ClosetBrewerFan

Just so many promotions this year. Congrats to Gasser. He showed he could hold his own in AA. This is clearly an organizational philosophy to promote aggressively this year. I'm sure it has to do with the lost 2020 season. They have one less year of control (effectively) so they want to push these guys as much as they can.

Nice interview of MItchell's mom by Sophia. She has really come a long way as an interviewer.

Its kind of amazing he was a decent defensive CF, considering his body type and lifestyle. He was a big guy with a big appetite. My memory thinks of him as a Vogelbach body type but looking at pictures from his prime, he was pretty sveldt. Interesting that he even played some infield in his early days. He never had a season with an OPS above 900, even with 45 home runs. But still was an incredibly productive player in his prime. He had a lot of rough seasons as well, which is reflected in his career 772 OPS. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

Its kind of amazing he was a decent defensive CF, considering his body type and lifestyle. He was a big guy with a big appetite. My memory thinks of him as a Vogelbach body type but looking at pictures from his prime, he was pretty sveldt. Interesting that he even played some infield in his early days. He never had a season with an OPS above 900, even with 45 home runs. But still was an incredibly productive player in his prime. He had a lot of rough seasons as well, which is reflected in his career 772 OPS. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

I expected Ruiz, but he is RH and maybe they want a LH. Frelick would have been the obvious choice then. But the Brewers dont do the obvious. Still, nothing to complain about with Mitchell. He is having an excellent season and is a year older than Frelick. Maybe they think he can adapt easier. Hate to be the one to explain this move to Frelick (and Ruiz). What more can they do.

Should be noted that the Brewers will have at least five open spots to protect players, so the three that most people are suggesting should be no issue to protect. The roster is currently full at 40 with one man on the 60 day IL. They have five players who will be free agents and I expect they will decline Wong's club option but select Boxberger's very reasonable $3M club option. There are a couple non-tender candidates (Suter, Gustave) plus some players they could clear (Kelley, J.Davis, Topa) so there really is no reason to not at least protect three and possible one or two more. I think it will be just three as the Brewers like 40 man roster flexibility. If Frelick gets called up this year, I would expect he would take Davis's spot so that wont affect the rule 5 protection. Cant imagine Davis making it through the offseason with Frelick, Ruiz, Mitchell, and Wiemer all waiting in the wings to fill outfield spots. This is the most OF depth the Brewers have had as far as I can imagine (counting Chourio, Mendez, Hedbert, Avina, Castillo, Lutz, etc)

Should be noted that the Brewers will have at least five open spots to protect players, so the three that most people are suggesting should be no issue to protect. The roster is currently full at 40 with one man on the 60 day IL. They have five players who will be free agents and I expect they will decline Wong's club option but select Boxberger's very reasonable $3M club option. There are a couple non-tender candidates (Suter, Gustave) plus some players they could clear (Kelley, J.Davis, Topa) so there really is no reason to not at least protect three and possible one or two more. I think it will be just three as the Brewers like 40 man roster flexibility. If Frelick gets called up this year, I would expect he would take Davis's spot so that wont affect the rule 5 protection. Cant imagine Davis making it through the offseason with Frelick, Ruiz, Mitchell, and Wiemer all waiting in the wings to fill outfield spots. This is the most OF depth the Brewers have had as far as I can imagine (counting Chourio, Mendez, Hedbert, Avina, Castillo, Lutz, etc)

I honestly don't know. The Brewers have called up prospects early so this would not be unprecedented. I hope so, because no one is blocking him at the majors. He has just destroyed the minors and only seems to be getting better as he gets promoted.

I agree with the three to protect as well as the other four as outside shots. Cam went from long shot to a near lock with his meteoric rise thru the system. I also think Erceg and Devanney have outside shots as well, though probably a bit lower than the four you mentioned. Devanney could fill a utility role with some team and Erceg's heater may be tempting for team to pick. Lutz has worked his way back into the conversation but still quite a longshot. His strikeout numbers are still too high.

