Joseph Zarr

The Clarke man cometh: 4th dinger. 1-1 game headed to the bottom of the 2nd as Surprise left the bases dripping.

Lastly, this isn't necessarily on you @damuelle - the Bandits botched the info in their own press release. BUT, it is actually 'Michael O'Neal'. He is no longer a 'Brewers Development Coach' in title in the org. He was a Development Coach with Wisconsin and Carolina - in 2021 and 2020, respectively. He was a generically titled 'Coach' for the Shuckers in 2022. This past 2023 season, he was the Pitching Coach for the Carolina Mudcats. It was a full circle season for O'Neal as he pitched for the Mudcats in 2016. This will be his second assignment in 2023 - his fourth season with the Brewers organization.

- The ACL Brewers activated RHP Jared Albir off their 60-Day IL

Happily insane

Lastly, a heads up: We will start seeing the Brewers and Royals affiliated players announcements starting the middle of next week it would appear:

That post won't begin until January of 2024, @damuelle. So, it would appear Nilsson will remain very much involved this season as he aids the transition (and potentially beyond?). I know you hyperlinked this article below but the key point is in this birdy whistle: he'll be a bench coach this fall/winter and stay as Director of Baseball Ops with Brisbane:

You misunderstand my obsession. 😅 I would personally be interested in only this component of the Minor Leagues - ie giving depth and representation to players who are so often overlooked. The top prospects and MLB players already get all that publicity and hype.

Dykstra misses the boat here, imho. Smith's real focus (in the AFL, at least) is continuing to develop and advance his slider. The cutter has taken a little bit of a back seat. Previous to affiliated ball, his goal was to become a starting pitcher. To that end, he used a change up to keep hitters from both sides of the plate 'honest' when he came aboard. Which brings me to: it would be a high quality deep dive question if someone would ask him "So, in the past you've used a cutter sprinkled in to keep hitters off your rising heater. It seems you have shaped that pitch now into an off-speed slider. What's the plan for the cutter moving forward?"

If I'm not mistaken, he successfully swiped his 6th SB last night. He's an absolute problem on the basepaths. It's really key to remember here: EBJ swiped all those bags in 41 less games than Brewers leader Tyler Black. Pretty wild. If you do some basic extrapolating math, it's fair to presume that's a 60 steal full season.

Hard not to be thrilled we just plopped in a Pratt to the system via a 6th round selection. What an incredible lottery ticket. I would have to think he'll start in Low-A Carolina given the influx of DSL players likely coming stateside. And, from my seats in the upper deck, the likely promotions of Guilarte and Areinamo.

We really missed out on Roc Riggio. That is a straight up HOF name. Would have paired quite nicely with 'Lamar Sparks'.

Here's a behind-the-plate look at Alcántara's game winner: Oppo thunder...

Ugh. That's rough. I watched Hernandez's first inning of work and it was classic 2023 Hernandez so I shut the game off 😅. I see it got worse. He really took an unfortunate step back this season or was simply shown how his stuff plays at a higher level of competition. I continue to point to: he has too many moving parts in his arm slot/release point tool kit. He has legitimately three different arm slots and, hence, different release packages. It leads to walks, HBP, WP's and then all too many hittable pitches. In other words, he finds himself with too many men on base. It's a strange pitcher-type fetish I see the Brewers having on the fringes. For example, both RHP's Israel Puello and Ryne Moore have been released. Both of these young men had very very similar moving pitches with comparable release points and arm actions. Hernandez currently has an uphill battle on his hands and will really need to evolve his approach if he wants to last within the organization and advance. Let's hope it happens!

Last year's participants for those interested: C Alex Hall (good bye, my sweet Prince - may your smooth lefty stroke land elsewhere and flourish) RHP Cameron Wagoner INF Robert Moore LHP Justin King RHP Max Lazar RHP James Meeker RHP Brannon Jordan

Right. It was an extremely brief passing comment he made to Chris and Kyle in a post-game pod (there was another player down there with him - may have been Vargas? I can't recall off hand). My main point is: we don't know what was injured and how serious it is. We likely won't until next season when it is discussed etc. And my overarching point is I left 2023 with many more questions than answers. Hopefully, 2024 answers those in a big and exciting way.

Until we actually know what happened toward the end of his 2023 High-A season - Boeve was pulled and then sent down to the Arizona Instructional after his last appearance 8/30 - it's hard to make any solid judgments here. There was no actual designation there publicly - no IL no 'Development List'. I have stated on more than one occasion: I don't know what was going on but as his High-A time progressed, his contact weakened and he was topping dribblers and hitting to low exit velo frequently. We all got excited at the ACL output but it's an elite college bat hitting ACL pitchers. It was a bonus he didn't scuffle whatsoever, obviously, but that bat didn't translate in the Midwest League for any meaningful stretch of time. He looks uncomfortable and range restricted at 2B - with the addendum this is his first legitimate action there after playing strictly 3B at Omaha. It was a classic Brewer bat-to-ball spray contact hitter draft selection - and, he certainly may tap into power there and did so in spurts this past summer- but there are many more question marks than answers with Boeve at present. Like @Smichaelis9and @jay87shotI had him ranked much lower and very easily could have slotted him in the 20-30 range in a pseudo 'prove it' 2024.

