keephopealive

People forget that Turang was projected as the number one pick, or at least high school prospect, before his senior year. The senior year was less impressive, so he fell a bit, but still the Brewers were delighted when they were able to draft him. A bit like Aaron Rodgers falling to the Packers late in the first round.

My guess is that the development of Turang had some influence on this signing. Pratt has a lot of Turang in him: excellent glove, instinctive player, contact approach at the plate but some questions about his bat and especially power. (It's a bit like JJ as well.) Turang has clearly figured it out, and I think Pratt will as well.

I'm curious who would've been rated higher at 19 if they were contemporaneous, Chourio or Made? Anybody have a sense?

Geez, I sure hope Priester doesn't follow the path of Myers. In 2024, a 25-year old Myers joined the team in mid-April and had a breakout season, starting 25 games, going 9-6, and pitching 138 innings with a WHIP of 1.17 and a 3.00 ERA, which overperformed his FIP of 3.91. He started a playoff game and looked to be one of the sure things in the rotation the next year. Last spring he had an oblique injury that they thought would push him off until mid-April, and now he's a Met. In 2025, a 24-year old Priester joined the team in mid-April and had a breakout season, starting 24 games, going 13-3, and pitching 157 innings with WHIP of 1.24 and a 3.32 ERA, which overperformed his FIP of 4.01. He started a playoff game and looked to be one of the sure things in the rotation the next year. This spring he has an wrist injury that they think will push him off until mid-April...

Thanks, Jake. Great stuff. I am curious. Who is the player with the outlier dark blue dot/anemic exit velocity?

I think we start with Sanchez, but by end of May, Quero will be looking like a top prospect again, and Sanchez will be scuffling, and they'll call Quero up. Probably the same with Jett Williams.

Drohan is 27 and hasn't even debuted in the Show. He could turn out like Trevor Megill. At age 27, he debuted in the Majors spending the year on the shuttle between AAA and the Cubs to the tune of a an 8.37 ERA with the Cubs and a 5.14 ERA in AAA. At age 28, he was with the Twins, where he had a 4.80 ERA with the Twins and 3.00 ERA at AAA. After an awful 12.03 ERA start to the season at AAA, the Brewers acquired him at age 29. The next year he was closing for us, and last year he was an All-Star. .

Best case scenario is that Turang takes another jump, puts together his defense and base running from two years ago and his offense from the second half of last year. He would be about a 5.8 WAR player, which is a clear all-star probably a top 15 player. If he takes another offensive leap (he's gone up 12.6 RAR two years ago and 27.2 last year) he could be a 7 or 8 WAR player, which puts him in rarified air. That's Ohtani and Witt, Jr. level.

Is that a subtle Euchre reference?

Still hurts. Still hurts...

I finally watched the documentary recently, and I really enjoyed it. That was a special season, and it's much more exciting when you're young.

I love this series. Great fun, Michael!

I think you must be 22 years old now, not in '82. I have never heard anyone refer to him as Bob Rodgers. He was always Buck Rodgers.

I have trouble following this article, and I have a PhD in a quantitative field. I suspect the real advantage of flat swings is simpler: you stay in the hitting zone longer with less vertical movement, giving you a bigger window to make solid contact even when your timing is off. I suspect that fastballs come in at a flatter angle themselves, so it's not as important. Whereas with off speed pitches themselves come in at a steeper angle down, so you are already more likely to get a decent launch angle, even with a flat swing.

I love me some Vaughn, and he's been great in the playoffs, but it's hard saying he's even with Freeman. Freeman is a perennial all-star, a former MVP, and had the big HR last year. Even this year, Freeman's OPS is equal to Vaughn's OPS as a Brewer (ignoring the time in AAA and the White Sox).