Joseph Zarr

We are t-minus under an hour before Rounds 1 and 2 get underway for the MLB Draft. We are about to overreact to four new prospects today 🥰

O'Rae with a 5 BB and 0 K day has his BB:K ration back to a very sightly 18:24. Can his bat speed and contact rate improve? Time will tell but we'll take five free passes in the lead-off spot any day of the week (especially with his speed and overall threat on the base paths). Keep grinding, young man!

After the first Summer League game, I was pretty enthused by the performances of the young Bucks - AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith both flashed. Their Two-Way (Rollins) showed promise. After the first half of the second game, I never want to watch this team play again 😅. I can not believe the lazy rebound-less, turnover-prone, no hands, effortless basketball I just witnessed. I have seen a lot of bad Bucks SL basketball over the years - it's almost a given. BUT, this? This is the absolute worst I've ever seen. A-Jax looks unplayable. Marjon has regressed (if that's even possible at this point). TyTy is just not a good player. Galloway has absolutely zero business holding down an NBA two-way. This team, simply, is egregiously bad.

Right?!? I was like: "Hold up!" He's really having a great season for himself. He's been a professional for almost a decade now. Major kudos.

Looks at Sounds Box score. "That RHP Trey Supak?!" •Yes, indeed. That RHP Trey Supak!" Good for him. That's a heck of an outing to seal the game for the Cubs.

Henderson struggles mightily. Cargo hits a solo jack. Definitely had this on my Saturday Bingo card. Yup.

Walling looks like a player who was promoted to Low-A and asked to play a position he never played. He has not been very good at 1B - and, I don't blame him...he literally has zero experience there.

Good grief, this homeplate ump has been atrocious. Even when he calls strikes I detest his slow deliberate motion. No consistency. Brutal.

CHALLENGE SYSTEM. NOW.

Interesting. I would generally say, Miller swings at a majority of good pitches. He also takes good pitches. He's a player, actually, where the BA matches what I see. My 'contention' (I say this very loosely here as I am merely rooting for development across the board) with his hitting approach is I don't like his swing path. He has a swing path that says it want's loft; power; and gappers. BUT, he isn't really that type of hitter - and the results absolutely bare this out on a nightly basis. As a result, he hits a lot of weak pop outs. When he isn't doing that, he is also hitting a lot of weak grounders which tells me the path isn't consistent. I desperately want to see him level his swing path. Period. He already has selectivity and the ability to stand in the box. Let's get a better swing profile. I stand firmly in this opinion. I think it would do wonders for his overall prospects.

With the (19-8) DSL Crew's 8-4 victory today, they have opened up a 1.5 G lead over the second place DSL Orioles Orange. They are now winners of nine straight games. Whewwww. What an impressive group and what an impressive run.

I've been very complimentary of C Darrien Miller this season. He's made improvements. He's handled the lion share of the catching duties. And, as I've said on numerous occasions, I watch roughly 2/3 the affiliate games each week. So, I have a pretty good handle on who is doing what and how they look. You could have made an argument for Wes Clarke garnering consideration last season - he had the momentum and was trending - and, coming into this season you could have had some expectations he would put himself in serious contention for a call-up. But, the reality is, he just hasn't hit that well in Triple-A. The strikeout issues have re-surfaced. So, the logical thing to do there is give him more time. He's demonstrated he can improve at a level or excel, in the least, when given a season or so to adjust. However, up until this point, what we can factually say we have here is a streaky power hitter - certainly not a consistent hitter, however. There is absolutely zero need to rush a 40-Man spot considering the ongoing pitching carousel and wealth of options at 1B and DH. Simply consider, for example, Owen Miller returning to the Sounds line-up after being DFA'd and being thrown right to 1B and going 8-for-14 with 1 2B, 5 RBI, and only 1 K. I continue to be absolutely befuddled by this pipe dream that suddenly Wes Clarke is an MLB 40-Man catcher consideration for the Brewers. Miller is nowhere near the level of play needed to be an MLB catcher - and, this isn't a criticism it's simply being honest. If you've watched him play the position. He is a nice Minor League player at this juncture - he has improved facets of his game - but is simply too flawed a defensive catchers at present. This doesn't even get into the thought exercise of extrapolating what he might experience facing MLB pitchers. He already has shown a continued propensity for pop up outs because his swing plane so often leaves a level plane. He is improving but he simply needs more time and experience (and off-seasons of continued committed work). The Brewers catching scene right now is absolutely fine. You have Haase and Sanchez who have both proven more than adequate fill-in capacity at the MLB level. As mentioned above you have a well-perfoming Mejía AND, you now have a healthy Brian Navarreto. This is where, again, if you haven't seen these players play regularly and you're basing your opinions on something like wRC+ numbers solely you're missing the boat. Nava is 10x the MLB-caliber catcher than anyone in this discussion beyond the aforementioned Haase and Sanchez, obviously. IF the Brewers suddenly found themselves down both a Haase and a Sanchez they would simply accept Nava and Mejía with flawed MLB bats but (in Nava's case) a bat that has shown big hit capacity but both known for solid to plus defensive presence. At that juncture, they aren't going to be thinking: "Well, we could call up Damien and he could lean into some pitches and pray for some walks and hope the opposing team doesn't take advantage of his sub-average arm." We can simply enjoy he's improving at Double-A and go from there. Just consider the path of Nick Kahle in comparison to both Miller and Clarke behind the backstop. He is also nowhere near an MLB-level catcher but simply consider how he has been used in comparison.

Very fair assessment. Hey, if it needs to happen they could quite easily flip Areinamo into his stead. Not the worst thing to experiment with. It's quite apparent: he needs to get stronger. It's very real that he is generally getting overpowered.

