Milwaukee Brewers: Who is Nick Roscetti?

Back in the 2016 MLB draft, the Brewers selected him. Now two years later, Roscetti is playing single A ball for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and is absolutely lighting up stat sheets.

The 24 year old has played predominately second base, but in the past has played at short and third as well. The Milwaukee Brewers might have another great infielder on their hands.

So far in 2018, Roscetti is second on the team in batting average and RBI’s. He also boasts the least amount of strikeouts for anyone who has played in over ten games. All that leads to an impressive 123 wRC+ to start the year. The one knock to his season is that he leads the team with five errors.

here is not a lot of hype coming from players drafted in the 26th round. There are a few names like Joe Biagini and Scott Schebler who have made it to the MLB, but not many others. It is also worth noting that Milwaukee Brewers prospect Mauricio Dubon was a 26th rounder back in 2013. The hype  builds with good play, but it might take awhile.

Roscetti is doing his best to bring his name into relevancy in 2018. That being said, he has yet to play more than 45 games in a season. He is off to a phenomenal start, and there is no reason he cannot keep it up, but he will be exposed to a longer schedule this year. His low strikeout totals are something to be excited about going forward, and he should be able to put up good numbers.

Milwaukee Brewers Announce Plans to Honor the Great Davey Nelson

The Milwaukee Brewers announced their plans on Sunday, May 6 to honor the memory of Davey Nelson who passed away last month.

Nelson was a member of the Brewers family since 2001 and a former Marjor League All Star infielder. He passed away on April 23 after battling a long illness at the age of 73.

The Brewers will be honoring Nelson in many ways — starting with Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prior to the game, there will be a moment of silence to remember Nelson.

Additional activities will take place during the Brewers’ June 21 through 24 series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Milwaukee Brewers Review After 3 Weeks

A 3-3 week for Milwaukee included a series win (two of three) in St. Louis, and they have won every series there last season and this, getting four in a row. The game they lost to St. Louis was a tough pill to swallow, with the Crew blowing leads in the bottom of the ninth and tenth before losing in the eleventh. Their win Saturday against the Mets (5-1) gives Milwaukee a 6-2 road record on the young season, and 8-7 overall.

Taking a look at the Brewers’ hitting so far, it has definitely been lackluster. Second baseman Jonathan Villar has been the lone significant producer for the Crew. He is batting over .300 for the season and his three-run homer against the Mets on Saturday gives us Brewers fans promise for the rest of his season’s productivity.

Pitching for the Brewers has definitely been one of their weapons so far this season. Josh Hader is throwing the ball really, really well right now and stands head and shoulders above the rest. He gave up a home run, and he walked a guy, with three appearances and 4 2/3 innings pitched. He registered his first save of the year, and of his career. The wow moment is that he struck out twelve batters in the past week. That’s fourteen outs registered, twelve of them by strikeout. His WHIP was 0.43 and I’m beginning to think he might be pretty darn good.

As the Brewers’ series with the Mets begings, they will need to start producing more offense if they are to excel in their division. This will be a difficult task as the Mets have a very young and powerful pitching core.

Milwaukee Brewers: Braun Providing Reminiscent Spark

The Brewers have jumped out of the gate this season riding a 3-1 record, and are looking more competitive than ever in recent seasons. This is partly due to the heroics of team captain, Ryan Braun. Last Saturday night against the Padres, Braun belted a three-run homer to put the Brew Crew up by two at the top of the ninth inning. Braun was also down 0-2, but the two strikes didn’t stop Braun from coming up with a big swing to give his team the lead.

This home run should be looked at as an exciting occurrence for Brewers fans, and it took me specifically back to a time when Braun and the Brewers were a part of competitive playoff teams.

Early in his career, Braun impressed baseball fans all over the country with crunch time home runs. For example, 2008 was a memorable year for Braun. Late in September, he helped to keep the Brewers’ playoff hopes alive. He blasted a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the tenth to beat the Pirates 5-1.

