Milwaukee Brewers: Biloxi Shuckers Week 16 – Woodruff Pitches a Dominant Month of July

RHP Brandon Woodruff has made quite the jump on the Milwaukee Brewers top prospects lists as he has certainly lowered his 5.68 ERA at the end of June.

SP Brandon Woodruff was called up to the AA Biloxi Shuckers on May 15th and like most prospects had to make the adjustment. With a 5.68 ERA by the end of June, he went 30.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 BBs, and 42 Ks to lower it down to a 3.28 ERA. An overall July ERA of 0.29 is impressive to say the least. Even with the very sad story of his brother passing away, he seemed to have no problems getting back on the field and performing at the same level.

With the trade deadline wrapping up today, he was continually going up the MLB Pipeline at #22, but dropped down a little bit at #25. Good news for the Milwaukee Brewers as it seems they are continually building up their farm system. But, getting back to the AA Biloxi Shuckers, they went 3-3 this past week (including yesterday) and were rained out today. Plenty of good pitching like Woodruff, so let’s take a look at the top players this last week and flip the switch looking at the pitchers first.

Top 3 Pitchers

SP Brandon Woodruff

68.2 IP / 3.28 ERA / 2.75 FIP (AA only)

Anytime you put the word “dominate” the numbers shouldn’t lie and they don’t with Woodruff this past week. Going 13 IP, 4 Hs, 2 BBs, and 19 Ks in 2 games is well, pretty good. In A+ this year, he had a 1.83 ERA, along with a 2.47 FIP in 44.1 IP. Incredible numbers to match up to, but each start he seems to get closer and closer.

SP Wei-Chung Wang

103.1 IP / 3.48 ERA / 3.43 FIP

On July 16, Wang had a start where he gave up 4 ERs and you have to go back all the way to early June where he gave up more than 2 ERs. In 6 IP, 3 Hs, 1 ER, and 4 Ks, he was able to pick up the win. He’s just 5 Ks away from outdoing his 9 Ks at the A+ level last year and it’s with nearly 2 more Ks per game at 7.49 K/9, it’s a big help this year.

SP Taylor Jungmann

32.2 IP / 3.58 ERA / 3.25 FIP (AA only)

Jungmann seemed to have issues simply staying on the mound and getting deep into ball games. With 6 IP being his most all season just two starts ago, he upped it going 8 IP, 2 Hs, 1 ER, 2 BBs, and 5 Ks. He was able to get his ERA down to a solid level at 3.58 in AA even if it didn’t get him the win. All the numbers in AA seem to point to a rebound, but it’s all about consistency for Jungmann.

More from Brewers Prospects

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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

Top 3 Hitters

2B Javier Betancourt

.233/.288/.328 / 4 HRs/36 RBIs / 7.3 BB%/16.0 K%

The offense didn’t have the best week as the most runs they had in a game was 4 runs and that was in a loss. Otherwise, the most they scored was 3 or less runs each game. The Shuck Dynasty reminded fans Betancourt had a 10-game hitting streak after coming off the DL before it was snapped this past Thursday. But, he had at least a hit in 3 out of the 4 games including a HR. Although, his low offensive numbers is of no surprise, his doubling of K% from 8% of last year is something to improve as he had 4 more this past week.

3B Dustin DeMuth

.289/.356/.406 / 0 HR/1 RBI / 0.0 BB%/37.5 K%

DeMuth was just assigned to the Shuckers on July 26th. He is of an older age of 25, but just started Rookie League with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2014. Evaluating him in 2015, FanGraphs pointed out he didn’t have much power to his swing. Thus far, in his minor league career he has 14, which isn’t too bad. He had 6 HRs this year with Brevard County and got his AVG up going 4-5 with a triple yesterday. Assuming Taylor, Nottingham, and Phillips will get going again, DeMuth should have opportunities to drive in some runs.

CF Johnny Davis

.252/.285/.298 / 1 HR/2 RBIs (Not on FanGraphs)

While Davis contributes more defensively for the Shuckers, he’s done his best to fill the void with not a whole lot of runs getting put in. With his 6 hits this past week including a double, he tried his best to add to it with 3 steals which put him in the lead for the most on the team with Taylor and Phillips tied for 8. The 26 year-old hopes to contribute in anyway to get the team going and out from the bottom of the division.

Next: Smith Traded for Giants' Top Prospect(s)

Other notes

SP Jorge Lopez had his first start with the team as he was just demoted from AAA going 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 BB, and 5 Ks in a loss. Also, there were plenty of roster moves affecting the Biloxi Shuckers this past week including a new catcher from A+ league.

All stats via FanGraphs or MiLB