Brewers Minors: Sounds and Mudcats Can’t Be Stopped in Week 4

Four weeks have now passed for the Milwaukee Brewers minor league affiliates. Somehow, this most recent week might have been the most exciting one of the season so far.

After seeing the first series sweep of the year by an affiliate two weeks ago, we got two of them in the minors last week. Three players also earned player of the week awards for their performances, two at the plate and one on the mound.

So let’s dive right in to the action. Here is the week 4 recap for the Milwaukee Brewers minor league affiliates.

Triple-A Nashville Sounds (18-5)

Is anyone feeling a little deja vu right now? Just like the previous week, the Sounds swept their six-game series last week, this time against the Columbus Clippers, running their winning streak to 12 games. Nashville scored at least six runs in every game of the series.

Leading the way was recently optioned outfielder Tyrone Taylor, who went 8 for 15 over four games with two doubles, three homers, and seven runs scored. The performance earned him Triple-A East Player of the Week honors, the first such honor for the team this season.

Zach Green continued to state a case for a call up to the bigs as he added five more homers to his total last week, though that came with 11 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Dustin Peterson had seven hits last week, giving him 20 on the season which ties Green and MLB Pipeline’s No. 24 Brewers prospect Corey Ray for the team lead.

On the mound, Zack Godley has continued to look good, throwing six scoreless with five hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts in a start last week. A handful of Sounds relievers also went scoreless last week including Luke Barker (4 G, 4 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K) and Hoby Milner (3 G, 3 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 5 K, 2 saves).

Double-A Biloxi Shuckers (10-14)

It was another down week for the Shuckers as they dropped four of their six games to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos at home last week. Biloxi had a chance for a second straight series split on Sunday but dropped the series finale 9-1.

No. 2 Brewers prospect Brice Turang stayed hot at the plate, going 8 for 26 on the week. He also scored three times, knocked in four runs, and added his first homer of the season. Jamie Westbrook had six hits in the series while Tyler Friis and No. 12 prospect Tristen Lutz added five each.

A trio of Shuckers starters had starts in which they gave up a single earned run last week: No. 4 prospect Ethan Small (5 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 8 K), Leo Crawford (5 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 K), and Matt Hardy (6 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K). Nick Bennett also saw his first start since being promoted to Double-A, getting the win after giving up three runs on five hits over six innings, walking none and striking out seven.

High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (12-12)

The Timber Rattlers got back on the winning track, taking four of six in their series against the Cedar Rapids Kernels last week. It was Wisconsin’s first series win since their opening series of the season at the beginning of May.

Perhaps the best news of the week, for both Timber Rattlers and Brewers fans, was the return of No. 1 Brewers prospect Garrett Mitchell from injury on Sunday. He played designated hitter and led off the game, going 0 for 2 with a strikeout before being lifted for a pinch hitter.

Je’Von Ward, who also had a triple and a team-high 8 RBIs last week, tied two other players with a team-high nine hits last week. He was joined by No. 27 Brewers prospect David Hamilton, who also scored five times and stole four bases, and Korry Howell, who also had three doubles and two steals and has become a staple of our weekly minor league recaps.

Zach Mort (4 2/3 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 6 K) and Cristian Sierra (4 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 3 K) each threw scoreless starts while Freisis Adames (5 IP, 0 H, 3 BB, 1 K) gave up just a run in his start. But the week belonged to Victor Castaneda, who went 6 2/3 scoreless, giving up just two hits and a walk while striking out eight on his way to the High-A Central Pitcher of the Week award.

Low-A Carolina Mudcats (16-8)

Apparently the recent winning ways of the Sounds looked like so much fun that the Mudcats decided to get in on the action. They swept their six-gamer against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers last week, kicking it off with a whopping 23-7 win on Tuesday.

Let’s just start by staring in awe for a second at the stat line of Joe Gray Jr. He went 10 for 23, scored 10 runs, had three doubles and three homers, and knocked in 17 RBIs in the series. That made him an easy choice for Low-A East Player of the Week honors.

Ernesto Martinez joined Gray Jr. with 10 hits of his own, bringing his average to an even .300 on the season. Felix Valerio followed with nine as well as four steals while Gabe Holt and Noah Campbell had eight hits apiece as they also scored eleven and seven runs, respectively, last week.

Brendan Murphy continues to be an amazing story for the Mudcats, picking up two wins in the series, including a seven-inning complete game shutout on Sunday (5 H, 1 BB, 9 K). Jhoan Cruz also picked up a win in his start, giving up just an unearned run and four hits over six innings while striking out seven.

The first calendar month of the minor league season is over for Brewers minor league affiliates as we now flip the calendar to June. Come back next week as we recap another week’s worth of minor league action.