Milwaukee Brewers: Jorge Lopez Transferred to AA, Garrett Cooper Called Up to AAA

The Milwaukee Brewers have made some recent moves in the last few days that’ll hopefully work out for both the top prospect pitcher and underrated infielder.

At the start of the season SP Jorge Lopez had big expectations as he was ranked #2 by Baseball America and had 143.1 IP, 2.26 ERA, and 3.36 FIP. He even was called up to the Milwaukee Brewers and pitched 10 innings. It was an easy call to get him up to AAA.

But, going up to Colorado Springs Sky Sox is something else for pitchers. As Adam McIntosh pointed out Jorge Lopez may be just be adjusting to Colorado Springs and made it questionable what his true struggles were. But, overall he’s gone 79.1 IP, 6.81 ERA, and 6.35 FIP and Baseball America took him out of the Top 10 in their mid-season rankings.

The Milwaukee Brewers may have looked at the basics in how he did on the home vs. road games. At home he had 38 IP with a 6.16 ERA, while on the road it wasn’t any better going 41.1 IP and an even higher 7.40 ERA. Maybe having a steady velocity in AA with the Biloxi Shuckers with his pitches will get him back to a regular routine.

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• Should the Brewers Promote Hot Hitting Prospect Sal Frelick?
• Brewers: Where does 2022 Draft class sit in Pipeline mid-season rankings?
• Milwaukee Brewers: Minor League Affiliate Recap for 8/2 to 8/7

With 1B Garrett Cooper, the year has been just the opposite. Coming up from A+ (only played 9 games in AA last year), his numbers were very impressive and have somehow dropped. His batting line has gone from .294/.356/.436 to .299/.350/.419 along with his wRC+ going from 142 to 122. Of course, still solid numbers.

While Cooper isn’t a young prospect like Lopez at the age of 25, but didn’t start even playing in Rookie League until age 22. He can be a good asset to the Milwaukee Brewers in a smaller role. With recent call-ups like infielder Jake Elmore or Andy Wilkens, he could possibly take a role like them.

He’s mainly played 1B this year and last year. While there’s not advanced stats for defense to keep track of in the minor league system, looking at the basics he had 16 errors overall at 1B (999.1 innings), but only 4 errors in 469.2 innings this year. Not sure what to make of these basic stats, but he also has played 171.2 innings in the outfield, so at the very least he can be an asset playing more than just one position.

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At this point, Hernan Perez is in the 3B position with Jonathan Villar likely to take that spot in the future if all plans work out with Orlando Arcia taking the SS position. Any possible infielders that simply can pinch hit and get on base like Cooper at this point is certainly a plus.