Joseph Zarr

- RHP Colin Rea was optioned to the Nashville Sounds by the Milwaukee Brewers - RHP J.B. Bukauskas was recalled by the Milwaukee Brewers from the Nashville Sounds

Nope. But, he was claimed on waivers from Seattle in late April of this season.

Myers K's the side. The man is on one the past month and I am absolutely here for it. Love how he's really taken a big step late in his calendar year.

Myers gets another swinging K. Two down. I believe that is now 170 total punch outs on his season?

9 walks from the Sounds staff so far tonight. Myers is on in a relief role here in the 8th. He got the lead-off K swinging and now a free pass. Man on first. One down. Sounds lead 6-4. Three of the four Shrimp runs have arrived after a runner got on base by walk. A perfectly executed hit-and-run now has runners on the corners with one down.

He's definitely toning down the pre-swing movement. He also has an 111 mph and a 106 mph line out in the past two games. He is starting to put solid wood on many balls.

1B ump just totally blew a clear DP to end the Shrimp's 7th. Devanney's throw beat him by a clear step. Classic. Absolute Minor League vintage right there.

Chourio took the RF rocket throw from Encanacion off his left collarbone it appeared as he slid in safely as the throw was arriving. He was grimacing and rubbing that upper left part of his upper chest/clavicle with a grimace. He walked off under his own power and was not visited by a trainer. Might be something to keep an eye on.

With his pitch count at 97, Rodriguez is going to get a chance to complete the 5th facing the dangerous Austin Allen. He just gave up a second sac fly. It's 5-3 Sounds. He walks Allen on 4 pitches. He'll finish after 4 2/3 IP. Just shy of qualifying for a win in his debut. He was good in spurts. He was not sharp overall. Walks and a hit batter and many a man on base. But, hey, it's a debut in a new ballpark in a new League etc. He'll hand the ball over to veteran lefty Alex Claudio. There are two on and two out.

With Rodriguez's 6th K, the Sounds once again set their club record for most strikeouts in their team's history (set just last season). It was their pitching staff's 1,266th K of the season - which is actually just 10th in the International League.

I have no problems simply copying and pasting the tweet url. I have to wait a few seconds while it auto-embeds but I haven't had any problems.

Jacksonville knocks one across off a broken bat flare liner to shallow CF off the bat of Griffin Conine (who has both rbi's tonight). Rodriguez works around some traffic with a fly out to Chourio in RF (his fifth start in RF in 2023) and two K's. He has 5 punch outs through 4 now.

Here's the Wiemer homer:

Black led off by jumping on a first pitch change-up ripping a 101 mph grounder into CF. He then steals 2nd base on the first pitch. Wiemer is now 2-2...AND 410 feet. Got out in rapid fashion and it breaks an 0-for-14 MLB/Triple-A skid. Take a HR away. Smash one back out of the park. The circle is complete.

Rodriguez sees the minimum after inducing a 3-6-1 DP to end his 3rd inning. 3-1 Sounds and we head to the bottom half.

It was dead center to the deepest part of the Park. Wiemer played it to perfection. Definitely wasn't an easy play.

Wiemer just stole a three-run HR back from Jacksonville saving Rodriguez's bottom line in the process. Conine is credited with a sac fly instead. It was a hanger. Rodriguez then gets out of the man on first two out scenario with a swinging K on his patented change-up. A 74 mph breaker on the outer part of the zone.

