Joseph Zarr

Shookster is starting to locate the curve. It's opening it up. He works around a seeing eye single through both diving 3B Ethan Murray and SS Freddy Zamora by inducing a DP ball to Ernesto Martinez Jr. who adeptly and accuratley rips a throw to Zamora at 2B and calmly and deftly gets back to the bag. 3-3 and we're onto the 6th.

The Smokies RHP Cade Horton (Cubs 2022 1st rd pick - #7 overall) has now struck out 7 through 5 IP and retired 8 in a row. We're going to need the Shookster to keep going toe-to-toe as we hope he has found his groove. Horton definitely looks the part of a 1st rd pick. He's got a lotta quality in that pitching toolkit. Sure would be nice picking and drafting at pick #7!!

And Shook gets the K using a, wait for it... Change-up He strikes out two in the 4th. To my eyes, it looks like he is just finding his groove and Clarke is starting to call to his strengths. Beautiful inning.

Shook's change-up is fantastic tonight. I wish Clarke and the staff were calling it more. I haven't seen a bat put to that wonderful sinking pitch. Meanwhile, he can't locate his curveball and has been inconsistent with his heater. He's grinding. When I watch TJ pitch I see all the tools. It's a matter of finding that fine-tuned consistency.

Three up and three down for the Shuckers in the 4th. That's now two K's for Quero in his return to action. Still a 3-3 ball game.

Two down for Shook here in the 3rd frame. And, another walk. A dangerous bat, however. Understandable to play it conservative. He'll have another power bat up next but a right-handed bat. He gets another weak pop fly to Martin Jr. in 1B foul territory. Very smooth and zone-heavy inning from RHP Cam Wagoner. You love to see it. Calm. Collected. Getting weak grounders to the 1B side. Three up. Three down. It's 0-0 and we're on to the 2nd frame.

I believe I've seen four broken bats already in not even 4 innings between the T-Rats and Shuckers. Lotta shattering lumber. Lotta jam shots. Wilken just broke his bat on a tailing liner to 2B.

Second consecutive SB for the Shuckers. That's Chourio's 35th on the season. Clarke skies a shallow pop fly to RF and the ball is gathered. Two down. Chourio on 2B for Martinez Jr..

A one out walk (after an 0-2 count) for INF Isaac Collins. He steals 2nd base (his 28th SB on the season). Chourio is up to the dish and has a 3-0 count. He got the green light on 3-0 and really took a hack at a high heater. Fouled back. He follows with a broken bat liner to shallow CF and drives in Collins. That's a lot of broken lumber but the Shuckers continue to get good breaks. 3-3. Let's go!

Shook escapes further damage after the bases clearing three-run jack by inducing two groundouts - to Murray at 3B and Zamora at SS. 3-2 Smokies and we head to the 3rd.

And, Shook follows with a four-pitch walk. Two men on. I'd argue the ump took away the top portion of the zone versus that smaller batter but my thoughts don't matter. Let's hope he can work out of this. Nope. Three run blast on a pitch dead center. 3-2 Smokies. I don't know why they aren't going back to those low sinking pitches. Haven't seen them since two straight swings and misses. That was a 325' line drive that snuck over the RF wall. Walks and errors. The nemesis of literally every defensive baseball player. Free lunch is all too often served with a smile on the batters face.

Shook has his sinking action on point tonight. Facing many lefties in this formidable Smokies lineup he has primarily been inducing pop flies and swings and misses as he tickles in and around the zone. He did just walk a batter here in the 2nd on four-seamers that sailed high and outside. Let's see if he can start finding more of the corners of the zone with that pitch.

A Carlos Rodriguez Jr. sharp grounder drove in Zamora from 3B. Quero and Murray both struck out swinging at heaters. 2-0 Shuckers here as we head to the bottom of the 2nd frame. Really nice work in the batters box outside the K's in that inning. We'll take it!

INF Freddy Zamora ripped a linedrive double deep down the LF line and it drove Martinez Jr. (broken bat single to RF)in all the way from 1B - quite the courageous play and he took advantage of a double pump relay throw. 1-0 Shuckers as they jump ahead early again. Zamora is still on 2B and Quero is to the dish with a 1-2 count.

A lot of familiar faces rejoin the line-up for the T-Rats game #2 at Beloit. C Darrien Miller will man the back-stop. INF Jheremy Vargas returns to 1B (taking Metzinger's place from last night). EBJ is back at SS for his second consecutive game. INF Robert Moore is back on the pines as Mike Boeve is back at 2B. Wilken, Boeve, and Mendez are again in the 3-5 spots in the batting order. And, if I'm not mistaken Eduardo Garcia returns as a DH? Noice! Can they take game 2 and can RHP Cam Wagoner continue his run of excellence?

