Player Breakdowns: May 4th

Brett Wichrowski & Brandon Sproat

Player Breakdowns:

Brett Wichrowski (MIL) - AA:

Yesterday marked the Double-A debut for Brett Wichrowski. The 21-year-old needed just four starts at the High-A level before he was promoted to the upper minors. If you just looked at the box score last night, you’d either think Milwaukee was premature or that he’s just not ready for the level. That’s far from the case. Wichrowski displayed his excellent stuff in this one albeit it came with a bit of early control issues. His final line was 3IP 4H 4ER 2BB 4K (2HBP).

The HBP’s are key to know in this one. He hit the first two batters of the game and had 2 men on while pitching from the stretch before he could blink. The first batter just got away from him. He was ahead in the count and had 2 strikes on him and made him look quite silly on a few pitches. That was before a ball just literally got away from him and sailed up and in and plunked the batter. Otherwise, he would’ve struck him out or induced weak contact based on how that at-bat was going. On the very next pitch, he hit the 2nd batter of the game. He then struck out Matt Shaw, a top prospect in his own right, before allowing a 2-run double to Moises Ballesteros. Without the two plunks, I’m not sure Wichrowski even faces Ballesteros there in the first inning with how his stuff looked. I think a point of emphasis in this start was using his hard slider in on lefties which I hadn’t seen him do with much frequency in his first four starts, so maybe there is an adjustment period.

The other damage came in the 3rd inning. James Triantos hit a leadoff single to right field and then stole 2nd base. Wichrowski walked the next batter after being ahead 0-2 which is a big no-no and not par for the course for Wichrowski. Moises Ballesteros again, came through with an RBI knock bringing in Triantos and sending Matt Shaw to third. The next batter hit a Sac Fly bringing in the 4th earned run of the game. He ended his night on a strikeout of Cole Roederer to end the frame in the 3rd inning.

I would’ve loved to see Wichrowski to be out there for the 4th inning as he threw only 60 pitches. This was a concern of mine last time I broke Wichrowski down as he seems to be capped at 70 pitches or so. Milwaukee can be aggressive in their promotion of Wichrowski, but they’re going to need to take the training wheels off at some point and let him get through 5 innings and 80 pitches, especially if he’s cruising, and also when he’s just navigating a tougher outing. It’s essential in his development. Nothing has changed in my evaluation of Wichrowski when he first popped onto my radar in February. If anything — his early season performance and stuff has catapulted him into a tier of pitching prospect that has a bit of variance but also has the potential to be one of the top 10-15 or so pitching prospects in baseball by year’s end. I’d be looking to acquire him after this start as the box score might scare an owner away from him.

Let’s go over the Whiffs and Called Strikes from Wichrowski first: