210GAMEDAY.COM | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
Mauricio Dubon’s two-run, walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth drove in Lucas Erceg and Jake Hager with the tying and winning runs as the Missions beat the Memphis Redbirds 6-5.
Of the Missions who played in last year’s home opener at Wolff Stadium, these players also spent time with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019:
Keston Hiura, Tyler Saladino, Jacob Nottingham, Cory Spangenberg, Tyrone Taylor, Mauricio Dubon, Adrian Houser, Jeremy Jeffress, Deolis Guerra.
Catcher Jacob Nottingham and left-handed relief pitcher Angel Perdomo were both optioned to Triple-A San Antonio. Both were part of the 2019 Missions.
Right-handed pitchers Bobby Wahl and Eric Yardley were also optioned to the Missions.
Wahl, a reliever, missed last season after suffering a knee injury in spring training. He appeared in seven games for the New York Mets in 2018 and also seven games with the Oakland A’s in 2017.
The Brewers optioned right-handed pitcher J.P. Feyereisen to the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers.
Eric Yardley spent parts of five seasons in San Antonio (2014-18) when the Missions were part of the San Diego Padres’ organization in the Double-A Texas League.
The right-handed relief pitcher is headed back to San Antonio as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers organization. The Brewers optioned Yardley to the Triple-A Missions on Thursday.
Yardley was with the Padres last season. The Brewers claimed Yardley after the Padres put him on waivers in November.
Yardley appeared in 10 games with San Diego in 2019, all in relief. He recorded a 2.31 ERA with seven strikeouts and three walks in 11 2/3 innings. He also pitched in 43 games with Triple-A El Paso last summer.
Eric Yardley with the Missions
2014 – 4 appearances, 6.0 innings, 3.00 ERA, 0-0 record
2015 – 5 appearances, 7.0 innings, 5.14 ERA, 0-1 record
2016 – 12 appearances, 17.0 innings, 3.18 ERA, 0-2 record, 1 save
2017 – 44 appearances, 61 1/3 innings, 2.05 ERA, 3-1 record, 6 saves
2018 – 34 appearances, 39 1/3 innings, 3.43 ERA, 2-4 record, 0 saves
These Milwaukee Brewers transactions from March list players the big club sent to San Antonio:
Brewers optioned 3B Ryon Healy to Missions.
Brewers optioned 2B Mark Mathias to Missions.
Brewers optioned SS Ronny Rodriguez to Missions.
Brewers optioned C David Freitas to Missions.
Brewers optioned CF Corey Ray to Missions.
Brewers optioned RHP Trey Supak to Missions.
The following players have minor-league contracts with the Brewers and were invited to spring training with the big club. They could end up in San Antonio and include six of last season’s Missions:
LHP Clayton Andrews
RHP Zack Brown
3B Andres Blanco
3B Lucas Erceg
C Payton Henry
RHP Thomas Jankins
RHP Mike Morin
C Mario Feliciano
RHP Drew Rasmussen
RHP Miguel Sanchez
LHP Ethan Small
RHP Aaron Wilkerson
1B Logan Morrison
C Tuffy Gosewisch
Other 2019 Missions who were in the Brewers’ minor league spring training were:
P Bubba Derby
C Skyler Ewing
Outfielder Tyrone Taylor had his 2019 season with the injured slowed by injuries. He is on the Brewers’ 40-man roster by wasn’t playing in spring training while he recovered from surgery.
Update on Friday, Feb. 27, 2020:
The Milwaukee Brewers optioned the following players to the San Antonio Missions:
C Jacob Nottingham
LHP Angel Perdomo
RHP Bobby Wahl
RHP Eric Yardley
Ray Black had a brief stretch with the San Antonio Missions last summer as a relief pitcher.
The 6-foot-5 right-hander joined the Milwaukee Brewers organization in a trade-deadline deal on July 31 that saw the Missions’ Mauricio Dubon go to the the San Francisco Giants organization.
Black made six appearances for the Missions, allowing only one earned run. He gave up one hit with nine strikeouts and two walks in 6.0 innings.
He finished the season with Milwaukee. Black made 15 relief appearances for the Brewers and had a 5.14 ERA.
Black started 2020 spring training with the Brewers’ big club in the Cactus League. He appeared in two games before being sidelined by an injury.
Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on March 10 that Black has a sore back but the issue isn’t considered serious.
Black was originally drafted by the Giants in the seventh round in 2011. He made his MLB debut in 2018 and made 26 relief appearances for the Giants that season.
David Freitas led the San Antonio Missions in hitting last season with a .381 average.
Freitas hovered around the .400 mark for much of the summer while playing catcher and first base in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.
Freitas, who will turn 31 years old on March 18, was a 15th-round draft pick in 2010 and has paid his dues in the minor leagues. He has played in 802 games in the minors with a .289 average and 73 home runs.
He played in his first major league game in 2017 with the Atlanta Braves. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound right-hander has played in a total of 58 games in the majors including 16 at the end of the last season after being called up by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Freitas went to 2020 spring training with the Brewers’ big league crew. He is hitting .211 (4-of-19) in the Cactus League in 13 games.
