Friday, June 19

MILWAUKEE -- Sal Frelick learned to love baseball from dozens of visits to Fenway Park with his father, Jeff. But it wasn’t until he went to Boston College and met head baseball coach Mike Gambino that Sal started to ponder a future playing Major League Baseball. 

MLB.com is celebrating fathers and father figures this Father’s Day, and Frelick is an example of someone who is blessed in both departments. Coach Gambino was more than a coach.

“I describe it as he’s my second dad,” Frelick said. “Even now when I watch their games, and he’s not even there anymore, those are my guys. I wouldn’t miss a game. That’s my family. It all started with that relationship.”

Frelick was a freshman at Lexington High School outside Boston when he first met Gambino, and he still remembers the day. Gambino had come to Lexington to recruit one of Frelick’s teammates, Brendan Shaw, the younger brother of yet another BC alum, 2015 first-round Draft pick Chris Shaw. 

Chris Shaw told Frelick he should consider attending one of Boston College’s baseball camps, and he did the following summer. He already loved the school, since his family held season tickets for BC hockey and visited campus every Friday night for games. Quickly, he formed a bond with his future college coach.

Frelick knows he was lucky. When he talks to Brewers teammates who played college baseball, not all of them had the same kind of relationships with a coach that will last a lifetime. 

“I would say with utmost confidence that everyone else I played with at BC would say the same thing about him,” Frelick said. “He cared. It was so much more about being a good student, a good human being, a good Jesuit. And he completely embodied that. That always came first with his players, and I think he was just really good at it. He built a culture.”

Those lessons are serving Frelick well this season, as he’s struggled, unlike either of his first two full seasons with the Brewers. He went into Thursday’s series finale against the Guardians at -0.2 bWAR, a sharp drop from 2.9 bWAR last season and 2.2 bWAR the year before that.

It’s an opportunity to draw on the confidence instilled in him by Gambino.

“He was definitely the first person who told me he thought I could play baseball at the next level,” Frelick said. “I had no confidence that I would play pro ball. I just loved playing a ton of sports.

“When I got offered to play football [in addition to baseball], I just expected that he knew. But a couple of weeks later, he called me and said he had just found out. He’s like, ‘You have a shot at playing in the big leagues. I believe in you. If you come here and play both, I think that can hurt you a little bit. I think you should come here and just play baseball.’ I trusted him on it. He was the first person who ever said that to me.”

Frelick is glad he trusted. The Brewers drafted him 15th overall in 2021, and when he began his career at Single-A Carolina, he felt way ahead of many of his teammates because of lessons learned in college.

Two years later, he was in the big leagues. He wouldn’t be here without his college coach. 

“I’m 100 percent sure of that,” Frelick said. 

Sometimes there’s a great story behind a player’s choice of uniform number.

And sometimes he just takes what he’s given. 

The latter was the case for newly promoted Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt, who made his Major League debut on Tuesday against the Guardians wearing No. 12. He wore No. 9 at Triple-A Nashville, but that’s property of All-Star hopeful Jake Bauers in Milwaukee. 

“It was either 12 or, like, linebacker numbers,” Pratt said. 

That’s not exactly accurate, but it’s close. At the end of Spring Training, when Pratt and the Brewers were beginning to talk about a long-term contract and powers that be were considering his future uniform number, the only available numbers from 1-30 were Nos. 12, 14, 18 and 21.

No. 13, which was open when Pratt arrived in the big leagues this week, belonged at the time to Luis Rengifo. Nos. 14 and 21 wound up going to outfielders Greg Jones and Luis Matos, who each played for the Brewers earlier this season and were subsequently outrighted to Triple-A Nashville. 

No. 18 was, and still is, available for whomever comes next.

But the other numbers were spoken for, including Nos. 1 (in honor of Brewers founder Bud Selig), 4 (Paul Molitor) and 19 (Robin Yount), which are retired, and Nos. 8 (Ryan Braun), 17 (Jim Gantner) and 30 (Craig Counsell), which are not retired, but have not been issued out of respect for the long Milwaukee tenures for those men. 

So, Pratt had limited options. He went with the lowest number, 12, and it seems to suit him. He had a night of firsts in Wednesday’s win over the Guardians, with his first hits and his first RBI, his first run scored and his first stolen base after a quiet debut the day before. 

“[In the big leagues], I just want to do anything to help,” he said. “It’s like the playoffs, almost. You don’t care as long as you win.” 

The Brewers Unfiltered podcast returned Thursday with me, Sophia Minnaert, Tim Dillard and our first guest of the season, reliever Aaron Ashby. The surprise Major League leader in wins is one of the longest-tenured players on the team and one of the most thoughtful players you’ll meet, as fans will get to hear during our conversation. 

Be sure to subscribe via your podcast provider of choice, because we will have new episodes every month or so this season. And if there is a guest you would like to hear from, drop me a line and let me know.

Eager to build upon a 2025 season in which he was the best-in-baseball Brewers’ most reliable starting pitcher, Quinn Priester tried everything to get 2026 on track. Nerve-blockers. Anti-inflammatories. Massage, cupping and scraping. Hot tubs. Blood flow restriction machines. He even worked on his everyday posture. 

None of it solved the symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome, and so Priester has been left with only one option: Season-ending surgery. 

“We’ve just gotten to a point where none of those things are working,” Priester said. 

He spoke at length about the process on Thursday morning, and it’s worth a read. Priester still has four years of club control remaining, giving him ample opportunity to put this saga behind him.

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