Christian Yelich caps a wildly successful opening weekend with a bang (03.30.2026)

Hello everybody, welcome to MicroBrew, Milwaukee Brewers chatter from the Milwaukee Journal

Central.

My name is JR Radcliffe.

My colleague Todd Rosiac, Brewers Beat reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Central is on the

other line.

What a start to the 2026 season total inverse of what we saw in 2025 when the Brewers lost

their first four games.

Many of them in lopsided fashion, in fact, three to four in lopsided fashion.

This time around, it's a little different.

They get the two lopsided wins against the Chicago White Sox at home and then a thriller

on Sunday.

Christian Yelts were they three run a homer pinch hit, home run and the eighth inning

caps a six run rally and the Brewers win nine seven.

The place was up for grabs, probably about as good a good a start as you could hope.

It wasn't against the White Sox, of course, caveat caveat, but still that's a great way

to get things going.

And so let's dive into it Todd.

First of all, welcome back to the pod, it's been it's been a while.

Should we should we be caveatting, you know, like it's just the White Sox, we shouldn't

be too excited because it's just the White Sox, they played poorly Chicago did, but still

I feel like three wins is pretty good to start a year no matter who you face.

Yeah, I was rolling my eyes a little bit the last night Saturday night because Pat Murphy

was telling us, Hey, these Chicago White Sox, they're going to be right in the thick of

it in the A.L. Central at the end of the year mark my words and I'm like, yeah, I don't

know about that.

I mean, I get it.

It's like you're in the midst of it and you're seeing all the all the stuff that you're

trying to gain plan for, but just as the lay person that I am looking at it from afar.

I mean, the White Sox played two miserable games to start the series.

I don't see, you know, like there's talent on the team, no question, but I don't see

them being, you know, mentioned as one of the better teams in the A.L. or even like an

OK team in the A.L. maybe in time, but at the same time to open the season with a sweep

regardless of who it's against is great and to do it in the fashion that the Brewers did

was just amazing.

So what did they score 29 runs in three games, I believe it was against the White Sox?

Doesn't matter who you're who you're facing, that's incredible and that's we'd have to

go back.

What are the Yankees score against the Brewers in those three old games last year, 30 something

like low 30s maybe.

So, you know, just kind of funny to compare those two things, but over the three games we

saw kind of the gamut of everything.

We saw great offense, we saw some good defense.

We saw some really good pitching, we saw some not so good pitching from the Brewers of

Brandon Sprote, bullpen was tremendous, Yelich coming off the bench with a signature moment

third game of the season here already.

It's, you know, I was kind of scanning Twitter during the game and then after the Yelich

Homer and the common theme kind of seemed to be the Brewers are already Brewers in three

games into the year and that's probably the best way to put it.

So quite a way to start the year for sure.

I think, I mean, it's so Brewers because first of all, especially Saturday night, it's

all singles and stolen bases.

They still seven out of seven stolen bases.

They got a couple errors in there on Sunday, there's a, it's not a drop fly ball, but

it's a fly ball.

I think white socks could have gotten to the turn to a double for Bryce Terang.

He's got three doubles this year.

They probably could have caught his lead off double leading off the game, you know, like

it just seems like they always, they always find those, I wouldn't even call them defensive

miscues, but like maybe a better defender gets there and then they just cash them in.

They cash them in and Yelich, you know, honestly, like I was a little, I wouldn't say worried,

but he gets five hits through the first two games of the season.

He's looking great.

He's your DH.

We know he's got back problems.

We know they're going to want to rest him, but the third game of the season, they're

resting him.

He's not playing the field.

You know, that felt like, man, are we really going to do this?

He played 150 games last year.

So I know that he's capable of playing the majority of games, but like that, that's set

off a little bit of a red flag in my head, and then he gets a good run bomb.

You're getting way too ahead of yourself here.

This is game three and they're looking for a way to get Carol in the game and you're

playing Sanchez at first base.

That's all it is.

And I'm sure, you know, I'm sure if the chips were down, they really needed Yelich in

the lineup.

He could have played.

I think this is just more, this was just more a situation of they wanted to get Carol

in the game, get his feet under him a little bit, made sense to put Sanchez at first base

with left-handed Anthony Kay in the mound, and then you D.H. Contreras.

That's what they're going to do, and that's what this call up of the Jefferson Carol is

going to kind of bring about, and we'll talk about Andrew Vaughan thing I know in a minute,

but I remember early in spring, Pat Murphy talking about a potential three-catcher alignment

and thinking like, yeah, how is that going to work?

But you know, you go back to when they had Eric Haas on the roster a couple of years ago,

they made it work for three months, and I certainly don't think that they're going to be looking

at Carol like they did with Haas where, you know, Haas maybe get like two at bats a week

or something, or maybe get a start every seven days or eight days or whatever, they definitely

want to play Carol behind the plate because it's important for his development.

So they're just going to have to be creative with their alignments, and there will be

days against left-handed pitching again, where I think we will see this alignment that

makes sense with Carol behind the plate, Sanchez at first, and William Contreras, Kat Pa,

D.H.ing in place of knowledge.

I know we talked about this on the pod, surprising, it was at least to me that they, you know,

when they came in, came in to start spring training, I guess I kind of thought, Carol's

the obvious backup.

He's the obvious number two to William Contreras, and he's talented enough to be a big

leader.

And then they signed Gary Sanchez and it's like, well, you know, immediately the plans

go out the window.

They're probably going to send him back down to AAA, which they did.

He plays in one AAA game, and, you know, I was, when he was called up, my obviously

like everyone else, I thought, well, which one of the catchers is injured?

And so I understand this alignment that you're talking about where you have Sanchez now,

primarily as a first baseman, it makes perfect sense, and Carol's hitting ability is really

kind of the reason he gets up here.

But you know, my thought is like, why did they even have him catch a game down there?

Like, why did they send it out in the first place?

Like he's, he was clearly top of mind.

He's one of the first guys they wanted to bring up, especially if they were looking for

a right handed bat.

One of the first guys they were going to bring up.

And I love that they have this faith in him that, you know, he was a guy who hasn't made

his big league debut yet, and they're already like, okay, well, we got an injury.

We need you to be a producer.

I love how they got him into it, you know, didn't have him in a game on Saturday and then

on Sunday, he's behind the plate and winning ABS challenges left and right.

