Brewers Minors: 3 More Weekly Awards Earned by Prospects in Week 5

A couple of long winning streaks came to an end for Brewers minor league affiliates in week 5, but there were still plenty of big individual performances to speak of. Some of them were even award-winning once again.

Just like in our previous week’s recap, three Brewers prospects earned weekly awards in their respective divisions last week, one of which being a back-to-back player of the week winner. Six weekly awards in two weeks? Now that’s impressive!

Which players won the awards? Let’s find out by diving into the week 5 recap for the Milwaukee Brewers minor league affiliates.

Triple-A Nashville Sounds (21-8, 1st in Southeast Division)

As they say, all good things must come to an end. The Sounds fell one win short of setting a new franchise record when their 15-game winning streak was snapped by the Charlotte Knights. Nashville lost the next two games as well, giving them a split of the six-game series.

The Sounds’ roster took quite the hit last week on a couple different fronts. On top of the promotions of Tyrone Taylor and Pablo Reyes to the big league roster, Dustin Peterson (broken finger), Corey Ray (hip), two of the team’s top offensive threats, hit the injured list last week.

Weston Wilson stepped in to have a big week at the plate for the Sounds. He finished the series 7 for 19 with three doubles, two homers, five walks, three runs scored, and a steal, the only swipe for Nashville last week.

The Sounds had a few standout performances on the mound, but MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 Brewers prospect, left-hander Aaron Ashby, was the cream of the crop. He gave up an unearned run over seven innings on two hits and a walk with a season-high 11 strikeouts on his way to Triple-A East pitcher of the week honors.

Josh Lindblom also made his first start since being DFA’d by the Brewers, giving up just a hit and hitting a batter over three scoreless innings, striking out three. Chad Sobotka, who was acquired in the Orlando Arcia trade, also made his season debut, throwing two scoreless innings across two different outings, giving up two hits and a walk while striking out a pair.

Double-A Biloxi Shuckers (12-18, 4th in North Division)

A new month had the same result for the Shuckers as they went 2-4 in their six-game series for the second time in a row, this time on the road against the Montgomery Biscuits. Biloxi gave up five or more runs in all but one game of the series.

No. 2 prospect Brice Turang led the way once again, collecting a team-high 11 hits and 5 RBIs last week with two doubles and four runs scored. He finds himself in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak dating back to the end of May.

No. 19 prospect Payton Henry followed Turang with nine hits in the series, raising his season average to .278 on the year. Mitch Longo had eight hits, including a double and a triple, and scored a team-high six runs in the series.

Ethan Small, Milwaukee’s No. 4 prospect, had quite the week. In two starts, he threw 10 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and six walks and striking out a whopping 19 batters. Like Ashby, he earned his league’s pitcher of the week award for his efforts.

High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (15-15, T-2nd in West Division)

The Timber Rattlers started their month of June with a series split at home against the Peoria Chiefs last week. They salvaged the split with a dominant 11-2 victory in the series finale on Sunday.

Top prospect Garrett Mitchell made the statement that he is officially back after an injury that kept him out for the majority of May. In the series against the Chiefs, he finished 6 for 12 with a triple, homer, five walks, and a pair of steals.

Speaking of steals, No. 27 prospect David Hamilton was a terror on the basepaths, collecting seven steals in the series (six in one game!) and bringing his league-leading total to 20. Meanwhile, Je’Von Ward and No. 22 prospect Thomas Dillard tied for the team lead with seven hits each, with the former leading the way with four doubles and the latter knocking in a team-high nine RBIs.

Reese Olson was strong yet again on the mound for the Timber Rattlers. He was a winner in both starts last week, giving up two runs over 11 innings on nine hits and three walks, striking out 16. His ERA now sits at 3.30 on the season and his 42 strikeouts are third most in the High-A Central.

Low-A Carolina Mudcats (18-11, T-1st in Central Division)

Like the Sounds, the Mudcats also saw their winning streak, this one of the six-game variety, come to an end. Due to rainouts, they only played five of their six games in the series against the Down East Wood Ducks, winning two and losing three.

What more can we say about Joe Gray Jr. at this point? He had another great series last week, leading the team in hits (8), runs (5), triples (3), home runs (3), and RBIs (6). The performance earned him his second consecutive Low-A East player of the week award.

Felix Valerio stayed hot at the plate as well, putting up six hits (four doubles) in the series and extending his hitting streak to 12 games. No. 8 prospect Freddy Zamora, along with Gabe Holt, follwed with five hits apiece.

On the pitching side, Justin Bullock had another scoreless start, giving up two hits and a walk over four innings with five strikeouts on Friday. Flame-throwing No. 30 prospect Abner Uribe also saw better results in the series, throwing five scoreless innings across two outings and giving up three hits and five walks but striking out eight.

Is there any way the Brewers affiliates make it three weeks in a row with three player of the week awards next week? It would be an unlikely accomplishment, but we’ll give you the highlights regardless after the series are complete.