Milwaukee Brewers Top Prospects 2023

  So here goes my annual evaluation of all the Brewers farm systems based solely on the basic stats such as batting average ,on base percentage ,slugging percentage ,earned run average ,strikeouts, walks, win- loss, OPS , and WHIP. Also I have not seen these players play so I am basing it only on basic statistics. I don't have any fielding statistics either so take these for what they are worth but these are the players that I am excited about.

   SP - Eric Prado     17y/o   RH   DSL     41 IP     ERA  1.54   Avg..175   WHIP .92

           Enniel Cortez   17 y/o RH  DSL      45.2 IP  ERA  1.58  Avg.  .208   WHIP  .88  5BB  49K

           Logan Henderson  21 y/o RH  Low A  IP 92  ERA 2.92  Avg. .199  WHIP 1.05  129K

           Carlos Rodriguez 21 y/o RH AA  IP 123  ERA 2.77  Avg .183   WHIP 1.09  152K

           Robert Gasser    24 y/o RH   AAA  9-1 record ERA 3.79   135.1 IP   k 166

           Jacob Misiorowski   21 y/o RH  AA  ERA  3.41  IP 71  K 110  Avg. .169

           Coleman Crow  22 y/o RH  AA  ERA 1.88  Avg. .114  WHIP  .63

  RP    Tanner Shears  24 y/o RH  High A  IP 49  ERA 1.45  Avg.153  WHIP 1.37  K 77

           Shane Smith   23 y/o RH  High A   57IP  ERA 2.03   Avg .175  WHIP 0.98  K 88

           Ryan Brady   24y/o RH  AA  career  IP  78  ERA 2.76  Avg. 229 WHIP 1.11  K 78

          Sam Gardner 26 y/o RH High A   IP  44  ERA 2.22  Avg. .207  WHIP 1.32  K 55

          Blake Whiting 24 y/o RH  Low A  IP 5.1  WHIP 0   Avg. 0   K 9 

          Bryan Hudson  26y/o LH  AAA  IP 55  K 88   ERA  2.43

  IF   3B Demetrio Nadal  19 y/o  RH   DSL .342/.478/.525/1.003   24BB  19k  33SB

         SS  Pedro Ibarguen  17 y/o  RH   DSL  .311/.437/.447/.884

         2B  Cooper Pratt      19 y/o  RH    ROK  .356/.426/.444/.870

         3B  Juan Baez          18 y/o  RH    Low A    .351/.377/.527/.904

         3B  Brock Wilken    21 y/o RH   High A    .296/.433/.891

         3B  Tyler Black       23 y/o LH AAA   .310/.428/.514/.942  55SB

          1B  Abraham Toro   26 y/o SH  AAA   .291/.374/.471/.845

          2B  Jahmai Jones   26 y/o  RH  AAA   .268/.413/.466/.879

      Honorable mention Alvarez

 C  Satchell Norman     21 y/o  RH   ROK   .317/.430/.455/.885

       Honorable mention Quiero

  OF  Dylan O'Rae    19 y/o  LH   Low A  .349/.491/.394/.885  57BB  37K  44SB

         Jackson Chourio  19 y/o RH  AA  .280/.336/.567/.803   22Hr  89RBI  43 SB

         Isaac Collins   26 y/o SH  AA  .263/.419/.421/.840  77BB  55K  29SB

   From last year Rodriguez, Black, Orae, Chourio and Norman return. Peguero, Monasterio, and Frelick went to the bigs. A lot to be excited about.

What is Repentance? Luke 3

                He (John the Baptist) went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
    every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
    the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

                                                                                           Luke 3:3-8

             What is repentance? First of all what it's not is cleaning up your act and coming to Jesus. The change in behavior is called "the fruit of repentance". It's what results from repentance. To call unbelievers to stop sinning and start living Godly lives is like telling a cat to stop licking itself - it can't be done. It is their nature. This is why John's baptism was insufficient and needed to be supercharged with the baptism being brought by the Messiah, the One he was introducing. The message he was echoing from Isaiah gives us a clue to what repentance is. In days of old when a king was coming to an area he would be preceded by 2 things. First a herald would come announcing the good news that the king was coming. Of course if the people didn't want the king to come this would be bad news and if he wasn't welcomed it would bring judgment on that area. Secondly, a road crew would be sent out to make the road smooth for the king's travel.