You know, I know he's got a really good reputation for handling a pitching staff.

And I thought, I think he's really good.

I think I, you know, like he doesn't have a big league hit yet, even so who knows, but

I think he's really good.

I think he's going to be really important for the bruises here.

It's bad that Andrew Vaughn got hurt, but I mean, do you see him as a guy who can produce

like at a pretty high level here as a rookie?

I just feel like he's been hovering around this big league call up for so long.

And I really think he's going to hit the ground running.

Yeah, well, the thing I can't say is going back as far as 2021, 2022, when he was just

kind of getting on the radar as a prospect, the brewers have been super high on him and

not just for the physical tools and the physical talent.

They just love his makeup, they love his competitiveness.

They love how he handles pitching staffs, very even keel guy, a lot of leadership qualities

in him.

And that's all that stuff is certainly what you love to see out of the catcher.

And then, of course, he undergoes the first shoulder surgery on his left shoulder, has

a good year, then has the right shoulder injury, which is just brutal.

And now it's going to be a case of how do you get this young guy who has such a bright

future in front of him, acclimated to the big leagues, get him enough at bats and enough

experience behind the plate to where you feel like you're in a good spot when you're really

going to need him.

It's going to be a kind of a delicate needle to thread, because if they do keep him up

in the majors, as we talked about, they're going to have to be creative in how they get

him into the lineup and get him some playing time.

The other thing that I think is important, even if he's not playing, that taxi squad

experience that he got at the end of last year and then during the playoffs where he

was around the team, sitting in on all the meetings.

He's literally like William Contreras' shadow, his little brother following him around

and who better to model yourself after as a competitor, as a catcher than William Contreras.

Nester Cordor, they've all got that shared bond with being from Venezuela.

It's a tight-knit group and Jefferson Carroll talked yesterday before his, right after

his call-up when we first talked to him about that.

Even if he's not playing, I think it's going to be valuable, just kind of sitting in

these meetings, learning, he's catching bullpens, he's trying to just soak up as much knowledge

as possible.

For his sake and for the bruise sake, hopefully this alignment works out once Andrew Vaughan

is eligible to come back four to six weeks.

We'll see what happens.

Certainly, there's other shoes that can drop in the meantime, but I think it's a good

thing for Jefferson Carroll to finally get that taste and he talked about that, too.

What a long road it's been and how mentally strong, think about that.

You have to be so close in 2024 and then just have that brutal shoulder surgery and

have that yanked away from you and you got away another probably year and a half before

you're in the conversation again.

There's a reason why they like this guy and there's a reason why this guy is the future

behind the plate for the brewers once William Contreras departs whenever that may be.

Depending on how the season goes, it could be as soon as the off season with his impending

free agency, but what's not going to have ourselves here?

That is a conversation topic for another day this season, but not quite yet.

Two games and two pregame curve balls when it comes to injury, of course, Jackson

Churrio.

We found out on opening day before opening day that he was he was out with a with a

hairline fracture in his hand and then Andrew Vaughn pops up on us and he's the guy who

is hurt.

Like you said, four to six weeks is kind of the projected timeline.

It is the dreaded ham eight bone in his wrist.

I think we were afraid of that with Churrio and probably a little relieved that that wasn't

what they were dealing with when the news first came down.

This is the same injury that has slowed down, you know, Jackson holiday and Corbin Carroll

like to slow starts to their season because they this is kind of like the injury to Chur,

it seems.

He did leave that game, that opening game for a pinch runner, but the brewers were ahead

at that point.

It wasn't like a huge red flag.

I think you could even see him save the dugout.

I'm good if they were if they were worried about something, but clearly something wasn't

fact wrong.

It's a real bummer, man, because he really hit the snot on the ball in spring training.

First base is a place they can actually absorb it because Jake power is also hit the snot

out of the ball.

And they do have Gary Sanchez, who Homer is first opportunity at first base, made a play

early in the game.

So I know they're covered.

I just, you know, like you worry I think about the back end of this when Andrew Vaughan

comes back, will he have his power, the ham eight bone very, you know, famously supposedly

saps some of that and that's such a big part of his game.

How do you feel about him being gone and how the brewers can cover for him?

And kind of the, I guess just the overall disappointment of not having Andrew Vaughan

here early when he, when he seemed to be continuing what he was doing last season.

Yeah, it's, it's just tough from the standpoint of he had a great spring and, and looked like

he was in a good place is certainly you don't want it him to try to build off of that momentum

that he had, you know, since joining the brewers last year, you know, he's, he's kind

of become, I don't know, I don't want to say a quiet leader in the clubhouse, but maybe

he has been, you know, like kind of a guy that leads by example, he's very tongue in cheek

guy.

It doesn't, I don't think he takes himself totally seriously, but in a good way, just

a good fit for this clubhouse and a good fit for this team.

So now that he's out of the picture, the time being, you hope that Jake Bauer certainly

can carry over what he was doing during spring training, which was remarkable and hits that

moonshot home run on opening day.

Andrew Vaughn, when we talked to him yesterday, he said that the team will be just fine with

rake Bauer's at first base, while throwing out everybody's favorite nickname for Jake

Bauer's and talking to Jake Bauer's himself.

He told me that we're going to get sick of hearing him say it, but he's just, I think

this kind of goes to what Kurt Holger wrote about him coming out of spring training.

He's experienced so much and so much failure and so much disappointment during his baseball

career.

Jake Bauer's that he's just not going to get ahead of himself.

He's just going to take a day by day by day.

The brewers have not said anything to him about, you know, you're the starting first baseman.

We're going to roll you out there every day.

I hear on opening day, we're thinking he's going to get most of his playing time in

left field in place of Jackson Cheerio and how quickly that changed, right?

So I think for the time being, you're in decent hands with Jake Bauer's.

We know he can handle himself around first base defensively to another left handed bat

with some pop in the lineup, a guy you can steal the occasional base and just another

brewers guy.

So you hope that he continues to produce.

You hope you don't have to roll Gary's hanches out there too frequently because as we know

this is a team that prides itself and relies very heavily on defense and I don't see Gary

Sanchez being a defensive stalwart at first base who knows maybe he'll surprise me but

Canada out it and maybe the brewers can get through these, you know, four or five, six

weeks, maybe even sooner, you mentioned the hamates, France, France's goal in door.

