Jake McKibbin

This is such an awesome read, thanks Jim!

Agreed. It was something (I can;t find the exact clip) he was working on developing pre-draft with a kick changeup that graded out exceptionally well from a movement standpoint although they can be difficult to command. Regardless, if the movement has signs of being a plus pitch I'd love to see it in action more often even if it is t the detriment of immediate results. The best way to get better

Okay Joseph, I'll do it for you! Cooper Pratt, after a rough month of May in which his chase rates really soared, is now slashing .326/.429/.435 in June (159 WRC+) and looks an altogether different proposition in the batters box. We'd love to see some more home run power coming out to see him truly take off. I really hope its in there, as its the final piece to the puzzle. I defer to Longehagen's blurb from FanGraphs:

Griffin Tobias Fastballs (Statcast will have trouble at this level splitting sinkers and four seamers) Some of the lower grades above came later in the game and it seemed like Tobias did tire as the game went on, understandable given his age. That being said, the fastball showed some flashes of true excellence. Featuring up to almost 18" of ride, and a "sinker" with 172 of rise and 15" of run is a pretty electric offering as fastballs go, and the grades support that. From a low release height and arm slot, Tobias will naturally gain more horizontal break (and less IVB) than most. As such the rise he got here is truly outlier, although the inconsistent shape is something to watch. I'm assuming it's quite common at his age and at this level to be working through mechanical efficiencies so I'm more enamoured with the top end of the scale rather than the bottom and an eye on future potential, meaning I like what Tobias' heater might become whether he cuts it a little or let's that ride really play up. Tobias also has a true cutter (with one extreme outlier being the 0 IVB, -10" HB offering) that sits around the 0" HB line and around 86 mph. It looks a nice offering and hints at three distinct fastball shapes for the Brewers to toy with. The velocity isn't anything to shout out about yet, but it's solid for a pitcher at 19 years old. Breaking Pitches The slider was Tobias most used offering yesterday and doesn't grade out too well because of the lower velocity and the fact tit has a bit of a riding shape. Some of the above should maybe be called cutters as the slider appears to sit south of 80 mph but with positive IVB of around 6" and solid Horizontal break of around 10". Its an interesting pitch, almost sweeper like but doesn't get the horizontal break one would expect from that pitch. Likely a product of the lower arm slot, he may be more effective moving towards a true sweeper shape and embracing that East/West profile as he does seem to struggle getting balls to "drop" We see a similar story with the curveball, sitting 78 mph but I would suggest that only one of these is an actual curve, while the rest are more in that slider/sweeper shape above being mislabelled as a result of the more outlier release point. It doesn't generate much true drop either, more of a gyro slider shape than anything and stuff+ models weren't a fan. Finally is the changeup, again an inconsistent shape as should maybe be expected at this point in his career although the velocity stayed largely on point. He can get a little too firm with it at times and kill the horizontal movement, back spinning more tan he would like, but we'll see how the pitch develops. NB: Take the grades with some pinch of salt for Tobias especially. He's 19 being compared with big league stuff and as such there's a lot of development both velocity wise and consistency wise to come from him to hopefully harness and command some distinct shapes with all his pitches. There's certainly some potential there with the fastball

@Joseph Zarrjust for you! Hayden Robinson Can't quite get the modelling from TJ Stats but here's some of the backing data sorted by Stuff+ on the fastball. The shape is really quite inconsistent, perhaps to be expected on his return and may have contributed to the wildness but some of those grades on the stuff+ (or 20-80 scale beside it if you prefer) are electric, even at 92 mph. It actually appears as though he has two different shapes (and some of the sinkers maybe play into this) with a cut-ride shape complemented by a true four seam with more run. The changeup looks nasty, 10+ mph speed differential from his fastballs at least and solid vert with great horizontal movement. It was his most consistent pitch shape yesterday and grades out well on the 60-80 scale The slider was more of a sweeper shape, doesn't grade out all that well due to the comparisons often having ~ 17" horizontal break but it does hover around 0" IVB and okay horizontal movement. Again showed flashes of more break but not consistent at this point. Finally is the curveball, again not quite a true curveball and more of a slurve with some trade-off of horizontal break on the sweeper for a littler more depth on the pitch. Doesn't grade out all that well, but with the rehab situation at present after elbow surgery these things will likely tick up somewhat as we continue and do bear watching.

