Brewers Farm Report: Brevard County Manatees

Each week throughout the regular season, the staff at Reviewing the Brew will be bringing you a comprehensive minor league report about each of the Milwaukee Brewers affiliates. There isn’t much to write home about at the big league level this season (so far) for the Brewers, but Milwaukee does have plenty of exciting prospects off to hot starts throughout their minor league system.

The Brewers affiliate in the Florida State League (Advanced A) is no exception.

For the week between June 2-8, the ‘Tees won three of six games to raise their record to 25-31, good for fifth place in the FSL North. They are 7 1/2 games behind Daytona, whom Brevard County split two games with to start the week.

The Manatees are third in the league with 25 homers, and rank second with 61 steals.

Clint Coulter and Victor Roache are Siamese twins when it comes to the hitter’s leader board: both are tied for first in the loop with nine home runs; both are tied for third with 33 RBIs; and Coulter is third in slugging (.455) while Roache is one spot behind with a .454 mark.

Taylor Smith-Brennan is second with 36 runs scored; Garrett Cooper is tied for second with 14 doubles, and Omar Garcia is tied for third with 20 stolen bases.

On the pitching side, the team ranks in the middle of most pitching categories, but still leads the FSL with three complete games–all by Jorge Ortega.

Trevor Seidenberger (0.51) and Preston Gainey (0.71) are a pair of top relievers with ERAs under one. Among qualifiers (56 IP or more), Ortega is fourth with 2.03.

The FSL All-Star teams were announced this week and  four Manatees will represent the North Division: outfielders Coulter and Roache, second baseman Chris McFarland, and starting pitcher Ortega.

HITTER OF THE WEEK: Chris McFarland, 2B

McFarland has been having a great year and did well this week, slashing .318/.375/.364, going 7-for-22 with a run, a double, and three RBIs. For the season, the All-Star is hitting .289/.339/.366 in 254 trips to the plate, featuring 13 doubles and 11 steals.

Runners-Up: Garrett Cooper, 1B and Michael Rattarree, OF

Cooper had a great week last week and continued this week as well. He hit .316/.409/.474, going 6-for-19 with three runs scored and three doubles.

Rattarree saw his first playing time in 2015 (injury?) and hit a walk-off homer in his first game with Brevard County. He was 2-for-6 in his first two games before taking an 0-for-5 collar in game three. Fun fact: while splitting time between Class A Wisconsin and AA Huntsville last year, Rattarree was the winner of the 2014 Minor League Gold Glove in right field. Not bad!

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PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Clint Terry, LHP

Terry made a spot start (his third of the year) and made it a good one, going seven innings, allowing three hits and one earned run while whiffing 10 in a 7-1 win over league-leading Daytona. Terry, an 18th round pick in 2013, has an ERA of 2.08 and WHIP of 1.067, along with a K:BB ratio of 6.4 to 1.

Runners-Up: Preston Gainey, RHP; Javi Salas, RHP, and  Mark Williams, RHP

Gainey continued his excellent season, earning a win and a save in two appearances. He tossed three innings, allowed one hit, one earnie, and one walk while whiffing five.

Salas improved to 5-4 with a win over Palm Beach. He pitched seven innings, allowed six hits and two earned runs while walking one and striking out four.

Williams pitched twice, going five and two-thirds while allowing two hits and striking out seven.

UP NEXT:

The Manatees can make some hay next week, although they play six of seven on the road. Brevard County visits Palm Beach (sixth in the South), Clearwater (third in the North) before coming home to host Jupiter (third in the South).