That's right.

Corbin Carroll, Jackson Holiday, these guys were all back in like three weeks and I don't

know if it's like, you know, they're doing something different with the surgery or whatever.

But these guys have come back really quick from these things and who knows maybe it will

be four or five, six weeks for Andrew Vaughn but maybe he'll come out on the shy end

of that and we'll be swinging it again.

We'll see but it's just a weird, weird injury, a weird baseball only injury and this will

sound kind of strange too, but I've actually asked guys who've had that before.

Can I feel your hand like Tyler Black, for instance, he had it a lot coming out of spring

training last year and it's this little hook bone right here.

If you feel on the lower part of your, and there's really no need for it from what I hear

like anatomically, that's why they just take it out, but they just put a little slice

in there.

They pull the bone out, sew it back up and then it's just a matter of the, the stitch

is healing and pain tolerance from that point.

But if you press on it, the guy without the ham ate bone, it's just like this big divot

in your hand.

It's really weird and I always wonder like how you function on a day-to-day basis, but

many guys have gone through it and been no worse for wear so hopefully that's what happens

with Andrew Vaughn.

Yeah, what a weird, what a weird thing.

Theoretically, yes, Sanchez at first base is probably not the ideal defensive layout, but

theoretically their defense actually would improve if Jake Bawer's moves to first base

instead of Vaughn and then your left fielder is either Brandon Lockridge or maybe Blake

Perkins.

That's really good defense and if Jake Bawer's is hitting the way that he hit in spring

and late last year, then the offense is going to be fine, but yeah, I think it'd be nice

to get Vaughn back sooner rather than later, Churio as well.

So we'll see.

I've got two major injuries now to deal with in the lineup.

The pitching staff, healthy, but took a tough one, at least in terms of starting rotation

in Brandon Sprote's debut.

You know, I saw him pitch that Tuesday at American Family Field, that last exhibition

game.

He looked awesome.

He was, he might have given up a home run, but was really, really solid over five, five

innings or so, did not, did not fare well.

Better than Nestor Cortez's debut, I would say, but only marginally makes it three innings

except seven runs.

Set the bar by the air.

Yep.

Brewers have had a couple of these in a row and the Nestor game, they did not win, but

this one, this one, they battle back to win.

Man, that, that Yelch Humber was, was incredible.

The Yelch Humber and then the NCAA tournament game tonight where Connecticut hit a buzzer

beater, like steel and buzzer beater to be due, like just amazing sports scene tonight.

It's, it's been wild on Sunday.

But, but anyway, back to Brandon Sprote, obviously nobody's going to worry about one start,

but that, that was a, it was a, it was a bummer, it was a disappointment, grand slam before

he even records an out and then proceeds to give up, you know, a couple more runs after

that.

I, I don't know if there's really any, you can really take away anything from the, from

the first start.

I think like he's saying all the right things.

The team is about, you know, saying the right things, it doesn't feel like there's anything

to really worry about, but it is, it is always a little bit of a bummer when your debut

goes so, so poorly.

Yeah, for sure.

As a young guy and as a guy, knew the organization pitching in your first home, true home game,

American family field, certainly you want to try to put your best foot forward and it

just didn't turn out that way.

You know, really from the first batter, it seemed like, okay, his command is really not

there.

I did, I did make a mention, I watched a game from home and was, my, my wife was watching

it with me and I mentioned to her, I said, I wonder if things would be any different if

Contreras was behind the plate rather than Carol, you know, rookie, rookie throwing to

a rookie.

I just, Contreras has such presence back there and he's so good with the pitching staff and

he's so good with getting young guys, everybody really, but young guys in particular locked

in.

I just wonder if things might have turned out differently.

We'll never know and I certainly am not putting any blame on Carol.

It's, it's Sprote's job to put the ball over the plate.

But that being said, you know, you take the, you take the punch on the chin, you roll

with it if you're Sprote and you're, you're just happy as hell that Christian Yalich hits

that home or to win the game and you walk away with the sweep.

You look at the video, you work with Chris Hook and Jim Henderson and you, you know, you

learn, you take away some things that you learn from that game and you try to apply those

at the next time out.

So, you know, if we're having the same discussion in another week after he's, you know, had

another bad start or another two bad starts, then, you know, maybe you start to wonder and

worry a little bit.

But for now, I choke it up to kind of, you know, maybe jitters, maybe just trying to do

too much in your first, your first home start and, you know, a guy who was just making

his fifth major league start overall.

Yeah, that's a really good point.

It's something to, to remember Kyle Harrison will be making his debut here early in the

week against the race.

Brandon Woodruff will be getting his first start on Tuesday against the race.

So those are both both intriguing for Brewers fans for obvious reasons, two different cases.

The bullpen behind the starters has been sensational.

I said this in my preseason predictions.

I thought this bullpen had a chance to have the best ERA in, in baseball.

Like I just figured the pitching depth is going to be reflected there.

You know, of course you have Aaron Ashby having thrown twice already, but he looks really

good.

He walked a couple guys, but just this stuff looks so, so good.

Jake Woodford has shown up in a couple of starts.

He gave up a home run, but he gets the win on Sunday with two good innings.

You know, Jared Canig through a good inning after he kind of struggled in spring, Trevor

McGill struck on a bunch of dudes.

I think he had three strikeouts, but they didn't use that last challenge on Tristan Peters

leading off the inning.

I actually, you know, as Trevor McGill comes in for the save, I'm thinking, you know,

it just really surprises me that he's here.

Like as the closer, we kind of thought he might get traded in the off season, thought

well, he's kind of getting up there in, in, in baseball years anyway, like maybe he's

in for a decline or whatever.

Now he's throwing a hundred miles an hour.

He's throwing it right by people.

He's still the same Trevor McGill.

Uh, I, I think the bullpen, I mean, the bullpen was obviously sensational.

Todd, I think, I think they have a really good unit here.

I don't think this is rare.

I, I don't think this is just a flash in the pan against the white socks.

I think this bullpen is going to be pretty special all year long.

Yeah.

And it's, it's a unit that, I mean, how many years can we go back and look at that bullpen

and be like, how do they do this?

You know, like, how do they put this unit together for whatever reason?

Every year.

