Ro Mueller

Jackson Chourio 19!!Jeferson Quero Top defensive catcher, plus surprising pop. Tailed off a bit after some minor injuries. I pray the bat is still solid in AAA in 2024Tyler Black Top notch hitter with terrific speedRobert Gasser Time for MLBJacob Misiorowski Nice rise in 2023. Needs to improve control and hopefully dominate AA ball in 2024Carlos F Rodriguez Keeps preventing runs. Now has to do it in 2024. Just 21 years oldBrock Wilken Surprising (to me) on-base percentage, after so much draft-time emphasis on his powerMike Boeve Acclimated extremely well to High-A ballBradley Blalock Expected 40-man add. Hope he's healthy, after his season ended earlyLogan Henderson One of the top pitchers in all of Low-A ball in 2023Evan McKendry Amongst top 100 International League pitchers by innings thrown, McKendry had the third best WHIP. Likely 40-man addLuis Lara On-base, stolen base machine who plays a fine center field and is always hustling. Okay, he was caught stealing 25% of the time. But he's only 18!Daniel Guilarte Needs to get back to pre-injury form, when he was getting hits every day. Solid shortstop. Just 19Luke Adams Hope he keeps it up in High-A next year. Still looks a bit raw. Maybe because he's 19Josh Knoth Not seen him yet! But a $2 million signing bonus should portend something greatPatricio Aquino Similar results as Henderson, though without as many strikeoutsJuan Baez 18!!Cooper Pratt Looking forward to seeing him play SS in Carolina next yearDylan O'Rae On-base and stolen base machine. Is he now a center fielder? Left fielder? Second baseman?Shane Smith What a year for Mr. Smith

After boldly guaranteeing Hiura $2.2 million last offseason, I don't actually believe his 2023 (minor league) performance should have done anything to dent our front office's value of him. We knew (or I thought we knew) exactly what he was when we guaranteed him that money. Truth be told, he did better in AAA in 2023 than I expected, starting out hot but with a terrible BB/K ratio, playing some poor left field, generally mashing when healthy, though I'm soooo glad that we picked up Santana, Canha and Donaldson instead of expecting him to come through in September & October. With that background, I'd convinced myself that we'd add him to the 40-man MLB roster, mutually agree a slightly lower 2024 wage (e.g. $1.8 million) and give him 60% of initial DH at-bats in 2024 - as I assume Canha, Donaldson and Tellez will not return. Oh well. Good luck, Keston!!!!

Thursday's game against Glendale was 1-1 before 6'4" RHP Justin Yeager (acquired from Braves) entered. Yeager's last competitive action was a super secret inning in Game One of the ACL Brewers' championship series on August 25, before which he hadn't thrown since May 11. Over Yeager's first 9 pitches, he gave up a homer, double and two singles. Oh my. At least he got the next three batters out (fly out and 2 ground outs) on 9 pitches and mainly threw strikes (14 of 18 pitches). Get 'em next time. The Saguaros ultimately lost 7-1. Box score Eric Brown Jr. got to lead off and play shortstop, with 1B Wes Clarke batting clean-up. They went a combined 1-for-8, with Brown collecting a double, walk and 2 stolen bases, but also having an error in the field. LHP Justin King faced 6 batters late in the game, giving up 1 run, 1 hit and 1 walk in 1.1 IP, while also registering 1 K.

This is worse than Brewers’ 2022 (for which I blame the front office for not adding a bat) and Bucks-Heat 2023 (just weren’t up to it), though not as bad as Packers-49ers 2022 (give a bleep about special teams play; hey offense, do something - way to waste the best defense we’ve had in years). I’d have zero second thoughts if the likes of Tellez, Wiemer, Winker, Monasterio, Anderson, Miller and Jahmai Jones didn’t bat in the 2023 postseason, as they were all struggling (or just not doing enough) coming in. I also don’t mind Hiura (some minor injury) and Black (service time manipulation) not getting a chance. But I’ll always wonder what Caratini, Perkins, Mitchell and Toro would have done. - Would Burnes have thrown better with his personal catcher behind the plate (w/Taylor in CF, Canha in RF, Frelick on the bench instead of hitting 5th)? - Would Caratini have contributed anything as a hitter in Game 1 or batting instead of Monasterio in the 9th inning of Game 2? - Perkins has consistently hit LHP slightly better than RHP - would he have come through instead of Frelick in the 8th inning of Game 2? - Mitchell can impact in many ways - disruptive force on bases, CF defense, ability to run out a ground ball for a single or flare for a double, even just excitement which fuels the crowd. Was he the missing link? - Toro ends the season with a 41-game on-base streak. He just knows how to come through in the second half of 2023, unlike some other guy who got paid $8m this year. Sure, his fielding is mediocre, but the effort is 100%. Switch-hit bat who can do more than Miller, Monasterio, Turang, Winker… Am I an idiot for imagining that guys like Caratini, Perkins, Mitchell and/or Toro would have made a difference? Alas…something to ponder for as long as God lets me.

