Joseph Zarr

Yeah, reading BA's most recent write-up on Antunez has only fanned the fires of my unsubstantiated hype 😅. He just looked like an unreal athlete in the limited footage (as I've spoke to previously). Now, reading he has a natural ability to stay in CF with plus 'plus-plus speed' (!!) and an 'excellent arm' (!!) has me even more unnecessarily hyped. You could see in the limited clips he has an innate ability to identify and sit on off-speed offerings. This young man has the early looks of a potential super stud. There. I said it. 🤭

Here's their leading line on the class fwiw: * emphasis mine SO, we should all maintain our over-zealous poise that the Brewers are continuing to crush in the International scouting realm.😅

His 2023 season with the Sounds and Brewers was a fairly unimpressive set of outings - I watched several of his 11 Sounds outings, his last work in affiliated ball, and they weren't pretty. BUT, that certainly didn't stop RHP Robert Stock from putting in more work. It really showed in an extremely impressive Mexican Winter League set of performances: 😳 He parlays that into a Boston Red Sox Minor League contract (read Worcester) with an invite to Spring Training: Congrats, Robert! Well deserved!

Man that sounds like an absolute quagmire. And, it would appear they didn't bench test the code but just fired away? Good grief that must have been a short-term colossal dumpster fire!

This seems to be a general consensus. I have a good friend of mine who has created an entire suite (and now an app) for parametric trading within the Pine Script back end of the widely-used trading app 'Trading View'. He was having the most frustratingly difficult time with a component within his system and he determined he should ask AI to research the issue to expedite his own learning - it was a code base issue. He claimed he learned more in the three hours with the AI led research function than he did in the three months of his own frustrated pursuit. It has a ways to go but it certainly seems to be impactful when used wisely.

Another former Brewer (albeit, briefly as an in-season pick-up) heads to the Phillies. RHP Joel Kuhnel has signed a Minor League deal with the Phils on December 21st it would appear. As the article suggests, this will be Kuhnel's sixth club since 2022. I would opine it isn't because of anything other than his services are valuable in what he provides. He was quite good with the Sounds in his six or so outings and continued earning MLB appearances with the Rays after he was scooped up when the Crew DFA'd him in July.

This is not as of yet confirmed but it's mildly interesting none the less. Many of you likely remember Alfaro's clutch hitting as a Padre. He bounced back and forth with the Red Sox, Marlins, and Cubs of late. He is currently playing for Tigres del Licey:

Speaking of which, that $8 Milly dead cap hit to pay one De'vondre Campbell Sr. hits different. You win some and you lose some. I think we know where that one falls. ** Also: Luke Musgrave making 5x what Tucker Kraft makes - yes, even within the rookie contract scale(s) - just feels icky.

Two tidbits from LaFleur's presser today: 1) Tom Clements is retiring - ouch 2) That second INT was very much a poor route by (I think?) Kraft. Route was supposed to go 20 yards. He sat down at 15. LaFleur said he saw exactly what Love saw and that was on the route runner.

Yeah, everything I've seen with him in it? He jumps off the screen. Whether it's watching him play baseball or handling himself in interviews (all Spanish at present). He is ridiculously impressive. I can't get over the physical transformation that has happened in just that past calendar year. If you see what he's done with an already impressive physical stature from last January until now? He looks like a college Junior/Senior.

This Artunez clip, btw, was posted back in September via MLB: The Brewers going back to the Chourio fountain of youth. The young man is chiseled and just looks like an absurdly fluid and natural athlete. His swing and his trot and his general physical make-up truly indicate he might be a 'freak' (in the best way). GO PRO BASEBALL (@goprobaseball) • Instagram reel WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 230 likes, 0 comments - goprobaseball on July 23, 2024: "Braylin Antúnez, Calentando motores Rumbo al Mundial 🔥🙏".

Artunez is an extremely intriguing player. The Up arrow definitely adds to the early portion of prospect hope. I mean, the simply leading phrase in his overall early description by BA: Certainly doesn't make one depressed!😅

These early bits are indeed simply classified by Bonus allotment. They parse it out into categories within that - ie bonus money tiers. But, the bread n' butter after the class is officially signed and announced is their International class reviews for each organization. There were so many good nuggets in last year's class review. I'm hoping for more of the same.

I wouldn't read that placement as being '...behind a couple hitters'. Remember: when he was originally traded to the Pirates he dealt with a broken hamate after a very small sample of games and was shelved to close his season. So, in many respects, there was a prolonged 'get to know you' phase with his new org. I think it's fair to say he offers a completely different potency of offensive prowess than either Lara or Baez. Obviously, they're different players all around but Severino has the build and the power in his bat to be a true hot corner prospect. Neither Baez nor Lara has shown much of any power in their bats. Both, at this point in their young careers, are mostly bat-to-ball contact hitters. I don't consider Baez's anomalous power spurt to start the AFL anything other than that: an anomalous brief power spurt. He fell back to his norms quite quickly after that. If the Brewers were still working with this version of Severino, I'd be hard-pressed to contain my excitement.