And this goal, this predates, you know, the, the old joke that we have now brewers sprinkling

pixie dust on their pitchers and turning them into world beaters, you know, this goes,

this goes back to the Doug Melvin era, really, where somehow, some way the brewers just

always seem to land on several guys that will end up having career years, putting mixes

of guys together that just gel somehow, some way.

But now you, you throw in, you know, you've got McGill, like you mentioned at the back.

You've got Abnery Rebe, who's, who's certainly ready to become the closer whenever McGill moves

on.

He's Zerpa adding him to the mix.

He's got some electric stuff, Aaron Ashby, who's got incredible stuff, as you mentioned

as well.

And it's just so valuable in all the different roles that he can fill, you know, deal

hall pitched in the first two games and didn't look great, but this is a guy with great

arm talents.

They've got, you know, they've got an overabundance of lefties this year.

We know they've got some righties in the minor leagues.

They've got some different ways they can go.

They've got Brandon Anderson, who can absorb some innings and he's got that weird

release point.

They've just got, they've got all the pieces and all the, all the variants that you

like in bullpen arms to give opposing hitters, to cause a opposing hitter's fits.

And overall this unit, I think, is just tremendous and you'll see, we've already seen Pat Murphy

not hesitate to go to that bullpen early Saturday's game Chad Patrick, after four and

a third, he's, you know, 74 or 76 pitches, whatever it was.

He's already going to Aaron Ashby.

That's, that's not surprising and that's something I think we're going to probably see pretty

regularly moving forward, especially if these young guys like Sprote, like Harrison are

in the rotation for a while.

And at the first sign of any kind of struggle, you know, Pat Murphy has confidence in those

guys in the bullpen that he can bring them in and they're going to do the job.

So it's going to be fun to watch this unit develop and how good it can be by the time

the season's over this year.

Pat Murphy just loves Aaron Ashby.

Just loves him.

I mean, he's going to use him up a bunch, down a bunch, doesn't matter, he's going to

use him.

He obviously got to, got some work already in here to start the season.

And like before you go on, I was just going to say like, you know, thinking back a couple

of years, it really is an amazing story, Aaron Ashby.

Like everybody had written it off me included after that shoulder surgery.

He's out there throwing 90 miles an hour, you know, you made a couple of spot starts

for the brewers in early in 2024 and did not really look good.

And you're just like, oh boy, the brewer is wasted that money, he's signing him in that

contract extension.

And it's just incredible.

Like he tells the story.

He's throwing a bullpen while he's pitching for Nashville and he feels a pop in his

shoulder.

And it was like the scar tissue finally releasing out of the surgical area.

And then he's throwing and all of a sudden it's like, holy crap, 97, 98, 99.

It's back.

That's literally what happened with this guy.

And of course, it takes more than that.

But that's when we saw him come back into the major league mix and the bullpen for the

brewers throwing that nasty stuff and look where he is now, you know, like the money that

they gave him for the role that he's filled and he's going to fill this year.

That's actually looking like it's going to turn out to be a bargain.

So hats off to Aaron Ashby for sticking it out and, you know, continuing to work at it

and getting all the way back from what we've seen, you know, these shoulder surgeries are

no joke.

Brandon Woodruff can certainly attest to that.

Carol's going through it right now, not a pitcher, but obviously his arm is an important

part as a catcher.

You know, Aaron Ashby's quite a story.

Yeah, not a guy that I would say is a prime candidate to be a quote unquote rubber arm,

which, you know, I don't know if we really have a quite a handle on what makes a guy the

right candidate for that.

Grant Anderson, I think fits that bill, just somebody that can bounce back quickly.

But Ashby can bounce back quickly, like he can and he's able to work a lot, work multiple

innings.

And again, his stuff has been really good.

He threw some, he threw some breaking pitches against the white socks on Saturday, man.

It was so harvesting like it was really good.

Before we get to three up three down, Joey Ortiz, he's had some hits.

I don't know if they're like boomers, but he's he's putting the ball in play.

And you know, he had a couple bad swings on Sunday, like the swing decisions, probably

still or an evolving thing for him.

But I probably just won't give up every bit of hope on him that he could be a really

productive offensive player, not just a defense guy who does just enough offensively to stay

in the lineup, but like somebody who can really contribute.

And I don't know if you see anything differently this year that suggests to you.

Otherwise, you know, that maybe that that is still in there and that the Brewers can,

I mean, still young enough.

So what do you see him from him early on in the season?

I think that it's important for him, like you said, you know, he hasn't hit any boomers

yet.

But I think the important thing for him is he's getting results.

He's driven in some runs, he's come up big in some big situations.

And I mean, he's a human being.

We all need positive feedback, right?

So he's seen some results early.

And I think that is something that can help carry him.

Pat Murphy shouted him out after Saturday's game, just talking about how mentally strong

he thought Joe Yurtiz was last season, you know, carrying that around on his back.

You know, we're talking to him in, you know, in mid-May, late May about the, you know,

barely hitting 200 of the Mendoza line.

And you know, when the Brewers don't have any really alternatives, so he's going to have

to keep playing and, you know, he's terrible with the bases loaded, even though he's set

a franchise record with the bases loaded for at bats and just all the, all the stuff

that he endured last year, he managed to keep his head up through all of it.

And his numbers were not horrible by the end.

I know the OPS was, but considering where he started, to where he got to really was not

all that bad.

So hopefully for him, he can build off of this good early start and carry that confidence

with him, moving forward because I know the Brewers certainly believe in him.

They love his defense.

They love his personality.

They love his makeup.

And to be able to keep rolling him out at shortstop, you know, then that frees them

up to be able to utilize David Hamilton in different ways in a different spots to, and

that's somebody that I'll bring up here in a little bit.

But, you know, hats off the joy or tease for at least getting off to a good start and

being a contributor here in this first, first home stand, first series at home stand,

I should say.

And playing good defense per usual, which is something I might touch on here as we get

into some of the more granular details from the week here it is our weekly segment.

It is three up, three down.

All right, Tom, we talked a little about opening day with, with Kurt a couple days ago.

So I don't personally have anything on my list from opening day, but if you had anything

you wanted to touch on by all means, we can, we can revisit it.

That was a great day at 14 to victory to kick off the season.

But for me, I'll start with, you know, what we're talking about, Ortiz's defense, you

love to see it out at the plates.

And that's what we got on Saturday night.

You had a relay from the outfield, Brandon Lockridge gets his first outfield assist of

the year.

You know, it, it probably doesn't happen if he doesn't fumble the ball in the first

place, trying to range over to stop it.

That prompted White Sox runner to try, you know, go, go from second to home.

And that was, that was a bad idea.

Related Joey Ortiz right on the money, the way of Contraris, a thing of absolute beauty.

Brewers win that game, six won on Saturday night.

And, you know, just, I just love it.

I love a good outfield assist.

So that was, it was a nice, nice showing there in the second game of the season.

I just mentioned David Hamilton.

I'm going to bring him up.

I think he's going to wind up being a fan favorite by the end of the year.

For sure.

Pat Murphy has been raving about this guy since the start of spring training and made

mention several times of the fact that, you know, this kid is way, he's way better than

his, his career 280 on base percentage would show you.

And I think we're already seeing the Brewers, you know, saying, look, go out there and do

your thing.

Get on base anyway you can.

And I talked to him after opening day about that and he, he told me specifically, he had

a sit down meeting with Murphy and with Matt Arnold and they told him, just get on base

and do your thing.

We saw that on opening day.

We saw that last night, Saturday night.

He's just got such a fun game.

I love guys like that, you know, just scrappy.

He's going to be a pain in the pitcher's butt, draw on seven, eight, nine pitch walks,

getting on stealing, you know, base hit, he rolls one up the middle.

He hits off second base, he legs it out, goes, steals a bag, he'll take the extra base.

He just does all those little things that make him fit in so well with his Brewers team

and then defensively, he's looked really good at third base for having really never played

the position before, you know, there's obviously some changes and some things that you need

to do as an infielder to play that position as opposed to shortstop or second base when

you're up the middle.

It's more of a reactionary position, but he's looked good on the move.

It looks like he's got enough of a throwing arm over there, you know, last year at this

time, we were, we didn't even have Caleb Durbin in the mix yet at third base, but we were

bringing up some of those same questions about him.

Does he have enough of an arm?

Does he have enough reaction time, range over there and he turned out to be really good.

And I think, you know, David Hamilton will be, will be the same over there.

So Kudos and hats off to the Brewers for bringing him in in that Caleb Durbin trade.

And I did see a tweet today, Caleb Durbin, I think, is off to an old for 12 star with

the Red Sox with five strikeouts.

Yeah, bummer.

Yeah, kind of a tough start for him.

And certainly we wish him well, he's a great kid, did a great job for the Brewers last

year.

And I have confidence that he'll bounce back and, you know, be the player that the Red Sox

believed he was going to be when they traded for him.

Both Durbin and Audra Montestereo made the opening day roster for the Red Sox.

Well done.

That's really good for him.

And he's a, of course, starting third baseman for now and hopefully for a while.

You know, just to kind of, I mentioned the seven for seven stolen base thing and David

Hamilton now has three stolen bases on the season without even playing much on Sunday.

Did he play at all?

I don't think he got in the game on Sunday.

You know, I wonder, well, first of all, I saw him Tuesday, steal base.

That guy's lightning.

I know technically Stadcast says that Brandon Lockridge is the fastest guy on this team

and David Hamilton is next, but that guy's burst is unbelievable.

He was just surged to second base and it prompted me to post something saying like he's

going to steal a lot of bases this year.

And number two, I wonder how much we're going to say the name Spencer Allen, the new first

base coach for the Brewers, you know, it's, it's notable to me that they made a change

there.

Julio Bourbon did not have that job for long.

And I wonder if they were just unhappy, you know, I'm sure there were many things going

into play here, but like unhappy with the volume of stolen bases last year.

This is a very good base running team.

But they're stolen base, you know, like they still got a lot.

It's just they, they got thrown out a lot too.

And I wonder if they were just looking for something a little more, you know, a little

more precise there.

And certainly bringing in David Hamilton is going to help that cause, I think.

And I, you know, going seven for seven, I know it's again, it's the white socks, but

like Edgar Carro is no slouch.

I think also, I think they're just going to be really dedicated to making that a bigger

part of their game again this year.

Yeah.

Hamilton to a interesting, you know, if you look back, the Brewers obviously drafted him,

I believe it was in 2019.

He blew out his Achilles as a young guy and to see him running the way he is now, you

know, like it's, it's really is kind of mind bending a little, the medical advances

and everything that we have.

But I mean, that's just never even enters the equation.

But it always blows my mind that you see this guy running around the way he is.

And he, he had a blown Achilles, it's, it's pretty impressive.

And then Spencer Allen too, I will touch on just what a, what a, what a studious guy he

is.

What a great guy he is, insightful, intelligent, like what, what a promotion by the Brewers.

And this is no slight on Julio Bourbon.

I, you know, I'm not privy to all the decision making when it comes to why or how they did

those changes and the coaching staff.

But Spencer Allen's a guy that was, was very highly regarded, former college coach, you

know, came in the organization several years ago, quickly worked his way up the ladder

in the minor league system.

And I, I believe he, he was interviewed as a, as a bench coach finalist for the, for

the guardians in the off season.

So he's highly regarded or not only with the Brewers, but with other teams in baseball.

So kudos to him and kudos to the Brewers for finding a role for him on the major league

staff and for him to really make a, make an impact.

Not only is it first base coach, but as a base running guru and also as an outfield guru

as well.

Where's a lot of hats?

All right, my number two, you mentioned Caleb Durbin, the while we're on the subject of

ex-brewers.

How about an ex-brewer who's off to a historic start for the Washington Nationals, Joey Weemer,

who has really struggled to stick anywhere.

He played for the Marlins a little bit last year.

He's been with the giants, the royals.

He's been, you know, the reds.

He's been moved around a lot since the Brewers traded him to bring in Frankie Montasca

a couple years ago.

And he, of course, was the regular starting center fielder for the Brewers for a season

in a year where they needed bodies out in center field.

They had a lot of injuries.

But then he just wasn't able to replicate that in 2024 and beyond.

And he has reached base eight, all eight times.

His first eight played appearances with the Washington Nationals.

He goes six for six, has a triple, two homers, four RBIs.

He helps, the two games he played, the Nationals beat the Cubs.

Nationals took two or three from the Cubs Nationals.

They're not a good team this year.