I agree with the three to protect as well as the other four as outside shots. Cam went from long shot to a near lock with his meteoric rise thru the system. I also think Erceg and Devanney have outside shots as well, though probably a bit lower than the four you mentioned. Devanney could fill a utility role with some team and Erceg's heater may be tempting for team to pick. Lutz has worked his way back into the conversation but still quite a longshot. His strikeout numbers are still too high.

I'm going to keep predicting Vassalotti to A+ until it happens.

Here are my top 25 pitching prospects. Pitch grades are from MLB.com and Fangraphs, where I could find them. Pitch MPH is is in parenthesis and came from articles online. That data could be inaccurate. I have five prospects at the bottom that could move quickly up this list as they get more experience. Pitcher Rank DOB Age 2022 Level Obtained FB SL CV CH OTHER Control Robert Gasser 8 5/31/99 23.2 A+/AA Trade 55 55 - 55 - 50 Ethan Small 10 2/14/97 25.5 AAA/MLB Rnd 1 in 2019 55 45 45 60 - 50 Jacob Misiorowski 11 4/3/02 20.4 Arz Rnd 2 in 2022 70 55 - - - 45 Justin Jarvis 18 2/20/00 22.5 A+ Rnd 5 in 2018 (91-94) ++ Carlos Rodriguez 19 11/27/01 20.7 A/A+ Rnd 6 in 2021 55 45 - 55 - 50 Victor Castaneda 21 8/27/98 24.0 AA Latin 50 (92-94) - 45 x 60 (Splitter) 50 Brandon Knarr 22 6/2/98 24.2 A+/AA UDFA in 2020 (89-91) - x x - Stiven Cruz 24 11/14/01 20.8 A/A+ Latin (91-94) x x x - Abner Uribe 25 6/20/00 22.2 AA Latin 80 60 - 30 - 40 Alexander Cornielle 28 8/22/01 21.0 A Latin Cam Robinson 29 9/6/99 23.0 A+/AA Rnd 23 in 2017 55 - 55 - 45 (Cutter) 45 TJ Shook 30 5/29/98 24.2 A+/AA UDFA in 2020 Russell Smith 32 9/10/98 23.9 A+ Rnd 2 in 2021 55 45 - 55 - 55 Ryne Moore 35 11/27/98 23.7 A/A+ Rnd 18 in 2021 Edwin Jimenez 38 12/12/01 20.7 A Latin Lucas Erceg 40 5/1/95 27.3 AA/AAA Rnd 2 in 2016 (97-99) Max Lazar 42 6/3/99 23.2 A+ Rnd 11 in 2017 50 45 - 55 - 55 Peter Strzelecki 43 10/24/94 27.8 AAA/ML UDFA in 2018 Nick Bennett 47 9/1/97 25.0 AA/AAA Rnd 6 in 2019 45 60 - 45 - 35 Michele Vassalotti 48 8/2/00 22.0 A Latin Logan Henderson ↑ 3/2/02 20.5 A Rnd 3 in 2021 50 - 50 60 - 55 Alexander Vallecillo ↑ 7/1/02 20.1 Arz/A Latin Jeison Pena ↑ 9/14/02 19.9 Arz/A Latin Kevin Briceno ↑ 10/15/02 19.8 DSL/Arz Latin Patricio Aquino ↑ 5/1/03 19.3 A Latin

As said above, Reetz had an opt out clause which is why he was placed on the 40 man roster and then the poor performance at AAA is what got him off the roster. This makes a lot more sense now. They can still keep him if he clears waivers, which is what the Brewers were probably hoping for. Link from MLB trade rumors: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/08/brewers-designate-jakson-reetz-for-assignment.html As noted in the article, the Brewers now have only two healthy catchers on the 40 man roster (Narvaez and Jackson on the IL). I dont see that as a huge issue, They could add Severino back if they needed a backup before Narvaez is ready. The 40 man roster is getting pretty full though. There are fewer obvious candidates they could drop to make room for somebody.

