Joseph Zarr

Wiemer then fails to track a ball to the wall in deep RF. He tried to cut it off where the grass met the warning track. Ball bounced over his glove and then caromed off the base of the wall. 2-1 Saints now and that batter reached 3B. They'll score it a triple. That was a botched play by Wiems. It was. Nobody down. The runner scored after getting on base via a five pitch walk. Junk then hangs a dead center cut heater on an 0-2 count. 3-1 Saints. That was an ugly pitch. Can't have that in that count. Lined it to deep left CF and we now have a runner on 2nd base with nobody down.

After another Capra K, Wiemer opens up and loses his back shoulder just ever so slightly popping up a Boushley hanger to 1B foul territory for the final out. If Wiemer is going to get back on track again he's going to have to do better with pitches like that. Poor form all the way around. On to the 4th. Close but yet so far.

Kahle lines a lawn dart to shallow RF. Sheffield raced in and attempted to make a shoestring grab to the glove side but the ball caromed to the grass and behind him. Kahle gets the base hit and RBI. A tough play, no doubt, but a play he may have made had he laid it - a classic 'in betweener'. Young probably would have tagged up either way. 1-1 ball game.

Productive out for Hernandez who pulls a grounder to the hole right of 2B and advances Young to 3B. The infield is now in with Kahle to the plate for his first AB.

In Chavez Youngs' first AB as a Sound he gets that opportunistic end-of-the bat warm burner to 3B with the infield shifted right. He'll take it and the Sounds have their first hit and base runner of their evening. A wild pitch to the backstop sends Young to 2B. Nobody down. 1-1 count to last night's hero, Yonny Hernandez.

Junk works another 1-2-3 inning - one pitch groundout to Hernandez at SS; high chopper charge and throw by Hernandez gets Miranda; Hinkel lines out sharply to deep RF - Wiemer turns around some in the wind but tracks it down ultimately smoothly and with ease. On to the bottom of the 3rd and the Sounds will once again look to wake sleepy bats.

Hicklen chopper to 3B and Miranda makes and expert scoop and throw on the pick-up for out 1. Roller K's swinging behind a high upper corner heater. Collins lines out into LF foul territory on a 1-2 count. On to the 3rd frame and it's still 1-0 Saints.

Black stabs a hard hit grounder that could have been trouble to his glove hand side. He made it look easy. You love to see it. That's out numero dos. Junk then fires a laser heater over the outer stripe. 3 K's through 2. Less than a dozen pitches in that frame. That's more like it. Shake the rust off and get dealing.

Junk opens his second inning K'ng his second batter on a heater dead center cut. I don't know what Williams was waiting for there but he now has 4 K in 6AB on his young season.

Black flies out to deep left CF. Three up and three down. Sounds trail 1-0 headed to the 2nd frame.

The ABS again shows its awkward zones - two highly suspect strikes called to K Capra. Both looked outside the zone but you have no recourse when this system is in place. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am quite a bit more a fan of the challenge system. I find stadium-to-stadium and batter-to-batter even the zone is inconsistent and unpredictable. Wiemer goes down swinging on a very nice curveball from Boz. I am used to seeing that when he's wearing a Sounds jersey!

AND he gets it! A chopper to Yonny Hernandez for the 6-3 DP. Ok. Recover from here. Rest that arm and acclimate to this cold weather.

Junk gives up a linedrive single to RF over a leaping Isaac Collins scoring one. Runners advance a base - still juiced. Jeremy Accardo is to the mound as Junk is at 25 pitches. Bullpen now up and ready. NOT the debut Junk was looking for. Let's get a DP ball, Janson and get out of this and save your pen for the series!

LHP Wade Miley will be replacing RHP Tobias Myers on Friday as he begins his much needed rehab in Nashville. Let's get it going, Wade. The Crew needs you up yonder.

Kahle is making some fine stops as Junk's off speed has found dirt twice early. Both times, Kahle kept the ball in front. Fine work there.

Yikes. Junk unloads a rocket heater off Camargo's head. Up and in popped him right on the top of the helmet. Yikes. Bases juiced. Sounds video feed scoreboard is frozen. The sound is as if Jeff Hem is announcing from behind a waterfall. The rookie ball broadcast accoutrement continues.

