Milwaukee Brewers Farm Report: Brevard County Manatees

Last week I reported on the first ten games for the Manatees. They started the season winning half of those games but had some good performances from some of their key players.

Here is what they have done since then.

Brevard County is 4-4 in the last eight games and currently has a record of 9-9, placing them fourth in the Florida State League North Division, two games behind the Daytona Tortugas. (In case you didn’t know, Tortuga is Spanish for turtle or tortoise.)

As a team, they are tied for second in home runs (14), second in stolen bases (25), third in batting average (.257), and second in OPS (.720). On the pitching side, they rank in the bottom half of the twelve-team league in almost all metrics, but that is not to say they don’t have good pitchers.

Twenty-one-year-old righty Jorge Ortega is in his third minor league season and has had a nice start for the Manatees, posting a 2-1 mark with an ERA of 3.00. He has averaged seven innings per tilt and is sporting a 0.810 WHIP.

Hiram Burgos, 27, has made four starts and is 1-2, 3.27 ERA. Casey Medlen, 25, is the team’s closer and has three saves in six appearances, although he has struggled with his control and has a WHIP of 1.714.

Others pitching well include right reliever Kaleb Earls, 22, who has an ERA of 1.74 and a WHIP of 0.871 in six games (10 1/3 innings pitched), and right-handed starter Javi Salas, 23. In two starts, he has averaged seven plus innings and has a 1-2 record to go along with an ERA of 1.35 and a WHIP of 1.000.

Notables include Jim Henderson, who has appeared twice, averaging an inning per outing, and lefty Wei-Chung Wang, who is 1-1 in four starts, with an ERA of 7.71 and WHIP of 2.143.

On the hitting side, Brevard County is led by former number one pick Clint Coulter. The more I see or hear about this youngster (21), the more I like him. In 18 games, the right fielder is hitting .338/.427/.690 with six homers, three doubles, and two triples in addition to his 15 RBI.

Keeping pace is the other corner outfielder, 23-y-o Victor Roache. He is slashing .329/.405/.600 with five homers and 18 runs batted in, ranking second in the league, closely followed by Coulter.

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HITTER OF THE WEEK:
C/DH Paul Eshleman is hitting .355/.394/.677 in 31 at-bats and has five extra-base hits and was named FSL Player of the Week for April 20-26, and for that reason, he is my ‘Hitter of the Week.’

Eshleman, 24, is in his fourth year in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. He was added to the Manatees roster on April 21 and celebrated by smashing a walk-off, two-run homer in his first game for Brevard County.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
I am going to split this week’s ‘POTW,’ giving it to the aforementioned Ortega, who went 1-0, 2.57 ERA in one start, pitching seven innings, allowing six hits, two runs, and whiffing seven.

Lefty reliever Trevor Seidenberger pitched twice (4 1/3 innings), allowing no hits and two walks while striking out five, and earned a win in relief. And as an extra, added bonus, Seidenberger’s hometown is Pflugerville, Texas, which was the filming location for the hit TV-series Friday Night Lights.

Now you know the rest of the story. Good day!

Next: Milwaukee Brewers Farm Report: Wisconsin Timer Rattlers

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