            Isaiah's prophecy stated that the messiah, who is indeed God (Lord = Yahweh), was coming and the herald, John the Baptist was preceding Him and the roads needed to be leveled because He is the King. Repentance can be defined as a change of mind that results in a change of direction and behavior. What in the mind has to change? Who is my king needs to change. Are you going to allow God, your maker, your owner, to be king of your life or are you going to remain on the throne. Repentance is saying to God, "I'm sorry for being the king of my life and I surrender control to you."  Mike winger gives this illustration that I like.

When we yield control, the supercharged part of salvation, the baptism spoken of by John the Baptist that the Messiah would bring, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, immerses us and we now have a new nature that enables us to flee sin and live a life that pleases God.

         Have you surrendered control of your life to the King or are you still calling the shots. You need to answer that question because it's a matter of life and death.

Why Youth Leave the Faith in College - and the Bachelorette

              I recently received an email from Focus on the Family offering a course on how to defend the Bible or how do we know the Bible is true. I love this stuff! I love to watch youtube videos talking about scientific facts confirming the Bible, archaeological finds confirming the historicity of the Bible, testimonies of atheist scientists who converted - I love all of it. Then they go on to say that not knowing these verifications of the authenticity of the Bible causes kids to fall away when they get to college. Answers in Genesis, who I also love and support, would make the same claims about college students being deceived by evolutionary teaching and losing their faith. This jump to cause and effect I balk at. What they are saying is that when a student loses faith in the Bible, then they decide not to follow the teachings and leap headfirst into sin. After years of working with teens I think it is more that the desire to sin looks for a reason not to believe the Bible, not the other way around. I have found that a logical question to ask when a teen says they no longer trust the Bible is - "Did you meet someone you want to have sex with or have already?" or "Are you wanting to have homosexual relations?" Although these seem like maybe too probing questions or too big of a leap to ask, I think you would see that the answers would lead to why they don't believe the Bible.

          I've been watching the Bachelorette with my wife lately (don't judge me - it's quality time with her doing something she loves and I don't) and there was an interaction with Charity and Xavier that I found fascinating and I think lends some insight into this topic. Excuse the language but this was the only video I could find.

What you see is Xavier confessing that he has cheated in past relationships and he can't promise that he won't in this one. To be committed to one woman when there are so many beautiful temptations out there may be something he isn't capable of. What she wants to hear is that the reason he has cheated before is because he had never met Charity before. His heart had been searching for a love like theirs and now his restless longings are over. How could he look elsewhere when he has found the best. That's what she wanted to hear but didn't. Rightfully so she sent him packing.

Relating this to the question posed at the start, why do kids leave the faith in college? Why do they cheat on Jesus? Because they aren't in love with Him. They love the youth group, retreats to the beach, free pizza, 5th quarters after football games, trips to amusement parks but they never developed an intimate love relationship with Jesus. No wonder they have wandering eyes for the beautifully packaged allures of sin. Then they blame it on the Bible and we react by beefing up the Bible or worse deconstructing it, when the real problem is they failed to see that the wonder of Jesus far surpasses anything that Satan has to offer.

What can we do to cultivate that love? It starts with a personal relationship. Why do so many of these Bachelor relationships end? They are asked to fall in love after 2 dates in exotic locales. Do you love the person or Fiji? Youth need to meet with the Lord spending time in the Word in prayer in talking and listening and then serving the poor and lost with Him. The problem is that you will get 100 to play dodgeball but 5 to have an intense in depth meeting with God. What you will see is those 5 moving ahead with their faith and the other 95 struggling. Parents need to assist and encourage their kids in hearing from and knowing Jesus, you can't expect the youth pastor to accomplish it if you aren't first of all modeling it at home and secondly helping and encouraging them to do it. Buy them devotionals and journals. Ask them if God showed up in any way today. Ask them what they are praying about and one thing they learned from their Bible reading. Do devotions with them that are fun so that they can taste and see that the Lord is good.

 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching." John 14:23,24

Are You a Squatter?

 

        As an owner of several rental properties, I've been intrigued/horrified by the nightmares that owners have gone through when a squatter moves in to their unoccupied home and refuses to leave.This involves getting a lawyer and the police involved and can take up to a year to finally evict them because of squatter's rights, and then who knows what the condition the house will be left in? The cost to the owners can be astronomical and once the squatter is out, who is to say another can't move in?