We are whittled down to one affiliate and, well, I don't quite know how to approach this. Watch just one game? Yowza. You Brewers fans have it easy peazy pumpkin squeezy (as I would say to my 5-year-old daughter). None the less, Chourio was the headliner. Mitchell is rehabbing. AND, this game still ended up all about one of my favorite Brewers catching gems, Brian Navarreto. It was a heck of an entertaining series opener. Let's get into this late-season shortened report! Image courtesy of Brewer Fanatic Transactions: INF/OF Keston Hiura was placed on the Nashville Sounds 7-day injured list OF Greg Allen was released by the Nashville Sounds LHP Luis Amaya was released by the Biloxi Shuckers C Jason Lopez was released by the Biloxi Shuckers RHP Robbie Baker was released by the Biloxi Shuckers CF Jackson Chourio was assigned to the Nashville Sounds RHP James Meeker was assigned to the Nashville Sounds RHP Tobias Myers was assigned to the Nashville Sounds RHP Carlos F. Rodriguez was assigned to the Nashville Sounds RHP Zach Vennarro was released by the Biloxi Shuckers AND, to stay very very current back to Sunday (9/17) please visit our ongoing Transactions Mega-Thread HERE The releases never hit easy for me. I watch these men play on a routine basis and I respect their commitment and hard-work immeasurably. I wish each and every one of these players the absolute best as they hit the uncertainty of the upcoming Minor League Free Agency period. Nashville 5, Jacksonville (Marlins) 4 Box Score/Game Log Via the Sounds' site, game details, please visit and review: Sounds Walk Off Jumbo Shrimp in Series Opener With the Durham Bulls winning again tonight, the Sounds have officially been told to cease any and all thoughts of an improbable second half playoff birth. So it goes. The Sounds gave it a great run but, really, Durham was the better team in the end and the 5-1 head-to-head series victory for the Bulls against the Sounds in the past month attests to this. Without further ado, it's all fun and games from here on out. And, after a snooze-worthy clunker through the first 5 frames, the Sounds sure as heck made it a fun one in the later innings. RHP Janson Junk was being attacked early in counts for many a cheap hit - really, not a lot was hit hard for knocks. And, what was hit hard was hit right at someone. He sprinkled around nine hits and a free pass in his six innings of work - his 31 pitch, two run, second frame was the by-product of many a seeing eye squeaker. He never caved to the big inning even though he had men on base quite a bit. Kudos to him. It was a worthy Triple-A effort. Many a Shuckers call-up are getting their first tastes. Oh, and one of those just happens to be our crowned prospect jewel in CF Jackson Chourio (DH in his debut). After a ground out to third base and a deep fly out to left center field, the young superstar managed to rip an opposite field double standing up on an outside heater: But, really, this game was about C Brian Navarreto. We've been having some peripheral discourse in our Minor League Forum HERE (feel free to visit and chime in). I wrote about Brian wayyyyyy back in March of 2023 HERE. Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth frame and with the only real thing to show for it being several very hard hit outs (including a 111 mph EV line out by still offensively struggling OF Joey Wiemer), Navarreto broke it open: It's like that. My faith in Navarreto knows no bounds. I will continue to pound the pavement for his opportunity. After a 2B Abraham Toro (he extended his on base streak to 34 games with a final AB walk - how many on base streaks does Toro have this season in Nashville? My goodness he is having a year) sac fly brought 3B Tyler Black home (triple to the left field wall) in the bottom of the seventh, it was up to LHP's Ethan Small and Clayton Andrews to protect that tight margin. Small did his work - touching 95 mph routinely in the process which turned my head - and Andrews had a lead-off walk on the bags with two down looking to find that final out. Well, the Shrimp's Austin Allen had other plans. Having scorched the hardest hit Shrimp balls all night but for outs, he finally got his revenge on a mistake slider from Andrews: After this bomb, Andrews hit 97 mph on consecutive heaters - that was a thing. Can he keep this into 2024, please?!? He ended the inning shortly thereafter without further damage. And, it was on to the bottom of the ninth where the Sounds got their 13th walk-off their 2023 season. And, it was the second in a row for, you guessed it, C Brian Navarreto: A truly fantastic game one of the Sounds last series of their 2023 season. Let's hope we get five more of these - well, maybe not the walk-offs. Tomorrow evening will officially be my final Minor League report of the 2023 season. It's been a fantastic season and a fun ride. Thank you to the players, the coaching staffs, and the organization for all they do for us Brewer Fanatics. I remain grateful to watch this team - organization wide. As always, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting Brewers Minor League baseball. 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

Very good question. I absolutely think it's fair to ponder whether they'll take similar paths. Maldonado was on the golden path as a defensive stalwart - if I recall correctly he got his first action at age 25. Navs has also dipped his toes at the MLB level but just hasn't had the staying power. But, with age comes experience and with that (in his case) comes refinement. With the Sounds, we're talking about a clutch bat with a 99.5 ish FP% who throws out 33% of base runners. He's not going to hurt you. And the fact he can hit clutch is so key because he certainly doesn't hit consistently. That's his only flaw as I've seen it for the past two years.

