The Brewers Bar Weekly Hangover 8/30/15

Each Sunday evening we will review our favorite and least favorite events of the previous week, and share our perspective on how the team is doing. Please enjoy responsibly.

Cheers! (Best event/news of the week)

Some Minor Leaguers Doing Well…: There was not much in the way of excitement going on this week with the big league club, but the future looks bright. A number of stories popped up on MLB.com highlighting the work done by some of the Brewers’ up and coming prospects.

The Brewers No. 1 draft pick of 2015, Trent Clark, has had a nice debut at Rookie Level Helena, going 6-for-7 in his first two games. Clark had been promoted from the Arizona League, where he hit 309/.422/.442 in 43 games. Clark had 14 extra base hits and one homer in Arizona, so it looks like he’s the rare Brewers prospect that isn’t an obvious power threat. At least, that seems rare to me, I assume all outfielders in the Brewers farm system are wall bangers.

Case in point, as of this writing Demi Orimoloye is leading the Arizona Brewers with six homers and 26 RBI. That sounds like the type of Brewers prospect I’ve come to expect. Orimoloye was the subject of a friendly MLB.com profile that notes he is rising fast: “Orimoloye is hitting .292 through 33 games in the Rookie-level Arizona League, and he has already registered six three-hit games — including a two-homer, seven-RBI game on June 22.” You may recall Orimoloye is hoping to be the first African-born player to make it to the majors, which would be a fun ground-breaking bonus if he does make it that far.

Meanwhile, in Double-A Biloxi, right-hander Jorge Lopez has run off a streak of seven straight quality starts, dropping his ERA to 2.29. In fact, 14 of his previous 15 starts have been quality, and the only one that wasn’t still resulted in a win. Given the Brewers’ starting pitching woes at the major league level this week, it’s good to hear that someone in the organization other than Taylor Jungmann is putting together a good year.

Buzzkill (Worst event/news of the week)

…But Not All: Nathan Kirby, the Brewers’ No. 2 overall pick, was placed on the DL at Class A Wisconsin Monday. Later in the week, the news came down that Kirby will probably have Tommy John surgery, and undergo the long road to recovery that baseball fans have grown familiar with. Kirby is the second Brewers pitching prospect to go under the Tommy John knife – Taylor Williams had the surgery just a few weeks ago. I’m no expert, so I have no idea if young pitchers overall are having more Tommy John surgeries at earlier ages (but I’ll just toss out that unsubstantiated speculation for the hell of it). It’s just a bummer to think about any young athlete’s career being interrupted by such a significant injury.

In his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, John Smoltz warned about kids having Tommy John surgeries too young because they’re trying to be too competitive. He seems to think it’s “an epidemic.” I’m not sure what Smoltz was basing his comments on, but other observers believe that from now on pitchers will always have Tommy John surgeries, and some will have multiple procedures over the course of their careers. To think that Kirby and Williams may be part of a new generation of consistently-rehabbing pitchers is sobering.

Have One on the House (Brewers player who deserves a drink)

Jonathan Lucroy: If Lucroy doesn’t win NL Player of the Week, he’s really set the bar high. Against the Indians and the Reds, Lucroy went 9-for-18 (.500) with 7 RBI. He’s riding an eight-game hitting streak, and raised his batting average to .255 from .241. Even though Lucroy’s season got off to a rough start, I don’t think any of us really doubted him. I hope Lucroy appreciates how many fans feel something close to unconditional love for him.

Time to Sober Up, Pal (Brewers player who made me want to drink)

Francisco Rodriguez: After putting together a streak of 35 consecutive saves going back to August 2014, K-Rod finally succumbed to the law of not being perfect on Saturday when he gave up a two-run homer to Joey Votto. A blown save in the ninth inning is always a miserable experience, so there’s no point in dwelling too much on this most recent unpleasantness, especially since K-Rod had been 30-for-30 this season up to that point. Instead, let’s remember that time in 2013 when K-Rod almost blew a save by giving up a two-run homer to Joey Votto, but not quite.

Back on the Wagon (Thoughts on the week ahead)

August is just about done and our long, 2015 nightmare is nearly over. This week will see another home set against the Pirates before going on the road to play the Reds again, but the outcomes of those series are probably not what most Brewers fans are looking forward to this week. If anything, we’re interested in finding out what September call-ups show up that we haven’t already seen. Guys like Matt Clark, Luis Sardiñas, and Juan Centeno are familiar faces. Might we be able to introduce ourselves to Mike Strong or Matt Dominguez? One thing we know for sure – just one more month. We’ve almost made it. Before you know it, it will be Spring Training 2016.

(Image: Associated Press)