Surprised to see Brent Diaz on some of these lists. I must be missing something, but I see a journeyman bC who has never gotten a full season of playing time. Often the third C or taxi squad guy. He is hitting this year, but he has been old for his league in every season he has played (he's 26 in AA this year). Is he very good defensively? I'm not criticizing, just curious. I do have a higher regard for Areinamo now after reading up on him. Started this year in A+ and was obviously overmatched. Then dominated in Rookie and is continuing to hit in low A. What I did not realize is that he's only 18. I assumed the Brewers placed him in Wisconsin to start due to just needing a backup infielder, but I did not realize he was that young. I also see from the game logs that he started in all 7 games he played there. That's some high regard to place an 18 year old in his first stateside appearance as a starter in high A. They must be really high on him. How is he defensively? As for other names that I have not seen listed yet, I would include Justin Jarvis and Brandon Knarr. Both have had good results so far this year. I know Knarr doesn't have the greatest of stuff but its hard to beat the results.

After seeing a nearly daily list of promotions in August, its been quiet the last few days. I imagine the Brewers are nearly done for this year with promotions. However, I have a few more I am hoping for this year: Frelick to majors. I think he is already better than Jonathan Davis. Question will be whether the Brewers want to start his clock already. Devanney and Vennaro to AAA. They both have earned it. We will see if there is an opening made available. Vassalotti to A+. He's been outstanding all year. Carolina is light on pitching so this will only happen if a few ACL pitchers get promoted. Logan Henderson and Misiorowski to A ball. A little early yet to judge their results yet but these are two of our top pitchers so it would be cool to see them move up.

What is the difference between 60 day and full season, other than the obvious. Why have a separate category? I believe neither count against the stateside max list. What was the benefit of switching Cruz to the full season IL?

This is the fourth and last post of my review of the Brewers past 20 drafts. Check out my previous post for years 2021 - 2016, years 2008 - 2015, and for years 2002 - 2007. What was the best draft of the last 20 years? That is not easy to judge since some of those players are still playing and could continue to improve and put up impressive stats. I’m using career WAR as one way to evaluate the players. Is a draft successful if only one or two stars make it? The team still has to fill out a roster and the Brewers more than most teams need to rely on the draft to keep their payroll low. So is quantity better than quality? Below is a summary of these past 20 drafts: Summary 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Totals ML All Star 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 16 ML Regular 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 13 ML Role Player 2 3 0 1 1 3 3 0 2 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 21 ML Callup 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 4 1 4 2 1 4 2 2 2 0 1 0 0 36 Total ML Players 6 6 4 6 3 7 6 8 5 7 6 4 5 3 4 3 2 1 0 0 86 Still in Minors 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 6 11 12 16 5 16 72 Career WAR 32.3 17.5 58.6 80.9 8.5 18.3 30.5 33.4 8.3 -0.6 20 7.3 11.6 6.5 9.7 0.7 1.9 -0.2 0 0 345.2 Draft Order 7 2 5 5 16 14 16 26 14 12 27 No 1st (17) 12 15 5 9 21 26 20 15 - Supplemental picks 0 0 0 -1 0 -1 4 3 0 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 15 Total Picks 42 50 50 49 50 46 54 53 50 51 42 40 41 41 41 41 41 39 5 21 847 % made it to bigs 14.3% 12.0% 8.0% 12.2% 6.0% 15.2% 11.1% 15.1% 10.0% 13.7% 14.3% 10.0% 12.2% 7.3% 9.8% 7.3% 4.9% 2.6% 0.0% 0.0% 10.2% If you like quantity, it's hard to beat 2009. Mike Fiers, Kris Davis, Scooter Gennett, and Caleb Thielbar round out selections who made regular contributions in the majors. Four other players made the majors as well. The 2004 draft was also excellent. Gallardo and Cain headlined this draft that had a total career WAR of 58.6. There was little behind these two picks though. However, I am going to go with the 2005 draft. In terms of career WAR its hard to beat with Braun and Brantley making up the brunt of the 80+ career WAR. Four other players made the majors with Braddock at least filling a role for a couple of years. This is a good combination of MLB success as well as quantity of major leaguers. Can another draft beat out the 2005 draft? Two All stars and four other major leaguers is a tall order. As for pure success, the 2014 draft had Woodruff and 2016 had Burnes. These two should be raking in WAR for years to come, but it does not look like any other player from those drafts could be all stars. I think the 2018 draft has some potential. Rasmussen and Ashby are both good pitchers on the rise. It would not surprise me at all if they became all stars at some point. Turang, Reese Olson, Jarvis, K. Howell, and Joe Gray all have talent to potentially make the majors some day. Only time will tell. As for the opposite end of the spectrum, only 3 out of the 50 picks in 2006 made the majors and they had a career WAR of 8.5. The worst career WAR (not including recent drafts) was 2011 in which 7 players made the majors but had a combined career WAR of -0.6. Maybe Jorge Lopez and Nick Ramirez can continue to put up good numbers to get it to a positive number someday. Other interesting things I found during this study. There was almost always one all star out of each draft. From 2016 - 2002, only two drafts had no all stars. Three drafts produced two all stars each. That’s way more than I would have guessed. Granted an "all star" is somewhat dubious way of measuring talent, but its still noteworthy. Each draft produced at least 3 and as many as 8 major leaguers. There were a lot more players drafted back then, though very few players beyond the 20th round made it (8 to be exact). Mike Fiers and Brent Suter were the only ones of note. It explains why MLB has decided to trim the draft down to 20 rounds now. In the past 20 years, 847 players were drafted and 86 made the majors (10%). I'll admit this is a misleading number since this includes players who were not signed (I did not track how many), but I still consider those as lost opportunities by the Brewers. It also includes a lot of late round picks (20-50) and the MLB has already trimmed that down to 20. So going forward, the odds should look better, but still will be difficult. There are 72 more players in the minors, so that number could go up yet. Regardless, those are long odds for a newly drafted player to deal with. We all have big hopes for the Brewers draft class but in reality, its tough for them to even get to the majors, let alone succeed there. Thanks for taking the time to read through my blog ramblings. Leave a comment if you found this interesting or have feedback for me.