        I don't think one has to have a Biblical moral code to see this as being wrong. However, if you deny the existence of God, or a moral law outside of us, I wonder how you can say it is wrong? But that's a different direction than I am going today. Where I am going is comparing our body to a house for our soul that God made and thus owns and has the rights to. This is a Christian concept that is reiterated throughout the Bible and I'm sure is a major stumbling block to people becoming Christians. Unbelievers would have to acknowledge that they have to surrender control of their lives to God and make Him Lord/master. To do this would in their eyes give up autonomy and freedom although true freedom is found in following the right rules and being under the right authority, but we aren't going there either.

      Where I am going is if God made you and has rights to you and you are refusing Him access to your life, you are behaving no differently than those squatters. The Bible speaks of man being at enmity against God and this is why. Man is saying, "God, this body is mine to do what I want with it and I will not let you in." In fact this is the unforgivable sin - my will be done not" thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." When one stands before Him at the gates of Heaven He might justly say "Thy will be done.I will not violate your free will so I let you go to the place where you are on the throne."

     What is the remedy?

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." Rev. 3:20

Psalm 38 - The Physical Effects of Sin

      Over the years I have witnessed the physical effects of sin in my office practice and on mission trips. In Nicaragua, there was a common list of complaints of women raised in the church who were living with their boyfriend out of wedlock and they knew it was wrong and it was affecting them physically. I called it the sin syndrome. I was a chaperone on a church trip with the youth and after a message on getting right with the Lord, one of the teen boys was so convicted of his sin of pornography that he was temporarily catatonic and was stuck halfway up the stairs. Sin affects us physically and there are several passages that discuss it in the Bible but the one I want to deal with today is Psalm 38.

1. guilt  My guilt has overwhelmed me

    like a burden too heavy to bear. vs 4

    Researchers have actually done studies on this and have found that being weighed down by guilt is more than a metaphor. people actually feel like they weigh more when they are feeling guilty. Guilt makes you feel like you are wearing weights. Weighed down by guilt: Research shows it's more than a metaphor (princeton.edu)

2. Depression  I am bowed down and brought very low;

    all day long I go about mourning.  vs 6

    Although sin may seem fun at the time, it will eventually lead to depression. If you are cheated on by someone you love, obviously that could lead to depression but what's interesting is the high incidence of depression found in the cheater. When people eschew Christianity, I have been interested in my office over the years to see how many are getting through life on anti-depressants. I think it's fair in witnessing to ask "How's that working out for you? are you on medication to keep you happy?

3 Body pain (fibromyalgia?)  My back is filled with searing pain;

    there is no health in my body. vs 7

    The burden of carrying sin and guilt can cause clenched muscles with fatigue and body pain from TMJ to low back pain. Massages and spas are so popular because they ease the tension of muscle spasms. Certainly muscle spasms are usually caused by hard work but sometimes just the anxiety and guilt of sin can cause chronic pain syndromes and many people feel that fibromyalgia is more of a psychological illness than a physical one.

4. Tachycardia (rapid heart rate)   I groan in anguish of heart.

 All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.
 My heart pounds  vs 9,10

One of the top reasons that people get rapid heart rate is stress or anxiety. If you are in the midst of a sinful lifestyle the fear of being found out or the guilt can keep you up at night and you can feel your heart pounding in your chest. Are you relaxed and at peace without a guilty conscience? Isn't that awesome!

5. Fatigue - my strength fails me vs 10

If all the other symptoms are there, feeling weighed down, depressed, muscle aches, rapid heart beat, it only stands do reason that you would feel fatigued.

6. Loneliness or isolation - My friends and companions avoid me vs.11 

People in the midst of sin don't like to be alone. They need crowds, distractions, and not alone times where they are forced to reflect.

7. Paranoia / not thinking straight - Those who want to kill me set their traps,

    those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
    all day long they scheme and lie vs.12

Sin does not bring peace but an anxious plooting mind that thinks others are doing the same thinking about you. Sin brings a self-centered mind

God wrote the handbook for life and it's called the Bible. If we follow it this is the way to live the blessed life free from all these self inflicted burdens. It was tough on me as a doctor listening to all these complaints day after day and knowing that the root cause was they weren't right with the Lord. If I suggested this or pryed into their spiritual well-being, very few here in the Bible belt would admit to not being right with the Lord which made things difficult. Eventually I dropped the yearly checkup part of the practice because it got me down and sucked the joy out of me which delivering babies gave me in abundance.

