Brewers scrimmage with roof closed
After dealing with the blazing heat and humidity since the start of summer camp last weekend, the Milwaukee Brewers caught a break Wednesday with the Miller Park roof closed for their first game-like action – a five-inning situational scrimmage.
“They’re doing some repairs to the roof at Miller Park, so that helps us get the sun off the field,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s hot. It’s going to be hot at 6 o’clock at night, too. We’ve had some fans put in. The grounds crew has done a nice job of kind of cooling it off down in the seating bowl.
“It’s been tolerable so far. I don’t expect (the heat) to continue. It’s pretty rare; we’re going to get the hottest three to four days of the year right here, but we’re just stressing hydration and I think we’ll get through it.
“In one way, it’s keeping the players loose. Some of them actually really like it.”
The scrimmage provided a first real glimpse of what games will look like in the COVID-19 era, with no fans in the stands and no other ambient noise.
Both the ball popping the catcher’s mitt and the bat connecting with the ball stood out. Minor-league catching coordinator Charlie Greene, a former major-league catcher, donned the gear behind home plate to serve as umpire. His ball-strike calls were very audible.
Exclamations anywhere from the dugout to the outfield could be clearly heard, and bullpen catcher Marcus Hanel and third base coach Ed Sedar tried to provide some atmosphere by banging on the top of the left-field wall and on a chair in the third-base camera well, respectively.
Right-handers Zack Brown and Shelby Miller started and each pitched about three innings.
Brown, coming off a nightmarish 2019 at Class AAA San Antonio, showed well in four appearances before spring training was shut down (4.50 earned run average and seven strikeouts in six innings).
He picked up where he left off in Arizona by allowing only a Ryon Healy single as the Brewers started playing out game situations in the second inning.
Miller, something of a reclamation project, gave up a couple hits in the first two innings before Justin Smoak delivered the blow of the day. Smoak hit a two-run home run to straightaway center field that Keon Broxton had a bead on but just missed pulling back with a leap at the wall.
“This will be his first time on the mound, so to speak (in the restart),” Counsell said. “He’s thrown bullpens. He did, I thought, make a good impression in camp. How this is all going to go down, I think there’s opportunity for him and we’ll just have to see how it plays out.
“He’s trying to bounce back, trying to put his career back on the right track. Obviously, he has had a high level of success in this league, so it’s in there. He’s got himself in great shape, he feels really healthy and hopefully he can continue on the trajectory he was on in spring training.”
Devin Williams, Justin Grimm, Mike Morin and Ray Black also pitched. Grimm, a veteran right-handed reliever, was making a strong bid to be included on the opening-day roster after striking out nine in six innings over six appearances in Cactus League play.
“I thought Justin probably, of the non-roster guys that were in our camp on the pitching side, had made the biggest impression,” said Counsell. “The rest of the story is, in a lot of ways, similar to Shelby – had success in the league, had struggled in recent years, but I feel like and he feels like he’s back in very good health.”
Black had the roughest day of any of the pitchers, walking four of the five batters he faced. Christian Yelich grounded out and walked in his two plate appearances.
Brewers add to 2020 class
University of South Carolina infielder Noah Campbell has signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent, the school announced.
A three-year starter for the Gamecocks, Campbell hit .254 with 10 homers and 42 RBI in 111 games. He was named an all-star in the Cape Cod League after both his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Campbell originally was drafted in the 19th round by the Brewers in 2017 out of Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Campbell is believed to be the sixth undrafted free agent to sign with the Brewers, who have yet to announce their complete class. They selected five players month.
South Carolina left-hander T.J. Shook and Grand Canyon infielder Drew Smith were the first two to sign with the Brewers.
Since then, left-handers Jason Munsch and Brandon Knarr and righthander Evan Reifert also have signed.
Munsch, who pitched four years at NAIA Concordia (Nebraska), didn’t allow an earned run while going 3-0 and striking out 59 over four starts (26 innings) this past season. He broke a school record by striking out 20 batters March 7, then threw a seven-inning nohitter with 16 strikeouts less than a week later.
Knarr played at Notre Dame as a freshman and Central Florida as a sophomore before finishing up at Division II Tampa, where he went 4-1 with a 2.55 ERA and 64 strikeouts over 351⁄3 innings (six starts) this season. He struck out 15 against Florida Southern on Feb. 21, tying a school record.
Reifert put up big strikeout numbers in two seasons at North Iowa Community College before finishing this year at Division II Central Missouri, where he threw just 22⁄3 innings over four relief appearances. He was drafted in the 30th round by the Texas Rangers in 2018.
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File makes the cut
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While the Brewers have yet to release the complete list of players assigned to their alternate training site in Appleton, at least one name has trickled out, righthander Dylan File.
The team’s 21st-round draft pick in 2017, File broke out last season by going a combined 15-6 at advanced Class A Carolina and Class AA Biloxi with a 3.24 ERA and 136 strikeouts over 147 innings (26 starts).
His 15 victories led all Milwaukee minor-leaguers, and he ranked second in ERA and fourth in strikeouts. Despite those numbers, File generally isn’t considered to be among the team’s top 30 prospects.
One other player with major-league experience, outfielder Tyrone Taylor, also has been assigned to Appleton. He missed all of spring training while recovering from offseason wrist surgery.