Miranda takes second base on a Junk wild pitch - Kahle blocked it expertly but it caromed forward toward the mound. Count is full and he just misses low and inside. Back-to-back free passes. That ABS system can be so precise. That pitch was a solid offering and didn't miss by much.

Junk gets a swinging foul tip K for his first out on a slider. Kahle held on. AND we have audio with a wicked amount of static to boot. Junk walks Miranda on 4 pitches.

Yep, it's the exact same sound issue tonight as it was last night. Volume jacked all the way up. Bareeeely can hear Jeff Hem. AND, the radio feed is once again several pitches ahead. We had 24 hours to remedy this and it's the exact same video to audio live feed issue. What are we doing here?

The men are taking the field for the National Anthem. As of yet, we still have no audio feed via the MiLB.TV feed. It's not entirely abnormal to have a silent start but I would also opine it is standard to hear the stadium's national anthem. Needless to say, I'm nervous we will once again have zero audio. It is an eerily similar beginning where we can barely get audio from the field - could be that Jeff Hem isn't hooked in yet? OR it could be the disastrous MiLB.TV audio issues continue onward. Eeeeek.

Just a quick tidbit to share from today's 'Game Notes': Brewers bullpen certainly didn't look fresh and dominant today. BUT, they've been overworked early due to their lack of any true starting depth. There are a lot of options starting off quite well in Nashville, however, in their very young season. Let's hope it continues and there develops a bevy of worthy arms to help up and down throughout the season.

Let's look at the bright side here: If the Crew do indeed manage to blow this one after the fine work from last year's key bullpen arms, this takes the immense pressure off the clubhouse shooting for that elusive, nearly impossible, undefeated season. This paves the way for a realistic season ahead and more practical expectations.

^^ What this HOF Legend said @Jim French Stepstool. Couldn't have nailed it better myself.

