Brewers 2024 Discussion - Hoskins to IL, Miller Up

[MickeyDavis]

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[neiLz]

so uribe has to serve a 2 game suspension in AAA for a fight prior to being called up to the big leagues. then when he gets called up he has to then serve another suspension for his fight this week. LOL.

[Matches Malone]

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[ReasonablySober]

I wonder if the Junis thing is related to his shoulder or getting hit?

[MickeyDavis]

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[Thunder Muscle]

I’m curious what the Crew would do right now if got a really good offer on Adames? Optics be really bad, but stock is probably decent right now too and someone in offseason said he turned down a 6 figure contract offer. If true, no chance he returns. The counter is ride it out and see if can make playoffs, take comp pick, and move on to Ortiz/Turang at SS next year.

I’m kind of over Dunn and Bauers, but they do I guess offer some defensive attributes. Bauers is nice to have late in games for Hoskins, Black (when up) at 1B.

Any word on Wiemer injury severity?

Sucks with Junis. Starting to wonder if see him this year again.

[ReasonablySober]

Fangraphs had Willy's contract projection being six years and $150 million. So yea, no chance he's back.

That said, the Brewers would take an absolutely massive hit in public over moving him. It sucks, but I see them riding out the year and getting a comp.

[Thunder Muscle]

Fangraphs had Willy's contract projection being six years and $150 million. So yea, no chance he's back.

That said, the Brewers would take an absolutely most hit in public over moving him. It sucks, but I see them riding out the year and getting a comp.

I agree. Unless they fall out of the playoff picture, I think they keep him too. And with multiple wild cards and the Brewers nice start, hard to see them falling out of a wild card race.

[ReasonablySober]

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Good article offering up explanations as to why young callups are struggling more now than they have in the past.

[ReasonablySober]

I wonder if we're going to see a Frelick move soon. His batted ball data is straight up alarming. He's basically gone the entire season without hitting the ball hard, and now his defense is bad too.

[ReasonablySober]

Gasser's getting the call up. Cool.

[Matches Malone]

[Thunder Muscle]

Is Gasser going to start or be in the bullpen?

[ReasonablySober]

Is Gasser going to start or be in the bullpen?

I think he's starting the game tomorrow.

[ReasonablySober]

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[Matches Malone]

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[Matches Malone]

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[MVP2110]

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[ReasonablySober]

Takeaways from new Statcast MLB bat-tracking data

The anti-Stanton
On the other end of the spectrum is San Diego Padres craftsman Luis Arraez, who can add a new title to his two batting crowns: the slowest bat in baseball. Arráez's bat speed of 62.3 mph lags more than 2 mph behind the second-most languid, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, and the two are perhaps the best examples of what players without elite bat speed can do to continue thriving in the big leagues.

Arráez and Kwan are part of the cohort of controlled, short swings that get squared up with a phenomenal amount of regularity. Arráez's swing is just 5.9 feet and Kwan's 6.4. In the group of sub-68-mph bat speed and sub-6.4-foot swing length are Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (128 OPS+), Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (107) and Toronto Blue Jays DH Justin Turner (111), all of whom are productive offensive players.

One might suggest it's in spite of their swings, but perhaps it's better to start treating it like it's because of them. Arráez leads MLB by squaring up the ball on 43.9% of his swings. To determine whether a pitch has been squared up, the system takes two variables -- bat speed and pitch speed -- and determines the maximum exit velocity. Then it takes the actual EV on a batted ball and compares it to the peak. If it's at least 80% of the top-end number, it is deemed to be squared up, because only balls that hit the bat's sweet spot can produce 80%-plus velocities.

When hitters square up a ball, they bat .372 and slug .659. When they don't, they hit .127 and slug .144. In other words, even if neither possesses much power, appreciate Arráez, Kwan and others for what they are: masters of the art of hitting.

The best hitter in baseball nobody knows
He's got more blasts than Soto and Ohtani.

Only four players have squared up more balls than him, and each is a multi-time All-Star.

He doesn't even swing, on average, as hard as his brother. But that doesn't matter, because William Contreras -- the Brewers' catcher, younger sibling of St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras -- does plenty of damage with a 74-mph effort. Not only is the 26-year-old Contreras atop the list of blasts, it's not particularly close: His 57 are ahead of Soto's 49 and Ohtani's 46, and his big league-best blast rate of 34.8% is 2½ times the major league average of 13.7%.

The reason for Contreras' success is clear: He swings hard, hits the ball very hard and doesn't strike out much (sub-20% punchout rate on the season). It's an exceptional combination of skills, and to have maintained this offensive output playing every Brewers game, not to mention 33 of 40 at catcher, is MVP-caliber work.

Hey ESPN finally figured out who William Contreras is.

[coolhandluke121]

Takeaways from new Statcast MLB bat-tracking data

The anti-Stanton
On the other end of the spectrum is San Diego Padres craftsman Luis Arraez, who can add a new title to his two batting crowns: the slowest bat in baseball. Arráez's bat speed of 62.3 mph lags more than 2 mph behind the second-most languid, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, and the two are perhaps the best examples of what players without elite bat speed can do to continue thriving in the big leagues.

Arráez and Kwan are part of the cohort of controlled, short swings that get squared up with a phenomenal amount of regularity. Arráez's swing is just 5.9 feet and Kwan's 6.4. In the group of sub-68-mph bat speed and sub-6.4-foot swing length are Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (128 OPS+), Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (107) and Toronto Blue Jays DH Justin Turner (111), all of whom are productive offensive players.

One might suggest it's in spite of their swings, but perhaps it's better to start treating it like it's because of them. Arráez leads MLB by squaring up the ball on 43.9% of his swings. To determine whether a pitch has been squared up, the system takes two variables -- bat speed and pitch speed -- and determines the maximum exit velocity. Then it takes the actual EV on a batted ball and compares it to the peak. If it's at least 80% of the top-end number, it is deemed to be squared up, because only balls that hit the bat's sweet spot can produce 80%-plus velocities.

When hitters square up a ball, they bat .372 and slug .659. When they don't, they hit .127 and slug .144. In other words, even if neither possesses much power, appreciate Arráez, Kwan and others for what they are: masters of the art of hitting.

The best hitter in baseball nobody knows
He's got more blasts than Soto and Ohtani.

Only four players have squared up more balls than him, and each is a multi-time All-Star.

He doesn't even swing, on average, as hard as his brother. But that doesn't matter, because William Contreras -- the Brewers' catcher, younger sibling of St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras -- does plenty of damage with a 74-mph effort. Not only is the 26-year-old Contreras atop the list of blasts, it's not particularly close: His 57 are ahead of Soto's 49 and Ohtani's 46, and his big league-best blast rate of 34.8% is 2½ times the major league average of 13.7%.

The reason for Contreras' success is clear: He swings hard, hits the ball very hard and doesn't strike out much (sub-20% punchout rate on the season). It's an exceptional combination of skills, and to have maintained this offensive output playing every Brewers game, not to mention 33 of 40 at catcher, is MVP-caliber work.

Hey ESPN finally figured out who William Contreras is.

This was really fun to read and it's really fun when you find data like this that jives with the eye test. I was just thinking that Contreras seems to be one of the best runs of solid contact that I've seen in a decade or more, and you just expect a deep line drive at least twice a game at this point.

I would absolutely love it if these short, slow swings become a thing again as the natural antidote to the recent advances in swing-and-miss pitching. Infield defense would also have to improve as a consequence, and pitchers would probably have to adapt eventually as well. Baseball is still my first love in sports, and it would be sweet if it became more like the game I fell in love with in the 80's again.