Jim Goulart

Transactions: Technically, Lutz had been activated from the IL since April 30th when he went to the nebulously named "Development List". As you'll read below, he came back with a bang. I listened in to the first few innings in Biloxi Saturday, and there was no specific light shed on the reasons for the Mitchell and Zamora placements. Finally on the transaction wire, Milwaukee released two pitchers from their Dominican complex ranks, and one in particular is a surprise based on the numbers. This was detailed further over in our season-long transaction-tracking thread. Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Nashville 8, Jacksonville (Marlins) 5 Box Score / Game Log Via the Sounds' site, game details, and we encourage readers to review each of the affiliate write-ups as part of their Link Report routine: Balanced Attack Leads Sounds Past Jacksonville - Nashville Uses Four-Run Fifth Inning to Take Down Jumbo Shrimp The Nashville site game summaries are always very concise, but they do sneak in sweet nuggets of note each night, finding ways to add perspective to our overall understanding. For example, did you catch the Mario Feliciano note within? Mario walked and singled in this one. Only eight hits for Nashville, so the eight Sounds runs scored can be characterized as opportunistic. Seven walks drawn and three successful stolen base attempts helped. How deep is Rick Sweet's bench (if indeed his inactive bodies are healthy and available)? Catcher Alex Jackson was utilized as the designated hitter while Keston Hiura, Jon Singleton, David Dahl, and Abraham Almonte all had the night off. At the big-league level, Jandel Gustave is headed to the IL (hamstring). Brent Suter's return from paternity leave will help backfill, but you can bet that the Nashville bullpen has their eyes on both the injury (and the ineffectiveness) of the big-league middle relief corps. RHP Miguel Sanchez has a leg up with his 40-man spot, but don't put it past the Brewers to take a look at one of several non-roster candidates now dealing in the Sounds pen. Biloxi Pre-Game Media Notes via the Shuckers' Virtual Press Box Final: Biloxi 13, Birmingham (White Sox) 3 Box Score / Game Log Via the Shuckers' site, game details, please review: Shuckers Clobber Franchise Record Five Homers In 13-3 Rout Of Barons - Herb Extends Scoreless Streak to 15.1 Innings Congrats to LHP Andy Otero on the bump back to AAA, but Tyler Herb sure has a case. Perhaps Otero will be utilized in more of a hybrid long role, we'll see. This box score is worth framing for the contributions throughout and my goodness, the top seven all reached at least twice. The catcher-as-designated-hitter theme continued but is totally justified as Jakson Reetz maintains his plus-1.000 OPS through 60 at-bats. Thomas, please run hard right out of the box -- Thanks to MLB Pipeline, we can condense five home run video clips down to three. We can continue to hear about Lucas Erceg's stuff and buzzard luck, but at some point a 10.29 ERA is a 10.29 ERA... Wisconsin Pre-Game Media Notes via their all-encompassing Virtual Press Box Final: Wisconsin 8, Quad Cities (Royals) 7 Box Score / Game Log Via the Timber Rattlers' site, game details, please review: Comeback Rattlers Score Four in Eighth and Hold on for Win - Wisconsin rallies for ninth comeback victory of the season Another pretty water view for those checking out MiLB.TV, nice ballpark landscape, Quad Cities! Peeked in because of the Micah Bello hit-by-pitch in the 2nd inning. Bello would remain in the game put was pulled to begin the 3rd. Looked like Bello's right wrist was getting checked out. Go the 01:25 hour/minute mark here if you are an MiLB.TV subscriber. We are pretty shook up over that T.J. Shook linescore. As you can see via his game logs, Shook had yet to give up even three runs in an outing this season. Shake it off, T.J. See what I did there? Speaking of game logs, check out Cam Robinson's. His last four saves, all scoreless, have been of the two-inning variety. Take that, Josh Hader! Eight runs on eight hits, with Zavier Warren and Ashton McGee combining for five knocks! Again, efficiency on this night! Final: Fayetteville (Astros) 8, Carolina 6 Box Score / Game Log Via the Mudcats' site, game details, please