What excites me most about this year’s Packers? Brewers pick up a Big Win! Van Dyke named Badgers starter.

Ready for the inside scoop on Wisconsin sports? Have you ever wondered how the unpredictable Wisconsin weather impacts everyday activities like gardening? Join us on "Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage" as we start with a cheerful chat about the rainy weather before diving into the intense Brewers game against the Dodgers, featuring controversial calls that had everyone talking. We then bring you the latest from Badger football, where the big news is Tyler Van Dyke being named the starting quarterback. We’ll break down what this means for the team and his competition with Braden Locke, setting the stage for an exciting season.

The anticipation is palpable as we gear up for the fall sports season, and the Packers are at the center of it all. Get hyped with us as we showcase the promising young talent on the Packers roster, including defensive standouts Lucas Van Ness, Kerry Valentine, and Eric Stokes, and offensive stars Jaden Reed, Romeo Dobbs, and Dontavian Wicks. We’ll also tackle the hot debate sparked by Dan Orlovsky's controversial ranking of NFC North receiving corps, and why it has everyone buzzing. The excitement doesn't stop there—college football, the NFL, and other sports leagues are just around the corner, promising a season full of action and surprises.

As we wrap up, we delve into the Packers' ongoing battle for the number two quarterback spot and provide crucial injury updates, including the return of key defensive players. We’ll also discuss the Brewers' defensive struggles, lineup changes, and who should take the leadoff spot—Sal Frelick or Garrett Mitchell? And of course, we want to hear from you! Your feedback, reviews, and engagement mean the world to us. Like, subscribe, leave a review, and let us know what you think. Enjoy the show and have a fantastic Thursday!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

Thank you. How are we doing everybody? And welcome in to Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. I'm your host, trage. It is a fantastic Thursday here in the great state of Wisconsin. It is a fantastic Thursday even though they are talking about a little bit of rain, right, a little bit of rain, but we're used to it at this point, right? I mean, we're getting used to it. It's like when the rain isn't here, I'm bored, I don't know what to do. You know, it gets dry out for a little while. I don't know what's going on. I'm confused. I miss the rain. Well, the rain is returning. It's supposed to be here now for a couple of days.

Speaker 1: 1:14

They're talking about it could be some showers, could be, I mean, just a little drizzle here and there. Who knows, who knows anymore, right? I mean, we're sitting here looking at this. You know weather as of this year in total, and it's like man, oh man, man, oh man. You worry about the farmers around. You worry about just a little bit of everything with all this rain.

Speaker 1: 1:31

I know what I can tell you, though. I haven't had to water my garden, that's okay. That's okay. I get to avoid watering my garden. It does it for me. That's okay with me. That's okay with me. Just got this big old tub out back there catches the rainwater for me and I just put the sub pump in there and I just use that as a hose. It's right next to it but, hey, I haven't had to use it. That thing is plump full, I haven't had to use it. So that's great. That's great, Right. So lots of great stuff there. Lots of great stuff. Hopefully you're staying dry today. But hey, if you're with us, that means you are listening. Hopefully, hopefully we bring you a pretty good show. Hopefully we bring you a pretty good show today.

Speaker 1: 2:09

We got some things to get into today. A little bit of Packer talk here and there. We got the Brewers to talk about right now, as we're recording, we're watching the Brewers right now with a 4-3 lead over the Dodgers there. I'm not comfortable with that lead quite yet. I'm not quite comfortable with it. A couple of boneheaded uh, boneheaded plays in this game so far. Also a couple controversial you know it could have gone either way calls in this game so far. So, brewers, they're playing tough. They're playing tough in a game that it just seems like it's stacked against them. It just seems like it's stacked against them. But lots to get into today.

Speaker 1: 2:46

So right away I want to look at the Badgers, badger football. As we saw yesterday, the Badgers announced. The Badgers announced Tyler Van Dyke will be the starting quarterback For this upcoming season. And I mean, is it what we expected? I guess that's the big thing. Is it what you expected? Yes, as I watched a terrible call there on Contreras for strike three Watched it. Go by. Terrible call, terrible call. It was low. It was three. Watch it. Go by. Terrible call, terrible call. It was low, it was low. But you know, whatever, whatever, it just seems like, like I said, it's all stacked against them.

