Sal Frelick making rapid progress with Brewers, plus local updates from MLB pipelines
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“Better Call Sal” is becoming a popular catchphrase among the Milwaukee Brewers fanbase.
It even made its way to T-shirts.
Just a few days ago, the message was more like, better call up Sal.
The Brewers did promote their prized prospect, Sal Frelick, and he has not disappointed.
He is killing it like he’s been here before.
Frelick, a 23-year-old Lexington, Mass., native who has family ties to Greensburg (Frelick’s father, Jeff, is a Greensburg Central Catholic graduate who went on to play football at Pitt, and his grandfather, Henry, played football at Greensburg Salem), sent waves of promise and excitement through the Brewers’ organization when he went 3 for 3 with the tying and go-ahead RBIs and made two highlight catches on the warning track, in a startling debut Saturday as Milwaukee clipped the Atlanta Braves, 4-3.
Frelick, a first-round draft pick in 2021 who was playing in Triple-A with the Nashville Sounds, followed with his first MLB home run and is hitting .556 (5 for 9) with four runs, three RBIs and a 1.532 OPS.
First MLB homer for Sal Frelick didn’t take long ???? pic.twitter.com/45eujO2Htm
— Boston College Baseball (@BCBirdBall) July 25, 2023
How ‘bout this kid?
3-for-3 with an RBI single. These two amazing catches in right field. Sal Frelick’s @Brewers debut couldn’t be going better. Watch on FOX. pic.twitter.com/Aw5BYbNH59
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 23, 2023
Frelick recovered from a torn UCL thumb injury in the spring that required surgery to achieve his dream.
“I have been in the game 49 years and got to send a lot of guys up,” Nashville Sounds manager Rick Sweet told 97.3 The Game. “There is no better place to be than the big leagues. … This kid has done it all his life. It goes back before college to high school and playing summer ball, and all the hours and the effort and the constant paying attention to getting better.”
Frelick was a star quarterback who was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Massachusetts. He was offered baseball and football scholarships from Boston College.
The Pittsburgh Pirates visit Milwaukee next Thursday through Sunday.
Local fans can get a look at the rising rookie when the Pirates host the Brewers Sept. 4-6.
Around the minors
Left-handed pitcher Patrick Monteverde (Fox Chapel/Seton Hill/Texas Tech) received a bump from Double-A to Triple-A with the Miami Marlins.
Monteverde, 25, who earlier in the summer pitched in the MLB Futures Game, went 8-2 with a 2.44 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 84 2/3 innings with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Southern League.
Monteverde will now suit up for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp of the International League.
• Latrobe alum Zach Kokoska was placed on the seven-day injured list after he was hit by a pitch on his right hand/wrist Sunday. Kokoska, a first baseman and outfielder with the High-A Spokane Indians (Colorado Rockies), is slashing .303/.339/.562 in 76 games.
He has 21 doubles, 16 home runs, 47 runs and 53 RBIs.
• Pitcher Jared Kollar, another Latrobe product, is off to a strong start to his stay with the High-A Fort Wayne Tin Caps (San Diego Padres).
Kollar, who played at Seton Hill and Rutgers, is 5-0 with a 1.67 ERA, 35 strikeouts and six walks in nine games.
He has made seven starts and also has a save over 37 2/3 innings.
Kollar signed with the Padres a year ago as a free agent.
• Norwin alum JJ Matijevic is hitting .245 with 11 home runs and a team-best 25 RBIs for the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston Astros).
Matijevic, 27, has played in 82 games this season and 493 for his minor-league career.
He was an on-again, off-again call-up last year with the Astros, earning a World Series ring as part of the taxi squad.