One of the best infield arms in the Milwaukee Brewers minor league system belongs to Lucas Erceg.
The 24-year-old from California showed off his skills last summer at Wolff Stadium – primarily as the San Antonio Missions’ third baseman.
What held Erceg back was a season when he struggled to get in an extended groove at the plate. The left-handed hitter batted .218 with 15 home runs in 116 games in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He struck out 102 times in 357 at-bats.
A second-round draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016, Erceg batted a combined .327 his first professional season in rookie and Class A ball in the summer of 2016.
Erceg is with the Brewers’ big club in 2020 spring training, seeing action at both third base and first base. He has played in 13 Cactus League games so far and is hitting .182 with one home run and five RBIs in 22 at-bats.
It doesn’t look like the Brewers have room for Erceg on their opening day roster, so he appears likely to be back at Wolff Stadium with the Missions a month from now when they open their 2020 season on April 9.
Update: On Monday afternoon, Erceg was one of nine players the Brewers reassigned to Minor League camp. The list also includes pitchers Thomas Jankins and Miguel Sanchez from the 2019 Missions.
Meanwhile in Mesa, the bats were 🔥. @LucasErceg17 and Arcia hit HRs en route to a 14-4 win over the A’s and a #CactusCrew split squad sweep! #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/K5uYy5w7LC
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) February 24, 2020
Once considered the Brewers’ third baseman of the future, Lucas Erceg is seeking to bounce back from a disappointing 2019 at Class AAA San Antonio: pic.twitter.com/oAAWc1AKPh
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) February 26, 2020
Mauricio Dubon was a fan favorite last season at Wolff Stadium.
The flashy shortstop looked like he had a future with the Milwaukee Brewers as he teamed with Keston Hiura in the San Antonio Missions’ middle infield.
But things changed over the summer.
Hiura was called up twice by the Brewers. The second time he was a hit and stayed in the big leagues.
Then, after batting .297 with 16 home runs in 98 games for the Missions, Dubon suddenly changed organizations. The Brewers traded him for pitching acquired from the San Francisco Giants at the 2019 trade deadline.
The Giants slid Dubon over to second base on their Triple-A Sacramento team after the trade.
The 25-year-old from Honduras is with San Francisco’s major league camp for 2020 spring training. The Giants have put his speed to work playing not only middle infield, but also in center field. Maria Guardado on MLB.com lists Dubon as potentially being on the Giants’ opening day roster as a second baseman, shortstop and outfielder.
Dubon is listed as a shortstop on the Giants spring training roster. After his first seven Cactus League games, he is hitting .412 with two home runs in 17 at-bats.
By Lamarr Fields for SportsDGI.com
Mauricio Dubon brings versatility to Giants
By Mark W. Sanchez on KNBR.com:
Mauricio Dubon is winning whatever camp competition he’s in
Zack Brown led the 2019 San Antonio Missions in games started on the mound.
The 6-foot-1 right-hander pitched in 25 games – 23 of them starts. He had mixed results and some tough nights and finished the season with a 3-7 record and 5.79 EAR.
Brown was second on the team in innings pitched with 116 2/3 and recorded 98 strikeouts and 64 walks.
Brown dominated in Double-A in 2018. He had a 9-1 record and 2.44 ERA in 22 games at Biloxi. He pitched 125 2/3 innings with 116 strikeouts and 36 walks.
The 25-year-old is currently with the big league Milwaukee Brewers in spring training. He was a fifth-round draft pick of the Brewers in 2016 out of Kentucky.
Brown has pitched 4.0 innings in three Cactus League games so far this spring and has a 6.75 ERA. He pitched two scoreless innings against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday and struck out four batters with no hits.
MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy on Twitter reported the following quote from Brewers manager Craig Counsell on Brown after Tuesday’s game:
“It’s a name we don’t talk about a lot, but a name who can help us this year,” Counsell said. “One of those we’re maybe not counting on on Opening Day, but one of those guys who can impact us during the season.”
Angel Perdomo enters his second season pitching in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
The 6-foot-6 left-hander spent most of last season with the Triple-A San Antonio Missions. He was third on the team in appearances with 40, all in relief, and compiled a 3-2 record and 5.17 ERA. He recorded 38 strikeouts in 54.0 innings.
Perdomo started the 2019 season with the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers. He dominated in five games and put together a 2-0 record with a 1.17 ERA and 21 strikeouts and 5 1/3 innings before being called up to the Missions.
The 25-year-old from the Dominican Republic was added to the Brewers’ 40-man roster on Nov. 4, 2019. He is with the big club for spring training. In his first two appearances in the Cactus League this spring, he pitched scoreless innings with four strikeouts, one hit and one walk.
Update: Angel Perdomo pitched one inning Wednesday afternoon in the Brewers’ 5-1 loss to the White Sox in a spring training game in Phoenix. Perdomo struck out all three batters he faced.
