batman

Why is Santos still pitching? If he was going to be pinch-hit for, DOUBLE-SWITCH! I don't understand why Yost can't deal with that. Put JJ at shortstop batting ninth and move Billy to second with the pitcher batting in Spivey's spot. SIMPLE! ~Bill

They should pinch-hit for Spivey and then use JJ at shortstop and Billy at second. Now that we've got Krynzel, they can use Magruder just to hit. EDIT: Yeah. Nice at-bat, Junior. ~Bill

Nice rip, Billy. He needs to not look at the ball, though, and start running. Only pose if you crushed one *over* the fence, Billy! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ~Bill

As long as you don't curse while smashing it, go right ahead. I can think of a few things I'd like to smash... they're wearing dark blue hats. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ~Bill

I think El Caballo was thinking about that strikeout, not the game. What a horrible, horrible play... Ben Grieve haters in the house, say Neigh! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ~Bill

It really irks me every time I see Wunsch pitching for the Dodgers. He should be *our* cheap LOOGY! He sure made Jenkins look terrible. ~Bill

I generally agree with the "why can't we hit this guy?!?" sentiment, but Houlton's sinker is pretty good. Give him credit - he's pitching well. ~Bill

For the love of Hiram Bocachica, Junior Spivey is depressingly valueless. ~Bill

JD Drew = good. Jeff Kent, too. ~Bill

The latest from McCalvy: milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com...;fext=.jsp ~Bill

Hee Sop Choi - he's the only guy with three names. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/happy.gif ~Bill

No J.J., yes Spivey, yes Billy. MILWAUKEE LA DODGERS AVG HR RBI AVG HR RBI Brady Clark CF .342 6 24 Cesar Izturis SS .332 1 20 Jeff Cirillo 3B .282 1 8 Antonio Perez 3B .423 1 7 Geoff Jenkins RF .255 5 21 J.D. Drew CF .269 9 26 Carlos Lee LF .265 14 50 Jeff Kent 2B .260 10 39 Lyle Overbay 1B .295 7 28 Ricky Ledee LF .286 2 16 Bill Hall SS .299 5 21 Jayson Werth RF .194 0 4 Damian Miller C .282 2 13 Hee Seop Choi 1B .252 6 20 Junior Spivey 2B .238 4 16 Jason Phillips C .270 3 27 Victor Santos RHP .000 0 0 D.J. Houlton RHP .000 0 0 (2-4, 2.73) (0-0, 7.41) ~Bill

Some more draft coverage from the Journal-Sentinel: www.jsonline.com/sports/b...331050.asp www.jsonline.com/sports/b...331060.asp The first article discusses the compensation pick system, which Doug Melvin thinks is dumb, while the second discusses the Brewers' Canadian scouting program. Also, Dayn Perry has a draft "basics" piece up on FoxSports.com: msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/3659854 EDIT: And here's an interesting piece from Alan Schwartz in the NYT. www.nytimes.com/2005/06/0...mp;emc=rss ~Bill

Great stuff, guys. Just for the record I hate metal bats... Yeah, the composite bats that were discussed here a few months ago are really cool... I would be 100% in favor of adopting hybrid wood/metal bats or metal bats with the characteristics of wood for youth, high school, and college baseball. I don't think the cost issue is a very compelling justification for the status quo anymore... the composite bats are very durable and relatively inexpensive, and the health/safety issue is of paramount concern IMO. Add in the scouting/player development benefits and I think the case in favor of change is very clear. Thanks again for sharing your insights, Patrick and Blazer! ~Bill

And yes, Jeff Weaver, with his squinty eyes and unkempt long blonde hair, DOES resemble the late Nirvana icon, doesn't he? http://llc.fanball.com/fanball/images/story/5066.jpg http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2004/04/04/kurt_cobain,0.jpg Yep. ~Bill