They are very much a land of opportunity for guys like Joey Weemer, but they, you know,

they come out of the gate hot at Wrigley Field and take two or three very, you know, wild,

probably not something Brewers fans are counting on like Joey Weemer.

He's still here, but he is.

He's still here.

And what a start for him.

And, you know, he was a, he was a kind of a fan favorite, you know, he had the mullet.

He was kind of a crazy personality and definitely was willing to run into a wall to catch

a ball out in center field.

He could play all three field positions.

And that's why the Nationals have him on the roster.

They got lots of prospects, but he got that job out of camp.

And that is making the most of it cool stuff.

How about Luis Renjifo, out of witness protection in the line up for the first time Sunday.

And what was kind of thinking about that, you know, writing that Hamilton story and opening

day and, you know, the game that he had Saturday night, it's like, you know, they sign him to

be their primary first baseman is this guy we're going to get into the lineup.

And he gets in the lineup on Sunday and pokes that two run single up the middle.

I kept the, the fateful eighth inning alive for the brewers and eventually gets y'all

it's to the plate.

So good way for him to introduce himself, the brewers fans and we'll see how that, that,

that time share platoon or whatever you want to say at third base plays itself out.

But I wonder also if maybe in some iteration of lineups moving forward that he sees some

time at first base as well as a switch, he was getting some work there.

We saw a prior to Saturday's game too.

So we saw Brandon Lackridge over there a little bit as well.

So they're the brewers are the brewers as we know it will, will quite frequently think

outside the box when it comes to defense and, you know, getting guys accustomed to positions

that they're not used to playing and getting them service will service will to the point

where they can roll them out in a game.

So maybe we'll see Luis Renjifo over there at some point in some alignments in the

future.

Yeah, or maybe maybe a corner outfield spot too, like I don't know, like I can David

Hamill to play the outfield, we might find out.

I have no idea, but they've got a lot of guys that certainly merits in playing time.

Those Keystone guys can't play every game, Joey Ortiz and Bryce Turing as well, even though

Turing once again starting out White Hot, he has six hits to start the year.

I was going to talk about him, but I think I think I'm going to go a different direction

for my third year.

Jared Canig, I know I mentioned him a little bit, he had a really, he had a rough spring,

I, you know, there are a lot of, sometimes you, you see a relief pitcher getting up into

their 30s.

He's a guy who comes from a non-traditional background sound out of Andy League was really just kind

of this amazing reclamation story.

Sometimes those guys, you start to think of them as a little bit disposable assets, you

know, for lack of a better term that you use them for the, for the year that they're

just like really figuring it out and if things fall apart, you move on.

But I, so I guess I was a little worried that Kaynig, you know, maybe had hit that point

that he was not going to be the effect of guy that he has become over the past couple

of years.

And then on Sunday, he gets into a game and he strikes out all three batters he faces.

So he looks fantastic, at least in that teeny tiny sample.

And I'm very relieved to see it.

I think he's a great story and a huge contributor.

And just like, I think just kind of got better and better as the year went on last year

even in his second year with the team.

So great story and I'm glad to see that he came out firing and certainly sort of put

to rest any concerns or might have been from how he did early on, especially in spring

when things were really not going well for him.

He looked great on Sunday.

Woo.

Oh boy, you're going to talk about Rick Flair.

Woo.

Friday night, I was fortunate enough to be able to be invited to the Riverside theater and

spend some time with Rick Flair and Yana Sante de Cumpo for the analysis podcast.

And the brewer tie in here is a Pat Murphy, Bryce Tarrang, Jacob Mizorowski and Trevor

McGill were all there and was funny watching Murph be interviewed by a Thinassus.

And he said he's still good in those settings.

He's still good in those situations because he's just, he's so down to earth, he's so deadpan,

self-effacing, the fans love him.

The reaction at the Riverside theater and the brewers came out was very good.

I thought it was a good move on whoever, whose ever idea it was to bring the brewers down

for that, hats off to them because it was, it was very well received, a good way to get

the brewers into the limelight a little bit more.

And then of course to get me to be able to meet Rick Flair was even better, so woo.

Wisconsin's own.

I am not a wrestling guy, not even a little bit, but I am an Oscar movie guy.

I saw a movie a couple years ago called The Iron Claw, Zac Efron starred in it, Jeremy

Allen White is in it, Harris Dickinson actually kind of star-studded.

There is a scene, the guy who played Rick Flair, it's about this wrestling family in Texas,

you probably know way more about that.

On Eric.

Yes, of course.

Yeah, very famous in the wrestling community.

And there is a scene with Rick Flair and the guy who plays him is not a well-known actor

or anything and that scene, it was just like one speech essentially, one monologue for

the camera and oh my gosh, I had goosebumps, it was so good, I was so fired up watching

this part of the movie.

I think he got a little criticism for not being like exactly like how Rick Flair was,

but whatever, for me it didn't matter because I'm not a wrestling guy, it was just incredible,

the energy, oh my gosh, it was so, so good.

So you know, and he's a Wisconsin guy, if I have to choose a WWE personality to be a

fan of, that's the guy.

So that's a cool little thing.

So I will one small correction.

So he went to high school at Beaver Dan Wayland Academy, but he's not technically a Wisconsin

guy, he was raised in the Twin Cities.

Yes, well, as somebody who is on the Wisconsin connection beat, if you have even driven through

something in Wisconsin, you are a Wisconsin guy to me.

Okay.

I'm going to make sure we're here on that, but I know wrestling people know, he's build

from Charlotte North Carolina and everything, but he's a Twin Cities guy, just fascinating

human being, fascinating life, he was adopted, was adopted by a doctor, and you know, just

has lived this insanely crazy, crazy life, and still, still kicking at age 78, traveling

around, doing these kinds of things, and still sharp as ever, was as a lifelong wrestling

fan like I am, but it was a thrill to meet him and shake his hand and get a picture with

him.

So that was pretty cool to take part in.

Couple of things we did not touch on, on three up three down, I did mention that Trevor

McGill, ninth inning on Sunday, incredible stuff, as well as the fly out at the very end

to the warning track, and self-realic out there, who made a nice catch earlier in the game

on the warning track, reminiscent of past Trevor McGill saves, there was one in Toronto

that, that's six out of my head where he had a couple hits of the wall, but got the job

done.

I do think he had Tristan Peter struck out, and if they had used that last challenge,

they could have gotten that dialed up.

