Jake McKibbin

Steele has been lights out this year, using the four seamer more often and more effectively. He's an ace, and the Brewers may need a gem from Houser

I seem to remember one of his starts was a little harsh, with four runs coming from exit velocities that weren't even hard hit? But he actually pitched really well this month, I have to say I was impressed by the improvement he showed so quickly

None of whom fit a roster crunch like he did, and one of whom was signed while Hiura was on the IL I agree they wouldn't stand in the way, unless they felt they were likely to call him up (which they weren't with Erceg)

Just noticed Misiorowski isn't scheduled this week at all.. injury related or a developmental/scheduled break?

A) his salary will be half of what it was B) he's shown improvements so far this season, and is likely to have someone take a flyer on him at this point, almost definitely

WAR is the general term, but two different sites have calculations that slightly differ in it fWAR is from Fangraphs bWAR is from Baseball Reference

Let's hope Waino is still throwing by the time we play them next

If that's the case all is forgiven. But which would live longer in our memories, his brown trousers or those calls

Tyrone Taylor's second rehab stint looks to be going a whole lot better than his first

I understand the second send more, make him make the throw again but it was a 20/80 play in cubs favour. The first send was just thick with one out and tapia up, who's a good contact hitter

That's got to be a first.. consecutive inning ending outs at home by the same player

That changeup is money

That eighth inning on another day has the first five guys reaching and serious pressure on. Yelich is flying out more to right field... Is he continuing the improvement?

Every first pitch has been a fastball so far and hittable, we need to be attacking that. The stats back it up, he's not walking you, swing at the pitch you know is gettable

Almost out of it after a leadoff triple, still one down, and Hendricks hopefully is gettable

I'll say it again, Matt McLain is the best prospect in the Reds system, he's so so consistent. he's been incredible. How EDLC is ahead of him in rookie power rankings is a joke CJ Abrams with a mistake too, calling off the outfielders who'd have had a routine catch

Oh and one more thing... he has a pretty consistent use of the changeup as the count goes on, but he throws 75% fastballs in 0-0 counts. So get up there and feel confident to swing first pitch

Absolutely, a ton of pressure, two won series this week makes a massive difference as the Reds can't keep winning every one run game out there A great start and the offense is clearly feeling high I'm curious if our new HOF 3rd baseman can show some of that improvement in triple AAA, could be a really big under the radar signing Looking at Hendricks, just a few starts so far this season and he's outperformed expected stats somewhat (unlike Smyly who had gone the other way) He's great at avoiding non competitive pitches hence the great chase rate, but minimal whiffs even on these pitches. It'll come down to whether the Brewers can punish a couple of mistake pitches here or there, and he's unlikely to walk many guys I can see him bamboozling Wiemer a little, but Adames is looking better again, Yelich is mashing, and that top of the order last night was so strong, hopefully see more of that with a little extra from the middle/bottom of the lineup. Deeper look at it To lefties he leads with the changeup low and away, but thats a strong enough pitch for Yelich, who's much more susceptible to the slider down and in. He's also used the four seam fastball to left handers, which has been hit to an xBA of .344 and xSlg of .844, on the outer half to left handers. It pairs beautifully location wise with the changeup, but the Brewers can do some damage against it, perhaps a Yeli oppo taco incoming. Sinker at just 87 mph is his go to for right handers, usually keeping it in tight on the hands where he can, but it's been sprayed a bit more than his changeup, and as a result of this and low velocity he's been hit hard here too. Does have a sporadic curveball, but is mostly a well located fastball/changeup guy just nibbling around the zone without particularly strong movement profiles Also gives up a lot of nicely lofted contact, he's not a ground ball pitcher so even weaker contact can get bloop singles and create pressure Miley is a flamethrower by comparison

I dont think he's taking reps off rowdy

Maybe, but given that's an unknown quantity, you have to lock down wins where you can while they're available. I expect Andrews to locate his secondary stuff better next time out, but even then you don't want to chuck him in and the Cubs to score three runs yesterday, that's a far sillier scenario of such a momentum building win

A little glance at Chourio's page, I'm unsure if he's swinging at bad pitches, or the movement is slightly off for him, but his contact rates have improved, striking out just twice since June 20th in 38 plate appearances Given his lack of plate discipline at times, I wonder will a ball that's more controllable but moves less will show some significant boosts to contact quality in the second half of the season

Misiorowski might be the saving grace, but definitely struggling a little with the hitters... I wonder if you could say Luke Adams has the highest ceiling of the hitters (will obviously have more of an indicator when he's 20 or so)

Given how effective their starting rotation has been, with a bullpen going that well, and a pretty consistent and solid lineup, how on earth are the Cubs not doing better this season?

Fun stat... Contreras, Monasterio and Wiemer have .900 + OPS against lefties. Big drop off after that

Even for the Brewers, this is a late lieup card... wonder if someone's injured