Jake McKibbin

Another outrageously cool name

I think the max exit velocity you mention was by Oneil Cruz? Mitchell I think had a top EV of 109.9mph! He also had expected BA of .187 and xSLG of .339, so while with his speed I would suspect he outdoes his expected stats, I think with his ground ball rate and his propensity to swing and miss, he may struggle to put anywhere quite close to a .265/.324/.462 line without some swing changes, I agree he could do well swiping bases when he gets on, one of those guys you almost know is going to steal. His floor is quite high with the defense etc. He's a high variance player who could go a number of ways, granted, but unsure he's quite like this? Much more like a bottom of the line-up guy than someone leadoff I would suggest

That's pretty cool to hear actually Interesting they're slightly lower on him than most

Hahaha brilliant I will say at least Voit has some injury related excuse

https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/new-features-at-american-family-field-in-2023 Here's the link in MLB, reduced concession prices I think is huge, I wasn't at a game last year (I'm a broke foreigner after all) but heard a lot of chat about this on the Tailgate podcast about an over focus on this whole "X Golf" while pricing people out of going I like the idea of fireworks, and also that they seem to be making a real effort to get people bringing their kids to the park more which is huge. The sunday funday bundle looks really good value! #But as I said, I'm curious what you guys think? Will it make a difference in regards to attendance? Should they maybe have released this news more than 3 days before tickets go on sale?

That's really interesting... how'd they get him on a minor league deal? I'm impressed, much better than Blake Perkins

He had far and away the worst BABIP of his career last season, horrifically unlucky. He's more of a .250-.260 hitter than .210, and I really wouldn't write him off He's standout in quite a few categories, and although his range is shocking at 1B, he's hot soft hands that Adames probably loves.

True enough, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out, him and Hiura are similar-ish only Voit can be sent to the minor leagues.. The Brewers must be sniffing a trade for Hiura, and given the obviousness of it, they may not get much back in return

Being on a minor league contract, he may basically be there in case Rowdy gets injured, or at worst probably a trade candidate for the deadline when some team wants to take a chance

This may be the end of Hiura... though he is also a reverse platoon guy over his career

I do think his base running and routes will improve with everyday play in the minors. He has 60 grade speed but nowhere near the base stealing exploits of someone like Wiemer for instance, and he just needs a little more regular game time, plus maybe finding a way to tap into the power (he does actually have some) when he gets his pitch. It's more fine tuning, but I think it's more to do with making sure when he arrives in the big leagues, he's there to stay Mitchell is a placeholder at the moment, if Frelick's defense makes him a plus centre fielder then Mitchell will struggle to find regular play I think as his bat doesn't profile in left or right field. I think Frelick is a better hitter but he's not ready just yet to man CF in the majors Frelick is a better player with his hit tool, but I also think Mitchel is going to struggle to develop his bat any more , regardless of where he plays? Then again, time will tell!

Given the home run ball last season hitting him hard, can you imagine the damage he'll do in a pitcher friendly park? Stringing consecutive hits against him seems almost impossible

I can maybe see Woodruff, though only because people seem to be drastically undervaluing him and his performance at the end of last season was nuts. I actually think Woody is worth a 200million contract on his past few seasons, but if he costs less than that, they should 100% be offering it to him

Good lord So Someone trying to land Burnes may want a trade an extension this coming off season, rather than wait? Especially given what happened with the shortstops a couple months ago... would that be right?

Are there any other big free agent pitcher's hitting the market next year?

I would agree too, though I think Mitchell's defense and speed with occasional power actually give him a high floor, whereas Frelick's hit tool needs to hold up if he end up in left field for instance. I'm excited to see him play this year though, hopefully he arrives with a bang!

