Frelick filling highlight reel while with Triple-A

MILWAUKEE -- After getting the news he was headed to the big leagues before Triple-A Nashville played a single game, Joey Wiemer was able to share the news with fellow Brewers outfield prospect and the club's No. 2 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, Sal Frelick.

No surprise, Frelick was thrilled for his friend.

“He’s a gamer,” Wiemer said Sunday at American Family Field, where he was in the lineup for the Brewers’ series finale against the Cardinals. “There’s nothing that’s going to faze that guy.”

While he awaits his call to the Majors, Frelick has been filling the highlight reel for Nashville with three stolen bases and a series of diving catches. He was also the only Sounds player to reach base in all three games of the club’s opening series against Louisville.

When the Brewers assigned Frelick to the Sounds at the end of Spring Training, they told him to force his way to the Major Leagues. If he continues to do that, the club eventually could face an outfield logjam, with Garrett Mitchell and Wiemer already in the big leagues and veterans Christian Yelich and Jesse Winker expected at this time to pick up the starts in left.

But Frelick is coming eventually. So is top prospect Jackson Chourio, another outfielder, who reached safely multiple times in each of his first two games this season for Double-A Biloxi. If you’re wondering about a logjam ahead, you’re not alone. The players themselves say they’re wondering how that will play out.

“I’m not really worried about it,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold said. “You like to have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things, and often it works itself out. If you have four awesome outfielders, you can still get 550 plate appearances for all of them. That’s very possible.”

So, the message from the organization to players like Frelick is to just keep pushing them to make a hard decision.

“When his time comes, his time comes,” Wiemer said.

Here’s more from the Minors:

Triple-A Nashville
The Brewers added an arm to the Sounds bullpen Sunday with Bennett Sousa, a left-hander who turned 28 on Thursday and made 25 appearances in the Majors for the White Sox last season. The Brewers picked him up from the Reds in exchange for international bonus money plus additional cash. Sousa is on the 40-man roster.

“Really interesting guy with some good stuff,” Arnold said. “He’s close with [Brewers reliever Peter] Strzelecki, I believe, and has some interesting ingredients we think we can work with. He has a long history of good performance in the Minor Leagues and has struck a lot of guys out there. Hopefully we get him in our system, and he has the ability for that to translate to the Major League level.”

Sousa has 11.45 strikeouts per nine innings during his Minor League career. He was a 10th-round Draft pick of the White Sox in 2018.

Sousa helps restore some organizational depth with Brewers left-hander Aaron Ashby out until at least September following shoulder surgery. The team also has veteran Justin Wilson rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and projecting for a July return.

Double-A Biloxi
In his organizational debut, right-hander Tobias Myers struck out 11 batters in 5 2/3 innings Friday for a 3-0 Shuckers win, marking the second straight Opening Day victory for the Shuckers. The well-traveled Myers was 1-15 with a 7.82 ERA during a 2022 season split between the Triple-A affiliates of the Giants, Guardians and White Sox, but the Brewers saw tools they liked and signed him to a Minor League deal that included an invitation to big league camp.

His 11 strikeouts in his Biloxi debut were one away from tying the Biloxi single-game record, set by Taylor Jungman in 2016 and tied by Freddy Peralta in 2017 and Alec Bettinger and Bowden Francis in 2019 and Ethan Small in 2021.

High-A Wisconsin
The Timber Rattlers have won four consecutive Opening Day games after taking advantage of 10 walks and two errors in a 4-2 win over the Beloit Sky Carp on Friday. Wisconsin played its season-opening series without 2022 first-round Draft pick Eric Brown Jr., (Brewers' No. 8 prospect per MLB Pipeline) who was dealing with some hip tightness.

“He’s not on the IL or anything, but with the cold weather in Beloit, they said, ‘Hey, let’s keep him out just to be sure he’s good,’” said Tom Flanagan, the Brewers’ VP of player operations and baseball administration. “Tuesday, he should be ready to go hopefully.”

Single-A Carolina
The Mudcats’ first two games were spoiled by rain, but when they get going, the roster features top prospects including outfielder Hedbert Perez (the club's No. 19 prospect per MLB Pipeline), infielder Jadher Areinamo (No. 21) and outfielder Jace Avina (No. 27). RHP Jacob Misiorowski’s season debut (No. 6) is expected to come Thursday at home against Salem.