Speaker 1: 3:30

But back to Tyler Van Dyke. There, you know, you're watching two things at once, you're trying to keep up. Right Back to Tyler Van Dyke. There, I mean, coming over from Miami, running almost a air raid offense with Miami, you almost felt like it was the fit for him. Right, it was a fit. Now I thought it was Tanner Mordecai's fit too. So I could be completely wrong in that sense. But I would say the good thing that I believe came out of this whole battle was that now you, truthfully, you sit there and you say to yourself if Brayden Locke could battle for this long with Tyler Van Dyke, and he was making it interesting the entire time whether they were going to go with Van Dyke or Brayden Locke. Either Brayden Locke did not improve and Tyler Van Dyke is just not that good right, or Van Dyke was balling out but so was Locke and you put them side by side. It was a tough decision, right, and at the end of the day you had to make a decision. Well, you know Braden Locke's got a little bit more years left. You know you have Van Dyke for this one. You took experience in that aspect and Van Dyke might have done one thing just a little bit better. Right, might have done one thing just a little bit better. Uh, looking at what Longo had to say, he said he complimented Locke's progress on Wednesday and said the gap between Wisconsin's top two quarterbacks was narrower than last year when Mordecai was the clear number one. As Fix says, we kind of see it as one and and 1B type of situation right now, as opposed to 1 and 2. That's how well Braden has done here in camp. But as of right now, tyler Van Dyke is our starter. I think it adds a lot of security, you know to me Sitting here as a Badger fan going into this next season with a lot of question marks.

Speaker 1: 5:22

Right, you know there's a lot of promise for this team. You look at the wide receiver core you have Bryson Green, you have Will Pauling, you got Vinny Anthony in there. You're going to have some good options out there. Looking at the backfield, you have some good pieces in there, right, with the additions of Dupree in there in the backfield and also Malusi returning in that backfield. There you have options. The offensive line's solid Tight end is up in the air right now. Wisconsin always seems to figure out a good, a decent tight end right. And then on the defensive side of the ball, puce comes in. You have Peterson on the flip side of him over there. You have Barton up the middle right now. And then you look at the backside of the defense there, you have barton up the middle right now. And then you look at the back side of the defense there, moore's out there, you have waller out there, our wooler out there, you have hallman out there. I mean, all in all, there's a lot of question marks but a lot of good pieces on this team.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Now you look at the quarterback room and say, okay, I, I have Tyler Van Dyke slotted in as my starter, but say we have, like last season, you know, your starting quarterback and Mordecai goes down. Well, brayden Locke has to step in Now. Brayden Locke is inexperienced. This is still, I mean, luke Fickle's first full season, right, and you have inexperience at the quarterback. And you have inexperience at the quarterback, not a lot of guys who have been fully introduced to that system, as they like to say. So. Locke's trying to figure it out on the fly. He's trying to do a lot of different things. He's playing Ohio State right. A lot of just little things that Locke wasn't prepared for. Now Locke seems to be right up there. He seems to be. I mean, as we just read there, as was stated there by Fickle, by Longo, you have one A and one B. I don't think you could be in a better spot. That makes me believe if Van Dyke does have issues, if Van Dyke does go down with an injury, braden Locke can step in there and Braden Locke can do his thing and the Badgers, hopefully, will not miss a beat, right, that's the big thing. Won't miss a beat.

Speaker 1: 7:35

I thought when Mordecai went out last year I didn't think Mordecai had that great of a year. A lot of people weren't, as they weren't as down on Mordecai as I was. I didn't think Mordecai really had a great year. I thought it was solid. I didn't think it was anything great. You look at Mordecai coming in and this was a guy who had over 5,000 yards passing. This guy was unreal, coming over from I believe it was SMU. He came over from there and the season that he had throwing the football, I thought he had issues which seemed weird because at SMU that was his big thing. So, yes, injuries did bar him. That didn't help, but I just didn't. You know, watching him last year, if Tyler Van Dyke could be a better version of that throwing the football, the Badgers will be all right. The Badgers will be all right.

Speaker 1: 8:36

It's not like they have an easy schedule. They have a I mean, a pretty tough schedule all the way around. I mean, like we talked about the date with Alabama. You got that date with Alabama. You have USC, you have Penn State, you have Oregon on that schedule. Nebraska's supposed to be a little bit better this season here. You never know about. Northwestern Iowa's always a dogfight. Minnesota always figures out a way to play with you at times Purdue. Thank goodness it's at home, because at Purdue that could lead to trouble and for some reason everybody's high on Rutgers. I don't know what it is. If Rutgers, they found some, I mean they have some decent talent. But the way some people are talking about them they're like this is a team that's ahead of the Badgers right now.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Okay, if they're ahead of the Badgers, then what did they do in the off season that I missed? Because yes, they added some pieces, but I didn't think they added that many pieces, you know. So I mean, hearing that Van Dyke was named the starter did not surprise me. I kind of expected it, to be honest, but it made me feel better when I heard how close and how long it actually took for them to decide. It made me excited that the Badgers had a couple good quarterbacks finally in the room. I mean, last season we went into it and we're like okay, we have Mordecai, we have Locke coming in, we got Evers. This is a pretty good group we have put together. Now I think if Locke has improved this much, I can't wait to see him out there, whether it's this season, barring something happens, or if it's next season, I can't wait to see Brayden Locke out there if he's progressed this much. So I love to hear that. To wrap that up, I love to hear that Brayden Locke and Tyler Van Dyke gets finally figured out. But Brayden Locke is improving and he has looked good in spring. That's all the reports that I've seen. Everything that I've heard, everything that I've seen is that Brayden Locke has, I mean, performed well in training camp. So great news there. Great news Badgers back at Camp Randall.