review: Perez Homers and has RBI Double in 8-6 Loss - Hedbert Perez extended his hitting streak to five straight while going 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs and two RBI in the loss Outside of second baseman Jheremy Vargas, every Mudcat reached at least one time. Hendry Mendez (18 years old) joined Hedbert Perez (19) with a big night. Despite the five-game hit streak, Perez' May OPS is only at .489 (ten games). It was .576 in April. Mendez is at .697/.661 for the monthly splits. The Mudcats defense allowed three unearned runs to score. The Woodpeckers played clean defense. revisit the final score. There you go. It's all early action on a traditional Sunday schedule. RHP Noah Zavolas makes his season debut in Biloxi. Enjoy your day, all. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Links for affiliate audio Standings and sortable stat pages Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth

Transactions: RHP Jandal Gustave was recalled to Milwaukee. Gustave never actually left the big-league club after his recent option as the front office was aware Brent Suter would be going on a paternity leave. Nashville activated CF Abraham Almonte from the 7-day injured list. Almonte last played on April 23rd. Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Jacksonville (Marlins) 7, Nashville 3 Box Score / Game Log Via the Sounds' site, game details, and we encourage readers to review each of the affiliate write-ups as part of their Link Report routine: Hiura Homers Again But Sounds Fall - Multiple Nashville Rallies Fall Short in Jacksonville Oh Keston, to borrow from "Seinfeld", you are vexing. You are an enigma, a mystery wrapped in a riddle. We are enjoying your five-game stay and 1.417 OPS with the Sounds thus far. Friday night you played left field after three games at second base and one at first base. You did not strike out but have done so in six of your 19 at-bats thus far. You were caught stealing (now 0-for-2 on the basepaths with Nashville). Small 2022 AAA sample aside, Hiura will likely be with the Sounds long enough (20 days) to utilize the 2022 option in full, meaning he won't be able to be optioned in 2023. From a Milwaukee front office perspective, perhaps it's simply best if Hiura simply rakes all summer long. If Andrew McCutchen continues to middle along or is sidelined, Hiura is the logical primary designated hitter option. If he truly finds himself, Keston fills that DH role heading into 2023. But in the big picture, it's not hard to envision one of the many MLB have-nots trading for him and living with the various faults that keep Hiura a somewhat polarizing figure in Brewers circles. Pretty impressive that Jon Singleton is batting .207 but with an .859 OPS. OK, Brice Turang lining into a bases-loaded double play to end the game to cap his 0-for-5 night after so much recent success is likely a Friday the 13th moment. Biloxi Pre-Game Media Notes via the Shuckers' Virtual Press Box Final: Biloxi 9, Birmingham (White Sox) 4 Box Score / Game Log Via the Shuckers' site, game details, please review: Five-Run Sixth Inning Catapults Shuckers to Win - INF Cam Devanney and C Jakson Reetz Homer in Victory Nice win, but the first thing box score browsers will notice is that pitchers came to the plate. Both Andy Otero and Arnaldo Hernandez struck out in their lone at-bats. How did this come about? Biloxi lost their designated hitter when an early Garrett Mitchell exit prompted a defensive shuffle, and the Shuckers tend to have the shortest bench of all the Brewers affiliates (this seems to be a consistent issue in recent Biloxi seasons). Mitchell left to begin the 4th inning. He made no defensive plays in the top of the 3rd nor did he come to the plate in the bottom of that inning. Hate to assume, but perhaps the exit was health-related, and you know what, to be fair, let's end the speculation right there. The Shuckers drew eleven walks in this game, and 1B Thomas Dillard grabbed three of those and was on base all five plate appearances. Dillard did commit his 6th error in 20 games at first base. Despite just a 1-for-5 night, 2B Felix Valerio stole three bases, giving him six in eight attempts. Though Mitchell, Sal Frelick, and Joey Wiemer each walked one time, they