Surprise @ Mesa will be Live Streaming tonight for those interested. LHP Adam Seminaris will get the starting nod looking to build off what was potentially his best outing as a Minor League pitcher his last trip to the hill. As game time approaches (9:30 EST) check out the AFL main page for live game feeds. HERE. The Saguaros, winners of 5 straight, are a mere 1/2 GB of League leaders Peoria. They will also be live streaming tonight at Glendale.

Today I will watch Damien Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo play for he same team from Milwaukee for the first time.

This is great - Yeager's ongoing emphasis and results pummeling the zone for strikes. Walks have been a mild issue early in his Minor League career. He's 25. What do you mean 'early' ? Well, lost COVID year. Let's remember: he earned the very early 2023 Shuckers role as RHP Abner Uribe's set-up man. He has absolute stuff: (From late January of this year)

That's now 5 in a row for Surprise. They move to 8-4 as they continue to come into form stating their case as a contender for the AFL title. You love to see it.

This is really well said. Thanks.

How fun is it to have such an in depth and ongoing conversation about these players we all hope achieve their best baseball as Brewers?! EBJ is also acquitting himself more than well in the AFL earning his way into the top 3 of the batting order and positionally working both SS and 2B (his first such innings in 2023). In 35 AB in an 8 game sample size - hey they don't play many games down yonder anyhow - to date EBJ has a 3 2B, 1 3B, 5 BB, 9 K, 9 R, 9 RBI 314/400/457. I personally think casting Boeve as a possible Black-like breakout is fairly misplaced in this comparison above but I understand the stretch. If we were going that route, we might also just consider EBJ - given he is just as athletic as Black (and much better defensively) - as he continues to adjust and build off his tweaked batting stance while aiming to stay healthy for an entire season. He'll likely never have the contact skills Black does (not many will, if we're being honest). Regardless to say EBJ is merely an athlete with good defense is fairly miscast, again, in my opinion. He simply hasn't been healthy long enough to build off momentum he has definitely created. All this being said, I don't base any of my subjective player opinions solely on stats. So, in Boeve's case I was absolutely thrilled to see him hit the ACL ground running and the High-A promotion made quite a bit of sense given his age but it was a very big unknown. After the game 1 back-to-back Wilken/Boeve HR's it felt dreamy. But, that fell back to Earth fairly quickly for Boeve. I use the greater statistical compilations after I've watched players play for significant stretches. So, in his particular case when I started seeing numerous weakly hit dribblers and topped balls and a complete loss of line drives I knew something was up - it was either an uncharacteristic slump; a problem; or he was injured. Unfortunately, the last memory I have of him was botching an very routine groundball up the middle that ultimately cost his team runs and possibly the game. System wide, back to my own approach, I hope the players' stats back what I'm seeing but I try to use both of these to create a complete picture. I am fortunate in that I have the lifestyle and farm set-up to do this - it certainly seems rare (maybe it isn't). I know there are historical trends and probabilities embedded in the statistics (this is most useful, for me, in the DSL and to an extent the ACL where we literally have no ability to see the games) but it is my personal experience that watching of the players means quite a bit more to me in the depth of understanding of who they are as a players - where they might go; what they might be working on; how circumstances and contexts skew things etc. A case and point to this is if you just peaked at, say, RHP Cameron Wagoner's stats you'd probably think he had a woeful 2023. When, in reality he had a fantastic season of development and growth and really solidified himself as a possible breakout candidate in 2024. OR, also in the pitching ranks, how RHP Tanner Shears' wild is a much different wild than a RHP Jesus Rivero or another notch down the ladder a RHP Quinton Low. None of that is really in the stats other than likely comparable FIP's or glaring BB:K anomalies. But, they are not all created equal. And, to once again go back to the pitching ranks, it's why I felt RHP Edwin Jimenez was due for a breakout. I said it all last season that despite his inconsistency his raw stuff was as close to a young RHP Mike Fiers as I've seen in the system since...well Mike Fiers. So, his stretches of brilliance in 2023 were completely unsurprising to me. Who is next in this breakout department for me? Off the top of my head, RHP TJ Shook. Somehow completely off the radar but, man, when he has his location going his change-up and curve play to both sides of the batters box. He has the build too - his lower body is very very developed. I personally think he just tapped into what it could be like for him to be a MLB pitcher last year for the Shuckers. I could very very much see a rise for Shook like we saw with RHP Tobias Myers by season's end - who is very much in play for the Brewers bullpen in 2024 and who may very will get a 40-man spot to protect him from Rule 5. What he did at Nashville in that final week was extremely impressive. And, this after already leading the system in punch outs for 2023. I am very excited to see what both of these young men do in 2024. Anywho, I digress. I think it's clear where I stand in the EBJ/Boeve discourse 🤣