Joseph Zarr

This is another streaming reminder: The Surprise Saguaros will indeed be streaming again on this fine Fall Friday. They will be taking on the also 9-7 Salt River Rafters - both teams trail League leaders Scottsdale and Peoria (who also go head-to-head tonight) by 1/2 G apiece. It certainly appears to be a very intriguing pitching matchup as the Saguaros and Blue Jays AFL Ace, LHP Ricky Tiedemann, faces Salt River and Tigers' former first rounder (2021) Ace RHP Jackson Jobe. The bats may be quiet early so hopefully the bullpens are up to the task. Tune in HERE as game time approaches for the Live Streaming window. Tentative start time is 9:30 EST.

Article linked for subscribers. On Yoho, particularly: *personally, in the clip, particularly fond of the audible 'Whooof' grunt we hear from the video taker at the 8 second mark. I believe that pitch may have had some 'nasty'😄

He surrendered a lot of soft contact (in Double-A) across the board by my eyes. Part of his walk schtick is he doesn't offer a lot of meat on the bone to hitters - the downside (and, i guess, plus side?) of this is he is unafraid or unused to working from behind or in full/elevated counts batter-to-batter. Like Miguel Cabrera's fearlessness in an 0-2 count, Carlos is unfazed in 2-0;3-0; or 3-2. The downside of this, going further, is the greater impact this has within each of his Starts. I can recall numerous prolonged first innings, for example where he hit the mound nibbling and missing and suddenly had the bases juiced. He quite adeptly can work out of these jams but we all know that won't be sustainable the higher he travels in the circuit. It is uncanny the number of starts, for instance, where I ventured to other games to check in on certain other players and I came back to Carlos (who may have elevated his pitch count into the upper 20's after one of those vintage inaugural innings, for example) who had once again managed to K 8-10 and was improbably entering the 6th frame. Anyhow, I attribute all of the above to youth and accumulating experience. He is a very smart pitcher with very good stuff who is still evolving. Because his raw stuff and his head for the game are so good as is, today, I go back to his age. He is doing things at his age from an entirely different end of the spectrum than a Misiorowski. Given he concedes such weak contact, however, the free passes are a distinct area I personally want to see improvements. I compare that quality to Gasser's own struggles...who, oh by the way, has 2 1/2 years of age and experience on him.

The lone Triple-A Nashville showing was, quite simply, very rough. But, it also was a positive in that it showcased what that bump up in competition is going to need: sharpening of the tools. No more getting away with the walks. It will be a very necessary assignment to get him truly pro ready. In that outing versus Jacksonville Rodriguez walked four, hit one, and gave up five knocks in 4 2/3 IP. You'd have to go back to mid-May @ Chattanooga to find a comparably ineffective start by his standards. He just wasn't sharp - his pitches were sailing...he was likely over-amped or just off. And, it will be challenge he needs to evolve his already advanced arsenal to MLB-caliber. BUT, and this is what I harp on with Rodriguez: he will play the entirety of 2024 as his age 22 season. He's 2 1/2 years younger (with room to season) than LHP Robert Gasser. He's literally only six months older than Misiorowski. Sky is the limit here. Much to what you point to above is key to that growth. That change up is an amazing pitch. It's surreal how that pitch sneaks up and then sinks down past bats. I'd put it in the top 10 pitches of the Brewers Minor Leagues. Which, come to think of it, would be a very fun article: The Top 10 Best Pitches in the Brewers Minor League System.

And, after those activations, as has often been the case with the new roster limitations, came the releases: - The ACL Brewers released RHP's Domingo Mejia, Jared Albir, and Samuel Dario - The ACL Brewers released INF Alberis Ferrer - The Carolina Mudcats released Jhoan Cruz

EBJ and Clarke continue their fantastic AFL campaigns. Each 2-for-4 in the late innings. EBJ hit his 5th dub and stole his 7th base. Surprise now leads 5-0 after INF Cameron Cauley finally woke up his bat hitting his second long ball of his evening. And the score is final: 5-0 victory for the Saguaros who move to 9-7 overall. Mendez was once again left out of the lineup and no Brewers prospects pitched, unfortunately.