Speaker 1: 10:43

Now, after spending some time at Platteville, they're back at Camp Randall preparing for that week one matchup on August 30th. It's getting closer and closer. We're already at August 15th. Right, we're already at August 15th. We're 15 days away already from Badger football being back. It is exciting. It is exciting. And that means after that happens, we're so much closer to Packer football. And then let the sports just roll in, right. Then you have college football, you have the NFL, you have college basketball right around the corner, and then after that you have the NBA getting ready to go, you have MLB postseason happening, you got the NHL happening. I mean volleyball, college volleyball, rolling along. The Badgers always seem to perform well in the college volleyball department. So you look at that. I mean it's crazy. This is when you hit the home stretch and it starts to get a little crazy there in sports. The dog days of summer are getting to an end now and we're getting towards sports being back and flourishing once again right, flourishing, that's all we can say. So, with that, great talk, great talk about the Badgers there, great to see Tyler Van Dyke getting that starting nod right now and hopefully, hopefully, we see this dairy rain offense start to pick it up this season here for the Badgers. But with that, I want to get into a little bit of Packer talk here.

Speaker 1: 12:09

Talk about the Packers and kind of what we've been thinking about lately here, some of the thoughts I've been having as of late here. So right away, looking at this Packers team, looking at this Packers team, what excites me the most? That was my biggest. You know I saw a lot of people. You know they had the same question out there on social media and I wanted to answer my thoughts. No-transcript.

Speaker 1: 12:39

Number one I would say the young talent on both sides of the ball. You know a lot of these teams. They have talent on both sides of the ball, but it's old talent, it's older talent, right, what makes me the most excited about this Packers team is, I mean, look at Lucas Van Ness, for prime example. He was dominant in that game against the Browns. He was dominant in that game against the Browns. He was dominant in that game against the Browns. If you would have told me that a year ago, when everybody was like Lucas Van Ness was a waste of a pick, blah, blah, blah, you know I would have questioned it. But he has definitely progressed over this last offseason. So just seeing a guy like that, lucas Van Ness.

Speaker 1: 13:22

And then you look at guys like Kerry Valentine, who has already proven that he should not have been a late round draft pick. He should have moved up. He should have been higher in the draft. The Packers got a steal in Valentine Valentine proven his worth out there. And even guys like Eric Stokes, who has played well since getting back, and finally, healthy right Koi Walker developing out there. Rashawn Gary's a big one for me. Rashawn Gary's development over the years has been great, has been great.

Speaker 1: 13:49

And then I mean, look at the offensive side of the ball. You look at some of the weapons that they have in that wide receiver room and just the leaps that they took last season, even you know. You look at Jaden Reed, you look at Romeo Dobbs and Dontavian Wicks just the improvement that we saw in season from those guys. Even a guy like Bo Melton who when he came over nobody really knew who Bo Melton was and all of a sudden he just bursts onto the scene and he's this big pass catcher for the Packers. You gotta love it, you gotta love it. And then you look at the offensive line and some of those guys Sean Ryan playing well for Green Bay and Zach Tom developing into a really good offensive lineman. Also Elton Jenkins. I mean Elton Jenkins, not a lot of people doesn't get a lot of talk, but I mean when you don't talk about an offensive lineman a lot, unless if you're mentioning stats it's a pretty good thing to be in that boat, pretty good to be in that boat. So Elton Jenkins is one of those guys for me.

Speaker 1: 14:49

It excites me the amount of young talent. They're the youngest team in the NFL. They were the youngest team last year and actually they got younger, isn't that crazy? They got younger than being the youngest team in the NFL. They were the youngest team in the postseason. They were the youngest team in the postseason youngest team to win a postseason game. It's just this Packers young core that they're building together. That excites me the most. That has got to be the thing that excites me the most and I didn't even mention Jordan Love. I didn't even mention Jordan Love in that whole thing and that excites me right. But you just look at every other factor in there and just the, the youth that they have that they're building together, it's just something that excites me. Uh, the developing and like I just talked about, uh, developing and strong wide receiver core, like I mean.

