Joseph Zarr

Well hook a brother up ya filthy manimal!

As someone who literally shared Yoho was an MLB arm after his first outing as a High-A Timber Rattler... As someone who wondered aloud: "What are we doing? These High-A hitters have literally zero chance against this filth!" I am just litttttttle bit excite. A smidge.

Well, in this case, I'll await the first full-fledged Gaelic submission.

$3 K per ticket to be in the theater Day 1. Heck no I'm not paying that. Literally just going for the whole experience and to hang with Packers fans wherever that ends up being.

That's funny. I had this reaction:

Because there are so many Mudcats to talk about, I'm going to be sure to give INF/OF Luiyin Alastre some shine. With Nadal out for an unknown amount of time, he has stepped in to a slight tick up in playing time. He looks very smooth out there. Natural. I like his swing - easy, nothing forced, consistent and good bat-to-ball approach. He hits oppo or where they pitch it with alacrity. He has elevated some deep balls for XBH's and the baseball gods know how I love a switch-hitter. He just comes off like a very smooth athlete. This is our first prolonged viewing and I very much see why he was called up to start the year. It's hard not to feel validated by the paper crush I had when he was a DSL'er some years back.

An 0.825 OPS is absurd. That is all. Carry on, fine Sir.

Help this middle-aged farmer understand this Brit parlance, please. 'Chuffed'? Does that mean like not bollocks? On a scale of 1-to-10 I am at about a 1 on British slang and usage. I do, however, occasionally use the loo.

I will be arriving in the GB/Door County area Wednesday evening. I might try to make it to some pre-draft event type dealies Wednesday eve. Are any of you fine peoples going to be in the area for draft weekend? If so, we should meet up. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us Cheesheads!

Vire comes aboard and torches 95 mph on the outer black? Sits 95-96 mph in his debut? With that lankiness and that wily delivery you can just see the projection and dream on those types of raw tools. Saw some pitches run arm side. Saw some breakers swoop a bit in and beyond the zone. BUT, man, to come back and K two straight after two BB and a HBP (off an elbow guard up and in) to load em up shows real grit. Very very impressive debut from his first action in Low-A.

BT Dubs. For all of you game watchers. Be sure to watch LHP Bjorn Johnson's second strikeout of the 7th. He nearly gives up a long ball over the LF wall for strike one in a 2-0 count - a high and in heater gets torched 107 mph and 398 feet but it is pulled into foul territory beyond the LF foul pole. BUT, holy heck he comes back and absolutely dominates the rest of the AB with real flare. He goes breaking ball down and in for a filthy swinging second strike. He comes back with an absolutely disgusting change-up (?) for a check swing sword strike 3. My word. That last two pitch combination was truly filthy. Strike 2 begins at 2:51:04, fwiw.

I do have to say: C Marco Dinges throw to 2B remains very much a work in progress. He's trying to gun it out there and he has air mailed at least two balls I've seen this past week into the right CF grass as the ball runs on him arm side. Work in progress. I liked his framing quite a bit more today. He was catching the ball cleanly and sneaking some strikes in there with quick glove work and placement.

Literally just sitting down to watch it again. Hard not to be super excited about his debut and how hard he's worked to get here. You couple the early season developments of LHP's Sam Garcia and Bjorn Johnson and there's simply some really fun lefties on the Mudcats staff.

Tip of the cap to the Brewers for salvaging the Sounds early season funk with the OF Daz Cameron acquisition. He has been an unbelievable fit and catalyst for a line-up suddenly filling it up all over. Big credit to the team as a whole and manager Rick Sweet and his staff for rallying the troops for what should be a 5-1 road series victory. They lead 14-11 with two down in the ninth after RHP Vinny Nittoli just gave up a two-run shot. A sharp line out ends it. The Sounds now sit 12-8 overall a mere 2.0 GB the International League leading Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins).

I am not lying, I find myself at the end of some challenging farm days whispering to myself: "Well, at least I have the Mudcats." 😅

^^ Bump

What a debut for Hendo. Incredible.