Yeah and I don't remember seeing it quite so often last season on his off speed pitches.. If it is mechanical, there's hope he could come back better than ever with a fastball velo of 95+, but perhaps that's the optimist in me

I'm really wondering if Myers is working on some mechanical tweaks in Nashville. Even more so than usual his fastball velocity is swinging around from 88.9 to 96.6 last night. The slider and changeup both showed some significant disparity with the slider ranging from 82.1 to 87.4 and the changeup 76.4 to 82.9 mph A side-by-side of the two pitches could be fascinating

After fully healing, there is a possibility to remove screws of they're causing issues, but they're unlikely to be the main problem so much as the complete re-attachment of the tendons will force his shoulder to operate in a mechanically different way. Must be git wrenching for the young man in some ways

Yeah I've watched a few of his starts and it's been really feast or famine. You'll get six/seven shutout and total dominance, or he'll leave offerings over the heart of the plate and get absolutely crushed. He's almost entirely fastball/curveball, and the curve lives quite often out of the zone. If you can spit on it, the fastball is definitely something that's damageable

Ernesto Martinez Jr was averaging a swing rate in and around 50% in the last two seasons (2023/24) but its dropped alarmingly to a very passive level of 37.6% so far in 2025. Is he not seeing the ball as well? Is it a change in approach to find balls he can elevate more effectively? Who knows at this point, but it is something to monitor His eye has been far better at the plate over the last two seasons than it has any right to be with his frame/swing length, so I'm not sure it's related to taking more walks. Looking at his rolling swing rate (per 100 swings) it did drop as low as this once last year, admittedly during his hot second half, however he did recover to the more above average swing rates he's boasted throughout his career, and lay there for most of his hot run. His chart for 2025 is below, and he's only sat above average for a short period this season. His current mark is in the Luke Adams realm