RHP TJ Shook picks the runner of 1B quite easily with a very quick move. And, then gets the pop out to LF for the third out. We're on to the 2nd. 0-0.

They are finishing up the National Anthem in Tennessee. Here's your Shuckers Lineup Card for game #2. Biggest Note: young phenom Jeferson Quero returns and will man the DH role and 6th spot in the batting order. Wonderful to see him back:

We are still on point for two contests tonight. Biloxi vs Tennessee, to boot, is the MiLB.TV game of the day. Tune in! That will be at 7 EST. The T-Rats at Beloit game 2 will be at 7:35 EST. RHP TJ Shook for the Shuckers. RHP Cameron Wagoner for the T-Rats.

And, here we are @wibadgers23:

That may be the case. Zebulon is expected to get 1.50" tonight (yikes) while Durham, NC (an hour to the NW) is expected to get 0.65" roughly. Lotta wet stuff moving through.

With the end of the DSL season and the ACL Crew closing out their summer with a championship, we are back to our standard four full-season affiliates. We are literally in the final leg of the Minor League home stretch and there's quite a lot on the line. Tonight, we had a mixed bag 2-2 evening. The Sounds lost ground in their playoff pursuit, the Mudcats lost but held their 2.0 G Division lead, while the T-Rats and Shuckers both rocked shutouts. Let's get into the report! Image courtesy of Brewer Fanatic Game Balls: RHP Tobias Myers gave us that early-season Tobias Myers dominancing. It was a pleasure to witness - his off-speed was dipping and grabbing many a swing and miss. 6 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 K, 0 R. Absolutely fantastic. C Wes Clarke (more below) is a second half monster. I can't get enough of his moon shots (see below). 2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 1 Rocket Blast (HR). What an incredible surge and possibly career-altering run of play. LHP Nate Peterson set the tone early and often in his 5 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 R game 1 road start. Fantastic stuff from Peterson. RHP Luis Contreras was a lone bright spot for the Sounds pitching staff. I continue to believe in his best stuff. 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K, 0 R. I hope he earns more chances for higher leverage scenarios as the season comes to its close. OF Hendry Mendez gets the final nod here for his solo blast in a 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI evening as a key part of the T-Rats 5-0 victory. Transactions: RHP Bradley Blalock was placed on the 7-Day IL by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (retroactive to 8/28) RHP Jeison Pena was transferred to the Development List by the Carolina Mudcats INF Juan Baez was assigned to the Carolina Mudcats from the ACL (Champion) Brewers RHP Bayden Root was assigned to the Carolina Mudcats from the ACL (Champion) Brewers RHP Blake Whiting was assigned to the Carolina Mudcats from the ACL (Champion) Brewers LHP Bennett Sousa was activated from Triple-A Nashville’s 7-day injured list and was then claimed off waivers by the Detroit Tigers Final: Durham (Rays) 7, Nashville 3 Box Score / Game Log Via the Sounds' site, game details, please visit and review: Bulls Best Sounds in Series Opener RHP Evan McKendry began his evening by earning outs via four consecutive strikeouts. He worked around two walks in the first inning but it was looking quite good and comfortable overall. Unfortunately, this did not last. Ultimately, he was done in by a two-run shot and a three-run shot in the fourth and fifth innings. He left his work with his team trailing 6-1 after 4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 6 K, 2 HR, 6 ER. The Sounds have now lost three straight after taking the first four games at Gwinnett. The road can be a challenging place to play. Durham has been a thorn in the Sounds side dating back to the Championship Semis in Las Vegas just last season. Three Quick Strikes: 1) The Sounds inability to do more with the three bases loading walks with one down (Tyler Black fly out) in the first inning off of talented and effective LHP Jacob Lopez and his back door slider was a big missed opportunity. INF Owen Miller should have hit into an inning-ending double play but the Sounds were gifted a run when the Bulls 1B dropped the throw to his bag. OF Jahmai Jones lined out to RF to end the threat. The Sounds stranded two in the fourth frame. Their only real threat, then, came in the ninth inning when they plated two off of Hiura and Toro RBI singles to right field. OF Jahmai Jones again lined out to end the threat. 2) This game had a very weird feel throughout. The Bulls delayed the start because of possible weather but several tweets from their fans made it appear this was a very generous and possibly overly-cautious delay. Minor League rules state in such an event the game is reduced to seven innings. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a 9:25 EST start time isn't ideal for the athletes routines or schedules. Why not simply schedule a double-header? I digress, I guess, but it had me wondering. With the Sounds trailing 7-1 I formally submitted a protest to the League offices. 3) I really wish rehabbing 1B Jesse Winker could bring his Triple-A approach and results to the Brewers. I really do. This is his second rehab stint with the Sounds and he continues to showcase AB's we have yet to consistently see at the MLB level. With two more free passes tonight, Winker has seven free trips in his six game ongoing stint. Cumulatively, across both rehab stints, Winker is batting 0.333 with a 1.090 OPS. Final: Biloxi 9, Tennessee (Cubs) 0 - (weather shortened 6 inning contest) Box Score / Game Log Game Notes Via the Shuckers' site, game details, please visit and review: Six First-Inning Runs Lead Shuckers to Rain-Shortened, 9-0, Win RHP Tobias Myers was gifted a fancy six-spot cushion to begin his mound work and he did not disappoint. All too often you see hurlers gifted a big lead only to struggle hitting the zone or pitching to far too much contact. Myers was straight dealing. This outing was the closest I have seen to his opening day 11 K dazzler. Myers is at his best when he is getting late dip on his pitches and tonight that was coming in spades. His change-up was particularly effective playing off the movement of his overall tools: The Shuckers 9-0 victory was quite large. They kept pace at 1.5 GB OF Tristan Peters and the Montgomery Biscuits. Three Quick Strikes: 1) 1B/C/DH Wes Clarke's absurdly noisy second half has thrown his name very much into the Brewers prospect spotlight. Considering his constant availability and his more than adequate work at C and 1B, one is left wondering where all the prospect pundits will see him in their coveted Top 30 lists. Personally, I don't care. I simply appreciate what he brings. He is quite simply destroying baseballs on a consistent basis. Tonight was no different. His 104 mph 435' rocket blast over the second deck had what looked like a 30 degree plus launch angle. It was a mammoth blast. Take a look: 2) CF Jackson Chourio's first poke was a very very weak dribbler botched by the 2B. He reached via error. However, his second AB featured a very hard hit broken bat line drive to the warning track in LF. His third AB produced the result we were looking for. Hard contact to space: Watching Chourio turn on a fastball is a thing of beauty. Such a fast bat. So much power. 80 RBI's is nothing to scoff at. This is the very first time it has happened in Shuckers team history. It is only the 11th time it has happened in the Southern League since 2015. Yowza. 3) 2B Isaac Collins was back to doing Isaac Collins things: hard contact, speed on the basepaths, and scoring runs (58 on the season now). I consider Collins season a revelation. I don't know what the Rockies organization was thinking when they exposed him to the Minor League portion of the Rule 5 draft in December of 2022 but kudos to the Brewers personnel department for recognizing a very talented baseball player worthy of a serious opportunity and scooping him up. Collins has more than filled the void of another pedestrian season from INF Felix Valerio. Final: Wisconsin 5, Beloit (Marlins) 0 Box Score / Game Log Game Notes Via the T-Rats' site, game details, please visit and review: Wisconsin Wins Third Straight Game with 5-0 Shutout at Beloit LHP Nate Peterson shook his road start woes in a big way in a very impactful game 1 winning start at Beloit. Peterson had some elevated counts he was working through but he never buckled - a single base on balls in his five complete innings pitched. In key spots he attacked the zone with fearlessness. His slider was particularly accurate and deadly as it needs to be for his greatest impact. It was the best he's looked since his promotion to High-A ball. Whats more, it helped earn his team a crucial game on the Peoria Chiefs - the T-Rats are now only 4.0 GB a second half Playoff berth. A fantastic night's work: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 R. Three Quick Strikes: 1) Since conceding 10 ER over 6 IP in three consecutive outings in early August, RHP Nick Merkel has been absolutely fantastic. It's a testament to his make-up and character he righted the ship. After tonights impactful 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K work, Merkel has now managed to pitch 9 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 13 K, 0 ER over his past five outings. In a game made up of sample sizes, Merkel is pitching some of his best baseball over any stretch of his entire 2023 campaign. Merkel, much like talented RHP Cameron Wagoner and his breaking balls, is a pitcher who thrives when his off-speed is accurately hooking outside the strike zone. He's been doing that and then some of late picking up many a swing and miss. His continued effectiveness over his multi-inning relief outings will play a pivotal role should the T-Rats continue chipping away at the Chief's lead. 2) I continue to be very impressed with 3B Brock Wilken's arm and accuracy. He puts it on display quite consistently. It has every bit of anything you'd need for those long ranging throws the position so often demands. Accurate darts on the regular - he's especially adept at firing rockets charging or on the run. Though he grounded into a double play, he also managed to pull an off-speed pitch into LF for a double. All in all, I continue to love what I'm seeing in his first High-A action. Brewers fans should be very pleased with having this young man in the system. 