Milwaukee Brewers Microbrew

The Brewers had a brutal week, suffering a five-game losing streak for the first time since mid-2023 and playing some of those games in jerseys that nobody seems to like. The pitchers are struggling, particularly in the bullpen. Christian Yelich left Sunday's game ominously. The defense has been suspect. The hitting has been suspect. The Brewers have gone from 8-2 to barely above .500, and that was against teams that were ostensibly struggling. Brewers reporter Curt Hogg and host JR Radcliffe go through the ugliness, from bullpen usage to dropped velocity to a dearth of options to fix the offense. And what is WITH those City Connect jerseys, anyway?

In Three Up Three Down (38:00), they discuss Willson Contreras, promising work from Jacob Misiorowski, the excellent Jake Bauers experience and a brief first big-league appearance from Shane Drohan. In Remembrew When (58:30), JR looks back at a memorable Phil Garner moment in a week where two ex-managers died: Garner and Davey Lopes. Curt Blanche (1:02:30) discusses one of baseball's cathedrals.

Then, JR chats with new starting pitcher Kyle Harrison (1:07:00) about his tweaked repertoire, his California upbringing, a high-school teammate also employed by the Brewers and his grandfather, once teammates in Milwaukee with Hank Aaron.

The early returns remain positive for the Milwaukee Brewers, now out to a 7-2 start in 2026 after series wins against the Rays and Royals. Garrett Mitchell has a breakout game and confounds us still, the bullpen has been concerning a bit, and the rotation has been excellent (with one exception). Brewers reporter Curt Hogg and host JR Radcliffe look back on the week and start with the most surprising story: An extension for prospect Cooper Pratt. Plus, newcomer Luis Matos and important Easter candy discourse.

In Three Up Three Down (36:00), they discuss Milwaukee's newest pet tortoise, Bobby Jr., and the impulse purchase power of Pat Murphy, plus a very weird week for much-maligned umpire C.B. Bucknor in Milwaukee. Remembrew When (54:00) looks back at a more Easter-thematic Brewers/animal crossover during the days of the Rally Rabbit, and Curt Blanche ponders the NCAA Tournament and Wisconsin basketball (58:30).

Then, JR sits down with new infielder David Hamilton (1:04:15), who returns to his old haunts at Fenway Park when the Brewers open a series there this week. They discuss his freak injury in college, his smooth transition to third base, and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers jersey he wore when he was just a kid, years before he played with them for real.

The news has been so limited from Brewers camp that JR recorded this while watching the Oscars and Curt while watching the World Baseball Classic. Is no news good news? Or should there be some alarm that the Brewers have some of the same question marks they had last year? How concerned should we be about Quinn Priester's injury? What's been going on with Christian Yelich? Is Andrew Fischer going to be here sooner than we think? For crying out loud, is this roster already set?

Then, JR chats with Milwaukee author and historian Matt Prigge (43:30), who discusses what Brewers opening day means in Milwaukee, some of the highlights from opening day and some opening-day Brewers facts you may not have known. The Brewers will open the season March 26 at home against the White Sox.

Brewers reporter Todd Rosiak and host JR Radcliffe take a look at the wildly healthy landscape of the Brewers in spring training, with even minor injury question marks like Brandon Woodruff and Trevor Megill seemingly on track. What about prospect Jett Williams? Tyler Black and Brandon Lockridge are the breakout stars of spring so far. How does Luis Rengifo look at third? Could Aaron Ashby still be a starting pitcher? How has the ball/strike challenge system impacted the game? Who else is jumping out?

Then, Todd and JR provide the first Three Up, Three Down of the season (31:30), spinning through some intriguing spring highlights including homers robbed by weird ground rules, a viral Jacob Misiorowski video, a three-run single, a dinged-up food truck, Joey Ortiz with the bases loaded and young prospects who have impressed.

Surprise! It's a mid-week episode of Microbrew, where host JR Radcliffe is joined by Spencer Michaelis of Brewer Fanatic to get a full deep dive on the state of the Brewers highly regarded minor-league system. That includes several players in spring training this year and players who will contribute mightily over the next two years.

They discuss what traits allow the Brewers to shine, the shift from a pitching haven to a hitters paradise, the reasons we should be stoked for Jesús Made and Luis Peña, a trio of future (or present?) third-base options, the players most likely to impact the team in 2026, the best pitchers in the organization now that Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson are with the big-league team, the breakout stars in waiting, whom we're likely to see if we visit High A in Appleton and a few guys still below your radar. For now.

We'll be back Monday morning with our usual episode focusing on the big-league team.

The Baseball Prospectus PECOTA rankings believe the Brewers will finish around .500 and well behind the Cubs. Even though the Brewers won 97 games last year and bring back a ton of the same players. So why does the projection system have such a relatively low opinion of the Brewers (and not for the first time)? Jonathan Judge, the modeling guru of the PECOTA rankings, stops by (31:30) to discuss what his projection system looks for, why it prefers the Cubs so much more than the Brewers, which players are poised for a surprising year (good and bad) and why the Brewers have been able to overperform these rankings in the past. But also, perhaps there's some reason for concern?

Before that, Brewers reporter Todd Rosiak discusses the extension for manager Pat Murphy, the status of Trevor Megill in the context of the Milwaukee bullpen and what he's seen - if anything - through the first couple days of actual games. We also get an update on the Maryvale Cat, plus uniform takes!