If I remember correctly, the Brewers fell in that top $7,550,500 tier, correct?

Wicks had drop concerns coming out of UVA. BUT, this season was an absurd regression beyond what anyone would have anticipated. It was like a WR version of the yips. He was not ever that bad. But, it certainly is cause for concern. If a player had drop issues, then had a solid rookie year but an atrocious year 2 catching the ball I don't think you know what you have.

Yup. I was going the other route when I saw the numbers. I thought to muhself: "Welp, looks like a large class with a bevy of guys in that $10-30K range." Hopefully, as you mention there, there's a 'chunk of $250k-ish players'!

Holy heck this is an epic undertaking. What's fascinating to me is Chourio's brother never really stood out to me all that much in the three series vs the Mudcats (the Mudcats took the season series but they split the opening series 3-3). But, then again, I watched Jackson Chourio's Minor League career. It's not a very fair comparison. 😅

Boy the Packers just didn't lure me in whatsoever this season. You can't suddenly find an identity as a team that plays sound football when you literally didn't play a single complete sound football game. They had a quarter here and there but they mostly beat up on really bad football teams. They beat a Rams team missing the majority of their playmakers. They essentially went 0-6 in their division. They are a lot further away in my eyes than they are close. In the very least, they have some major major organizational questions to answer. I personally think they need to blow up some of this youth movement and potentially make even more shuffling of deck chairs in the coaching ranks. I would also opine Matt LaFleur had a very poor finish as a head coach and an offensive HC at that. He and Stenavich were mostly outclassed by Hafley as the season advanced. Which, well, is quite odd for a first time NFL coordinator. I really really really hope they do not lose Hafley - he's a gem and I think the Packers are in a stage where they need all the gems they can keep. * Sidebar: The Packers choosing Glover as their first replacement just felt like an absolutely classic Packers post-season maneuver. Do they ever, and I mean ever, get the OL shuffle correct? It's seriously uncanny.

As I followed Severino through this past season, I couldn't help but imagine the embarrassment of riches we'd have in that prized internationally acquired age group had he stayed in the system. Kudos to the Bucs for making that play when they did. If we look back earnestly at that timeframe and trade, tho extremely talented, the consensus in the greater prospect universe at the time was Severino was very talented and could hit for meaningful power but there were legitimate swing-and-miss type projection concerns. SO, to that end, this is very much a testament to the player and the Bucs org in that FCL/Low-A coaching pool for working together to address and improve upon those perceived weaknesses - at least in the near term. He'll be a fun player to continue monitoring from afar.

Just booked my flights and rental car. It is real. I will be in and around Green Bay, Wisconsin for the entire draft experience. Are any of you going to be partaking? I have not stepped foot in the upper Midwest since I left for many many farming tours back in early 2008. This is going to be surreal!

Well, the other component of this entire conversation is they have likely a Top 5 (if and when healthy) catching prospect in Jeferson Quero. They have another very underrated catching prospect in Ramon Rodriguez likely starting in Double-A (on Sounds roster today likely due to ML Rule 5 protection shenanigans - I should add they also clearly like David Garcia both MiLB FA pick-ups in the 2023 off-season) and they have another defensive savant coming stateside in 2025, who has shown a surprising bit of pop at his young age, in Luis Corobo. Given the nature of the Brewers budget year-to-year, given the nature of how they acquired Contreras, and given the nature of how the Brewers are accumulating and developing talent in the lower levels it's just a prudent decision to exploit the current MLB structures as they are to punt these decisions a bit more down the road. Leave all options open and on the table and let the process reveal itself over time. If Contreras wants an extravagant contract, well, unfortunately, we all know he's most likely not going to get that in Milwaukee. Anywho, I pretty much simply see it as it is what it is. And, I also see the Brewers as a very well run business organization given their constraints.

