At Home on the Farm: Single A Edition

I know a lot of people out there don’t take a lot of interest in Minor League news, so allow me to flex my baseball nerd muscles for a little bit and tell you why you should be looking at our farm system right now, specifically in Single A.

If anybody was lucky enough to be able to see the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers game the other night, you witnessed one amazing game by starting pitcher Tyler Thornburg. If you haven’t seen anything about him yet, just wait for a few seasons and you will see him in Brewers jersey. If you need a little more proof, take a look at his line last night: nine innings, five hits, eight strikeouts, zero runs.

Thornburg has given up nine runs this season in 48 innings with 50 strikeouts. He has an ERA of 1.31 so far this season. I’ve been looking over the stats today and I could go on about this kid forever, so you better look for yourself.

Also putting up big numbers in yesterday’s contest was a catcher by the name of Tyler Roberts. Roberts put up two home runs in last night’s game that helped push the Timber Rattlers over the Kane County Cougars. Tyler has not had a big season in Appleton this year, but he has proven himself over his young career to be a consistent offensive player, and I think last night just might be the turn around he needs to start putting up some big numbers.

Speaking of big numbers, first year third baseman Michael Walker is making a mockery of Midwest League pitchers. Walker is hitting .283 for the Timber Rattlers this season, and is leading the team in batting average, home runs, RBIs, Slugging and On-Base percentage. I love watching him play in Appleton, but I will be even more excited if and when he continues his success further up the ladder.

It’s rare for me to see the T-Rats in contention in the Midwest League, but their third place standing right now shows a marked improvement and a team filled with promising young talent that can only bode well for the Big League Club.

In other single A news, a personal favorite prospect of the club continues to do well on his upward journey through the farm system. Though he is still young, I have to believe that Ryan ‘Scooter’ Gennett will be tearing his way through the minor league system in no time. This season in Advanced A with the Brevard County Manatees, Scooter is hitting .263 with 20 RBI’s and is a top 5 leader in a handful of offensive categories. Besides that he has shown himself to have to plenty of big league potential with his glove. He boasts a .296 career average so far in the MiLB, and I would expect that all of his numbers will continue to climb.

Look, I’m not dumb. I know that Single A ball is not elite level excitement. But when you can get a chance to see greatness develop like the players mentioned here, it is an experience worth savoring. So I urge you to check out and support all of the Brewers farm teams – whether it’s going to see a game in person (I can tell you from vast experience that a Timber Rattlers game is one hell of a good time) or just keeping tabs on upcoming stars, an investment by fans in the farm teams will pay dividends down the road. So forget what you heard from pundits who say that we have depleted our minor league talent, because once these young guys start moving up, they’ll be singing a different tune.