Milwaukee Brewers: April Minor League Affiliate Recap

April was a good month for the Milwaukee Brewers organization. The big-league club, fresh off a 9-1 beatdown of the Chicago Cubs, finished the month with a 15-7 record, which was good for their third best April winning percentage in a season in franchise history, and a three-game cushion atop the NL Central.

The month of April was good to the Brewers’ minor league affiliates as well. Every affiliate, from Low-A to Triple-A, finished the month with a .500 record or better, with one even finishing with the best record in their league.

Now that we are officially into the month of May, it’s time to take a look back at how the first month went for each of the team’s minor league affiliates. Where do they sit in the standings, how do they rank statistically, and what players have led the way so far in 2022?

Here are how the Milwaukee Brewers minor league affiliates performed in the month of April*.

*Stats and standings will also include games played on May 1st.

Brewers Triple-A Affiliate: Nashville Sounds (16-7, 1st in International League West)

Because of the MLB lockout, the 2022 Triple-A season actually ended up beginning just before the MLB season did, thus the Sounds began regular season play two days prior to the Brewers. Nashville won that series, just like they have done in every other series since then.

The Sounds currently lead not only their division, and not only the International League, but all of Triple-A with their 16-7 record. Their +53 run differential happens to also be best among all Triple-A teams as well.

The offense for Nashville has been decent in 2022 as they are tied for 10th out of 20 International League teams in home runs (23), 11th in batting average (.247), and 9th in OPS (.746). They’ve also been opportunistic on the base paths, sitting 5th in the league in stolen bases (25).

Like their parent ball club, the story of this team so far in 2022 has been pitching. The Sounds lead the league in ERA (2.61), WHIP (1.195), and opponents’ batting average (.205) and have given up the least amount of home runs (12) of any pitching staff.

The starting rotation has been led by MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 Brewers prospect Ethan Small, who has a miniscule 0.77 ERA through his first five starts. It doesn’t get much easier from there, though, as Josh Lindblom (2.11) and Jason Alexander (2.70) each have sub 3.00 ERAs while Caleb Boushley (3.38) and No. 24 Dylan File (4.84) haven’t exactly been pushovers either.

Oh, and don’t forget about the bullpen, which features six pitchers – Hobie Harris, Conner Sadzeck, Luis Perdomo, Trevor Kelley, Peter Strzelecki, and J.C. Mejia – who have appeared in at least seven games and have an ERA under 1.10.

On the hitting side, No. 4 prospect, shortstop Brice Turang, who has also now added outfield to his repertoire, has been as good as advertised. He leads all qualifying Sounds players with a .313 average and seven doubles through 13 games, one that included this Nashville franchise record-tying five-hit game from two Fridays ago.

A good chunk of the power production thus far has come from a pair off offseason first base minor league free agent signings. Tyler White leads the club with a .989 OPS and five homers while reclamation project Jon Singleton has five bombs of his own and leads Nashville with 15 RBIs.

Two other names worth noting from the month of April are third baseman Weston Wilson who was all around solid with a .273/.385/.491 slash line and a team-leading 17 runs scored and utility man Mark Mathias, who has returned from injury to play 14 games and has looked very good himself, slashing .348/.434/.543.

Brewers High-A Affiliate: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (12-9, T-2nd in Midwest League West)

The Timber Rattlers are yet another affiliate who started the year off strong before simmering down. Wisconsin won their first three series of the 2022 season before dropping five of six in their most recent set of games on the road against the Peoria Chiefs.

Despite the recent swoon, the Timber Rattlers still see themselves sporting a winning record heading into the beginning of May. That conflicts a bit with the fact that they have a -15 run differential, though two losses by a combined 27 runs this season contribute to that quite a bit.

The offense has for the most part been just below league average so far in 2022. Of the 12 Midwest League teams, Wisconsin is 7th in runs scored (88) and batting average (.224), 8th in OPS (.686) and 9th in homers (15). They do sport the 2nd most steals (35) in the league, however.

The pitching staff has been ok at limiting hits so far in 2022 with a .223 batting average against that ranks 6th lowest in the league, but not so much at limiting runs with a 4.68 ERA that is 3rd highest. Again, two blowout losses don’t exactly help in that regard.

The Timber Rattler offense is largely being led by 2021 draft picks. Outfielder Sal Frelick, the team’s first-round draft pick from last year and No. 1 prospect overall, is second on the team with a .847 OPS, third with a .291 average, and is tied for the team lead with 12 runs scored.

He is joined by last year’s Competitive Balance A pick, second baseman Tyler Black (No. 6) and seventh rounder Tristan Peters. The former has a .303 average and .804 OPS with just three strikeouts in 10 games, while the latter has a .304 average and .825 OPS.

Don’t forget about catcher Darien Miller, though, a ninth rounder from the 2019 draft. In 17 games, he leads the team with his .876 OPS and three home runs and is the one tied with Frelick for the team lead with 12 runs scored.

The Wisconsin pitching staff features two standouts in TJ Shook and Brandon Knarr. Both were signed by the Brewers as minor league free agents in the summer of 2020, when, as most will remember, there was no minor league season.

Shook is 1-1 on the season in four games (two starts) and leads the team with a 1.37 ERA and team-leading .125 batting average against. Knarr, meanwhile, is 2-1 in his four games (all starts) with a 1.61 ERA and team-leading 0.851 WHIP. They each have 27 strikeouts on the season.

Brewers Low-A Affiliate: Carolina Mudcats (11-10, T-2nd in Carolina League North)

The Mudcats have been a bit of a streaky team in this first portion of 2022 regular season play with two winning streaks of at least three games and two losing streaks of at least the same length already this year. But after a win last Sunday, Carolina sits a game over .500.

That’s good enough to place them in second place in their division, three games behind the first place Fredricksburg Nationals. They have the worst run differential of the four Brewers affiliates at -23, though like the Timber Rattlers, they had two losses of more than ten runs last month.

The Mudcats have been able to put hits on the board as they place 5th of 12 Carolina League teams in batting average (.232). They rank low in other offensive marks, however, placing 10th in OPS (.654) and home runs (10) and are 8th in runs scored (102).

Things don’t get particularly better on the pitching side, either. Carolina pitchers have put up a 5.33 ERA and 1.601 WHIP in 2022, both placing 10th in the Carolina League, while giving up the second most walks (128) so far as well.

The team MVP on offense so far has arguably been outfielder Micah Bello. The Competitive Balance B pick from the 2018 draft leads the team in a handful off offensive categories including batting average (.356), OPS (.994), runs scored (13), doubles (6), and homers (2) across 18 games played.

Joining him in a tie for the team lead in doubles and homers is shortstop Eduardo Garcia (No. 12). His slash line (.321/.357/.500) has been plenty impressive as well, as has that of second baseman Zach Raabe (.297/.460/.405), an 8th round pick in last year’s draft.

The top performer on the mound for the Mudcats has probably been reliever Michele Vassalotti. The right-hander has pitched 11 innings across seven games in 2022 and has a 2-0 record with a 2.45 ERA and 0.636 WHIP while converting each of his two save opportunities on the season.

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The vibes are positive across the organization coming out of the first calendar month of play and the Brewers and their affiliates will look to keep it going into May.