OK, I'm getting to this a tad later so I'm going to try to zig where others have zagged. I think it's quite obvious who some of the candidates 'should' be in some of these categories. I'm going to intentionally go beyond the front-runners to add a little more depth to the concensus. Without further ado, let's give this a proverbial whirl: 1) Fast Risers: I too, absolutely love what I saw from RHP Jason Woodward in 2024. Quite frankly, it was a distinct highlight of my season of viewing and it was a real real bummer he got injured before the playoffs. He quite easily had some of the most electric stuff I saw all year at any level. Jesus Made and Eric Bitonti, like others here and for good reason, are my low-hanging solid bets here given what we know coming into the year. Young 1st Rd, apparent phenom, OF Braylon Payne would be another obvious choice here given what we saw in our brief sample and given he'll now take that incredible work ethic and can do attitude into his first professional off-season. However, I'm going to 'zig' here and bring back a name who has quieted in hype since his early power output in the DSL. I'm going with OF Jose Anderson. Granted, I haven't seen him play (none of us have) and he didn't get the DSL hype Pena and Made did and he tapered off at the end of his season. But, I believe he has several things working in his favor: he obviously has a penchant for hitting for power; he will likely start in the ACL so the promotion route is there; the Brewers have a dearth of high-end OF prospects stateside - ergo Payne's route to fast rising; and I think some of his drop-off may have been related to (unsubstantiated) playing through nagging injury as he sat out the last week or so in a playoff chase. The runway is there should he find success early that he makes it to High-A Wisconsin by season's end. This being said, this is likely aggressive. He likely finishes the season in Carolina. 2) Out of Nowhere: Well, Hunt was a UDFA and Yoho was a draft pick. To that end: <Insert (as of today) unknown UDFA, draft pick or Indy Ball signings here>. And, well, that's not all that exciting. So, let's go elsewhere to a player I continue to just really like every time I see footage of him. He appears to have the size (despite originally being listed at 5'10" he looks more like an athletic stout 6'0" to me), the athleticism, the smoothness, and the early stateside consistency to really come on the scene in 2025: INF Tyler Rodriguez. I, for one, can't wait to watch Rodriguez and Adamczewski start the year together in Low-A Carolina. 3) Rise into a Consensus Top 100 Prospect: I see how hard it is for unknown pitchers with lesser pedigrees to garner Top 100 attention - heck, just consider how long it took for RHP KC Hunt, who I was pointing every Brewer fan to in his first week of relief work in Carolina, to get his due respect. I really want to dream into RHP Jason Woodward here. His stuff is absolutely that good. But, he's not even really firmly on the national consensus map. This is likely his 'Breaks onto the Scene' year if he can stay healhty. BUT, I'm going to join the herd and go for the lower hanging fruit here. I just think OF Braylon Payne has such an incredible work ethic and the right attitude to take an even bigger step in his first professional off-season. He has all the make-up for a fast riser and has the tools to be a legit Top 100 guy. 4) Comeback Year: There's quite a number of hopeful storylines here. Obviously, it's no secret I found RHP Cameron Wagoner's 2023 second half turnaround one of the better stories of 2023. C Jeferson Quero is an obvious choice given his status and his unfortunate early injury in 2024. LHP Brandon Knarr hasn't pitched in over a season after just getting his feet wet at Double-A Biloxi. On and on. For me, however, all roads lead to one of my favorite 'still under-the-radar' guys in RHP Tanner Shears. I sincerely can not wait to watch him toss that knuckling splitter again. It is absolutely one of my favorite pitches in the system. Seeing him come off TJ and back to the bump is definitively one of the things I look most forward to in 2025. 4b) Bounceback Year: I refuse to believe the quagmire that was EBJ's swing and set-up consummates the total player EBJ can be. I see it as a player lost in the fields of his own searching. I believe he soul searches in the off-season and he comes back with a vengeance looking to reclaim prospect status in 2025. We already know the defense is elite. He simply needs to find some semblance of consistent offense. I invest in: 2024 was a 'toss it in the trash' anomaly. 5) Disappointments: Capital SKIP. It's too early and I'm never going to project a Brewers player disappointing me before they are given an opportunity to prove the merits of their off-season growth. Baseball is hard enough as it is. This is my time to invest in dreaming players overcome their obstacles and they find new grooves and new means of being their best selves. 6) Individual/Team Predictions: I think we see very similar lower level results in 2025 - with the addendum it is likely going to be very hard to replicate the really solid outcomes we saw across two squads in the DSL in 2024. Is it possible? Absolutely. Was 2024 an anomaly? Surely could be given the nature of that international FA class. I think the ACL remains a lotto pick prognostication given the immense youth; the change of the season schedule (ie the draft is much later than the season start now); and the first stateside exposure for so many a young player. Regardless, the Brewers appear to really have something in terms of prepping any and all players for that Low-A transition - just look at the incredible pitching performances we saw when young men left the ACL. It was uncanny. To that end, I think both the Muddies, in their last season as catfish, and the T-Rats continue to challenge for Titles. The one change I do see this year is the Shuckers are starting to get legit boosts in talent from those lower level clubs. With Pratt starting in Double-A, a bounceback year from EBJ, Luke Adams and Ramon Rodriguez bringing their skills and savvy, Areinamo making his mark etc. I just see a team primed to surprise in the Southern League. I think 2025 may be the year where the lower level talent takes another step and starts solidifying the upper levels.

Why must we bring sound reasoning with broad industry evidence, when it's simply easier and (apparently) more satisfying to recycle the 'Attanasio is Cheap!' trope?! Alas. Fine little piece here.

It is going to be quite interesting to follow the careers of RHP's TJ Shook and Shane Smith. That's all I'm going to say about this.