Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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Are they calling all the players by their first names, like they're all close friends? It's hilarious when they do that.
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Yep. It was nothing like the LF distance in Sac, but El Paso was very hitter friendly, too. I think that's where Lavelle Freeman hit .370 or something like that. Thomas & journeyman Bill McNulty both went for over 50 one year playing in Sacramento.
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The only time I remember seeing a power display like this in the Brewer system was in the 1970s, when the AAA team was in Sacramento, the ballpark had something like a 240ft LF distance & a young OF named Gorman Thomas enjoyed himself.
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Looked to me like he was leaning on the changeup today, possibly as an equalizer to his not throwing in the upper 90s anymore. And it WAS a good changeup. We'll just have to wait to see where the velo settles in I guess, but after throwing an inning then a couple days off yeah I'd have liked to see the gun glowing a little brighter too.
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He works after only one day off yesterday, then goes again tonite. And like you said, great results. Have to admit I'm shocked. Really nice to see.
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Sort of in-between the two, right? What impressed me the most about Sproat is that he endured through an outing where things didn't always come easy. The command wasn't what it was his last time out, and he had to work through the ridiculous number of foul balls & the resulting high pitch count. Maybe scaling those obstacles & making it through 5.1 innings was another box checked off in his development. A few of his earlier outings, I don't think overcomes what he did tonite.
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I've probably been as big a critic of Yelich as anyone on here. But he's going to keep getting ABs in the hope he can get hot, and in the meantime I don't really want him coming up with runners on base. It's not ideal leading him off but I'd probably just leave him there vs RHP. I mean, right now he's hitting behind Chourio & still not getting a lot of pitches to hit because pitchers don't need to; he'll chase anything. But right now hitting him among guys like Pratt, Hamilton & Ortiz probably makes it even worse. For now I'd leave him be & sit him vs LHP.
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Amsinger has never been a favorite of mine. To me he comes off as the cool kid who wants everyone to see that he gets to hang out with ex-major-leaguers. If Ohtani was with the Brewers he'd know every player on the team, what they had for lunch, favorite color, pets............ BTW For anyone not aware, Rengifo was signed by the Padres. Not currently active though.
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Plus, it's not like they're 'in love' with him or any other such nonsense you sometimes read. He was left off the roster on opening day but had to be added when Chourio couldn't go. He was then optioned a second time, but quickly returned when Lockridge was hurt. There's a reason why teams usually don't !!!!DO SOMETHING!!!! at this point of the season--the cost of getting a trade partner to take an early plunge is usually prohibitive, especially when you aren't as equipped as others to just throw money at any organizational holes the extra cost might create, Plus, you're currently in a position where you don't need to panic. They have prospect capital, and I'm sure they're talking to other teams---about pitching, about the left side of the INF, about a RH OF bat. If anything, #3 is probably the least of the worries right now as your numbers point out. The roster won't be the same in five weeks as it is now. It never is.
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I mentioned it awhile back, Elroy Face of Pittsburgh had 18 wins out of the pen in 1959. It's in reach.
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.....And I'd bet there's no one on the team, coach or player, who has helped Pratt acclimate more since he's gotten here than Ortiz.
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Kind of a grinder for Gasser I thought. Certainly not terrible but not quite the level of his recent starts. Schroeder talks about the 'one mistake'----the HR----but uh-uh. I was almost as ticked off about his 1st inning. A man on w/two outs & he walks Bleday, who hits LH & is overall three-for-thirty-something coming in. Extended the inning & cost him a run. Can't do that. Hated the decision to PR for Vaughn. Losing his bat was only a small part of it. I've never liked pinch running at 1st base w/2 outs unless you're going to try to steal & with a lefty on the mound you know that wasn't happening. The other reason I hated it was because now you couldn't hit for Ortiz when his spot came up. Shows what I know😛. You hafta hand it to this group, the way they respond. I wonder how often we'll see Yelich vs a lefty from now on. That chase vs Moll in his 2nd AB---just wow. Still trying to figure out the deal with Patrick. Now he throws with only one day off & I don't know if that's ever happened & he looked pretty good.
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Sproat and/or Drohan could easily go tonight in the event you need length; of course if that happens you'd need to amend your plans for one of the upcoming games. You don't want to do that but it's available to them. Kuhnel---I would've put money on him being on a plane somewhere. Surprising.
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Wish it was possible to both love & laugh at the same post. Well done🏆.
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............Or if we could take away the Ashby walk w/one down in the 7th. Or Kuhnel gets any one of the next three hitters after getting the K in the tenth. Or, or, or, or............ Good times😛.
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Very nice piece, and good comments from Lane. It's frustrating when you get a few failures in those situations because that stuff can infest a whole lineup. Get back to passing the baton, trusting the next hitter, being willing to take the walk if it's there. And personally, I hate changing the mindset when there's RISP, runner on 3rd w/less than two outs, etc. Just show the same fundamental soundness you should try to show in the 'normal' ABs.
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Blake Perkins "hitting streak"?
Jim French Stepstool replied to cragi's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
He's been perfectly acceptable from the R side of the plate throughout his career, as reserve OFs go. And the Brewers do a good job of trying to limit his ABs to that side. Perkins went through a bad stretch when he looked lousy at the plate from both sides, had some baserunning mistakes, popped up a bunt or two, etc. Hopefully that's all behind him, because unless a trade is made for an OF it looks like he's here until Lockridge can return & the most optimistic call on that is late July.- 1 reply
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2026 Misc MLB News Thread
Jim French Stepstool replied to Frisbee Slider's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
..........helped by a HR on Saturday by Anthony Seigler, of all people (as @markedman5 mentioned). For now at least, they're feeling a little bit better about dealing with Milwaukee. -
Cooper Pratt Appreciation Thread
Jim French Stepstool replied to Jim French Stepstool's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
So now we see how he responds to his first really bad stretch---if you can call two games a 'stretch'. First handful of games--don't try to do too much, fundamentally sound swing decisions, use RF--check. Get more confident after drawing some walks & picking up a few base hits, prove to pitchers they need to throw you strikes which results in getting a couple pitches you can hit hard to the pull side---check. Get a little overconfident, forget what got you off to the nice start & let the pull side get into your head, maybe try to do too much as the team struggles to score.....and commence chasing. Check. A bad couple of games, but then again only a couple. Let's see if he can get back to a little more basic, humble approach. -
Ragsdale must be on the cusp of Biloxi, right? Boeve has been playing quite a bit of OF but seems to me there's room if they move Hurtubise back to AAA.
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There are 5-6 candidates for either filling out the back of the rotation or being bulk BP guys. It'll be interesting to see who fills what role---or maybe 'all hands on deck' for awhile, piggybacks, spot starts, etc.
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That's actually some pretty good food for thought. The times they show him on screen he looks more like an observer than a manager, which is understandable given what he's been through.
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And while he's not at the level of Henderson, I believe Carlos Rodriguez is at roughly the same rehab schedule. It's a tough stretch. The BP has had issues, and they still have 14 games in 15 days or whatever it is. Let's see people get healthy; let's see Koenig give them some quality from the LH side. I don't remember but can only imagine what some of the posts looked like when they embarked on the long stretch w/o a day off last year & they got through it very well. And that was without two defined leaders in the rotation.
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Damn, that's a nice post. I don't think Vogelbach has the appropriate amount of influence to be a scapegoat. That doesn't mean he's a good hitting coach; I have no idea. I DO know many of the ABs over the last couple of games were in no way, shape or form anything like his approach as a hitter. I mentioned Fischer in another thread. The only way I see him coming to Milwaukee in '26 is if he continues to hit HRs at a ridiculous pace AND there's a crapload of ABs available in the DH slot, which would mean Yelich getting hurt. At this point they aren't going to play him at 3B. I agree that it starts with the ABs currently on the roster being better; which is no pipe dream because they HAVE been better, often vs pitching much better than what we saw the last two days.
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I understand the reasoning behind that. We wanted to get Bauers out of RF & strengthen 1B. But yeah, it wasn't a lead, it was tied. So while I get it it's certainly something that can be questioned in the moment.
