Milwaukee Brewers beat reporter Adam McCalvy announced on Friday that the team has named their minor-league players of the month for August. In total, four players received the honor.
Brewers Minor League honors for August:
IF Freddy Zamora and IF/OF Jackson Chourio named players of the month. RHPs Evan Reifert and Brailin Rodriguez named pitchers of the month.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) September 3, 2021
The award was split evenly between two batters and two pitchers. Sharing the spoils in the batting department was SS Freddy Zamora and IF/OF Jackson Chourio. Right handed pitchers Evan Reifert and Brailin Rodriguez were named alongside them.
Here’s a brief recap on each of these players month of August and which minor league affiliate they were playing at.
SS Freddy Zamora: Carolina Mudcats/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers:
Zamora is the 11th ranked prospect in the Brewers system per Pipeline and15th per Fangraphs. He tore it up in all facets of the game this month and earned a promotion halfway through the month. In August, he split time between Low-A Carolina and High-A Wisconsin. He played his way into a promotion with a.405/.491/.575 line in 24 games.
With this impressive slash line, the 2020 second round pick posted an OPS of 1.065, a wRC+ of 187, and a wOBA of .480. These numbers further proved how deserving he was of this award. The Miami product shows no signs of slowing down either. In the eight games following his deserved promotion to Wisconsin, Zamora continues to produce an OBP north of .400. He is a name to keep an eye on in this sneaky deep Brewers farm system.
IF/OF Jackson Chourio: Brewers 2 (DOSL):
Jackson Chourio certainly does not have eye popping statistics from the month August. He put up some very pedestrian numbers in 19 Dominican Summer League and had a slash line of .224/.333/.293. I will give the 17-year-old prospect some credit though for he did draw 14 walks. Beyond that though, him receiving this award makes little to no sense given performances of others players in the organization. Chourio’s numbers pale in comparison to fellow top-30 prospect Joey Wiemer at the High-A level.
It feels safe to assume that there is some piece to the puzzle us outside of the Brewers organization do not have that would establish why Chourio was the recipient of this award. Regardless, congratulations to Chourio are still in order and he will certainly be an interesting name to revisit soon.
RHP Evan Reifert: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers:
Evan Reifert, ranked 39th in the Brewers system per Fangraphs, may not be a household name. However, if August is any indicator of his future he certainly could become one soon. He pitched out of the bullpen for the Timber Rattlers and posted some pretty nasty numbers on the mound.
In 14.1IP, the Iowa native who signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent, pitched to a 0-0 record and recorded two saves. The best aspect of his game far and away is his ability to generate high strikeout numbers, proven by a 15.07 K/9. He also limited opponents to a .212 BA throughout the month. At times Reifert tends to get wild, which is reflected in his eight walks on the month. He’s got elite stuff when it’s functioning on all cylinders, but his ability to control the zone will be worth monitoring.
RHP Brailin Rodriguez: ACL Brewers Gold:
Brailin Rodriguez; an unranked prospect signed by the Brewers in 2018 out of the Dominican Republic, has done quite a lot to impress in this last month. He made five appearances in August with four of them being starts. He started hot out of the gates and allowed just two earned runs in his first 14 IP. With the exception of one start against the Giants affiliate in which he allowed three runs, Rodriguez limited opponents in every other appearance to one earned run at most.
Rodriguez too is a strong purveyor of the strikeout with an extremely solid 11.90 K/9. After ending the month with an ERA of 2.75 despite opponents’ BABIP’ing .404, Rodriguez was the recipient of a promotion to Carolina on September 1st. He’s yet to make an appearance down Zebulon, but expect Rodriguez to hit the ground running for there is less than one month remaining in the minor league season.
Follow me on Twitter at @WyattVanDyke6and follow us @WiscoHeroics1 for more great content. Check out our merch page here and use promo code Wisco at check out for $1 off! To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin sports, click here!
