Joseph Zarr

Can they retroactively send RHP Adrian Houser on a rehab outing as well? Asking for a friend.

Don't blink but after tonight's impending shellacking in Columbia the Mudcats are a half inning from being 10 games over 0.500 again. I don't believe they've been here since early June? (Off the top of my head). This is a heck of a 4-0 start on the road at Columbia. They're starting to get contributions up and down the line-up. The bullpen has really come into its own, again, after all the recent promotions. Just an incredible job by manager Victor Estevez and the greater Mudcats Coaching and Player Development staff. They've got the baseball machine churning down in Zebulon. With Lynchburg leading 2nd place Salem 5-1 in the bottom of the 5th, the Mudcats are on the doorstep of seeing their 2nd Half lead rise to 3 1/2 games. After tonight's performance, they move to 17-10 since the first half ended June 22nd. This is a young talented squad coming into its own before our very eyes. What makes it even more exciting is the offensive talent currently in the ACL. I mean, y'all, Columbia is no Low-A slouch. They came into this series in the thick of things atop their Division looking to make some moves. The Mudcats have now outscored them 34-to-13. If we go back to the Home series versus Kannapolis, the Mudcats are 9-1 over their past 10 games outscoring their opponents 90-to-45. Whewwwww baby!

Also, if the Brewers for some inexplicable reason trade INF Tyler Black at the deadline (which they'd be absolutely foolish to do, imho) they better be getting back some legit MLB gold. This young man is an unbelievably good offensive talent. This doesn't grow on trees. He is legitimately the total package at the dish. Just look at this triple. Let me just reach down here and poke it to the wall in the deep left center gap.

Welp, Chourio just smacked his 2nd dub of the night. OPS up to 0.809. Black just smacked his 8th triple of 2023. The Shuckers suddenly lead 7-5. This offense. My goodness. It's a 5-run 4th.

Man he was trending so well before that article too. A really unfortunate turn in his season.

With tonight's two-bagger, CF Jackson Chourio has now elevated his season OPS to 0.802. What a ridiculously hot month of July. It almost makes you wonder if those ridiculous tacked baseballs were a bad idea? Errrrr, scratch that. With his second dub dub in a 3-for-4 evening so far his OPS is up to 0.811. Great Scotts, Marty!

The T-Rats strand em full on a Bob Moore K (really poor swing choices on 3 balls low and outside the zone). And a pop fly to straightaway CF off the bat of Matt Wood. It will remain 2-2 headed to the 5th frame.

Who other than OF Terence Doston to tie the game 2-2 with the bases juiced. He takes a 1-2 heater and pokes it via line drive to LF. The young man now has 5 RBI in 2023 with the bases juiced. I tell you, he just makes plays. He sneaks up on you despite his limitations as a player. I love watching him.

This makes me sad. I feel for him. I really do.

Ugh. Unfortunately, that is absolutely the version of RHP Jake Cousins I also saw his last time on the hill. I didn't see the outing but I am speculating his velo was down again? What a truly rough rough season for the former staple of the Brewers bullpen. Those arm injuries have just really impacted his current career trajectory.

I've said it many times before and I'll say it many times in the future: the transition to the Southern League and pitching in the Southern League is very very hard. I've seen this type of rough transition for so many arms when they make the move from High-A - it's also why it is universally agreed within MLB the jump to Double-A is so challenging for the young players. It's also what makes the continued work of RHP Carlos F. Rodriguez so dang underrated and exciting. Hopefully, Misiorowski can get comfortable before the season's end. It's just a massive jump for him at this stage in his career but clearly he has met a worthy challenge.

Meanwhile, the DSL Brewers Uno apparently lost a frustrating one vs the DSL Athletics conceding two runs (one earned) in the bottom of the 9th for the walk-off loss. A sequence of a single - sac bunt (throwing error) - single - single led to the loss at the hands (and arm) of 17-year-old Venezuelan RHP Argenis Aparicio. He picks up his first BS in his first SVO and takes the loss - 0-1 on his season. It's important to note here: he was done in by a 3B Jhon Bencosme throwing error during the sac bunt. Instead of one man aboard at 2B, he had two men aboard - at 2B and 3B. That's a challenging spot for any young hurler. The real blow, however, came in the bottom of the 8th when 17-year-old RHP Oliver Camilo unraveled after an opening pop out. Walk, single (runners advance on a CF Pedro Tovar error), walk, grand slam. The 6-1 game was suddenly 6-5. Just a rough way to lose this one. Elsewhere in the pitching side of things RHP Jose Meneses threw a fantastic scoreless 3 IP - 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K. Meneses teases us with outings like these throughout his DSL seasons (this being his second with the Crew). But, it's hard to get a read on him other than he is getting better results in 2023 but still likely seeing too many batters on base regularly - 21 H, 17 BB, 3 HB in 27 1/3 IP. This has led to a slightly elevated 1.36 WHIP. But, he's preventing any big blowouts holding his ERA to a very respectable and impressive 1.63 - perhaps, aided by his 27 K. There is certainly enough here to be intrigued moving forward: I also look at the fairly unlucky 0.296 BABIP and consider he could be having an even better season if he could tone back the walks. I definitely want to see what he is capable of stateside. Offensively, the day's highlights appear to have belonged to 1B/C Brayan Oropeza - 4-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 2B. INF Kevin Ereu continues to make impact at the dish as well - 0-for-1, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SF (though he was picked off 1B as well). Despite the 8th inning fielding error, CF Pedro Tovar managed a 2-for-4 day at the dish - 1 R, 1 BB, 1 2B, 1 SB. No doubt, the Crew Uno will look back not so fondly at this one - the late errors, the 6 runs allowed over the final two frames, and the 3-for-17 mark with RISP will sting for a bit. With their second loss in a row and 5-5 mark over their last 10, the DSL Cerveceros Uno have fallen back to 3rd place behind both Dodgers affiliates in the DSL North Division. They remain 8.5 GB of the first place DSL Dodgers Bautista and now sport a respectable 22-16 record overall.

