Brewers Minor League Roundup Week #18

Each week, I’ll be bringing you a roundup of the Brewers minor league affiliates, including score updates, key players and more. Here is the week 18 roundup.

Programming Note: There will be no minor league roundup next week; I’ll be recapping two weeks at once on Aug. 22

AAA Nashville

The Sounds won four of six against the Norfolk Tides (48-56), improving to 63-41 on the season. Despite the strong week, Nashville’s division lead shrunk to just one game over Columbus (62-42) who had a 6-0 week.

Third baseman Pablo Reyes had a solid week at the plate, slashing .400/.458/.600 with a homer and five RBIs, while outfielder Sal Frelick also stayed hot in his first week at AAA with a .375/.464/.458 slash line to go with two RBIs of his own. As a team, the Sounds slashed .262/.376/.421 with eight homers and 35 runs scored.

Jake Cousins appeared in three games as part of his rehab assignment, totaling three innings and walking just one while striking out four. Caleb Boushley had the strongest start of the week, going five innings and striking out three while allowing just one run on two hits and two walks. Adrian Houser also looked strong in his rehab start, going two innings and allowing no runs on one hit and one walk with two strikeouts. The Sounds pitching staff finished the week with a 3.59 ERA and 60 strikeouts over 52 ⅔ innings.

The Sounds now welcome the Gwinnett Stripers to town for six games. Nashville is 8-4 against Gwinnett (50-55) this season, so the Sounds will look to do some more damage and hang onto their division lead.

AA Biloxi

Biloxi had a strong week, going 5-1 against the Mississippi Braves (18-15) to improve to 17-16 in the second half, just three games back of the Montgomery Biscuits (20-13) in the Southern League South standings.

Outfielder Corey Ray slashed .333/.450/.667 with one homer and three RBIs across four games while third baseman Andruw Monasterio slashed a strong .391/.481/.609 with a homer, two RBIs and a team-high nine hits. Catcher Thomas Dillard slashed a solid .304/.360/.652 with a homer and five RBIs himself. The Shuckers didn’t have a great week offensively overall, slashing .241/.335/.372 with four homers and 27 runs scored. They also went 8-for-8 in stolen base attempts.

New prospect Robert Gasser, acquired in the Josh Hader trade, went five shutout innings in his Brewer affiliate debut, giving up just two hits and two walks with five strikeouts. TJ Shook and Noah Zavolas both went four shutout innings themselves, combining for just six hits and three walks while striking out 13 over the eight total innings. The Shuckers finished with a 3.86 ERA on the week, striking out 54 over 49 innings.

The Shuckers now welcome the Rocket City Trash Pandas to town for the first time this season. Rocket City sits at 17-16 in the second half, one game out of first place in the Southern League North standings.

High-A Wisconsin

The Timber Rattlers bounced back, going 4-2 on the week to move to 18-18 in the second half. They still trail the South Bend Cubs (23-13) by five games in the Midwest League West standings.

Catcher Zavier Warren had a week for the ages, slashing .480/.554/1.200 with three homers, five doubles, two triples, 10 RBIs, eight runs and 12 hits, all of which led the team. Shortstop Antonio Pinero slashed .455/.455/.455 with four RBIs and 10 hits of his own. As a team, the Rattlers slashed .284/.365/.450 with five homers and 34 runs scored.

Relievers Taylor Floyd and Ryan Middendorf both pitched five innings in relief, combining for just one earned run, six hits and four walks while striking out 14 over 10 innings. Starter Justin Bullock totaled nine innings over two starts, giving up two runs on four hits and one walk along with five strikeouts. As a pitching staff, Wisconsin pitched to a league-best 3.81 ERA, striking out 54 over 52 innings.

Wisconsin now battles the Cubs for one last time this season in Appleton. In two series with South Bend this season, the Rattlers are 6-6 with two 3-3 series, so these final six games could decide the season series winner.

A Carolina

The Mudcats took four of six from the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (20-16) to improve to 18-18 in the second half, 6.5 games back of Fredericksburg (24-11) in the Carolina League North standings.

Catcher Jesus Chirinos had another strong week, slashing .348/.423/.826 with three homers and seven RBIs. Catcher Jeferson Quero also had a strong week, slashing .500/.538/.583 with six hits and three runs scored, earning himself a promotion to High-A Wisconsin. The Mudcats slashed .290/.349/.470 as a team, hitting eight homers and scoring 37 runs.

Starter Alexander Cornielle went six shutout innings in his start this week, giving up just three hits and striking out eight. Reliever Miguel Guerrero went six innings over two appearances himself, giving up one run on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts. The Mudcats finished the week with a 4.33 ERA striking out a league-high 75 batters over 54 innings.

The Mudcats now travel to take on the Delmarva Shorebirds (13-23), who sit in last place in the Carolina League North standings in the second half. Carolina went 3-3 against Delmarva in their lone series back in July.

Performances by Top 10 Brewers Prospects (Weekly Performance; Season Totals)

1. (MLB No. 34) OF Jackson Chourio (High-A): .222/.323/.296 (27 at-bats), 0 HR, 0 RBI; .316/.368/.565 (301 at-bats), 13 HR, 52 RBI
2. (MLB No. 45) OF Sal Frelick* (AAA): .375/.464/.458 (24 at-bats), 0 HR, 2 RBI; .315/.389/.462 (327 at-bats), 7 HR, 36 RBI
3. (MLB No. 59) OF Joey Wiemer* (AAA): .211/.286/.263 (19 at-bats), 0 HR, 3 RBI; .241/.319/.431 (353 at-bats), 15 HR, 50 RBI
4. OF Garrett Mitchell* (AAA): .261/.320/.435 (23 at-bats), 1 HR, 4 RBI; .264/.349/.413 (201 at-bats), 5 HR, 29 RBI
5. SS Brice Turang (AAA): .286/.375/.476 (21 at-bats), 1 HR, 4 RBI; .288/.359/.396 (389 at-bats), 7 HR, 48 RBI
6. C Jeferson Quero% (High-A): .500/.538/.583 (12 at-bats), 0 HR, 1 RBI; .278/.345/.412 (284 at-bats), 6 HR, 43 RBI
7. 2B Tyler Black (High-A): On 7-day injured list (7/18); .281/.406/.424 (231 at-bats), 4 HR, 35 RBI
8. LHP Robert Gasser^ (AA): 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 5 SO (0.00 ERA); 95.1 IP, 88 H, 46 R (42 ER), 30 BB, 120 SO (3.97 ERA)
9. OF Esteury Ruiz^ (AAA): .188/.316/.250 (16 at-bats), 0 HR, 1 RBI; .326/.460/.544 (307 at-bats), 13 HR, 47 RBI
10. LHP Ethan Small (AAA): 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 8 SO (5.40 ERA); 89 IP, 63 H, 42 R (36 ER), 51 BB, 100 SO (3.64 ERA)

*Frelick, Wiemer and Mitchell were all promoted to AAA Nashville on Aug. 2

^Gasser and Ruiz were acquired from the Padres in the trade for Josh Hader on Aug. 1

%Quero was promoted to High-A Wisconsin on Aug. 8; his stats for the last seven days are from A ball

Note: With the additions of Gasser and Ruiz to the top 10 prospects list, OF Hedbert Perez and SS Freddy Zamora fell out of the top 10 Brewers prospects’

Programming Note: There will be no minor league roundup next week; I’ll be recapping two weeks at once on Aug. 22