Milwaukee Brewers Minors: Missions First to 70 Wins

Roster turnover hasn’t slowed down the San Antonio Missions who continue to lead the way in the Pacific Coast League after last week. Read about that and more in our Milwaukee Brewers minor league review for the week of July 29 – August 4.

Triple-A

San Antonio Missions (70-43)

1st place Pacific Coast League American Southern

Despite having much of their talent poached by their parent ball club, most recently outfielder Trent Grisham, the Milwaukee Brewers Triple-A affiliate continued to roll along last week, losing two of three to the Sacramento River Cats before turning it around and winning two of three against the Fresno Grizzlies over the weekend. In the process they became the first team in all of the Pacific Coast League to reach the 70-win mark.

The starters had a stretch of three straight scoreless starts, beginning with Burch Smith‘s 5 1/3-inning start on Thursday. Trey Supak continued the run on Friday with 6 2/3 innings of four-hit, eight-strikeout ball. Zack Brown finished it with one of his best starts of the year – six innings, four hits, a walk, and seven strikeouts. Jake Faria and Ray Black each made their debuts after being acquired at the trade deadline, both pitching scoreless innings.

Four players – David Freitas, Hernan Perez, Tyrone Taylor, and Troy Stokes Jr. – had hits in four of the six games last week. Stokes Jr. finished his week 7-for-18 (.389) with a run, four runs batted in, two walks, and a stolen base. The left fielder raised his batting average from .220 to .233 by the end of the week.

Double-A

Biloxi Shuckers (66-47)

Tied 1st in Southern League South

1st half division winners

It was a rough week offensively for the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate as the team scored more than three runs just twice. Those two games accounted for Biloxi’s only two wins in a week that saw them drop two of three (three of five across both weeks) to the Jackson Generals and three of four to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.

Dylan File (7-1) and Cameron Roegner (4-4) picked up the two wins for the Shuckers for the week. File was particularly effective in his outing, going six scoreless innings and giving up six hits and a walk with four strikeouts. File now has a 2.79 ERA and 1.06 WHIP since his promotion to Biloxi and a nice, shiny ration of 51 strikeouts to just 10 walks over nine games.

Clayton Andrews, Tyler Spurlin, and Justin Topa each threw two scoreless relief outings last week. Topa still hasn’t given up an earned run in ten appearances as a Shucker. Brent Suter also made his first rehab appearance on Sunday since being transferred to Biloxi, throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

Despite the quiet offensive week for the Shuckers, Dillon Thomas stayed relatively strong, recording hits in five of seven games for the week and going 8-for-24 (.333) with three doubles, a triple, and a his tenth homer. Cooper Hummel added a trio of dingers, bringing his total on the season to 14 and tying Weston Wilson for the team lead.

Class A Advanced

Carolina Mudcats (57-56)

Last Place Carolina League Southern

9.5 games back

The Milwaukee Brewers High-A affiliate finally broke their eight-game losing streak with a pair of wins as the calendar turned to August. Those were the only wins of the week for Carolina, though, as they lost two of three against the Down East Wood Ducks to start the week and lost two of three to the Winston-Salem Dash to end it.

Noah Zavolas (6-5) and Christian Taugner (5-7) tallied the two Mudcats wins on the week. Zavolas went six scoreless and gave up just three hits and a walk with eight strikeouts, while Taugner gave up an earned run and six hits with four punch outs. Zavolas’s outing earned him his second Carolina League Pitcher of the Week award on the year.

Phil Bickford continued his solid improvement, throwing three scoreless innings over two games and striking out six. Bickford hasn’t given up an earned run in his last six games and has lowered his ERA to 4.86 over that time.

Payton Henry (6-for-23), Mario Feliciano (9-for-25), and Zach Clark (7-for-19) led the way offensively for Carolina, each picking up hits in five games last week. Feliciano had two homers among his nine hits, raising his season total to 17 and giving him the solo Carolina League lead. His 73 runs batted in are tied for the league lead as well.

Class A

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (53-58)

5th place Midwest League Western

7.0 games back

The Timber Rattlers didn’t have much to write home about last week until the weekend arrived. The Milwaukee Brewers Single-A affiliate began the week by losing four straight before taking two of three over the weekend against the Clinton LumberKings and the Peoria Chiefs.

Ethan Small, the Milwaukee Brewers’ 1st round pick this year, made his debut for Wisconsin on Friday and was impressive in going three innings and giving up three hits and a walk while striking out five. Max Lazar threw the final six innings and gave up just a hit with eight strikeouts to continue his impressive campaign. Lazar has given up only six earned runs over his last ten appearances and lowered his ERA to 1.41.

Jesus Lujano picked up hits in five of the Timber Rattlers’ games last over the week. The outfielder went 6-for-19 (.316) and added his 20th stolen base of the year, tying him with Yeison Coca for the team lead among players currently on the team. Brice Turang had 21 before he was promoted.

Rookie Advanced

Rocky Mountain Vibes (21-26)

3rd place Pioneer League South

2.0 games back

The Vibes set the standard for wins among affiliates last week, beginning the week by sweeping the Orem Owls over three games to close July before tripping up a bit and dropping three of four versus the Ogden Raptors.

2019 6th-rounder Nick Bennett picked up a couple of scoreless outings, throwing 4 2/3 innings over two games and giving up three hits and three walks with eight punch outs. The outings brought his ERA down to 1.42 as a member of the Vibes.

Bryan Torres had the hot bat for Rocky Mountain for the week. With hits in five of seven games last week, Torres exploded on Saturday with a 4-for-4 day that saw him score twice, drive in a run, and steal a base as well.