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images The Brewers' trade of Aaron Civale was a blessing, in some ways, for both parties. Civale gets a virtually guaranteed starting rotation spot for the next six weeks (before a likely trade, again, at the MLB trade deadline), a nice gesture from the Brewers at the cost of some of his trade value. In return, Andrew Vaughn escapes the White Sox organization and (hopefully) the downtrodden mental state in which he found himself. Rumors continued apace that the Brewers were listening to offers on a first baseman, but not the one everyone's been talking about. Jake Bauers has migrated toward a three-true-outcome first baseman's profile this season, bordering on passive at the plate. That's facilitated a good walk rate, and he's done damage on mistake pitches. He's crushing his pitch when he gets it, marrying great launch angles with good exit velocities and producing a .762 OPS—all while showing he can cover left field and provide above-average defensive chops at first base, too. Bauers is making $1.4 million in 2025 and has significantly outperformed expectations thus far. His left-handed bat has provided a good platoon at first base, but with Christian Yelich occupying the DH spot indefinitely and a large cohort of left-handers already on the team, the reps for Bauers may begin to dry up somewhat, despite his being the best bench bat the Brewers have. It makes sense to trade from a surplus at this point, with the Brewers stuck in some roster limbo. Will they continue to keep touch in the wild card race with the dominant NL West, or will they fall away? Are the Cubs catchable in the Central? It's too early to tell, and as such, reinforcements around the margins make a lot of sense. With vast depth in the pitching staff, there may be more pressure for Civale-like moves to come. Brandon Woodruff reported an uptick in raw stuff after recovering from his most recent snafu, and that the rest actually helped him feel his best again. Nestor Cortes threw another bullpen and could be back just after the All-Star break, while Jacob Misiorowski is here to stay. Then you have Logan Henderson in Nashville, on restricted innings for the time being, and Robert Gasser returning in September. The Brewers' rotational depth is the envy of the league, and that's without counting on the fact that DL Hall or Aaron Ashby are almost stretched out enough to start games. Chad Patrick and Quinn Priester are performing too well to demote. It's an impending roster crunch when Woodruff returns, and Cortes after that. Teams like the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Blue Jays all have visions of competing but bottom-third starting rotations right now. On top of that, the Brewers bullpen looks effective in recent months. Ignoring some early season blow-ups from Connor Thomas, the performances of late by Nick Mears, Jared Koenig and Abner Uribe have been lights-out. Trevor Megill has bent, but not broken, with reduced fastball swing-and-miss, and with three years of team control remaining, he could be a hot commodity and a sell-high candidate. Again, the Dodgers, Phillies, Diamondbacks and even perhaps the Mariners may see an opportunity here. Let me postulate one particular trade at this point in time: Jose Quintana to the LA Dodgers for Christian Zazueta Quintana has struggled to get the feel for his changeup in recent starts, but it would be folly to expect that to last. The wily veteran has shown that he's more than capable of getting several times through the order and keeping the ball on the ground this season, a strong back-end arm for any playoff contender. He can eat more innings as required when he's got his feel back, and some teams are crying out for that dependability. The Dodgers are in flux in the rotation as things stand, with injuries just about everywhere you look. Only the Nationals, Rockies, Diamondbacks and Marlins have conceded more runs than the Dodgers this year, and they rank 22nd in starter ERA with a mark of 4.37. Ohtani likely won't be pitching deep into games any time before the All-Star break, on top of requiring a six-man rotation with him slotted in. They need help. In return, the Brewers aren't likely to get what they really need. Hyeseong Kim would be amazing in this Brewers team, a genuine spark plug capable all over the infield, but their chance to get him was as a free agent this winter. The Dodgers won't give him up for someone like Quintana. Nor will the Crew get anything close to top prospects like Alex Freeland. Instead, the Brewers may want to take a flyer on a high-upside arm like Christian Zazueta, a low-arm slot pitcher with plus fastball characteristics, a plus changeup and a solid slider, who has a 2.59 ERA this season with 59 strikeouts and 14 walks in 55 2/3 innings. That would be the right way to take advantage of the free-agent coup the team did manage, back in March. With the Brewers' depth finally on full display, and more yet to return from injury, who would you be willing to trade around the margins? And what would you expect in return? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! View full article

Has anyone mentioned Daniel pierce much? Developing power, ridiculous bat to ball, plus defender, plus runner at shortstop? Seems like a Brewers fit and just baseball 2.0 has him at #20 for the crew. Now if you're looking to save money for later round the top two picks are the best way to do so, but Pierce seems like an up arrow player at this point by all accounts

I think it was all of 2024/25, and perhaps a note to his projected profile upon signing from the DSL as a hit over power prospect with strong defensive chops (it was a month+ ago now, apologies!)

I remember Baseball America talking about it in one of their podcasts!

The EV's have apparently popped up, but with a significant jump in his swing and miss

For those with a love of defensive metrics, Vivienne has created a model that updates daily and is proven to be more accurate and in line (in terms of probability) than statcast. For example a 5% play on OAA is often more like a 1-2% play. She explains more within, and some Brewers are very notable, especially Jackson Chourio in how she grades him out compared with statcast https://situational-fielding.streamlit.app/

Also slightly concerning is the increasing whiff rates from Burke

Misiorowski is out of the game for Nittoli. Hard not to believe, with two seven innings contests today, that at under 70 pitches the Brewers are being cautious of workload for both him and Logan Henderson as we approach the half way point of the season

Wilken still looking out of sorts somewhat. Whiffs on a hanging meatball slider/cutter first pitch, then repeats that on a similar pitch on the outer third. Takes a high fastball and then a half hearted swing at another meatball slider in zone for a four pitch strikeout

Luke Adams. First pitch. 101 mph hit 390ft to left center. The young man is on a tear