To me, Blake Perkins fell into CC’s doghouse on July 25, after which there was an almost extreme reluctance to let him bat. Even Perkins’ walk-off winner August 5 only came after he entered as a pinch runner and there was nobody left on the bench to hit. Perkins was handed a reprieve from September 19-23, but that was the last gasp from CC for whatever reason. I find this quite similar to past aversions to allow Villar to ever play SS (destroying his trade value), allow Hiura to hit against RHP in 2022 or allow Abraham Toro to play 2B or 3B (even when Brian Anderson was hurt and Brice Turang was useless at the plate; we called up Jahmai Jones to do nothing instead). I never imagined Counsell actually walking away for a break or another job, but now I think it’s going to happen. Someone else can offer him a deeper bench that he’ll enjoy working with.

I appreciate you CC, but this defeat goes in your lap. You made the choices to let Winker bat, let Frelick face a lefty (instead of Wiemer or Perkins) and let Monasterio face a righty (instead of Caratini). Sorry to the team and fans. Thank you all for a great season nonetheless.

We had Caratini available - .745 OPS against righties. Not using him will probably annoy Arnold, since he likely wants to re-sign Caratini for the 2024 catching platoon. Man…

I expected we’d let Caratini or Perkins smash a ball 106 mph for a line out double play. At least make the decision to put a capable bat against one of their few lefties. Oh well. Go Pack…Badg…Bucks

CC and the season going out with a whimper, sadly. Good night all

We have a RHH and two switch-hitters on the bench. Oh my. C’mon Sal

Ginkel is no slouch. We need some magic

Big moment.

Turn it around Yelly and William

Really trying to cement the playoff lore, I guess. Some serious salt in the wound. You have Caratini available on the bench. Mitchell, Toro, Black, Hiura (well not anymore), Tellez, Ruf in the organization…all more deserving of an MLB roster spot and capable of delivering in my meaningless opinion. Shoot.

Great job, Milner. Time for Donaldson, Turang and Taylor to turn around an 0-for-6 night.

Got some serious work to do. C’mon Santana, Canha, Frelick

- 1B/OF Keston Hiura of AAA Nashville elected free agency

Expected the same 9 as yesterday, since Peralta has induced a relatively high percentage of ground balls this year, but I’d hoped we’d move Taylor up in the order. Oh well. Let’s WIN!!

The Saguaros were down 1-0 entering the 7th inning before the floodgates opened against them in a 9-0 defeat by Peoria. Box score. Hendry Mendez was stranded after a one-out double in the 5th inning, while RHP Shane Smith did well to strand an inherited runner in the 8th inning, then work around an error (by Eric Brown Jr.) and single to prevent any damage in the 9th inning. Brown's single came in the 8th inning with the game already out of hand. I think it's great that the players get to wear their own franchise's uniforms, like MLB All Star teams that I remember watching years ago.

With just 11 pitchers... With a bench of Monasterio, Caratini, Perkins, Wiemer, Miller and Winker... I think our plan is to ride our starting 10 players as much as possible for the first three games. Corbin - throw at least 7 innings tonight. Starting offense - give us 7 early runs. Let's get it done.

Good news! It looks like we'll get Live Streams for a few games - e.g. October 5, 6, 12, 16, 20, 26 and November 2 and 8. Plus the Home Run Derby (with Wes Clarke?) on November 4 and the Play-In Semifinal on November 10.

The Saguaros won their opening game 13-8 over the Mesa Solar Sox, with 1B Wes Clarke and 2B Eric Brown Jr. both playing big roles in their comeback victory. Box Score Clarke's 3-run homer gave Surprise its first lead (4-3 in the 4th inning), then Brown's 2-run triple gave them the lead for good (9-7 in the 5th inning).