 R, 0 H, 4 BB, 0 Ks) rough rehab outing seemed to take the wind out of his team’s sails – last week it was mid-game with Biloxi and tonight it involved walking the first three batters of the game for Nashville. RHP Caleb Boushley (6 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks) performed admirably, but unfortunately was also a key part of the first inning debacle, giving up the grand slam on an eye-level 90mph fastball after inheriting three baserunners from Ashby. Boushley threw 97 pitches on the evening, 63 for strikes, in what is likely his last contest before once again reaching minor league free agency. On the bright side, 19-year old right fielder Jackson Chourio had two singles and a stolen base. He is now hitting .417 in AAA with a shiny 1.000 OPS (small sample alert). One of his singles was off last year’s Cy Young Winner, rehabbing Sandy Alcantara. Of the men on the 40-man MLB roster, 2B Owen Miller (2 singles) and center fielder Garrett Mitchell (triple – Brewers’ playoff pinch running specialist?) were the only ones to distinguish themselves, as 1B Jesse Winker, DH/OF Joey Wiemer and 3B Abraham Toro went a combined 0-for-11 with a walk for Toro. 27-year old INF Patrick Dorrian (.786 OPS this year) is determined to show me and the Brewers that he can effectively play shortstop. Nashville can’t make the playoffs, but winning the second half title in the 10-team International League West would likely mean something to the coaches and players. They presently lead St. Paul (3-game winning streak) by 0.5 games and Iowa (8-game winning streak) by 1.0 games with just three contests left on the season. Friday’s outlook: Scheduled starter LHP Eric Lauer gets a final chance to prove to the Brewers that he can be a valuable addition to their postseason roster (e.g. a second lefty in the ‘pen?), as the Sounds look to grab a 3-1 series lead over Jacksonville. We hope that you enjoy the Minor League Link Report. Friday will see the Brewers at the Marlins (5:40pm CST) and Sounds playing Game 4 of their series at home at 6:35pm CST. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth View full article

C Jose Sibrian released by Low-A Carolina OF Arbert Cipion released by High-A Wisconsin

Awesome awesome awesome work all year Joseph. 👏👏👏 Woo hoo! You rock!!!

My guess may seem like something of a downer: Friday, September 6, 2024 at home against the Rockies

Yes(!), 21-year old RHP Carlos F. Rodriguez (2.77 ERA in 123.2 AA IP) makes his AAA debut as Nashville aims to take a 2-0 home series lead over Jacksonville. 23-year old 3B Tyler Black has a 10-game hitting streak. Oh, and there’s a 19-year old in RF again.

They've updated the lineup. Chourio's starting at DH and batting 2nd today!

The Payton Henry situation is interesting. As an optionable player, and with Caratini becoming a free agent, the Brewers could easily play some games with his status - adding him to the 40-man MLB roster as a placeholder - like tendering Erik Kratz in late 2018 and selecting Jon Singleton last year. If you're Mr. Henry, you'll be hoping to snag a guaranteed MLB contract, a signing bonus or at a minimum a split contract which includes decent pay when optioned to AAA. Last offseason, guys like Mike Zunino ($6m, coming off a 43 OPS+ season), Austin Hedges ($5m, 42 OPS+), Tucker Barnhart ($6.5m total over 2 seasons, 61 OPS+), Curt Casali ($3.25m, 87 OPS+) and Luke Maile ($1.175m, 82 OPS+) each signed solid MLB deals, so have to be a sort of inspiration. Of the five, the highest OPS+ in 2023 has been Casali at 87+. Then you've also got guys like Christian Bethancourt ($1.35m, 73 OPS+ in 2023), Nick Fortes ($750k, 55 OPS+) and Jacob Stallings ($3.35m, 61 OPS+) amongst the top 30 in MLB innings played at catcher in 2023. So Henry may very much prefer to hit minor league free agency, especially if he believes (like me) that Caratini is most valuable to the Milwaukee Brewers so is likely to be re-signed.

AAA Nashville hosts Marlins’ affiliate Jacksonville for their final series of the season, with a lineup of interesting names: Winker-Wiemer-Black-Toro-Ruf-Roller-Junk. This is RF Joey Wiemer’s first minor league game of 2023 and likely RHP Janson Junk’s (4.26 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 6.0 K/9 in 131 IP) final appearance of the season.

This thread will be utilized for any minor league news Tuesday, lineup updates, etc.Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores

No Jackson Chourio at Low-A Carolina in 2023? No problem for Manager Victor Estevez: