Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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You hear the refrain sometimes from announcers "The first two strikes are for you, the third one is for the team" (which I kinda hate). It seems as if he sometimes has that mindset, and yet at other times doesn't. Just a tough cat to figure out. Another thing that hurts is that he was drawing walks, and now it seems like that's dried up somewhat.
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That has to be the consensus from anyone who watches Mitchell with any regularity, really. Glad to see him staying healthy so far, but I swear the guy's like trying to predict the weather. In April. On the east side of Milwaukee.
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And two of the games started by rookies, who shook off rocky early innings to show mucho poise. Looks like the BP has been righted. Hopefully it can stay that way.
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Yep. I also defended him on here 2-3 years ago. Although I can't say I expected the HR pop.
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For the second game in a row, some really impressive poise from a young starter after an iffy beginning. Henderson locked in & finished strong. Had we had a cushion he could've even come out to start the 6th. If more of these starts can get through 5.2, 6 innings it's going to make a huge difference for a pen that's been superb lately even without starter length. Garrett Mitchell has another couple of ugly Ks, one on a FB down the middle looking. He also is up in a bunting situation, squares on the first pitch & takes it, again right down the middle. He also falls behind 0-2 in a key bases-loaded AB, then stays on the ball for a huge sac fly. Throw in a split about .100 pts higher in his BA-----higher vs LEFTIES. Garrett Mitchell is kinda fun to watch, but boy there's a lot of weirdness to his game. I get Sanchez having to give a break to Contreras, and Contreras DHing on those days. But on a day when Sanchez just isn't seeing the ball it really hamstrings you AFA hitting for him. Can't feel much better for anyone than I felt for Blake Perkins driving in a couple & affirming what the numbers say---that he's fine vs LHP. Also saved a run in the top of the 1st. Given the walkoff, Ashby is probably pissed that he didn't pitch the 9th.
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I'd LOVE to see Patrick stay in the pen. It'll take some combo of health (Woodruff; magic dust sprinkled on Priester) and/or a Crow or Gasser emerging. For now yeah, I think it was just an opportunity created by off days before & after this series.
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What really stands out to me are the obvious BP hiccups in the middle 'season'. I've brought it up before, but that's the stretch that included back-to-back games where we scored a total of thirteen runs---and lost both due to BP & defensive failures. Let's hope the BP ship has been righted for good. Drohan & Fitzpatrick's work is going to be key after the left side of the 'pen behind Ashby has taken the injury hit.
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Moving to his left as a RH thrower gave us a little edge there, might've made him rush a bit. But I agree, he's more than capable of shifting & getting more on the throw than he did.
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Gutsyyyyy......... I don't know what the reaction was on here when Perkins ran for Vaughn in the 7th, but I thought it was a gray-area type move. You're not a moron for doing it, and not a moron for letting Vaughn run either. Of course as luck would have it, it resulted in Perkins coming up vs a RHP.....ughhh. Welcome back to the pen, Chad Patrick. Hopefully he'll be able to stay there, but it might've just been a byproduct of the days off on Thursday & Monday. I'm sure Hill was thinking "I can't get two, so I'll get the lead runner". But wow. A bad decision & bad throw all in the same play is pretty rare at this level. Nice to survive a horrible 0-2 pitch by Ashby. Harrison is just a poised kid. Very impressed.
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Lockridge to IL…..Perkins recalled
Jim French Stepstool replied to markedman5's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
LOL pretty close in '26. And just over .600 in his career. Like I said, he should mostly (or totally) be playing vs LHP while here save for a defensive sub for a scarier LF'er like Black or Bauers. -
Lockridge to IL…..Perkins recalled
Jim French Stepstool replied to markedman5's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Yeah, you don't bring up a 21-yr-old OF & sit him. He DOES fit the Lockridge role in that he's hitting LHP extremely well, but that's far from an everyday role which is what you want him in right now. The way things have been sounding, Yelich may make it back before Lockridge & if he does it'll be an interesting decision btwn Perkins & Black. They don't seem to mind sliding Chourio to CF when needed, which could buy Black some extra time. -
Lockridge to IL…..Perkins recalled
Jim French Stepstool replied to markedman5's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Given the 40-man roster & options-remaining implications, this made sense. Also, from the 'I refuse to believe this' files, Perkins is hitting .263 this season vs LHP, with a .364 OBP & an OPS of .785. He's a career .255 hitter vs lefties, and that's who he'll be facing while Lockridge is out. I suspect he'll be in the lineup Tomorrow vs Rodan. -
Jose Anderson with another dinger tonight. They're both so young & raw that it seems likely they'll both stay in low-A this year, but it'll be fun to see what kind of HR totals Anderson & Encarnacion can put up in Wilson.
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And you can just see the potential dripping off Sproat. This front office sort of knows what they're doing.
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So, a laceration for Lockridge. A pretty deep one. No bone damage. Good news, but I suspect he'll have an IL stint, Perkins will be recalled, and some fans will react as if they just had their air compressor stolen from their garage. It could be Lara but I wouldn't expect it. Leonard would be tempting, but I believe he's out of options so you'd have to keep him here & that would be tough to do. Sounds like Yelich is getting pretty close to returning.
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I'm getting it. First inning HR for Jose Anderson, his 6th.
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I don't think we need him to be remarkable, or that anyone in the organization expected that. He was signed because there's a lot of INF talent here at the AA & AAA level, and while that talent isn't deemed ready yet at the beginning of 2026 it's close enough that making a bigger move---trade-wise or FA wise---wouldn't make much sense. He's a plug-in, a stop gap. I just don't agree with anyone who might look at a .520 OPS through 30 games & think that's all there is. His career has been better than that.
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The KC deal has gone from a narrative of "Zerpa sucks" to "Zerpa was obviously hurt", but either way yeah, we're in the hole there. Big picture it's a philosophy of selling high re Durbin & Collins along with a final year of Peralta in exchange for a passel of young arms. The ones who are healthy & throwing, I can easily see why we wanted them. It's easy to miss Durbin given the rough patches (offensively) on the left side of the INF. He was one of my favorites, but we shouldn't close the book on Rengifo just yet.
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That's not a bad idea. Or you can just leave the whole thing up to the official scorer. If the starter goes say 3.1 and leaves with a 6-1 lead, the BP guys aren't effective but never relinquish the lead & you win 9-7 the starter might be the most effective of the group despite getting pulled early.
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Donovan Davis of Freedom HS announced for Iowa State today, which isn't a surprise. Not hearing much lately about some of the other HS targets. The funny one to me is Jalen Brown of Tosa West. All along he sounded like a fairly heavy UW lean, but no smoke signals or speculation for a long time. I'm beginning to wonder if the current landscape of college hoops is causing Greg Gard to really scale back on the HS kids & focus more on the portal adds & looking overseas. Perhaps the recruiting $$$ is therefore being focused elsewhere, leaving Brown in the lurch. Or a refocusing on veteran players has allowed someone else to step up with a better offer for Brown (he does have several schools interested). Jack Koenen of Slinger & Baboucarr Ann (Maple Grove, MN) still reportedly have UW on their list of 3 or 4 finalists. And I get the feeling that Deuce McDuffie of Nicolet is in the category a lot of kids seem to be falling into------no schollie for you now, go to a mid-major & prove yourself, go portalling, and maybe we'll be interested down the road. Just another aspect of the new, foul-smelling world of college hoops.
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Mark Manfredi at Biloxi is someone I hoped would finally start throwing strikes, but after a somewhat promising start to his season it still seems to be an issue. He's now 26. I'm kinda to the point where if a spot opens up in AAA, advance him & see if a promotion kickstarts something.
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It might be time to do away with the 'starter has to go 5 innings' thing to get credit for a win. If he goes less, leaves with a lead that's never relinquished & the BP load is diced up among 3-4 pitchers then leave it up to the official scorer. I get the strategy today---off day yesterday, off day tomorrow, guys in the pen who haven't thrown a lot, and Sproat seems to hit a wall around 65-75---but I thought this was a good day to try to get him through five since we had a cushion. Iffy first two innings, then a great one, then another iffy one.........I'd have given him a batter or two into the 5th to try to 'build' a little more. Hamiltons' ability to get the ball down & get to full speed immediately---I don't know if I've seen anything like it. Ortiz being behind him dampens it somewhat, but not enough to take it away from him. I'd actually love for him to be hitting 9th but when he & Ortiz are playing together you just can't. Hitless today but Tyler Black put up a terrific AB in the opening inning. Really seems to be seeing the ball. D L Hall is becoming quite unsung, in a very good way.
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In Sunday's scenario, the 2-strike bunt attempt came in a scoreless game. Like I said above, I wouldn't have ordered it; it's something you pretty much need to see available & do on your own. But I've never subscribed to a theory that if it's 0-0 you need to score all runners to make it a successful AB. But down by 2 or 3 runs, I agree. MAYBE if you feel you can beat it out & there's no outs it might depend on who's waiting next. But last night there was one down & next was Mitchell, who isn't a safe bet to touch the ball. Like discussed above, his next-to-last AB would've been a good time to use Black. One more thing to keep in mind re Hamilton---I'm sure not ALL of his square-arounds are intended to be bunt attempts, but are trying to pull in the corners.
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The bunt attempt Sunday w/2 strikes was 'unconventional' to say the least. I would think that he was hedging his bet due to facing a LHP, where only 15% of his career ABs have come against. He may have thought the risk was worth the reward, pulling out his particular talent. And in that situation it was a 0-0 game. If he gets it down it's a run if the bunt is anything north of terrible. I'd have been happy with a run there, at that spot in the order. So everything considered I understand his mindset. Would I have ordered it? No. Yeah, Black PHing for Hamilton last night would've been a good move. Until the order came around again there was nowhere else to use him.
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My thinking is that Black & Yelich are redundant due to both primarily being locked into DH role. Bauers & Black also have redundancy, but as you said Black comes out 2nd there too, due to the glove being factored in.