You will see absolutely no complaints from me here with this take. I believe I have been outspoken in how I find the lists and the rating numbers quite silly and outdated. They miss on players all the time and limit the vast scope of differing player growth tendencies and trajectories and what constitutes an entire system. Oftentimes, they regurgitate earlier scouting reports demonstrating they haven't kept abreast with players' improvements or regressions. They create pre-conceived perceptions of players that support uninformed public sentiments (good grief the social media takes and negative remarks on call-ups, as a small example, or trade returns make me nauseous). And, the thing that perhaps annoys me the most is nearly every pundit; beat writer; or talking ahead introduces a player to the public with their ranking first and foremost. "C Gary Dillerson was called up yesterday to replace the injured C Dan Baltzheimer. He's ranked 23rd on MlB Pipeline so, you know, he's Ok.". It's disingenuous. It would be like me introducing you to a friend of mine for the first time with a social credit score without allowing you to introduce yourself or without me telling my friend what it is about you exactly I know or enjoy. "This is Greg. He has a 30-grade in conversationalism. He's not even in my Top 30 of people worth talking to. Essentially irrelevant and I would swap him out for anyone in the office if I had the clout." It's really all quite absurd and I remain amazed it is standard practice.

Absolutely not. Well played.

You can't overcome the coaching of Doc Rivers in the playoffs. He is easily, and I mean easily, the worst coach in the post-season. Not a single intelligent basketball mind, leading an NBA playoff team, would willingly start Prince and Kuzma in game one on the road. He uses a 10-man rotation? Then, post-game, 'The Doctor' doubles down with a prognosis the Bucks need to get one of the most inefficient starter in the League more touches? This isn't surprising. The man is in well over his head. Historicity of Doc-led teams would quite easily predict the following likely scenario: Dame comes back. Doc makes no adjustments. Bucks fall down 2-0 (maybe the game is closer. maybe they lose a heartbreaker). Bucks happen to squeak out Game 3 at Home. Doc still struggles to see the obvious. Indiana feels they have this series. Doc finally begins making line-up adjustments. The momentum has swung and it is too late. Obviously, as a life long Bucks fan I hope this is inaccurate. BUT, this is Glenn 'Doc' Rivers we are discussing. The man is about as thick-headed to understand the trends in modern basketball as he is to understand in-game or in-series adjustments. I remain utterly amazed the Bucks not only targeted this man to lead this team but they paid him the money they did to lure him out of retirement. The Bucks remain the Bucks. I remain forever grateful for Giannis and the Championship run. It remains incredibly difficult to take this organization seriously. They repeatedly demonstrate they are not a competently led organization.

3:03:45 is the start of RHP Garrett Hodges most recent work. I spoke to him after his last outing: extremely intriguing stuff despite his unimpressive debut performance. He came aboard today with a runner on third base and two down in the 8th protecting a 3-2 Muddies lead. He did not disappoint. Pitch 1: Blazes a 94 mph heater on the outer black for strike 1. Pitch 2: blazes a heater on the upper corner of the zone strike 2. Pitch 3: Blazes a high heater rising above the zone up and slightly in a swing and a miss. Three pitch K. THAT is a boost for the team. Alastre cleared the bases with his two out double to the LF wall in the bottom half. There was an early miscommunication with C Blayberg Diaz for strike 1 in the ninth (on what ultimately became a K looking at a slider dotted on the outer and upper black) where he was expecting a pitch down and in and he got a heater upper corner that blasted by his late-adjusting glove into his facemask. A bit of a scary moment and the two were seen discussing it after the game finished (on another slider K - this time swinging). Hodges appears to be taking blame for the miscue. We didn't see his change-up but maybe one pitch (?) and that was his most impressive pitch in his last outing by my eyes. He might even throw a two-seamer/sinker and a four-seamer in there? Either way, he's a raw arm but you can absolutely see the painters palate here should he keep grinding. He essentially ranges 94-96 mph right now. Might have two heater shapes (it certainly seems like he does) and has two primary off-speed offerings.

As I said at the start of this season: RHP Tyson Hardin is a problem in 2025. Spencer with the intel here:

I am predicting a nice bounce back performance from one RHP John Holobetz after getting wee snake bitten by some bad luck (and, honestly, questionable defense from his teammates) his last outing. Here's hoping we see some magic today.