Great discussion, Toby... I feel like we're in a virtual pre-draft scouting meeting. Which one of us is 'sposed to throw the chair? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif RE: The Cape I guess I'd want more inspiration than Greene or Charles Thomas (!) when it comes to pimping a player. Like I said, I just looked at the oldest archived stats and found some future big leaguers. My point is just that hitters struggle in the Cape Cod League. If he just didn't hit with a wood bat, that's worrisome. 50 AB isn't a whole lot, but if he's supposed to be destroying the ball, he should be destroying the ball. But he didn't hit much below the league average and it was a very small sample. It takes even good hitters some time to get acclimated to wood bats. And the comment about hitting very well against NCAA pitching doesn't really hold a lot of water - lots of guys have hit well against NCAA pitching (even guys at top programs) and not done jack in the minors, much less the majors. Why? I think it has a lot to do with the metal bats, which brings me back to my worry about him not making good contact with the wood. That's true, but I just don't think Braun fits that profile. He's a high-average, good-contact guy... he hits the ball on the sweet spot consistently and hits a lot of line drives. There's no reason to expect that he'll be unable to do the same with wood... it's guys that don't make solid contact that get helped the most by metal, IMO. The difference between what you're saying and what I'm seeing is that the circle is part of the swing - there's no gap between it and the swing itself. Successful hitters in the bigs with lots of movement in their swings stop the movement before their swing - Braun doesn't. In essence, his swing turns into a figure eight because the circle is in reaction to the pitch, not a timing thing. Pre-swing motion doesn't adjust to the pitch being thrown - his wrist motion seems to be doing that. I think that's a pretty huge swing problem, that can be made up for with a metal bat and quick hands. Could he be successful with it? Maybe. Would I want to take that chance with the 5th pick? Nope. I'd take him sometime after 10. We don't really disagree about this, I don't think... I had just assumed (wrongly, in retrospect) that the "hitch" scouts were talking about was a hole in his swing, not the timing mechanism. He might indeed have to cut down on that, but I don't think that's a big deal. He has been able to adjust to pitchers that change speeds very well in college, and his strong wrists and great bat speed make me think that his success isn't just a product of titanium. I'll give you the bat speed part, but I don't want any part of a college hitter whose swing you're going to have to rework. If he was a HS player, sure. If Rogers had been a college pitcher with his old HS mechanics, would you have taken him where the Brewers took him? I wouldn't have taken him in either case. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif You're right, though... all things being equal, I'd prefer someone with excellent mechanics and results (like Mr. Go®d(on)). I just think the change(s) that Braun will need to make are relatively minor, if he needs to make them at all. I remain unconvinced that NCAA pitchers have been unable to exploit his "hitch" but professional pitchers will. It would be one thing if he had been striking out a lot and getting beat by top pitchers, but that isn't the case. Exactly - he's a strong gap hitter with a metal bat. I don't know how he's going to turn out once he switches to wood, but he's certainly not going to be hitting the ball any harder right away. Going back to your Khalil Greene reference, I'd be fine with him if he were a SS, but he's not. He may not even be a third baseman. If he can't play third, then he loses a lot of value (see below). I think the best comparisons I can come up with are Jeff Kent and David Wright, although obviously those are great players... strong forearms and wrists, very quick bat, solid contact and lots of line drives. If he has to move to left field, this would be an even worse pick. At least Zimmerman/Tulowitski/Gordon can all play in the infield without a doubt. I agree, but I don't buy the "he can't play third" line. Like I said, I feel that he compares favorably to Gordon... he might be a little worse, but not a whole lot. Zimmerman looks like a shortstop playing third, and is obviously in a different league defensively. Braun is a better hitter, though. And at least Maybin is actually an outfielder. Players with no real position bother me. Looking at the Brewers' defense lately, I'd rather they not continue the trend of trying to find new positions for guys later on. It has already backfired on Hart and Nelson. Perhaps, but I have more faith in his defensive ability. He played shortstop at Miami for two years... Corey Hart or Brad Nelson he's not. One of those three guys will be there when the Brewers pick, so this won't even be an issue, or at least it shouldn't be. If the first four selections are Upton, Gordon, Tulo, and Zimmerman, the Brewers will have their choice of Braun, Maybin, and Romero. I don't think they'll take Romero, so it's down to Braun vs. Maybin. I'd prefer Braun. Braun's a first round talent, but he's not a #5 talent, IMO. You can't have pretty big questions about a swing hitch and potential defensive position with a college guy with the 5th pick in the draft. If the Brewers do pick him, I'll wish him luck, but I honestly think it won't work out very well for them. Jack Z. is bound to slip up sometime, and this may be it. We'll just have to wait and see... I'll bet you a cheese sandwich that Braun (barring injury) is in the big leagues by the end of the 2007 season. Deal? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ~Bill