combined to go 0-for-8 on a night when the offense scored nine runs, allowing others to get the spotlight. You'll see evidence of that in the team's nicely-crafted highlight package Wisconsin Pre-Game Media Notes via their all-encompassing Virtual Press Box Final: Quad Cities (Royals) 8, Wisconsin 7 Box Score / Game Log Via the Timber Rattlers' site, game details, please review: Wisconsin Winning Streak Snapped - River Bandits outslug Rattlers 8-7 From Chris Mehring's summary you just devoured -- (Inheriting a bases loaded, no out situation, RHP Kent) Hasler struck out the first two batters and had a 1-2 count on Burle Dixon. Hasler pitched home and Dixon swung and missed for an apparent strike three to end the inning. However, a balk was called on Hasler, and the River Bandits scored a very important insurance run. Hasler would strike out Dixon two pitches later for the final out. Hasler's final box score line was two innings, six batters faced, six batters struck out, yet the one inherited runner who scored proved to be the deciding run in the game. Yes, Friday the 13th only impacts Brewer affiliate losses. Box scores can be so much fun to dive into regardless of outcome. Catcher Darrien Miller (four singles) and designated hitter Wes Clarke (two singles, home run) combined for four of the seven runs scored. Can we point out that yes, the Midwest League weather is finally warming up (wow, 88 degrees at gametime), but how darn impressive the OPS marks of Tyler Black (.922), Tristan Peters (.920), and Miller (.898) are given the early-season supression by otherwise frigid conditions. Yes, we're all going to have to learn to regularly spell "Tristan" and "Darrien" correctly as they climb the ranks. Manager Joe Ayrault was ejected in the 3rd inning, too bad we don't have the audio from that umpire session, as you'll want to find six minutes of time to invest in this "Mic'd Up" session with the personable skipper - Carolina Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Carolina 5, Fayetteville (Astros) 4, ten innings Box Score / Game Log Via the Mudcats' site, game details, please review: Carolina Wins Friday Night Thriller 5-4 in Fayetteville - Michele Vassalotti earned his MiLB leading sixth win of the season Five HBP's in this one, four by Mudcat hurlers. two by now 6-and-0 RHP Michele Vassalotti, who is not vulturing all these relief wins, evidenced by his 1.89 ERA, Vassalotti has only walked one in 19 innings in 2022, but he's found a way to fool the WHIP gods. He's now plunked five batters, and WHIP is not WHHBPIP because that acronym just looks silly. Nice going, Michele, as long as nobody charges the mound on you. That's now two consecutive outstanding staff-saving four-inning efforts by RHP Carlos F. Rodriguez, bouncing back after a rough start to the season. MVP for this game, to be sure. Here's my take as you review those very low batting averages and OPS marks in your daily Carolina box score. It's very cool that this very (repeat, very) young bunch - and you can add the pitchers into that ultra-youthful category - will have a chance to grow all summer long, and many of them will, several of them substantially. But even so, there's always going to be another young crop behind them, whether in Maryvale now, or part of the next draft class. How many of the current Mudcats will best be served by repeating the level in 2023? Is there a danger of moving some along without that extra development year in Zebulon? You know what, it's way too early to truly ponder that. I can remember some very veteran teams in Appleton when the Timber Rattlers were the low-A club, and they gave us some moments to enjoy, but in the end, they were a bunch of 23-year-olds with limited upside. Think we can all agree this Carolina team is unique in recent Crew affiliate history, so let's enjoy the baby steps (literally). Nice win Friday night (just ignore the 17 strikeouts for now), Fine effort in culling late-inning video from the road feed! The earliest gametime Saturday is 4:05 Central for the Mudcats. I'll be back for your Sunday AM report -- until then... Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Links for affiliate audio Standings and sortable stat pages Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth