It was an eventful week down on the farm for the Brewers Minor League system over the last week as the team is finally back in full swing after completing their second whole week since the MLB All-Star break.
All four affiliates pulled off series win in their first action for the month of August. So, let’s take a look at what players played the biggest parts in the success of the minor league system last week.
Here is the Milwaukee Brewers minor league affiliate recap from August 2nd to August 7th.
Triple-A Nashville Sounds (62-41)
The first-place Sounds received a lovely present coming into the week as the Brewers promoted their No. 2, 3, and 4 prospects per MLB Pipeline to Nashville. With a firm grasp of first place in their division, the addition of Sal Frelick, Joey Wiemer, and Garrett Mitchell fixes the glaring holes that the Sounds had in their outfield.
On top of that, the Brewers received Esteury Ruiz, now their No. 9 prospect, as part of their trade of Josh Hader to the Padres on Monday afternoon and placed him with the Sounds, adding another good contact-speed guy to the team.
The Sounds kicked off their six-game series against the Norfolk Tides with a bang as they smashed them 8-3 to take game one of the series. In his first game in Triple-A, Frelick went 3-for-5, also drawing a walk and driving in a run.
No. 21 prospect Mario Feliciano joined in on the crazy stat lines as he drew three walks and scored three times as well as smashing his third bomb of the season. Keston Hiura smashed his sixth homer of the season, as well as Weston Wilson, hit his eighth.
In game two of the series, the Sounds had another blowout game, as they hit their way past the Tides 8-2. Frelick had his second multi-hit game, as did Ruiz, Mitchell, and Wiemer. Mitchell hit his first home run since being called up to Triple-A, and No. 5 prospect Brice Turang hit his seventh home run of the season.
The offensive outburst continued in game three as they won their third straight of the series, and Frelick went on to have his third straight multi-hit game since being called up. No. 25 prospect Dylan File had a solid outing as he went six innings, giving up two runs on two hits and a walk, as well as striking out six.
The Tides finally had some revenge in game four as they jumped on Sounds starter Josh Lindblom for four runs, three walks, and two home runs. Frelick continued his hot hitting as he achieved his fourth straight multi-hit game.
More of the same happened in game five as the Tides walked it off against reliever Trevor Kelley in the bottom of the ninth. The Tides finally found a way to shut down Frelick as he didn’t reach base for the first time in his Triple-A career.
The Sounds closed out the series on a high note as they defeated the Tides 9-4. No. 10 prospect Ethan Small struck out eight in five innings of work. Wilson and Pablo Reyes all went yard to help lift pass the Tide. Mitchell had himself a three-hit game while Reyes had four.
The Sounds come back home this week to get ready for another six-game set against the Gwinnett Stripers.
Double-A Biloxi Shuckers (51-49)
Starting the week a game under .500, the Shuckers were able to take four out of six against the Mississippi Braves improving to 51-49. Since the beginning of the week, the Shuckers have lost three key outfielders as they were promoted to Triple-A.
Biloxi was supposed to get some relief in the form of a promotion for outfield prospect Tristan Peters, but before he could even play a game, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Trevor Rosenthal. Former big time prospect Corey Ray was recently transferred to Biloxi with the recent promotions.
Beginning the week off with a rain delay, the Shuckers and Braves would play two seven-inning games to start the week and the Shuckers ended up sweeping the doubleheader. In game one of the doubleheader, they won 3-2 behind Tristen Lutz’s two-run home run and Nick Bennett’s strong five-inning outing where he struck out seven.
In game two, the Shuckers won again 2-0 behind T.J. Shook’s dominant performance as in four innings he struck out nine batters, walked two, and gave up three hits.
The Braves bats woke up for game three as they slugged on by the Shuckers 9-4. Corey Ray was a nice bright spot for the offense as he went 3-for-5 hitting a double, and a home run in his first game with the Shuckers of the year. Andruw Monasterio had himself a solid evening as he went 2-for-3 along with drawing a walk.
The Shuckers bounced back in game four as they slugged their way by the Braves 7-2. Monasterio continued his hot hitting, smashing his eighth home run of the year.
In game five of the series, the Shuckers had a chance to take the series, and they did just that as they won 5-3 behind new No.8 prospect Robert Gasser‘s first start in the Brewers’ minor league system, as he went five innings, striking out five and walking two. Gasser was the other prospect the Brewers received in the Josh Hader trade earlier in the week.
The Shuckers closed out the series strong as they won the final game 6-5 and finished the series going 5-1. Monasterio went 2-for-5 while Thomas Dillard went 3-for-4. No. 26 prospect Victor Castaneda had a nice outing as he went five innings, giving up one run on four hits and striking out four.
The Shuckers look to keep up their winning ways as they welcome home the Rocket City Trash Pandas for a six-game series.
High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (54-47)
After the offense went quiet for the majority of the previous week’s series, they came out swinging this week looking like a new team in their first game against the River Bandits, as they won 8-0. Backed by a solid six innings of work from Justin Bullock, the Timber Rattlers sprung for 11 hits.
No. 18 prospect Zavier Warren continued his hot hitting ways going 3-for-5 and driving in three runs. Ethan Murray followed that up by going 2-for-3, driving in three, and walking once.
The offense kept it rolling in night two as they grabbed another win 8-6, this time racking up 17 hits. Warren was the star of that game as he went 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double, and five RBIs. No. 1 prospect Jackson Chourio had himself a night as he went 4-for-6, scoring three runs.
The River Bandits finally outslugged the Rattlers in game three 9-6, as the pitching woes continued. Warren had his third straight multi-hit game of the series, hitting his 10th bomb of the season. The offense and pitching bounced back nicely as they took game four 4-1 behind the pitching tandem of Carlos Rodriguez and Ryan Middendorf as they struck out a combined 13 guys.
Game four was more of the same as Timber Rattlers won 3-2 behind a nice six-inning outing from Zach Mort who gave up two runs on four hits and struck out five along the way. Already sealing the series victory Saturday night, the River Bandits salvaged the final game as they won 7-5. No. 15 prospect, Joe Gray Jr. went 2-for-3, driving in one and doubling.
Wisconsin is set to come back home to take on the South Bend Cubs for a six-game set as well as continue their winning ways.
Low-A Carolina Mudcats (52-50)
The Mudcats dropped game one of the six-game series against Kannapolis 3-1, though Jeferson Figueroa went six solid innings, giving up two runs and striking out seven. Carolina rebounded nicely as they won 5-3 in game two behind a couple of home runs from the team and a nine strikeout, one walk, and three earn run outings from Stiven Cruz.
Edwin Jimenez went five innings while giving up three runs and striking out 10 to lead the way for the Mudcats to win game three 7-4. Jesus Chirinos went 3-for-4, driving in four. Out of his three hits he doubled and hit his eighth home run.
The Cannon Ballers came out of the gate swinging in game four as they quickly went up five in the first and then were up seven after the second. The Mudcats spent the remainder of the game attempting to come back but came up just short as they lost 7-6. Zack Raabe went 2-for-2 with a double, two RBIs, two runs, and two walks.
The Mudcats were able to find their way at the plate again as they stomped Kannapolis 9-3 in game five. Alexander Cornielle pitched six innings, giving up three hits and striking out eight. However, the star of the game came from 19-year-old Jace Avina who smashed two home runs in his Mudcats debut, racking up three RBIs in the process.
Carolina took the final game of the series 9-6 to win the series overall. Avina went yard again as he smashed his third home run of the weekend as well as driving in another three RBIs. Chirinos hit his ninth home run of the season as well in the series finale.
The Mudcats head back out on the road looking to become more consistent all around, as they travel to Delmara to take on the Shorebirds.
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Stay tuned for more Minor League action as the season continues into the dog days of summer!