Only a few days later, he once again displayed late game heroics. In the bottom of the eighth, he broke the 1-1 tie, launching the ball over the fence for a 3-1 lead. The implications were much greater than a win or a loss, though. With the win over the Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers clinched an NL Wild Card spot. This was their first postseason qualification since 1982.

Another example came in 2011 when he hit a walk-off solo blast against the Colorado Rockies in the eleventh inning, leading the Brew Crew to a 2-1 victory.

After Braun’s PED scandal back in 2012, the superstar went from a fan favorite throughout the league to a despised cheater in the eyes of most baseball fans. Since then Braun has struggled to rebound to the MVP caliber player he once was. As the years have passed; however, Braun has slowly dragged himself out of his slumping career and has in a way reinvented himself. As the Brewers progress through the 2018 season, I have high expectations that Ryan Braun will be a big factor to the Brewer’s success this season.

Brewers Open 2018 Season With a Win

Winning a game after you give up a two-out hit in the bottom of the ninth is tough. Winning a game when the opposition has second and third with one down in the bottom of an extra inning is tough. Winning a game when you go eight innings with no runs and two hits is tough.

But the Milwaukee Brewers (1-0) managed that in their season opener against the San Diego Padres (0-1) at Petco Field in San Diego. They used great pitching, a couple of two-out rallies, solid defense, and more Ji-Man Choi magic to pull out a very tough win in twelve innings, 2-1.

Brewers’ starter Chase Anderson worked six great innings, picking up where he left off last season. He shut out the Padres over that stretch on one hit, three walks, and six strikeouts. His only blemish on the day was actually a positive for the Crew: he scored the Brewers’ only run in regulation on one of the worst slides in baseball history. Anderson barreled towards home plate, attempting a slide that resulted in him jamming his head into the turf.

The twelve inning game probably means that the Brewers will have to add a bullpen arm before tomorrow’s game. Brandon Woodruff and Oliver Drake are the only relievers that didn’t work today, and it’s too early in the season to expect that tomorrow’s Brewer starter Jhoulys Chacin will give the team more than six innings.

Milwaukee Brewers “Intent” on Adding Starting Pitcher

Although the Milwaukee Brewers lost out on signing coveted free agent starting pitcher Yu Darvish, the organization is still set on acquiring another starter to help boost the status of their pitching staff. As things stand, Milwaukee projects to have a decent pitching rotation heading into the 2018 season, but the organization lacks in upside compared to division rivals such as the Chicago Cubs, who recently signed YU Darvish to a max contract, and already have a very competitive pitching core.

Currently, Chase Anderson, Zach Davies, and Jhoulys Chacin are the known starters for the Brew Crew, with Brent Suter, Junior Guerra, Aaron Wilkerson, Brandon Woodruff, and Yovani Gallardo set to do battle this spring for the fourth and fifth slots. That aside, Milwaukee has been linked to a multitude of different pitching options that the club is looking at bring aboard.

The most talked about option as of recent has been Oakland Athletics pitcher Jharel Cotton. The recently turned 26 year old was originally a 20th-round pick by the Dodgers back in 2012 but was dealt to Oakland at the trade deadline in 2016 as a part of the Rich Hill deal.

He debuted in the big leagues that September and tossed 29.1 innings with a 2.15 ERA across five starts, though FIP- (90) and DRA- (100) saw some luck involved in that level of run prevention. The 5’11” Cotton posted a 3.65 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 during 468.1 innings pitched coming up through the minors and after his terrific run down the stretch, he entered 2017 ranked as a top-100 prospect by both Baseball America and Fangraphs.

He features a mid-90s fastball that averaged 93.6 MPH in 2017 along with a cutter, curveball, and his bread-and-butter pitch – a plus-plus changeup. As spring training approaches, the Brewers will continue weighing their options, but expect Cotton to be a prioritized target for the club going forward.