We can certainly make this argument. I was already feeling him the first couple of weeks in Zebulon. And, then I saw him fire off his cannon arm and I was stunned. I had that very thought then. He solidified himself as the season went on. He's an absolute weapon out there.

It's amazing how universal giving multiple batters free passes negatively impacts an inning. Those infield batted balls were damaging because Wallace walked all those guys. He started it with a basic groundout and then put three men on base and then walked in the tying run. Every level. Everywhere. If you can't control your stuff your journey is going to have many bumps in the road. It was the same for the Saguaros in their 6-run 7th: walks, walks, walks. This just in: pitching is hard!

Fair enough. I mean, you have to fill out and add some body to 'What to Work On' (😅) and you have some in person looks and this is a fun thing to discuss regardless of where we disagree. There was a guy (best said in East Coast accent) this season making a point about Chourio and his jumps and how they were a question mark and, at the time and to this day, it felt like a major reach - almost like we have to find flaws in the players. I am not saying you are doing this here, btw, but when I read that from this guy (again, 'this guy' is best said in an East Coast accent) I found myself thinking: "I've watched nearly every single game of his since he's played Low-A. Have I thought his defense was overrated at times? Yes, absolutely - especially his affiliated Freshman year when I personally felt Wiemer and Crow-Armstrong were more deserving of a Minor League gold glove. BUT, the thing is he's actually continued to get better building off a very good base. Not one single time did I watch a Chourio game and think: Geee, he really needs to improve those reads it's negatively impacting this game." 😅 Anywho, this is a long-winded way of saying: having watched nearly all of Lara's games in 2023, I never once came away thinking any of his current defensive skills were anything other than quite simply put the best outfielder on that grass (and this with Avina and Nicasia at the corners - very good defensive players). But, to your point, let's hope as he ages he just keeps getting better and everything gets even smoother. Given the coach in you, I'll trust that part of your eyes and defer.

Two more 60-Day IL Activations: - RHP Jhoan Cruz was activated off the 60-Day IL by the Carolina Mudcats - RHP Domingo Mejia was activated off the 60-Day IL by the ACL Brewers

I would opine his defense in CF is better than advertised. Really good jumps. Elite speed. Really good range. I saw very little to concern myself with in terms of balls hit at him - his judgments were quite solid; the reads very quick; the jumps instant; and he more often than not made the extremely difficult play look smooth and routine. He made, arguably, the catch of the year tracking a ball to straightaway CF and making the insanely difficult laid out in full straight at the wall grab (can't find the highlight, naturally). It was incredible. His jumps to every direction are more than adequate. He also has a surprisingly very good arm - definitely rips. This was, for me, perhaps the most surprisingly impressive part of his game. He pretty much has a cannon. There just isn't much to gripe about on the defensive side of the ball. This is one of the more exciting prospects in the system given the entirety of what we're witnessing. Here's some defensive examples of get off that are actually available and demonstrate what I'm talking about: Straight over the head? No problems Anyhow, on a nightly basis we Mudcats viewers were extremely spoiled by the defensive web gems we saw routinely up the middle - from Sibrian at the backstop to Areinamo anywhere in the middle infield to from Lara in CF. Three defensive savants.

Yeah, this is fairly shocking - the timing and the suddenness. Not an ideal scenario a week before the regular season starts! Ugh.

It turned into a 6 run lead-taking 7th for Surprise. They cling to an 8-7 lead in the bottom of the 9th. EBJ was brought on as a pinch runner in the top of the frame after a lead-off double. He was gunned down at home on a failed double steal attempt. The Saguaros will look to close it out.

Top of the 7th, Surprise trailing 7-2, they walked the bases full. No outs. Wes Clarke to the dish. He works the count 2-2. He takes a ball low and outside. The count is full. He walks in a run. 7-3 the Saguaros trail. Still juiced. Nobody down. No other Brewers are in the lineup tonight, unfortunately.

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'.