Tristan Peters, a former Brewers prospect, traded for Trevor Rosenthal once upon a

time, not a deal.

The Brewers want to revisit Peter's now a big leader with the White Sucks, got his first

two majorly hits in this series.

So that's kind of cool.

Somebody told me they saw Trevor Rosenthal Jersey, Brewers Jersey at the stadium this weekend.

Yes.

I saw it.

Well, in front of the press box on Saturday night, there were two gentlemen.

One was wearing a Frankie Montas, and one was wearing a Cairo spring training jersey

with number 76 on it, so those were too good.

I think those two guys generally have a really, I think those are the two guys we always

point out is having a really cool obscure ex-Brewersies and former current Brewersies, you

know, as rookies and so forth.

That's always one of our fun little pastimes in the press box spotting those during games.

Yeah.

Those are the real ones.

Gary Sanchez, as I mentioned also, home run on Sunday, El Cracken, underrated nickname.

Like we don't appreciate how good of a nickname that is.

The Brewers treated that out, of course, when he hit the two run homer to get things

started on the comeback trail on Sunday.

All right.

That does it for three up, three down.

Let's go back in time.

My first, we haven't done one of these in a long time.

Let's go back in Brewers history for Remember When, Todd.

What were you doing in the year 1986?

I would have been a freshman in high school at McWant to go high school.

Good stuff.

You probably were following the Brewers at that point.

Were you following them very closely, as always?

Were you a varsity athlete as a freshman already?

No, I wasn't that good.

No.

Okay.

You know, I mean, I know they named all their buildings after you, so I didn't know

if you would.

Yeah, but that's from all the huge amounts of money you have donated to this time.

Yeah.

1986 was a was pretty interesting 40 years ago, of course, and mirrors this season

and that they opened with a sweep against the Chicago White Sox.

This was at Kamiski Park.

And I wanted to highlight that series because there's just kind of a lot of parallels.

This is the first game.

The first game of the season is the first game Rob Deer plays with the Milwaukee

Brewers.

And in the second inning of that first game, he hit a ball onto the roof of Kamiski

Park and out of the stadium.

It was against Tom Seever, future Hall of Famer Tom Seever.

It was his last year in baseball.

And I think he was like the 41st or 49th, the 40 something player to actually put a ball

out of the stadium onto the roof, a mammoth shot, and fell into a deserted baseball field

beyond left field.

Brewers win that game five to three Ernie Riles in his first game with the Milwaukee

Brewers.

He hits a two run homer in that game to score Billy Joe Robodoo in his first game with

the Milwaukee Brewers.

That's one thing.

There's a lot of his first time Brewers except for, you know, now Kero, who made it his

Major League debut.

And a few guys, a few guys who have made appearances with other teams, but these guys were all

like making their, you know, Robodoo and Riles making their big league debuts.

Game three of this series.

The Brewers are down five one in the seventh inning, kind of similar to how things were

on Sunday.

Robodoo ties the game with a two out two run single in the ninth inning.

They are up against it.

And Billy Joe Robodoo ties the game at five and Ernest Riles follows with a three run

homer.

Again, both those guys were minor league years of the year before, really nice series

to start the year.

Juan Nieves made his debut with the Brewers in that third game.

They were like, there was like fewer than 9,000 people there to see the third game in

this series.

The opener, of course, 40,000 plus to see Rob Deere put one over their stadium.

And there's like 9,000 there.

People are not interested in the cold in early April of 1986 in Chicago.

Bob James, the pitcher, I believe, who gave that up for the White Sox gave up the lead

in the ninth inning.

It wasn't a great year for the Brewers.

Yes, they started 3 and 0.

This is only the tenth time that they've started 3 and 0.

That team finished 77 and 84.

It was a little disappointing.

Ernie Riles had nine homers that year, two in the first two games or two in the first

three games.

He had two homers.

Nine for the season, which unfortunately for the era, I suppose, this is normal.

But unfortunately, that was the third most on the team.

Rob Deere hit 33.

Cecil Cooper hit 12.

And then Ernie Riles and two other guys had nine.

So 127 total homers for the team.

That is a wild, wild number.

And not even like anywhere close to the lowest in franchise history.

The White Sox were also bad that year, they went 72 games.

I was looking back at some other early starts.

We were talking earlier about really big offensive explosions like the Brewers this year,

the Yankees last year.

In 1978, the Brewers went five in order to start the year.

They were facing the Yankees and Orioles.

They scored 54 runs in the first five games.

The average better than 10 runs a game.

They gave up 20.

You know, four runs a game, I guess isn't like phenomenal, but they scored 10 a game.

They outscored Baltimore alone, 40 to 11 in three games.

So that was that was a burst 78 team, the first winning team in Brewers history.

So that's a that was a pretty good team.

I called up.

I called up the Brewers 86 roster.

I was just kind of curious looking at some of the names here, the classic Ryan Clutterbuck,

Jaime Kokenauer, John Henry Johnson, Ray Searage, behind the plate, you had Rick Serone along

with the Rock, Bill Schroeder and Charlie Miller, Jim Aducci, Kiki Diaz.

Oh, that's a real deep cut.

Steve Kiefer, cup of coffee with the Brewers.

In the outfield, you had the first sightings of, as you mentioned, Rob Deer, how about Glenn

Bragg's Mike Felder, Randy Reddy, and one of my all-time favorites.

Paul Householder.

There are so many names that both in his full of names, full of syllables, Householder

and Kokenauer and Clutterbuck, Lackona out there.

No Chuck Kreme yet?

I don't think he's there yet.

No, no Chuck.

I'll just go through a Burkeback Basio, Clear, Clutterbuck, Kokenauer, Dr. Death, Danny

Dauer or Danny Dauer, Danny Dauer, when Bob Gibson, the wrong Bob Gibson, Teddy

Higgara, John Henry Johnson, Mark Knudsen, Tim Leary, Bob McClure, Juan Yeva's, Race

Searage, Pete Vukovic still around, Bill Wegman, Dan Pliseck.

Yeah, that is a, that's a tops.

I can picture those trading cards, you know, the tops trading cards with the name of the

team and the upper right hand corner and big block letters.

Yeah, those black across the top and then it was the block letters.

Yeah.

Very ugly, in my opinion.

Not exactly.

Maybe seven or the best ones with the wood grain borders.