Speaker 1: 15:35

Prime example here dan orlovsky. Everybody knows him right. He has, he's on espn, has his controversial takes, I guess you could say. He ranked the nfC North receiving course and he put the Packers in the number one spot, followed by the Vikings, the Bears and the Lions. And a lot of people were like Dan, what are you talking about? You're just completely far out, like this is bad. And Dan says very difficult to answer the question fairly because all four are very good. But he said he had three things that he stated for his reasonings I wanted five above average plus pass catchers as the criteria. Tight ends were included and Minnesota took two spots over Chicago strictly because JJ accounts for two plus players. He's so good, I can agree with that.

Speaker 1: 16:23

Justin Jefferson counts for two guys.

Speaker 1: 16:24

I, he's so good, I can agree with that.

Speaker 1: 16:25

Justin Jefferson counts for two guys.

Speaker 1: 16:26

I mean, come on, come on now.

Speaker 1: 16:28

Justin Jefferson counts for two guys.

Speaker 1: 16:29

Keenan Allen, solid receiver.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Right, I mean, he's solid. I'm not going to say Keenan Allen isn't a good receiver. Dj Moore has shown moments of brilliance. And Rome, I mean Rome, you don't Rome Dunze, you don't Rome Dunze. You don't know it all yet, right, you don't know it all yet. He's a rookie. He's a rookie, yet Everybody needs to pump the brakes with some of these rookies, right? I mean, it's like Caleb Williams.

Speaker 1: 16:54

All this hype that they're trying to give Caleb Williams If he stinks, if he stinks, all that gets amplified. Now let's just say you know, you look around the league and you could have said jj mccarthy bad news with jj. I was going to mention that jj mccarthy is going to miss the entire 2024 season. So now we see sam darnell's going to start anyways, but say jj mccarthy underperformed, right, he was just a average, didn't do a lot quarterback. Nobody pays attention to it. Nobody pays attention to it. Bo Nix. Nobody pays attention to it, michael Pinnix. Jane Daniels isn't as amplified, right? Not everybody's talking about Jane Daniels. Everybody's focus is on Caleb Williams. Because the hype is up on Caleb Williams. Let him be him. Let Rome be him.

Speaker 1: 17:46

These fans, analysts, whatever you want to call it they get so wrapped up in this and they try to put these guys on a pedestal Before they've even played a snap in a regular season game. And it just makes it that much worse when they struggle. It just makes it that much worse. They struggle. It just makes it that much worse. Then it makes it even worse on the player, right. It makes it even tougher on the player. They put all that pressure on themselves. It leads to failure, right. Unless they can step up to it leads to failure. So I think romeo dunes uh, rome and dunes could be good, but give him time. Let rome be rome. Give him time, let him develop in that bear system, just like the Vikings did with JJ, just like they were going to do with Addison. He went down with an injury too.

Speaker 1: 18:30

The Vikings are a disaster right now. The Vikings are a disaster with injuries right now. I almost am starting to feel bad for the Vikings and I didn't think I'd ever say that, but I'm starting to feel bad for this Vikings team because it's just like every day I go on social media and I'm scrolling through, another injury happens or another. You know, something happens to the Minnesota Vikings. It's like, okay, this guy's out, okay, this guy's out. And it's like, oh my, like holy crap, do these guys have a stretching program? Do they stretch out before they practice? Do they have any athletic trainers? Like, do they have any trainers on this team? What is this team Like? It just is ridiculous. It is ridiculous. I mean, yes, injuries happen. I'm not going to say they don't, but it just seems like it's so. Like every day it seems like the Vikings add a new guy to that injury list and it seems like it's the Stars that are going down. Addison goes down, and then you have McCarthy. I believe there's a couple corners that they had go down. I mean just a disaster there.

Speaker 1: 19:33

But getting back to what Dan Orlasky had to say there, I mean, look at it, he puts the Packers in that number one spot, and that is simply because you look at how many talented receivers they have. Like we talked about, we've talked about the past couple days here, one through four, one through four for Green Bay, and you can even include Bo Melton into that. And then you include guys like Tucker, craft and Musgrave into that same boat. So now you add seven guys who are valuable pass catchers, right, watson, dobbs, wicks, reed, bow, melton, uh, luke musgrave and tucker craft.