With a 3-7 mark over their last 10 games, it is certainly awesome to see two of this 'W's agains the first place LA Dodgers Bautista. Heck of an accomplishment by the young men! Let's spread this good news into other tilts, por favor. Today included a walk-off single to RF off the unlikely bat of Smarlin Espinal. You love to see it. The 'Day at the Dish' award has to go to 17-year-old OF/1B (1B today) Danny Puerta - 3-for-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 2B. Heck of a performance. OF Demetrio Nadal stayed impactful as all get out in the lead-off: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 SB. What a season he is having so far this summer. Dominican 19-year-old RHP Aneuris Rodriguez (in his second Brewers DSL season) closed things over the final 3 IP - 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 0 R. He picked up the 'W' and moved to 1-1 on his season. Intriguing arm to date. The DSL Cerveceros Dos improved to 14-23 overall - 7 1/2 GB their brethren on the DLS Brewers Uno and a whopping 16 GB of the first place LA Dodgers Bautista. Their next contest will be on the last day of July when they face their counterparts on the DSL Brewers Uno.

Seeing Gardner settle in after a rough first couple of outings is really a great story. He had obvious nerves in his debut (I sure as hyeck would too!). But, now that he's comfortable on the mound, he's giving very good innings in high-leverage spots. He's provided a stabilizing force at the back end with the loss of RHP Brennan Jordan. The combination of Gardner, Smith, and Shears has done wonders to keep the T-Rats bid for 2nd half noise alive and well. Also, this is now two years running where Warren slumps egregiously to start the season and then gets ridiculously hot mid summer. One of those baseball things, I guess.

I'm not crying. You're crying.

Matches the eye test as well. He just isn't making anywhere near the consistent hard contact he was pre-injury. Hopefully, he can find that form. The Sounds, in the very least, need it for a Playoffs push.

Great observation on the lower body! Thanks for pointing that out.

Man, I love Brandon Woodruff. I hope he retires a Brewer. Such a pleasantly easy guy in the Media room(s). Relatable. Friendly. Thoughtful. He should come out my way and hunt some elk with me 😂. I feel we'd have a real fun time!

What's wild about O'Rae - at least in the Brewers PD clips from this summer - he looks built. Obviously, smaller in stature, but absurdly fast out of the batters box (shows with his SB success rate as well). I still have to think, given the limited clips we've seen, he'll have a distinct possibility to find some more power in his build. Swing is extremely reminiscent of ol' Scooter Gennett. Like, he doesn't look scrawny to me...at all:

He has reached base in some fashion as the primary lead-off for the ACL Crew in every ACL contest but 1. Completely agreed. He's more than proved his worth and is deserving of a shot in Low-A. I hope we get it! I want to watch him on a nightly basis. I've seen enough of his game logs!😅

Better control than Low - at present. How Low finishes his season going forward is going to mean a lot because we are suddenly in a territory of "Will he end up on their Development List?". His walk issues have really come to surface of late. Before, it was: "I don't like those walks but they aren't killing his outings and man he has electric stuff." This last outing was just really bad control any way you looked at it and it rendered his stuff relatively benign. Rivero was toying with batters tonight. You never once felt he was out of control. I attribute his 5 BB game to "It was only his 2nd outing at Low-A." If we toss that outing out, he only has 5 BB in Low-A over 15 IP. Low has 15 BB over his last 14 1/3 IP in relief. If we toss out his 5 BB this past outing (and the 2 WP's, I guess), we're still looking at 13 BB over 11 1/3 IP. This is a stupidly long way of saying: Rivero is on the rise. Low has slumped himself into prove it territory. 😂

LHP Brian Fitzpatrick's ACL debut appears quite rough: 2 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 5 ER, 1 HR ACL Crew trail 6-3 here in the bottom of the 3rd. 3B Brock Wilken has a 3B. The Crew have outhit the Reds 7-to-6 but are 1-for-7 currently with RISP. O'Rae and Baez are doing their ACL thing - getting on base and all that.

After OF Je'Von Ward had one of the most feeble AB's with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one down one could imagine striking out on 3 pitches...BIG Bob Moore rips a line drive single and the pinch runner at 2B (OF Terence Doston - wise choice by manager Joe Ayrault) scores the 2nd and winning run! Wisconsin wins it 4-3 in the 10th. Fantastic clutch game for Bob Moore , baby. It's a 3-0 evening sweep!

INF Jheremy Vargas singled. Stole 2B. OF Hendry Mendez just got him to 3B with a ground out. SS Eduardo Garcia will try to hit a walk-off. 1-1 count. 2-2 game. Bottom 9th. 2 down. 1-2 count on a really nice slider. He strikes out swinging on an off-speed pitch low and outside. ON to the 10th.

Rivero is just dealing here in Columbia. He already has 6 K in 3 2/3 IP and has his potential final batter in an 0-2 count. Yup. He gets the 7th K. My goodness. That's the second time he's punched out 7 in 2023 in a relief role. The young man is a stud. Just a stud. Mudcats win 11-2 and have now taken the first 3 on the road @ Columbia. Let's go!