A few notes at the end of the first week of the 1975 Spring Training exhibition schedule:
Team Record: 4-3.
Who's Hot: Let's take a quick look at Zach Cook. Cook was the 4th round pick of the Brewers in 1969 draft (the same draft that brought them Joe Willemse, but little else in the way of quality players) and Cook has never been considered a premium prospect in the organization. But quietly he has moved up the ladder with modest success and a good reputation as a team leader. Then last season he had something of a breakout year at AAA Chester, hitting 18 HR's and putting up a 4.2 WAR season. In the first week of the spring training games it appears that Cook is motivated to get Brewers management's attention. He is off to a hot start with the bat and as expected is very solid in the field. Cook profiles with plus speed and good base-stealing and base-running skills, and is a very fine outfielder, particularly in right field. He has a good approach at the plate but his overall hit skills are merely average. Our scouting staff still sees him as an average big leaguer, but with the Brewers strong outfield average isn't likely to earn him a job. Still, he's certainly making the case that if a 5th outfielder is needed at some point during the season, he is the one to call on.
Who's not: Kirk Patnode should be useful to the team with his tremendous defensive skills behind the plate, but having been given the back-up job behind Zacarias Martell with veteran Kevin Curtis now a member of the expansion Houston Cavaliers, Patnode has looked over-matched at the plate thus far this Spring.
Injuries: The Brewers have stayed mostly healthy thus far though they did lose Zacarias Martell for a few games when he suffered a bruised thigh while running the bases.
Insult: Joe Willemse has come up with a few key hits in the first week of the exhibition season but the normally steady (and sometimes spectacular) defender also made two very costly errors in a single game.