Speaker 1: 20:12

You want to include running backs. I think josh jacobs can be a fine receiving back for you. I think he can be a fine receiving back. Same with lloyd. If he ever gets healthy, lloyd could be a solid receiving back for Green Bay. Speed, athletic, ability to make moves in the open field and burst through a hole. He could be a dynamic runner for him too. I mean in the pass game, in the run game, whatever you want to call it. Both of those guys. And then I mean it's just, there's something about this Packers receiving core that it just gets me excited. It gets me excited.

Speaker 1: 20:46

And last but not least, I'm going to put Halfley in there, because now the Packers have a defensive coordinator that I feel like the defense is going to be fun to watch. They're flying around. They're flying around. I'm seeing, you know, bullards up there making tackles and McKinney's flying around and Williams is flying around and you have just all these moving components in this defense and Halfley is just letting this defense be them. He isn't holding them back, he's letting these guys you listen to some of these guys. They go out and they're like, yeah, we talked to Halfway and I was talking to him and I was like I think we should do it this way and Halfway's like I never thought about it that way, but we should try that.

Speaker 1: 21:37

I like the open-mindedness that Halfway plays with and I love the his, his, his know-how and willingness to allow these guys from green Bay to just be athletic, just just run like, at times like they're a bull in a China shop and at other times, you know they're still going to, they're still going to play it safe at times, right, but playing like the defense that we know they can be playing like the defense that we know they can be, playing like the players that we know they can be, I I love that. I love that. So I'm excited for halfway. I'm excited to see this new defense in a in a regular season game right, you know, first game in brazil there. I'm excited to see the debut of this new defense and how they play against a team in the Eagles who a lot of analysts, a lot of fans, everything like that out there. They predict that this Eagles team will be up near the top of the NFC again. So I cannot wait to see this defense and how they look against Jalen Hurts and that offense. It has got me excited. That has definitely got me excited. There.

Speaker 1: 22:44

One getting off of what excites me. I'd love to hear what excites you guys. Definitely, leave a review for us, send us fan mail, send us. In the fan mail option there it's in the bio of the show. It says send us a text message. Click that. Send us what you believe excites you the most about this team.

Speaker 1: 23:01

But in other Packer news there Pratt and Clifford are still battling for that number two spot. We do see Clifford is going to start this weekend but Pratt's going to fill in after that. Going to be an interesting battle there. I know it's just for backup position there, but Michael Pratt is highly touted. He's highly ranked in some of the rookie rankings right now. So great to see that. Great to see the Packers having a solid QB. That's a couple of solid QBs in the room there, just in case if you need them right. It's always just in case you need them. Other Packer news Quay Walker and Valentine returned to practice. Great news, great news getting this defense healthy there.

Speaker 1: 23:42

And also, long snapper peter bowden was released again. So he was signed, released, signed and released again. This poor guy, he's just like so do you want me just to stay in the parking lot and when you call me in about I don't know 20 minutes, I'll just come back in. Right, just leave my locker. Do you think they actually clean out his locker? Because that would get ridiculous. We've cleaned out this locker twice now. It's like you might as well just leave my stuff here. I'll be back. Just leave my stuff. I'll come back for it later. It's crazy. It's crazy that he was signed, released, signed and released. Long snapper there, peter Bowden. That's weird. That was signed, released, signed and released. Long snapper there, peter Bowden. That's weird. That was a weird development there.

Speaker 1: 24:26

And also the Packers did sign running back Nate McCray there. So Nate McCray comes in. I don't know what this means with that injury to Lloyd there. Does that mean that that injury is worse than we were first under the impression of? Is that what it kind of means, or what does that mean? So, mccray, I was just going to pull up his stats here. So, looking at him, over the years he's played in one game for the Baltimore Ravens one attempt negative one yards. Okay, okay, that's his summary there. That's his career summary. That that is it. That is it. That is all the action that he's seen so far. So not like we added a lot of experience or anything in that room, just a body, right, you're just basically thinking of McCray as a body and that's about it. That's about it. So Packers, sign, running back Nate McCray there as a body, as a body in the room there, to fill a spot for now here, hopefully not for long. And Lloyd, that injury is not so bad. We see Lloyd back with Green Bay pretty soon here, but with that, before we move on here, I want to mention some great sponsors of the show here.

Speaker 1: 25:53

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Speaker 1: 27:07

If you've been injured recently, whether you were mowing the lawn, going for a walk, you were at work. Maybe you were playing with the kids or playing with the dog, or maybe you just sat up in your recliner and yelled at the screen while the brewers were in a three, two count against. Uh, freddie freeman, with the runner on first in the top of the seventh. You were just screaming at the TV just to strike him out here and you felt something tear pop. You didn't know what was going on. You went to a doctor. They said you better get down and see a physical therapist. I cannot tell you who would be a better one to go and see than Chad there at Sport and Spine Clinic in Greenwood. He'll get you right. He'll get you back to work, back mowing the lawn, back playing with the kids, playing with the dog, sitting on that recliner, feeling better than ever. Well, you're screaming at the Brewers because it's first and third, with one out now in the top of the seventh, and you don't know what to do anymore because you're getting scared. Sport and Spine Clinic in Greenwood is the place you got to get to there. So with that, we're upset about the Brewers. Right now we're thinking about having to go to sport and spying because our backs are now from yelling at TV. We got to get some Brewer talk. We got to get to some Brewer talk for the day here.