Here's an interesting article about scouting hitters: www.webball.com/scout/hitting.html I'd love to hear Patrick and Blazer discuss the wood vs. metal bat issue. If you guys have time, please share! ~Bill

I see an good-hitting metal bat guy who struggled with wood. I don't put as much weight on his Cape performance, I guess. It was only 50 at-bats and you've gotta remember that the league's batting average there is just a bit over .200 - lots of guys struggle to hit. Khalil Greene hit .211 and Charles Thomas hit .206 there in 1999, for example (just a quick glance at the archived stats). The guy is absolutely destroying the NCAA and he's playing at one of the premier programs in the country. Looking at his swing, I think I see the hitch that could be problematic. It was most noticable when he didn't swing at a pitch in the batting cage - he has quite a bit of a elbow flicker out and the back in before he swings, which makes him late getting the bat through the zone. He has quick hands, as he shows on defense, but he has way too much movement at the plate to get away with it effectively at the next level without some pretty big adjustments. To me that's just a loading technique, not really a "hitch"... he does it before he swings, not during the swing (which is what I assumed scouts were referring to). I agree that the little circle he does with his hands isn't ideal, but there are a lot of players who use similar loading techniques. Heck, the Brewers taught Rickie Weeks to do something similar because they said his hands were too fast. He might indeed have to eliminate that, but there are very few hitters with the kind of bat speed that Braun has... it's not like he's doing a Cecil Fielder-style double-clutch. He also doesn't loft the ball much from what I've seen of him, and that'll get worse with the wood bat. I wouldn't touch him with the 5th pick after seeing the video. That video doesn't really do him justice... I've seen him play probably a dozen times on TV this year and about that many times over the past two seasons and he has always hit. He's very good at taking whatever the pitcher gives him... I've seen him mash first-pitch fastballs about 200 times, I think, but he'll also work the count and go to the opposite field if that's what the at-bat requires. And I have to disagree with you re: the loft issue... he hits a ton of line drives and hard flyballs, but just not very many towering popups/flyballs with a lot of backspin. He seems to make solid contact almost every time, and that indicates to me that he has the outstanding hand-eye coordination that will translate well into the pros. I might buy the hitch argument if he was more of a Branyan/McPherson type hitter in college, but Braun is a high-average, solid-contact guy who doesn't strike out very much. And he's not just dinking and dunking balls over the infield... he's a legitimate slugger with line drive power to all fields. For me, the question has always been whether he could remain at third-base or shortstop. Having seen him play quite a bit, I really think he could be fine at the hot corner... he's nothing compared to Zimmerman but he's not a whole lot worse than what I've seen from Gordon, who generally is thought of as an okay or even good defender. And since Braun is very fast and seems to have great baseball instincts, I'm pretty confident that he'll be able to make the necessary adjustments to excel as a pro. As if it wasn't already obvious, I really like Braun. I'd opt for Gordon or Zimmerman (maybe) or Romero ahead of him, but that's it. I don't dislike Tulo or Maybin, and actually would be very happy with either of those guys, but Braun is a special, special hitter and I place a lot more emphasis on what a guy has actually done versus what he could potentially do than many other people. That's just an individual preference, but next to Gordon there isn't another NCAA hitter with the performance record of Braun. $.02, ~Bill

Nedley needs to go defend his player there. Clark had a legitimate beef with that call and was arguing with Diaz... Yost should have gone out and said something and protected Clark (who *never* argues with umpires). ~Bill

I agree 100%, X. Patrick can confirm that I jumped on the Braun bandwagon a long time ago... he's an exceptional hitter and I just don't see the hitch in his swing that the scouts talk about. ~Bill

Welcome back to the big leagues, David. Now grab a bat and go hit against Gagne. Yikes. ~Bill

Matt Wise is really, really good. He needs to pitch more often and in more high-leverage situations. ~Bill

LOL - Bill Schroeder doesn't think Hammond has thrown a fastball yet. Bill, he IS throwing a fastball! It's just that his "fast"ball is 78-80mph! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Nice play by Jackson. ~Bill

I can't wait to see Big Swing Jenkins face him. That should be worth staying up. 10:1 odds he hurts himself swinging and missing at a blooper pitch. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ~Bill

TPhelps looks like Randy Johnson after watching Hammond throw for an inning. ~Bill