Welcome to the site bud! Great to have you here! I have to say your English seems great I think he definitely will improve wherever he plays, but it's easier to do so in the minors. I've done a bit of a dive into him recently, looking at scouting reviews etc The fact he didn't play a lot in college before coming suggests that his skills have a little development left in them, he does have power, most of his home runs last season were absolute hard hit lasers! But he can maybe pick certain pitches to increase his damage on, make him a 12-15 home run threat in the majors, which would be huge Defensively he's given a lot of rave reviews for his speed but his defensive reads and routes have some work to do for him to be premium in centre field, though he has the natural tools to do it He also can do a little bit of work on the base paths to make use of his speed a little more, he's really damn fast, but he didn't steal as many as he probably could/should have in the minors last season, especially with how often he was on base So more refining his skill set for a few months I think, but every game he plays I think he'll get better and better His strikeout rate dropped consistently throughout last season, even moving up levels and to walk more than strike out at AAA is a very good sign He probably could be a good player for the Brewers right now, but I think Mitchell's defense and energy will give him the spot in centre for a little bit and let the prospects really force their way into the team

I fully agreed about Winker though I am now wondering... He spoke about the surgeries on his neck in particular , and how it made it difficult to look up and to the one side (can't remember if he said right or left) and curious if this allows him to be passable in the field. He's never been above average, but even a -0.5 rating WAR wise is workable, whereas last season it was -2.4 (per Baseball reference) So he may see more time in the field than I expected, but I think by mid season Frelick will be up and involved barring injury The other thing I'd say is Frelick didn't get a ton of game time at Boston college for a myriad of reasons, and has a year and a half in the minors through which he's shown considerable growth defensively and offensively. I think a little time to continue working on his defensive reads/routes and identifying pitches to attack (he has show a propensity to rip the ball hard on occasion, unlike the likes of Kwan), and maybe mid season wouldn't be so bad if it gave us a better player in the long run

What can I say, I'm an eternal optimist, though I do think there'll be some adjustment needed for Wiemer in the bigs, just to get used to the pitching (as Judge got) The similarities were more stark the more I got into this piece, which surprised me, but I would say that Judge has a much more compact swing with more raw power there, which may have acclimatised better in the majors

I think this may be the plan, though interestingly it may be Anderson's nd brosseau. Toro has clearly some areas to work on, and didn't spend that long in AAA before his promotion to the bugs so wouldn't be surprised if he starts in the minors

So here's my theory, and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned as much, but Turang has above average range, a fairly strong arm and great footwork/glove according to scouts, really smooth actions. His range is really good, and Adames currently tops some new baseball reference stat relating to defensive range as well. With those two on the left hand side on the infield, and Urias at 2B, I'd be very comfortable. Turang gets big league experience, provides quality defense and tbh I'm not super worried about hitting profile and that he's not a slugger, as we already have a fair few of those in the team. He may start in Nashville for service time manipulation, but I think he plays the majority of the year as Backup SS or 3B, but I can't see why if Urias and Turang play together, that you'd have Urias at 3rd It's also interesting that he started to show power on the back of a few changes he was tweaking in Nashville, his second half stats looked really promising (slugging over .500 in July & August) and be curious to see if there's any sustainability in that. But he'll be up almost certainly before the all star break

I think they all sound reasonable. Like Hader was correct in people using saves to judge his worth Burnes is a Cy Young winner, but he had an ERA of 3 last season, a lot of home runs and had a period of form where he really struggled, I'd imagine the case is much more compelling if he gets numbers closer to his expected stats and FIP In the end the Brewers want to keep prices lower in arbitration to stop new benchmarks being set, I'm very curious what numbers they offered him, but aside from that, did he expect them to go in and say "well he should have this money, here you go" when payroll managing is so important to them? Hell even Steve Cohen is doing this! So yeah I also think you need a tough skin, because they'll say things to help their case, not necessarily the truth but an exaggeration of it for sure. Everyone knows this happens. Sorry, but yeah Arbitration isn't how much an organisation values you at all

