Eric Maisch, the Brewers 22-year old starting pitcher in his second full season in the WPK (well, actually 1981 saw him playing at both AAA and in Denver with 19 games started at the big league level), was not long ago the #2 prospect in the game. And it seems the hype may have been well deserved as yesterday he picked up his 20th win, the first WPK pitcher to get to this mark in '82, with only 3 losses on his record. He improved his ERA to 2.56, second best in the MGL only behind veteran teammate
Sadahige Kawasaki. He also struck out 8 more batters, getting his season total to 190, most in the game.
Catcher
Willie Ortega (.277/.312/.451) has done a good job in his first season with the club and led the way in this one with a 3 for 4 game, scoring twice, driving in 3 runs, and hitting his 17th double of the season. He also has the second best CERA in the MGL at 3.28, trailing only the San Francisco star backstop Andrew Litteral (3.20), whose team plays their home games in a run suppressing environment. He also ranks in the top 5 in Range, ZR, and defensive efficiency, while being 6th in caught stealing percentage at 39.2%. With top catching prospect
Jesse Cooper seemingly big league ready and having been called up again when rosters expanded at the beginning of the month, the feeling in Brewer nation is that veteran long-time backup catcher
Kirk Patnode is not likely to be returning for the 1983 season. (He is eligible to be a free agent.)
And on the subject of first-year Brewers having a nice season, 4th outfielder
Eric Dougherty, who was acquired in a trade with Charlotte this past offseason, after tearing up both AA and AAA earlier this year has now hit .348/.353/.544 in 167 plate appearances as a Brewer, putting up 1.6 WAR, playing a strong left field and an acceptable center field. While there isn't an opening for a starting job next season in the Brewers outfield, he should be on the big league roster on opening day and likely to be there the full season, giving regular breaks especially to the aging and injury-prone
Joe McPhillips. In yesterday's game,
Dougherty went 2 for 5, driving in 2 runs and picking up his 5th stolen base (he has been caught 3 times, and this was on the back end of
Val Guzman's steal of third base, which was
Val's team-best 27th stolen base).
The Brewers have really opened up a good lead in the MGL West with not that much season left, though it would be even more comfortable if the San Francisco Velocity weren't 9 and 1 in their last 10 games, staying 6 1/2 games behind Denver. Three teams in the division have now been mathematically eliminated, with Phoenix being joined by St. Louis and Los Angeles. Four teams have also been eliminated in the SJL West- with Houston being joined by the Seattle Alligators, the Chicago Fire, and the Milwaukee Cadets, leaving, as was inevitable, just the San Antonio Keys and El Paso Dawgs to battle it out. (San Antonio has now taken a 3 game lead in this race, having won 6 in a row while El Paso has gone 5-5 in their last 10.)