Speaker 1: 28:17

So, looking at the Brewers, I saw an interesting stat. I saw an interesting. It was a graphic from Brooksgate. I don't know if anybody out there follows Brooksgate, but I seen this stat today and it was a stat that said every player with 45-plus plate appearances in high leverage situations ranked by their OPS in those at-bats High leverage as defined by Fangraphs. So Fangraphs is basically the one who tells you what high leverage situations would mean. I would assume you know, down by a run, runners on late in a ballgame, maybe the 7th or probably after the 6th inning, I would say would be your high leverage situation. So, looking at this list, there are multiple Brewers on this list. I see one, two, three, four brewers on this list in total.

Speaker 1: 29:14

Now I'm going to give you it'd be like a Jeopardy waiting music. I'll give you five seconds to think of your brewers who you think would be on this high leverage OPS. Okay, there was, I believe, your five seconds. I didn't actually count, I just sat here in silence. So, number one on the list, jerkson Profar, has a 1,627 OPS with runners in scoring position, or not with runners in scoring position, but in high leverage at bats. So we get down to the number five spot. And just so you guys know, just so you guys know I don't know if anybody is questioning this right now, but OPS stands for on base plus slugging. So it is. It combines the on base percentage with the slugging percentage into a single number. That's how they can evaluate how well a hitter can reach base and hit for power and average. So I guess there's your little tidbit for the day knowing about that factor. So in the number five spot is a brewer.

Speaker 1: 30:28

This one is interesting. I'm gonna tell you this now. It's probably not a guy that you would expect to say the name of, just because he has had a struggling year but has hit better after the All-Star break. That is Reese Hoskins. Reese Hoskins has a 1,048 OPS right now. I did not expect that. I'm going to be honest with you.

Speaker 1: 30:53

I did not expect that when I think of Reese Hoskins and I don't know if this is just me, but when I think of Reese Hoskins and thinking about him coming over, I remembered all of, like the post-season moments, the iconic home run right, the post-season moments that Reese Hoskins has had. Those are the things that kind of stuck out to me with him. So, hearing his name up there in high leverage at bats that this guy it seems like to be the guy you want up does not surprise me that much. Also, you look at him over the last 15 games he's batting .304. Over the last seven games he's batting .333. Solid numbers for him there over the last 15 games now, which definitely bodes well into that category of the high leverage, because anytime he comes up after the seventh inning, if he gets a hit or if he doubles, if he drives in a run, whatever it is that boosts that score. So definitely an

Speaker 1: 31:51

interesting one. When I thought of it in the grand scheme of things, the way I think of Reese Hoskins, it didn't surprise me a lot, but the way that he did hit to start the season, it surprised me a lot. So I see Hoskins there in the five. In that eighth spot another Brewer comes in. So in between Hoskins and this other Brewer we see Alec Baum and JD Martinez. We look into that eighth spot. Now At 973, we have the big RBI guy for the Brewers, willie Adamas, comes in at that number eight spot right now at 973. That was an interesting one for me. That was an interesting one for me Because if you think about that, if you had, I mean you're looking at a guy in this game right now, in Shoei Otani, who we always think about in all these

Speaker 1: 32:45

big moments. Right, shohei's this big bat and everything like that. Shohei Otani comes in the 19th spot. There are actually three brewers that are ahead of Shohei Otani, and that's just a measuring stick, right? Because Shohei Otani, Shohei Otani, there is one more brewer in this top 17. Number 17 on the list is the last Brewer with a 900 OPS in high leverage situations. William Contreras is your number 17 on that list. That one did not surprise me as much. And also the way that Willie Adamas started the year hitting after the 6th, 7th inning did not surprise me. Did not surprise me with those

