Ro Mueller

Hey, let’s play the Diamondbacks again! Felix Valerio in left field? Alejandro Marte is back from injury!

- Signed RHP Tyler Herb and assigned him to AA Biloxi Shuckers A 29-year old Pennsylvanian, Tyler spent most of last season in AA with the Mariners, where he put up a 4.16 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 9.1 K/9 in 84.1 innings. This was a re-set year for him, as he’d previously spent most of 2018 and 2019 in AAA with the Giants and Orioles. Originally a 29th round pick of Seattle in 2014, Tyler worked as a starting pitcher and rose the ranks to AA by 2016/2017, at which point he was traded to the Giants for cash, with the Giants then adding him to the MLB 40-man roster in late 2017. Despite the selection, he has yet to make his MLB debut, as he was unable to make the adjustment to AAA (5.35 ERA in 2018, 7.16 ERA in 2019). He was outrighted in late 2018, then traded to the Orioles for Mike Yastrzemski in early 2019. Here's a video that Tyler himself posted 8 days ago (thanks Mass Haas!): https://twitter.com/TylerHerb/status/1506667735245279233 https://twitter.com/BrewersPD/status/1508952667648790533

Another day, another set of 4 games against the Diamondbacks:

Four more games against the Diamondbacks tonight. Please note the the AAA Sounds’ season opener is one week from today, whilst our AA, High-A and Low-A affiliates start in 10 days:

22-year old New York OF Leugim “LG” Castillo was a 17th round pick of the Brewers in 2017 out of Lancaster High School NY for a presumably modest signing bonus. After a short 2017 stint in Arizona, he put up respectable numbers for an 18/19-year old in Helena in 2018 (.707 OPS in 271 PAs). 2019 was a down year (.509 OPS in 285 PAs principally in Low-A), but he had a nice bounce-back in 2021 at High-A Wisconsin: .761 OPS in 257 PAs, with 9 home runs and 7 stolen bases, though supported by a possibly unsustainable .399 BABIP. In 1388.1 innings across 4 seasons, he played 1369.1 as a corner outfielder, 18.0 at first base and 1.0 in center field. Given his age and the promise he showed in 2021, this looks like a pure numbers crunch move. Some of us had speculated last year that we’d likely move some of our MILB outfielders in the offseason or lose them in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, but instead we’re likely doing right by Mr. Castillo, who deserves a shot in AA but wasn’t going find many opportunities alongside Mitchell, Wiemer, Lutz, Howell, Gray and Lujano. Good luck LG! 24-year old Arizona 3B/1B/OF Chad McClanahan was an 11th round pick of the Brewers in 2016 out of Brophy College Prep in Phoenix AZ, signing for the tidy sum of $1.2 million. After two modest seasons in Arizona and Helena (.638 OPS in 436 PAs), he had a decent breakout in Helena in 2018 (.923 OPS in 212 PAs) but struggled in Low-A Wisconsin for the next 1.5 seasons (.553 OPS in 538 PAs). 2021 in High-A Wisconsin was a relative bright spot for Chad (.662 OPS in 296 PAs with 8 home runs, though with a ratio of 37 walks to 117 strikeouts), but not enough to earn a shot in AA Biloxi this season. We wish Mr. McClanahan best of luck in his future endeavors, whether it’s fulfilling his potential in another organization or pursuing other areas of interest. 23-year old Florida RHP Nate Peden was a 13th round pick of the Mets in the 2017 out of University HS Orlando. After struggling for 3 seasons, the Mets released him in May 2020 and played independent ball. Clearly intrigued, the Brewers signed Nate in July 2021 and put him to work: 48.0 innings, predominantly in Low-A Carolina. With the Brewers, he posted a 5.25 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and 9.9 K/9, but this was not enough for him to earn another shot in Low-A or High-A with the Brew Crew this year. We wish Mr. Peden success in his next project, whether in baseball or elsewhere. 23-year old California RHP Justin Miller was a 12th round pick of the Phillies in the 2016 draft out of Central HS Fresno CA. After struggling for 3 seasons, the Phillies released him in March 2019, after which he played independent ball. The Brewers saw enough to sign him in June 2021, though he proceeded on another difficult stretch, posting an 11.33 ERA, 1.96 WHIP and 8.3 K/9 in 27.0 innings, split between Rookie AZL and Low-A Carolina. Good luck to you Mr. Miller! 19-year old Mexico RHP Ramon Carrasco was signed by the Brewers in June 2019, after which he threw 7.2 innings in the DSL. Making the jump to the Arizona Complex League in 2021, Ramon pitched in 13 games, throwing 33.0 innings with an ERA of 6.00, WHIP of 1.70 and K/9 of 5.7. On the bright side, he threw a few innings in the Mexican Winter League, so hopefully Ramon is able to leverage that experience to locate another opportunity in the near future. Good luck Ramon! 22-year old Mexico RHP Santiago Elizondo was signed by the Brewers in August 2017. He had a solid 2018 debut (4.42 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 7.5 K/9) in 53.0 innings in the DSL, then again held his own in Rookie Arizona in 2019 (1.74 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 7.8 K/9) in 20.2 innings. However, the 2020 Covid washout and an injury limited his opportunities in 2021, during which he posted a 7.88 ERA, 2.00 WHIP and 13.5 K/9 in just 16.0 innings whilst again playing in Rookie Arizona ball. Despite the 2021 difficulty, perhaps the recent up-tick in strikeouts and earlier success as an 18/19-year old will enable Santiago to garner another opportunity. We wish him nothing but success along his path.