Yeah.

Ah, good times.

Love going back at time.

Love naming some guys.

Remember some guys.

That's it for remember when our Todd, let's see what you got this early in the season.

Maybe it's too early for a Todd take of the week, but we're going to see what we got.

Here it is.

Todd's take of the week.

So for all the, the wheeling and teeth gnashing and complaining and wondering about what

channel the brewers were going to be on.

We finally got that news early opening day morning.

And today, Sunday was my first time watching a broadcast and I was very, very impressed.

I have to say I have spectrum.

I watched it.

Pretty much the whole game and was great.

I really enjoyed it.

I thought that the brewers are doing a great job.

There's definitely the look is very different than we're used to with what was Fox and then

Fandool and Bally's and all that kind of stuff.

I think it's very well done.

Camer shots are great.

The graphics are great.

To me, the picture is even clearer.

So I don't know if they've done something with the cameras or the broadcast, whatever.

But just really, really good.

There's still, there's some works in progress.

I know I was talking to Sophia last night about it.

There's still some things that they're kind of tweaking and working on.

I think we're going to see a desk set like they used to have in right field.

I think they're still working on that right now for Craig Cishon and Tim Dillard and Vinnie

Routino.

So I think that's going to come into play later on in the season.

I don't know how long, but you know, the wire cam to get the camera running, you know,

getting those shots above, which is really cool.

And the one thing I really wanted to shut out that I thought was so cool.

And I don't know if this happened on opening day on that broadcast or a Saturday's game

because I was covering those games.

But after yellow chits, the home run, the camera guy follows yellow ch into the dugout.

And as he's doing the run in the gauntlet, doing the high fives, the cameras right behind

him.

And he's running through and you can see the guy's faces and everything.

You're in the dugout doing the high fives with the players.

That was amazing.

So I don't know if they did that after Bowers and Freelix homers, maybe JR, you can comment

on that.

I don't know if you saw the broadcast or not, but either way, that is such a cool touch.

And I thought that was so neat to be able to see that.

It just takes the fan right into the dugout with the player and in such a cool moment too.

So hats off to the brewers for that, whoever's decision that was, whoever's idea that was,

that was tremendous.

I hope it continues.

Yeah, I was traveling as I mentioned on the last podcast and saw everything after the

fact.

So I don't know if I, I don't even know if I saw that particular aftermath from their

home version in the opening day, but, but I am also a fan of the production quality.

And I, I think that was something we always thought would be the case.

Like with MLB handling it, bringing kind of a lot of things under their own technology.

Like it's always been ahead of the curve.

What ML, you know, everything MLBAM has done.

And I don't know how MLBAM exactly connects to the actual production of the TV broadcast.

But I think we knew we'd be in for something a little bit better and, and that's definitely

been the case.

And, and, and, man, Jeff Levering's call of that home run that Chris Nilesbaum was really

good.

He's just really just really hit it, hit it perfectly.

Loved, loved the, the pop of that moment coming through the broadcast loud and clear.

It was very, very good.

Mori Brown of Forbes, he has a, he's a really good, really good piece that, that I read over

the weekend at some point that looks at kind of all the process.

It wasn't just the brewers who were waiting until the bitter, bitter end to get channels listings

for cable and satellite.

It was, pretty much every team that had been covered by an RSN was in the same boat.

And he sort of talks about why that happened, Major League Baseball.

It's basically staring contest between Major League Baseball and the distributors, you

know, coming down to the wire.

So he really kind of hits on that.

If people are interested, it wasn't the brewers call, per se, you know, the brewers are part

of Major League Baseball, but it wasn't them who were waiting until the last second.

That wasn't their wish either.

They wanted to get that information to people, but it was on MLB to get that done so.

There will still be some things to iron out.

I still, I'm a little worried, like has myself a spectrum customer, if there's a way for

me to get the, when I'm not in my house, if I can get that like through my cable, cable

subscription, still working on that, but, but it's going to be, it's going to be nice.

When this is all settled in, it's going to be really, really nice.

Todd, any last thoughts before I send you away?

Um, big week ahead, three games against the raise.

We'll see the debut of Kyle Harrison on Monday, Brandon Woodruff on Tuesday, and then

the Miz comes around on Wednesday.

And then I had out to Kansas City over the weekend.

So wish me luck with all our TSA greatness, uh, hats off to the guys and the men and women

who are still working and still doing their jobs, not being paid.

I'm not trying to be political here, but for all of us, we have to travel.

For work, I wish us all well and short lines.

Yeah, I think Milwaukee, you can get away with still getting out of an airplane in a reasonable

amount of time.

I think, uh, but I'm sure that I was in close.

You can drive to Kansas City.

Can't you?

What are we talking?

Although I would say I did learn one thing and doing a little bit of research.

Did you know that Kansas City is one of 20 airports in the United States that does not

use TSA?

I did not know that.

Yes.

I didn't know that that was even an option.

But I guess San Francisco is also one of those airports where for whatever reason, however

it works out, they employ the employee private security to do the security at the airport.

So I'm assuming that those people will be will be have been getting paid.

So I'm hoping that my trip to and from Kansas City this weekend will be seamless.

I will do my best to speak to Isaac Collins and Nick Mears and get their perspectives

of the trade.

I don't think we've heard from them since they moved on.

So if I'm able to pin them down, I'll write a story and let you know what they think.

Uh, yeah, that'd be great.

I believe Kansas City was, I don't know if this is still the case.

The only airport that had offered free Wi-Fi or at one point, I think they were the first

to have it be completely free.

Maybe it's not anymore and maybe I'm making that up.

But I enjoy the Kansas City airport.

It's very nice since they moved it and they rebuilt their built a new one or whatever

they did.

The old one was horrific.

The new one is great.

Cool.

All right, well, Todd will be at Coffin Stadium.

Of course, everything at JSOnline.com, Kurt and Todd will be splitting the duties here

at home with the rays in town.

Tampa Bay rays in town.

And we will, uh, we will see where things go from here.

Thank you, Todd, for joining us.

Milwaukee Brewers are three and a great time to be following the Milwaukee Brewers and subscribing

to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel JSOnline.com slash deal.

If you are interested in such a thing and we will be back again next week on the micro

group podcast.

Thank you for joining us, Todd.

Always a pleasure, J.R.

We'll see you next week.