Speaker 1: 33:31

guys there. Looking at the last guy on this list for the Brewers in the 44th spot, this one may surprise you. May surprise you. Give you a second, take a guess. Take a guess. It is one of the younger guys. It is one of the younger guys. It is one of the younger guys on the roster. It doesn't really help, right? There's a lot of young guys on this roster. Bryce Terang comes in in the 44th spot with a .557 OPS in high leverage situations. So that's ahead of Seiya Suzuki, willie Castro, bryce Harper and Adolis Garcia. To put into perspective, you have guys who hit in high leverage situations, as we've seen from this list. So a lot of people out there knocking on Hoskins, knocking on Willie I do it too. I mean I'm not going to lie, I do it too. I mean I'm not going to lie, I do it too. But looking at this stat in a high leverage spot, late in the game, these are the guys you want. These are the guys you want to come to the plate and they will deliver. It's just how it's been, I guess, according to the stats, it's how it's been. These guys will deliver for you in the clutch. So I thought that was an interesting list. I thought that was definitely an interesting list to start

Speaker 1: 34:59

us out there. Contreras he has been struggling to throw guys out. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like Contreras if it's just this Dodgers series I thought it was a little bit in the Braves series too he's struggling to throw guys out. Now, some of that could be on the pitchers too. Some of that's on the pitchers with slow delivery, holding guys on everything like that. But Contreras has struggled throwing guys out. It seems like he's dropping down to a more of a sidearm release when he's throwing down to second base. I don't know if anybody else has noticed that. Just something that I've noticed is it seems like he goes to that sidearm a little bit more now. Maybe that's affecting him there. The throws aren't right on the money like they were early on in the year. It just seemed like early on in the year those throws were like darts. They were right on the money. It was like bam, right there. Now it seems like it's just a little bit I mean just a little off One way or another. It's a little bit slower getting down. It's

Speaker 1: 35:55

a sidearm release. I thought Contreras had struggled and somebody I can't remember who it was, I think it was a good friend of the show there, caden from the BrewPod Between the Lines podcast. He from the BrewPod Between the Lines podcast. He mentioned to me he said about Contreras not blocking balls but picking them, and the only thing I could think was it makes you a little bit quicker if you pick it right. Does it give you a better shot? Probably, yeah, probably. Is it a little bit more? Would you say dangerous? Yeah, I would say so. But Contreras has done well at times picking the baseball. So you take that one as you leave it there. But Contreras behind the plate has definitely been something that I've been keeping an eye on. That I've definitely been keeping an eye on because it just seems like his defensive side has kind of slacked off this year compared to what he's done offensively in the second half, because I believe his OPS is above a thousand here in the month of August. He's done, he's been getting hot for the Brewers. So you can't really take this guy. I mean we're not talking about taking him out of the lineup and I'm not talking about this is the worst catcher in baseball. I'm just saying that I think his defense has regressed just a little bit in

Speaker 1: 37:08

this season here. Another, I guess, hot topic that I had was with the Brewers, with Sal Frelick. Would you consider putting Sal Frelick in the leadoff spot? Bryce Terang has had a good year. I mean Bryce Terang has had a good year but he's been kind of scuffling as of late. You look at him. His last seven games .091. Last 15, .180. Last 30 games .144. The Torrid starts definitely keeping that average up. So with Terang struggling and Sal, you look at him over the last seven games 208,. Over the last 15, 250, over the last 30, 245,. Would you consider putting Sal in the leadoff spot? Because Sal right now, yes, the average isn't showing it, but he's putting the baseball in play right and I'm not saying Terang isn't. Terang's hitting a lot of hard balls right at guys. So it's been a

Speaker 1: 38:10

couple of unlucky spots for Terang. But would you consider Sal moving up there? I would, I would. He's got the speed, he's got the ability to put the ball in play. He works, counts right. Sometimes he irritates me because he works counts so much right. He watches a lot of pitches right down the pipe. So that part does irritate me at times. With Sal Frelick, I don't know, he stands there with a bat on his shoulder with a pitch right down the middle. It irritates me. It irritates me when

Speaker 1: 38:36

a lot of brewers do that. It seems like some of these brewers already walk up there in an 0-2 hole and then they watch two pitches right down the pipe. I mean my grandma was telling me all about that, talking about the Brewer game from a couple nights ago I think it was when Kershaw was starting and when Gamson. She talked about both those games and she's like you know, you watch these Brewers and it's like watching pitches right down the middle. You know, it's like they're guessing. They're not ready for some of these pitches. And working counts is a good thing, but also when the offense is struggling and you're getting deep into counts, sometimes that hurts you too. Sometimes that hurts you because now you're guessing even more, because when you're in an 0-2 hole you don't know what's coming next. Right? Is he going to try and miss the zone on purpose or is he just going to fire one by you? Right? Where are you at? What is he thinking out there? It's a guessing game, then, and the brewers are definitely on the