From the players' individual mlb.com pages, I've noted six cuts on the minor league side: OF LG Castillo 1B/3B Chad McClanahan RHP Nate Peden RHP Justin Miller RHP Ramon Carrasco RHP Santiago Elizondo

RHP Braden Webb, a 26-year old Oklahoman, was a 3rd round Brewers’ draft pick in 2016 out of the University of South Carolina, signing for $700,000. A starting pitcher who featured in the Brewers’ mlb.com Top 30 Prospect List for some time, Braden threw 271.2 innings from 2017-2019, about half of which was in High-A Carolina, with a 4.21 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 9.24 K/9. After the 2020 washout, he moved to the bullpen in 2021 at AA Biloxi, striking out an encouraging 67 batters in 49 innings (12.3 K/9), though with a 4.59 ERA and 1.43 WHIP. A solid winter ball in Puerto Rico (12.3 K/9, 3.07 ERA, 1.43 WHIP in 29.1 innings) suggested this relief focus is paying off, but he’s now undergone ACL surgery and been released by the team. However, this baseball journey is far from over for Braden, who tweeted: “I know that if I can compete with a damaged knee and dominate, my time in this game isn’t over.” Wishing you a full recovery and short road to the majors, Braden. Good luck!

Four games against the Arizona Diamondbacks today:

Thank you ARobsBrewCrew for all of the player updates. I think we can all agree that the bright side of the injury news is the knowledge that ARobsBrewCrew is terrific at obtaining and sharing such information on our minor league contingent.

The unhittable Abner Uribe:

We’re 6 games into the Brewers’ MILB Spring Training, so I think it’s fair to sound the Potentially-Missing-in-Action alarm on the following players, who’ve not shown up in any of the line-up cards or social media videos, to my knowledge. If any contributors have insight into the status of these players, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you: P Noah Zavolas P Rex Brothers C Jason Lopez P Arnaldo Hernandez OF Je’Von Ward – injured August 2021 OF Pablo Abreu – missed all of 2021 P Jhoan Cruz P Arman Sabouri – injured July 2021 P Brendan Murphy P Bryce Milligan – missed all of 2021 P Alexis Ramirez – missed all of 2021 P Caden Lemons – injured May 2021 P Juan Geraldo – injured August 2021 P Brandon Ramey – made 5 rehab appearances late 2021 P Jackson Gillis – injured June 2021 P Josh Shapiro – missed all of 2021

Three games against the Angels today:

Lots of nice video from @BrewersPD:

Four games against the Dodgers today:

It appears we’ve a change of schedule today. Intra-squad games instead:

I figure we’ve been trying to fill at least one of the two remaining MLB roster spots with a straight-up waiver claim, but keep missing by a bit: RHP Hunter Harvey (to Nats) - 1 option LHP Caleb Baragar (to D’backs) - 2 options LHP Packy Naughton (to Cards) - 2 options RHP Yoan Lopez (to Marlins) - 2 options RHP Adonis Medina (to Pirates) - 1 option Hopefully the players we need come on board soon.

I agree that the lineups are much more even this year, which is great to see after Biloxi had to suffer through a trying 2021 season. It's the projected starting pitching in Biloxi (e.g. Castaneda, Bullock, Luna, Bennett are some of my guesses) which I think will give them a nice edge. As far as player placement, which is fun yet somehow obsessive, I'll share my key differences from your solid lists: J. Lopez splitting primary AA catching duties with J. Reetz F. Valerio in High-A, allowing K. Howell to split his AA time between OF/IF and freeing up some AA ABs for Devanney, Lujano and LG Castillo E. Murray in Low-A, allowing A. Pinero to be primary High-A SS with Y. Coca also getting time at High-A 2B/3B/SS T. Black also in Low-A, allowing F. Valerio to be primary High-A 2B J. Vargas to start the year in the ACL again, allowing D. Castillo to get some Low-A ABs

Three games against the Mariners today. As always, lineups are posted on Twitter by @BrewersPD:

Four games against the Angels today:

Lineups for our Minor League Spring Training Opener:

Here's my list: A. Ashby J. Quero J. Wiemer E. Small B. Turang G. Mitchell S. Frelick H. Perez F. Zamora C. Luna J. Chourio F. Valerio K. Howell E. Garcia J. Topa T. Black M. Feliciano D. Miller A. Bettinger D. File J. Bullock H. Mendez W. Wilson J. Gray Z. Warren T. Floyd R. Smith M. Segura J. Chirinos J. Barrios (new signing) L. Barker C. Ray A. Otero J. Zhao E. Martinez

MILB spring training schedule: 3-4 games a day for 2 weeks, starting Saturday.

A quick scan tells me the only missing names are Clayton Andrews and Ray Black, presumably both injured. The most surprising name to me is 18-year old OF Luis Castillo. It's nice to see our top 2021 + 2022 international signings (J. Chourio, G. Barrios, D. Guilarte, J. Barrios, J. Severino, L. Lara) invited to camp. There's also 2 other youngins invited that have yet to make their MILB debut (J. Guzman - 2021 class, P. Quintana - from the Billy McKinney trade).

We’ve got the Brewers minor league spring training roster, thanks to @BrewersPD. Sweet!

- 2B Drew Smith retired Smith, a Nebraskan (well, born in Michigan) born in 1998, was not selected out of Grand Canyon University in the 5-round 2020 MLB draft, but signed with the Brewers in June 2020. The Covid 2020 wipe-out and an early injury in 2021 delayed his debut until September 3, 2021. In all, Drew played in 12 games with ACL Brewers Gold, posting a respectable OPS of .758 in 42 PAs. Despite the decent start, he faced extremely tough competition to make the Low-A Carolina roster this year. We wish him nothing but success in his future endeavors.