This is a big statement, I know, but hear me out on this one, and you might find the two are a lot more similar that you’d originally think. In terms profile of the player profiles, they are remarkably similar, both very tall players with access to huge raw power, a surprisingly advanced hit tool, the speed to play centre field if needed, and absolute cannons for throwing arms. One could argue that Judge has access to more power given the size of his frame, and Weimer has access to more speed, but they are relatively similar in a lot of aspects. Take a look at their performance lines from each of their first two seasons in the minors: Level Avg OBP SLG OPS SO % HR SB Aaron Judge A/A+ .308 .419 .486 .905 23.3% 17 1 Joey Weimer A/A+ .296 .403 .556 .958 22.2% 27 30 Aaron Judge AA/AAA .255 .330 .448 .777 26.7% 20 0 Joey Weimer AA/AAA .256 .336 .465 .801 26.8% 21 31 As you can see, the entire second season is eerily similar for the two players as they made their way to the upper levels of the minors. The real standout is the strikeout rate, which is actually lower for Weimer despite scouts preferring Judge’s ability to cover the plate as a prospect. Judge had an injury or two to deal with in his second year in the minors, but finished on a hot streak in AAA, was called up to the majors, and produced a .608 OPS in 95 plate appearances. He didn’t really take off until the following year where he mashed 52 home runs and a 1.049 OPS after adjusting to major league pitching. However he did struggle initially in his first call-up to AAA, with an adjustment period needed before finding his swing at the plate. Joey Weimer, having won the Brewers pipeline prospect of the year honours in 2021 for his outstanding first season, picked up a wrist injury in the middle of his second season, resulting in a dramatic fall in output. He hit just for an OPS of .687 in June and .442 in July, before returning to reduce his strikeout rate, his contact and his power numbers to a level on par with his first season, even despite the rapid promotions. He finished the season in September with 15 walks vs 10 strikeouts, 8 XBH in 63 AB’s and a slash line of .302/.425/.476, tantalising us with a glimpse of better plate coverage and what that could mean for him this coming season. Judge has also been ranked higher on most prospect lists, due to a combination of his draft position and his college numbers, whereas Weimer didn’t start tapping into his power until he hit professional baseball. He hadn’t managed more than 6 homers in a spring period, which could explain the difference in hype. Judge would also be regarded as having a better hit tool, and more raw power due to his sizeable frame, and it was generally considered that he had quite a short swing to the ball, not fully utilising the power in his 125kg frame. Weimer, on the other hand has a more chaotic swing, with huge bat speed and hand speed, creating most of his power from this, but is more susceptible as a result of struggling with major league pitching. Eric Longenhangen spoke about his tendency to swing inside pitches on the outer part of the strike zone, something he will need to tighten up on before he can be successful in the majors. Where did Judge struggle when he first came up to the majors? Take a look: The other interesting area in which Weimer and Judge would separate themselves is their speed. Weimer would be a faster athlete, more mobile and able to cover the outfield grass better, but this really shows up on the base paths. With 61 steals in the minors across two seasons, he’s a real threat to opposing teams, even more so given he was only caught 9 times, an 87% success rate! Weimer’s reduced strikeout rate of 19.5% at AAA, his “calmer” swing since joining the Brewers (including ditching his leg kick for a toe tap) give a real optimism about what Milwaukee could have in their system. Keith Law referred to him as having “stupid power” and that even hitting .220-.230 he could be a plus major league asset, with his defense, speed and quality of contact providing a higher floor than you would usually have with this type of prospect. And in regards to his ceiling, well… that’s probably a guy who just hit 62 home runs last season.

Glad you liked it! Posted it there in the hopes of winning the free ticket giveaways, alas nothing came to fruition as of yet but hoping for today (gone boom or bust!) Figured I could send them to be cousin to say thanks for introducing me to the Brewers! I found him really interesting to look into, I think he has much more potential there. In last years camp, a lot of people were asked who they were most excited about (coaches etc) and they mostly said Urias, how he was hitting the ball with more authority, but we never really got to see it. First few months should be a real eye opener, but there's something under the surface here I think

Pyrrhic is my new favourite word