RHP Sam Gardner's rehab debut with the ACL Crew went 1.0 IP of 1 H, 1 K, 0 R ball.

0-for-4, 1 K for O'Rae. The Double-A testing grounds are really showing him the work he has ahead of him. Been a very challenging transition.

"Dad, what do you mean 'hanger'?" "Click play, darling. Click play." What Scott and Hall have been doing since signing is pretty remarkable. Hitting with absolutely zero fear at present. Nice to see Martin also join that party with a big knock.

In one of the recent T-Rats social media bits they were going around asking the players what their ideal perfect coffee would be from a local establishment. Luke quickly replied: "I don't drink coffee." And then laughed. I quietly whispered to myself "Thank the heavens." Can you imagine that man beast on a triple espresso? Might break through the dugout walls like the Hulk.😂

Well, this is apropos: Here's the thing with Hunt: He was used almost solely as a reliever in college. YET, he legitimately has a five-pitch mix. He was mis-used. And, though he was committed to the program they didn't really develop his pitching toolkit or raw set (to the Brewers credit, they saw the tools). Here he is on record: The Brewers had a plan. They had a vision. They saw the tools. They jumped on signing him quite early. They got him comfortable with his mix and then shifted him to a starting pitching role. I am pretty sure it's going quite well. I don't know. Will have to go back and check my notes😉.

'El Juan' and (not) only, you might say.

The fact he was originally drafted and has a drafted pedigree, and was then rumored to be caught up in some strange contextual program Hoopla at Mississippi State (talk to their fans for more info) where he was likely misused...is precisely why I question why he went undrafted. He entered the League undrafted. That is what I am referring to. And, very clearly, the results are showcasing: every team missed on Hunt. He is really good. I've seen all but two of his outings.

Not pertaining to this directly, but I think you and I both know of the players traded over the past year, Avina, Sanchez, and Severino have done very very well for themselves. Severino's vastly improved K:BB numbers in 2024 has me all sorts of excited for him and a bit 😩 for the loss of such a pool of intriguing prospects.

All three young men are legitimate DSL studs. What's fascinating with Ortuno is despite having essentially 30 fewer official AB, he has only played in 3 and 2 games fewers, respectively, than Made and Pena. What's also fascinating about all three players is they have insanely good K:BB ratios and Ortuno has the best out of all three - generally speaking - at 18 BB-to-12 K. The DSL Uno are just having an incredible season. The difference between the two ball clubs (Uno y Dos) is the pitching, when you really parse it out. For example, both squads have scored in the mid 150's in Runs. Both squads are hitting a similar team BA - 0.260 DSL Crew #1 / 0.253 DSL Crew #2. Similar OPS - 0.782 Crew #1 / 0.777 Crew #2. The Dos have actually hit 21 more doubles whereas the Uno have hit 9 more triples. You get the point. Hence, why in a game like today the Crew Uno get a hitless 4 IP w 1 BB and 7 K from second year hurler Joshua Quezada. You have two more nice days from Anderson, Lafond, and Quintana (who has come on this past week). They also score five runs. But, their pitching staff gives up seven. I digress. Yes. Ortuno is a stud.😅

Three Odd Obersvations On the 'Fringes': 1) The ACL Crew has really struggled with cresting the mountaintop that is improving from 5-or-6 games under 0.500. They have routinely fallen back to 7 or more games under 0.500 as a habitual practice. They are currently 6 games under...again. Can they keep grinding to get closer to that 0.500 mark? 2) I spoke to in Wednesday morning's report, but INF/OF Jheremy Vargas has been having a really nice bounce back season overall. However, his kyrptonite is the 0.220 BA. It seems in 2024 every time he gets into the 0.220's or higher with a run of solid production at the dish, he hits an '0-for'. Back on June 8th, he had finally climbed the mountain and got that BA back to 0.224. He had to work over a month to Tuesday's contest (2-for-4, 1 HR) to get back to 0.221. What happened next? 0-for-4, 1 K. Back to 0.216. Sigh. Can he re-settle and change the benchmark? I believe he can. A 0.236 season-long BABIP isn't going to help all that much, however. Can we get just a little bit of help oh mighty baseball Gods?! 3) I have absolutely not been kidding when reporting (on more than one occasion) of RHP Daniel Corniel's strange third inning woes. In his rougher outings, Corniel has really struggled in the third frame. On the season, get this, Corniel has allowed one or more runs in the 3rd frame in 8-of-14 Starts. This includes a 6-run inning vs Delmarva on May 29th; a 3-run inning by Charleston on June 5th; and a 5-run Down East outburst back on July 2nd. I don't know what it is about the odd-numbered innings and Corniel but it's a thing - especially in the third frame (and, secondarily, the first frame). Unlike young RHP Manuel Rodriguez, Corniel hasn't been able to find that sweet spot of consistency in his debut season. He's had flashes of excellence, to be sure, but he lacks Rodriguez's otherworldly consistency and control.

Oh hey! Another RHP KC Hunt masterpiece? How in the hyeck did Hunt go undrafted? What an absolute steal to have him at this stage of his development. What a beautiful marriage. It seems like just yesterday I was sending Spencer private messages to "...check out this Hunt down in Carolina. Ridiculous off-speed stuff...". And here we are he's going 6 innings and striking out 9 and 10 guys at High-A. Like Yoho, there going to need to fast track him to Biloxi. Which randomly brings me to: I miss RHP Tanner Shears' splitter🥺

It seems as though I picked the right night to go on a date with my wife. Whew.🤭