I mean, can I get a witness: It's almost like I watch a full season of Minor League Brewers baseball. I guess this past month answered my own curiosities above. (Quote above from Part 4 HERE)

I think the greatest thing about having Navarreto and Henry is it is just a great depth 'problem' to have. Both young men are fantastic Triple-A players. Both young men deserve an opportunity to back-up at the MLB level. AND, if the Brewers re-sign Caritini? Well, good for the Brewers and we will see what happens with Henry this off-season. The Brewers continue to value catching quality and depth and it matters. C Brian Navarreto now owns the last two Sounds walk-offs. He hit the game-tying 2-run HR tonight. He hit the game-winning walk-off two-run double down the 3B line (which, well, they'll score a single cuz walk-offs and all). As much as I love Henry's bat and disciplined approach at the dish and he is more than a competent back-stop, I remain incapable of shaking my passion for Navarreto's game. He just does so much on a consistent basis despite his short-comings at the dish in terms of consistently finding production. He is clutch. That means something to me. He is also, arguably, the best defensive catcher (in terms of MLB-readiness) in the system. I go back to the fact the Sounds started Navarreto just last year in their championship game in Vegas. It caught most fans by surprise. Absolutely not me. He is vastly underrated (still) and I wrote just so back in March before the season began in my quick series on Overlooked and Underappreciated prospects. He also threw out another base runner tonight and consistently sits 32-35% in that arena. He has, at various points during the past two seasons, led the International League in CS%. As to Black, his positional mystery remains, well, a mystery. He just isn't a plus defensively anywhere. You can try him in places and he won't kill you but he'll rarely win you any innings there let alone games. The good plays come as a surprise (though they are made and he has 'improved' in 2023). BUT, the thing with Black is he is just so good on the basepaths and in the batters box that this almost just doesn't matter. This is a player who can easily, and I do mean easily, carve out a starting role in a number of ways. DH, first and foremost is the obvious in any game. He can steal a base any time he is on base. He can steal a base any time the ball hits the outfield grass. Then, he can simply rotate around as a fill-in in other areas. As @Smichaelis9says above: It's really just this. He's going to be up at some point (if not the beginning) of 2024 due to his offensive arsenal. I don't really think this is debatable. As he is now getting his feet under him in Nashville he is impacting the game in various ways. We'll see how he improves in the off-season. Not the perfect prospect by any means given the stiffness and inability to thrive defensively but it won't matter over the breadth of how he impacts baseball games. This isn't a situation where it's a qb handling every ball that leaves the batters box. We can live and die with the inevitable shortcomings. Devanney has quietly had a very solid season. Admittedly, before the season began and he was shelved for a month with injury, I was expecting more. BUT, the improvements Devanney made at the dish this season were discernible. He's more patient. He is hitting in a way that will help him play at the MLB level. He had a ridiculous poke single for an RBI in the past few weeks that was a style of hit we wouldn't have seen from Devanney before 2023. Like others have opined here, I think his best position is 3B but he is still a very good SS he just lacks the true range of an elite SS. His arm remains an absolute rifle shot. His glove is good. The confidence is absolutely there. He deserves an opportunity at some point down the road in the next couple of seasons. I firmly believe this. Like Monasterio (who I also highlighted in March), Devanney could hit the ground running and surprise a whole heck of a lot of the fanbase because they don't watch these guys. AND, the final addendum to all of this rambling @reillymcshaneis: ALL of these Triple-A players deserve at least ONE opportunity. They've earned it. They've paid their dues. My prayer for these players is they grab that first chance they get and run with it. When that fails, my next prayer is they receive another opportunity because they've earned it again. And so on down the line. I will never stop believing in these players - their talents; their work ethics; and their abilities to defy the odds. Every one you list above is capable of meeting the moment. We'll just have to wait and see if we are blessed to see it happen in a Brewers uniform.