Say what you want of him, but Keston sure has a flair for the dramatic.

I'm pulling for Morales. 2017 pick is still only 22. Carolina has 4 lefty relievers. Its time they share with WI. But all of the pitchers you mentioned are worthy of a callup.

Brock put together this great tracker. It looks up to date to me. FYI There are a handful more UDFA than those listed https://brewerfanatic.com/milwaukee-brewers-draft-picks/2022/

The link you provided for Jose Acosta says he was born in 1891 and died in 1977. If that's correct, call me amazed. I'm surprised the guy can run to first let alone swing a bat. I suppose there is a chance you linked to the wrong guy, but I like my thoughts better

What do you expect them to say, "He's garbage. We plan to cut him tomorrow." They are of course going to talk him up a bit.

I always struggle with slotting the recent draft picks as I like to see them play a little before I get too excited about them. Looks like I have them slotted similarly with the rest of this group so far. Mid teens for the first two picks seems about right to me. 1 Sal Frelick 2 Jackson Chourio 3 Joey Wiemer 4 Brice Turang 5 Ethan Small 6 Estuary Ruiz 7 Garrett Mitchell 8 Robert Gasser 9 Jeferson Quero 10 Felix Valerio 11 Tyler Black 12 Eduardo Garcia 13 Hendry Mendez 14 Hedbert Perez 15 Eric Brown 16 Jacob Misiorowski 17 Tristan Lutz 18 Mario Feliciano 19 Joe Gray Jr 20 Victor Castaneda 21 Freddy Zamora 22 Brandon Knarr 23 Carlos Rodriguez (P) 24 Stiven Cruz 25 Abner Uribe 26 Cam Devanney 27 Justin Jarvis 28 Alexander Cornielle 29 Cam Robinson 30 TJ Shook

With all of these now reactionary moves (Whitley and Ray down to AA), Peters to AA and then traded. Seems like moving up all three AA OF to AAA could have waiting a couple days. I like all three but would have been fine with just calling up one or two instead of all three.

Seems odd the Brewers could not have traded Severino prior to the trade deadline for at least something. He was only owed ~40% of $1.9M. Seems like a lottery ticket for him would have been better than this. If he does get waived and is not claimed, Severino could be sent to AAA. He has 4 years of ML service time, so he can refuse an outright assignment but would forfeit his remaining salary. Not like Lamet who can refuse and gets to keep the rest of his salary since he has 5 years of ML service time.