Speaker 1: 39:28

wrong side of it at times. So would you move sal frelick to leadoff spot? I would consider it, I would. I would you know, between terang, sal frelick, you could maybe flirt with even a guy like garrett mitchell in that same category. Mitchell I mean east went on a little bit of a torrid stretch there for a little bit, but then he's cooled off, uh, over this last week here. But I would consider Mitchell up there too. You know, just some speed, just some guys at the top. Mitchell would be the only thing knock I could have. A Mitchell game is there's a lot more swing and miss from Mitchell than there is from Terang and Froek. I think those guys work counts a lot better than what Mitchell does. He has a speed, but I don't think he

Speaker 1: 40:12

has that part of his game. Jackson Churio right now I like him in the two spot. I'm going to be honest with you, I like him in the two spot and I would actually, when Reese Hoskins is playing and I would play him virtually every day I would put Reese Hoskins into my four. I would put Reese Hoskins into my five or four. I would have Adamas, the opposite, and I would have Contreras, my three hole. I would have Churrio in my two and you look at the rest of them. Like I said,

Speaker 1: 40:36

between Terang, between Terang. Right now. I know they flirted early on in the year with Joey Ortiz in that leadoff spot. Would you be opposed to seeing him back up there? If that bat starts to get going again, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Joey Ortiz. I think they have a lot of options that they can move around up there. I think moving Terang down in the lineup and stuff like that would not hurt at all. I don't think it would hurt at all. So I would definitely be okay seeing Sal or another guy get up in this order here, and I'd love to see hoskins move up. I really do. I would love to see hoskins move up

Speaker 1: 41:13

in the order here right now. I mean, we're watching the brewers bottom of the seventh, this tie ball game now, right, this is the time when I start to hate on the dodgers just a little bit more. It's just like the dodgers keep finding ways, and it's just they find ways to just score runs to. They find holes, you know, and it just seems like everything when, when you watch the Brewers and Dodgers matchup, it just seems like everything is against the Brewers. Right, it just seems like everything is against the Brewers. You know that close play at first, when Frelick was running down the line, you know you, it was called safe on the field. And then you look at the replay and it's like if his cleat got there just maybe a smidge of a second sooner, right, and then Joey Ortiz gets caught. He slides into second base, starts to hesitate to go back to first and just doesn't touch second base to go to third. I mean just those little things that just eat the

Speaker 1: 42:04

Brewers alive, just eat them alive. Then you look at that first inning there, when Brewers load up the bases with nobody out and Contreras hits that fly ball to center and I mean it's like Terang's running. This shouldn't be a play, but play at the plate. And I don't know, I really don't understand Barnes was blocking the plate. I don't care who you are, don't understand, barnes was blocking the plate. I don't care who you are, that leg was in front of the plate and the knee was in there down before Terang was even close, before Terang was close, before the ball was close, that knee was down. So I don't understand how that wasn't blocking the plate, but it was not called blocking the plate. It just seems like everything goes against the Brewers in the Dodgers series. It just really does. It seems like everything is against the Brewers. I mean man, oh man, it just irritates me. It irritates me to

Speaker 1: 42:53

play the Dodgers. It really does. I just one time, one time, I want the Brewers just to win two out of three or win three out of four or just sweep the Dodgers. That would just be great. That would be great. It would make me feel good. It'd make me feel good about the Brewers. Definitely something I mean. Hopefully, like I said it's bottom of seventh right now. Runner on second one out. We got the middle of the lineup coming up. Hopefully the Brewers can pull off this one. Hopefully I'm talking about a Brewers series win after they. I mean hopefully, right, I'm, I'm, they win this game here and then they will be taking on the Dodgers for one more Starts at 110 today here, flaherty taking on Tobias Myers we got the big dog on the mound in Tobias Myers there Taking on Flaherty and this Dodgers team. I mean, hopefully we're talking about a series split between the Brewers and Dodgers tomorrow in the show and we're preparing for this series coming up here with the Cleveland Guardians. But with that, that's

Speaker 1: 43:50

about all I got for today. Like I always say, like, subscribe, definitely. Leave a review for us, send us fan mail, go in the bio, send us a text message down there in the bio. There Let us know what you thought about the show. Let us know any improvements that you'd like to see made, anything you'd love us to talk about more, any comments, whatever you got for us, you know, just let me know. Let me know. I'd love to hear from you guys out there. But with that, this has been Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Thursday, but until I talk to you guys again tomorrow, deuces, deuces, watch me sway. Darkness falls and we all pray, hoping for the light of day. Down to the river, I have held the devil's hand, felt the weight of my own sin, buried by the heart of man Down to the river. Down to the river. Oh, bury me, carry me. Oh, far beneath, oh fire in one of me, going down deep. Oh, bury me, carry me.