With April Fools Day barely in the rearview mirror, the Sounds returned to Nashville for their Home Opener of their 2024 season. Having lost their opening road mini series at Toledo (1-2), the Sounds were hoping to get some flavorful home field cooking going with LHP Aaron Ashby toeing the rubber for his first start of his young season. But, wait a minute! Stop the presses! The MiLB.TV Audio feed was entirely botched from pitch one. And, well, then we lost the video feed after a mere two AB's. Perhaps, it's still April Fool's after all in the Central Time Zone? I muddled through, however, folks. I gave it my all despite these ill-timed technical snafus. Yes, even with Brewer Fanatic website issues popping up to boot in the midst of a 6th inning rain delay and disappearing my original report and even with the ongoing audio/video blackout, I braved the elements for ye' faithful readers. I went back to the times of yore and listened to Sounds impeccable call man, Jeff Hem. Blessed be we are back aboard the Minor League season. Let's get into the report! Image courtesy of Brewer Fanatic Transactions: C Eric Haase was officially outrighted from the Brewers to Triple-A Nashville (having somehow made it through the MLB Waiver Wire) C Brian Navarreto was placed on Triple-A Nashville’s 7-day IL C Blayberg Diaz was quickly assigned to Triple-A Nashville from Low-A Carolina (most likely due to geographical proximity) Final: Nashville 5, St. Paul (Twins) 4 Via the Sounds' site, please be sure to click and read each of the affiliate write-ups as part of your season-long Link Report routine (believe me, it's worth it): Yonny Hernández's Heroics Lead Sounds to Win in Home Opener - Second Baseman Launches Go-Ahead Three-Run Shot Pre-Game Media Notes Box Score / Game Log (A quick reminder: MiLB and MLB changed the Box Score/Game Log format during the 2023 season - we now get it all in one cozy little hyperlink. Lots of information here so poke around) LHP Aaron Ashby currently lacks his pre-injury velocity on the hill (not surprising given the nature of his injury), but that doesn't mean he isn't capable of of competing and finding different ways to effectively work with his mix. Striking out four batters through three innings, and five batters through five innings, Ashby was able to work around a handful of knocks and a couple free passes by keeping the ball on the ground with his sinker and getting plenty of swings and misses with his off-speed mix of slider and change-up. Unfortunately, for Ashby, his offensive line up was just as inept as the Saints in the early going. Simply put, there just wasn't a lot of meaningful contact anywhere in the batters box through four and one half innings. Don't take my word for it: Though the Sounds did manage to load the bases in the fifth frame - all after two down - OF Joey Wiemer hit an 0-1 pitch sharply but directly to the third baseman. It was an all for naught state of affairs. To wrap this up, I'll simply share Ashby was mainly sitting 92-93 mph. He did manage to touch 94 mph in the fifth inning during his final strikeout but he quickly fell back to 91-92 mph in his brief work prior the rain delay in the sixth inning. His pitch count reached 77 and he threw 47 strikes when all was said and done. And, given where Ashby is coming from, this outing has to be viewed as a fairly big success in his ongoing recovery road. We can definitely work with this. We can definitely look forward to ensuing outings with hope and dreams he can start reaching higher on the radar gun for longer periods of time. Three Quick Strikes: 1) If I were to point to a second MVP of tonight's tilt, I'd have to go with lefty hurler Rob Zastryzny. He pitched two very clean innings of late relief while keeping the game within striking distance. He certainly sounded dominant (a reminder: no video feed throughout) in his three punch outs while ultimately throwing 19-of-29 pitches for strikes. Early in 2024, it seems like Zastryzny has the potential to be a key bullpen arm for the Sounds with a distinct potential to get back to the Big Leagues if the Brewers should need some help. Having watched as much Minor League baseball as I have, I can not impart to you how crucial it is to have a dependable veteran arm in the ranks to work pivotal innings. 2) With the video feed shot. With the audio feed mostly wrecked. And, with the radio feed two-to-three pitches ahead of the brief video feed when we actually had it, I can absolutely still tell you 1B Tyler Black handled himself quite well in the limited work he had at first base. He handled all throws cleanly. He looked comfortable. I'm excited to see what's ahead for him. What's more, he ripped a single to LF and he took a key walk to get the Sounds sixth inning mini rally going. 3) Let's hope the overall MiLB.TV broadcasts get more polished from here. To have an entire off-season of preparation for your Home opener and to have a completely botched video/audio situation feels almost akin to a completely botched roll-out of a new parking scene at an MLB ballpark <cough cough>. I'd expect this type of things from the Cardinals or the Cubs (yes, Chi-Town, we saw your Opening Day pyrotechnic 'display' at Wrigley! Oh yes we did!), but as a lifelong Brewers fan I'm mildly embarrassed. There I said it. This was an embarrassing Opening Day befitting the Fanatics jersey quagmire MLB thrust upon us in the late off-season. Is it strange to expect the basic things we pay for approaching the season to run smoothly? My MiLB.TV down payment feels like a sunk cost today. My Brewers pennants are flying at half mast. Hats off to the players to making it to the baseball diamonds and playing through it all. We took it on the chin for our beloved teams today. Let's hope tomorrow is a different state of affairs! What's that you say? A video highlight in a game with no in-game video?!? Yes indeed. Hey, after a big fat zero in the road series highlight department, I'm coming hot and heavy with a C Nick Kahle to 1B Tyler Black super buffet: That's all you get, folks. Let's just be grateful. It was an extremely inconvenient modern day attempt to watch Minor League Brewers baseball on this spring Monday evening. All this being said, I absolutely did manage to hear Jeff Hem's live call of INF Yonny Hernandez's 3-0 count gulf shot over the left field wall off a low and tailing in RHP Hobie Harris splitter. Great call, Mr. Hem. A libation was spilled. A middle-aged man yipped and fist pumped. A tip of the proverbial cap is due. The Sounds will take on old friend RHP Caleb Boushley tomorrow. Sigh - doesn't it just feel like Boushley should be a lifer in the system akin to Dillard? I digress. He'll face the Sounds' RHP Janson Junk who is healthy again after his skipped start in Toledo - he was apparently suffering from a little bit of a bug. Let's hope the Sounds can take another one and let's hope it's mildly less dramatic! As always, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting Milwaukee Brewers Minor League baseball and the many players deserving of our time and recognition. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth View full article