3) What's that you say? INF Robert Moore stole two bases in a single game?!? Perhaps, all that work and diligence developing a new facet of his game is finally paying off late in the 2023 season. It's important to remember, Moore is on record stating he never was really asked to steal bases while playing college ball. This is a stretch for him in 2023. But, kudos to him: he's committed to it. In July and August we now see the fruits of these efforts: 13 SB to just 2 CS. I'd say he might be turning a new leaf. Final: Down East (Rangers) 6, Carolina 3 Box Score / Game Log Game Notes Via the Mudcats' site, game details, please visit and review: Early Lead Not Enough in 6-3 Loss to Down East RHP Jesus Rivero had a no-hitter going into the fifth inning. There is an addendum here, however. He had also hit two batters and walked several entering the fifth and ultimately fateful frame. He contributed mightily to the precarious turn of events, unfortunately, when he led off the inning with a HBP. After a pop up for the first out, he then walked the bases loaded. This is how it has gone for the talented Rivero all season long: immense talent, flashes of brilliance, but often very erratic. He'll have to work diligently in his off-season to continue harnessing that vital release point. When all was said and done, he finished his evening after 4 1/3 IP, 0 H, 5 BB, 2 HBP, 5 K, 2 ER. Another intriguing outing with a fairly discernible open-ended question mark. Three Quick Strikes: 1) Back to the Mudcats pitching. Coming into tonight's game, since August 14th, the Mudcats were 5-7 with a collective 7.03 ERA. And, let me tell you, it continues to show like this. What was once a strength of the Mudcats squad at large has become a sudden hot mess. By my eyes and routine watching, it has been largely at the hands of the suddenly eggshell fragile bullpen. Tonight was unfortunately, more of the same. Clinging to a 2-0 lead with the bases juiced off the hands of RHP Jesus Rivero, RHP Tyler Wehrle induced a weak chopper to 3B. Newly promoted INF Juan Baez charged the ball and sailed the throw well wide of 1B - there really wasn't a play to be made and the smart play was to eat that ball. 2-2 ballgame. Wehrle then gave up a hard hit liner to right CF to the next batter. 3-2 Wood Ducks. Still trailing 3-2 in the 7th inning it was RHP Alexander Vallecillo's turn - if you recall struggling mightily of late with a combined ERA of 17 + over his last three outings (yikes). Vallecillo opened with a clean sixth frame - we tip our hats there. But, he loaded the bases in the 7th and then with two down gave up a 3-2 rocket off the LF wall. It was suddenly a 6-2 deficit. With the offense struggling, it seemed an insurmountable lead. This proved true. 2) My first prolonged live look at INF Juan Baez and it was a mixed bag: a crucial throwing error in the 5th was a turning point and he already has a reputation (for us ACL game log Fanatics) as a suspect defender. He did make a nice charging and running throw on a weak chopper in the 9th. Baez appears to have a very patient approach and an innate ability to identify pitches. He launched a fairly well hit double in the 6th inning low off the base of the left CF wall. This is obviously just one game. I continue to be concerned with the defense. Like we do with all these young prospects, we wait and hope for the best. 3) The polite thing to do here would be to talk about OF Jace Avina's ongoing torrid work at the plate - it's a very real thing. But, I simply end up wanting to share how much I continue loving everything about Jadher Areinamo's game. The young man is just so smooth and smart in everything he does. I could go on-and-on. Tonight's play of note was a gorgeous turning relay throw to grab the lead runner in what later proved to be Vallecillo's troubled inning. Areinamo's throw was pin point perfect - directly in front of the base, smack dab in the base path, and ankle high. Had the throw not been there, that runner gets on base. He does little things like this on a routine basis. These little things stack up to one big thing: winning. I remain a huge fan. I enjoy watching fundamentally sound baseball players. Hopefully, the bat will continue to evolve. We've certainly seen signs in 2023. We are back at it tomorrow as game 2's commence in all four series - the Mudcats, obviously, continue to be the only home ball club. At the time of publish we know we'll have the opportunity to watch LHP Brian Fitzpatrick, RHP Cameron Wagoner, and RHP TJ Shook. Lots of intrigue in each of these young men's ongoing seasons. Let's hope they can help lead their squads to victory. 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

Sounds lose 7-3. Tough game 1. Side Note: I absolutely continue to believe RHP Luis Contreras has a future in the MLB. I sincerely hope the Brewers can re-up him in ML FA. He has flashed enough for me. He has been inconsistent, yes, but he has big upside talent by my eyes. I hope he can continue finishing his season strong.

Well things pretty much fell apart for McKendry in the 4th and 5th frames. Thankful this is only a seven inning contest. The Sounds bats haven't gotten much of anything going whatsoever. And, their run was crossed after three opening walks and then a failed DP on a routine grounder (dropped by the Bulls' 1B). 7-1 here headed to the 6th. McKendry gave up 2-run and 3-run long balls.

RHP Evan McKendry worked around a lead-off walk and a two-out walk by striking out the side to leave the 1st with the Sounds leading 1-0. Really nice work.