When Following God Isn't Making Sense

' When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” Ex.13:17

        When you think you know the direction your life should be heading and God just doesn't seem to know what He is doing, you are in good company. The Israelites were fleeing Egypt, heading to the promised land and God took them on a path not headed in the right direction. Why? Because He knew that they weren't ready for the tests they would meet along the fast path. Maybe God knows that you aren't ready for that dream job, that forever relationship, that position of authority, that allure of wealth or that level of responsibility. Like the Karate kid, you need to "wax on wax off" for awhile and you are bursting at the seams to move on with life but God is training you. He knows more about you than you do. Trust His timing.

“Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’  Ex. 14:2-4

         Secondly, you might think "God has led me to a dead end. All the eligible men are married, I'm too old for children, my career path has stymied, my future looks bleak" ... you aren't alone. A million Israelites were led by a cloud to the edge of the sea with the Egyptians blocking their retreat.They probably thought "I guess the cloud doesn't know we can't float over water like a cloud can. That's what you get for following something without eyes." What they didn't and you don't know is that God is getting ready to do something God-like and He will grow in your eyes and He will be glorified. Picture Joseph year after year in prison waiting for his God moment. Faith takes patience because God's plan takes a while to become ripe.

On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain." Ex. 19:1,2

           Lastly, I can imagine the Israelites saying when they got to Sinai, "Hey, we're stopping here for a while? I want to get to the land of milk and honey." It's like saying, "Kids, I know we are on our way to Florida for spring break but we are going to stay at this exit a couple days because there is great shopping." Little did they know that the promised land is a let down compared to what they were about to witness. They had an opportunity to meet the creator of the universe. Are you looking for what's in God's hand rather than His hand. I love it when I offer my twin granddaughters a Cheerio and they don't want that but they want to hold my hand or me to pick them up. Sinai was in fact the end. The promised land was just the icing on the cake. Are you so ready to get to what God has planned for your life that you are missing His presence along the way? You have your eyes on the wrong thing.

Thoughts on Tithing From Malachi

  "When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty." 

Select verses in Malachi 1 & 3

     When the Angel of Death appeared at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and halted, Araunah offered to give his land free of charge to David to build a temple. Why? I think for two main reasons. First, as you are looking at death square in the face, suddenly possessions don't matter - you are going to leave it all. Secondly, he got a glimpse of the glory of God and he knew that if God wanted his land, he would be honored to give it up. David's response was, "No, I want to pay. I won't give God anything that costs me nothing." Why did he say that? Because David, more than anyone possibly in the Old Testament, was keenly aware of the glory of God and David only wanted to give Him something that had great value.

       This gives us a little insight into why God was not pleased with the nation of Israel in Malachi. The nation had lost the value and glory of God and was demonstrating that in their giving. Instead of offering God the best of their flock for sacrifices they were giving Him the diseased animals, the ones they couldn't sell. We do the same often to ministries. I just donated all my medical equipment as I retired to a maternity clinic in Ukraine and they were thrilled but technically they received 5 year old ultrasounds that are probably on their way out. The medication we take on trips is usually one month from going out of date. We donate used vehicles for tax write offs, etc. and although it is all very helpful, do they deserve better? These are donations but hardly sacrifices. Are we valuing "our" money more than we value God?

    The other thing they were doing was giving Him token amounts of money. They weren't even "tipping" God.  He gave them the ability to make a living and somehow they had come to believe they were "self-made". Or possibly, they were financially barely making it so they thought "We can't afford to give 10% to God. I guess if we have something left over after the bills are paid we can give some to God but frankly it would be better to save in case we have a bad month next month." 

     The first reason for not giving seems worse than the second because it reeks of pride and disdain for God but the second one is bad too because it reveals a lack of faith and trust. God tells the people through Malachi "I can bless your 90% so 90>100." Do you have faith in God to surrender your first fruits -10% off the beginning of the paycheck and say "God bless the rest supernaturally. We are trusting you."

   I fear the Israelites who were about to stop hearing from God for 400 years are a lot like us in America. May we not go through a famine of the word of God and a manifestation of His presence due to our focusing on possessions rather than His majesty and glory. May we continue to remember that we are just short timers here and put possessions in the right perspective.