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Rottino moving forward By Pete Jackel By now, it's been well documented how Vinny Rottino quit the University of Wisconsin Pharmaceutical School, where he was an honor student, to pursue his passion of playing professional baseball. It's all well known how he lived in an apartment on the seedy side of town last summer, sleeping on a mattress on the living-room floor, while playing for the Beloit Snappers, which was then Milwaukee Brewers' Class A farm affiliate. And now that Rottino has finally made the grade - he was named the Brewers' Minor League Player of the Year last season after driving in a team-record 124 runs for the Snappers - he can finally relax a little, right? Well, not exactly. The 24-year-old Rottino wants to play major league baseball so badly that he hired a personal trainer this winter. And he paid for the trainer with money he earned working odd jobs at the Sienna Center. That's how badly Rottino wants to succeed. And others are noticing. Another major award will be coming his way Sunday when Rottino is among those honored at the 59th annual Pitch and Hit Annual Awards Baseball Dinner at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. The Club will award Rottino, a 1998 St. Catherine's High School graduate, with the "Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Player of the Year Award." "Being a former president of the Pitch and Hit Club, I still recommend players from the Milwaukee Brewers who deserve the best honors,'' said Dennis Backis, a Brewers scout who is based in Holland, Mich. "He's got potential. I mean, you just don't come in and do 124 RBIs in one season. That's why he's so deserving of the award.'' Harvey Kuenn Jr., another Brewers' scout, feels Rottino is particularly deserving. "You take a kid from Racine who played at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, goes undrafted his senior year and then to go out basically your first full season and put up the kind of statistics he put up, that's almost phenomenal. "I think he's got a bright future. Obviously, he's going to be a guy who has to go to the next level like everybody.'' Rottino is hoping that next step will be at the Brewers' Class AA farm club in Huntsville, Ala., this season. But before he goes back to work, he will take time out for one last reward from his memorable 2004 season. "It's a pretty big honor,'' Rottino said. "They're giving it to a guy who's not a big-name, big-money ballplayer, so it's pretty much a honor. It feels pretty good.'' A number of other players at the major- and minor-league level will be honored at Sunday's banquet, including Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, White Sox outfielder Aaron Rowand and Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee. For more information or to order tickets, call Chip Sobek at (219) 365-6236 (work) or the Pitch and Hit Club at (847) 781-8039.

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but I stumbled upon this article, the subject of which is James Beresford, younger brother of Brewer farmhand, Simon Beresford. www.heraldsun.news.com.au...63,00.html Mini major Adrian Dunn 06jan05 NAPIER Park, in suburban Glen Waverley, is very much the heartland of Victorian, if not Australian, baseball. There's not so much a hint of a cornfield or the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson, but it has been a field of dreams for thousands of budding Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds in the past 45 years. Phil Dale, regarded by many as one of Australia's finest pitchers in the past 30 years, emerged from the fields of Napier Park, the home of the Waverley Wildcats. David Clarkson, Matthew and Simon Sheldon-Collins, David Buckthorpe, Adam Burton and Glenn Reeves, all outstanding Australian Baseball League representatives, graduated through Waverley's outstanding junior program. More recently David McWatters and Donovan Hendricks have followed the lead. Each Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon, hundreds of players live out their dreams at Napier Park and, for the past 10 years, James Beresford has been one of them. Just like his brothers, Michael, who 20 years ago accepted a "bring a friend" night invitation, and Simon, James has played domestic and representative ball for Waverley and, for the past four years, state baseball for Victoria. Now, just weeks shy of his 16th birthday, the youngest of the Beresford baseball clan shapes as the focal point of the upcoming national under-16 championships at Lismore, New South Wales. Beresford will be a primary focus not only for Victoria's hopes of securing the title, but also for scouts from 15, maybe 20, Major League Baseball teams. In some ways he's not unlike a young David Nilsson, whose presence, poise and professionalism were part of the package that took him all the way to an All Star while playing for the Milwaukee Brewers. Yes, Beresford, is also a left-hand hitter. Many teams have Australian-based scouts, such as the Atlanta Braves' Phil Dale, Boston Red Sox's Jon Deeble and Minnesota Twins' Howie Norsetter. Others send scouts from the US. All have Beresford high on all their short-lists. It doesn't faze the Year 11 Wesley College student. He knows as a second-year player in the championships, he's expected to be a leader. And, yes, he knows all his pitches will be charted, scrutinised and analysed. So, too, every play he makes at shortstop and how he swings the bat. You see, Beresford does it all. Although still 15, he has played seniors for Waverley for some of last season and all this season, mainly as a relief pitcher. He's also showed he's a strong-hitting, solid defensive infielder. It's a dilemma. Beresford is a two-position prospect: a pitcher -- he's hit 137km/h on the radar gun -- and shortstop/infielder. One scout believes the youngster's ticket to the majors is as a left-hand hitting catcher. Beresford has never considered that option. In fact, he doesn't have a preference. "I like doing both," he said. Many say he should be representing Victoria not at under-16 level, but in the Claxton Shield, the national showcase that replaced the Australian league. Eyes, radar guns, stopwatches will be putting immense pressure on Beresford, but he said he'd dealt with that during the summer while playing for Waverley. "There's a little more pressure on me to stand up more for the team, but all the scouts being there doesn't bother me," he said. Beresford, whose brother Simon has spent the past two years in the Milwaukee Brewer minor league system, knows what he wants: to play Major League Baseball. He says it in a matter-of-fact way, but Beresford has learnt through Simon's experiences not to get too far ahead of himself. "Simon was one of the big prospects going into the tournament, but he never got an offer. They (the scouts) were all over him, but he got sick and no one wanted to know him," Beresford said. "People tell you that you are one of the top prospects, but you can't really control how they (scouts) view you. All you can do is do your best. "If they make an offer, they make an offer. I think about it, but it doesn't consume me." Apart from his natural ability, another of Beresford's fine qualities is how he carries himself. There's not a hint of show-boating. Major league teams cannot sign him until the second week in July, but Beresford would like to finish his education before joining the 60 other Australians at various levels of the minor league system. Beresford's signature won't come cheap. While the dizzy days of the $1 million-plus signing bonus received by Sydney teen Glenn Williams 15 years ago are gone, MLB teams are prepared to shell out six-figure sums for the right prospect. Baseball prospects can vary markedly in price, depending on a scout's assessment. Beresford, according to several scouts, is somewhere in the $50,000-$100,000 mix. He recently had dinner with a prominent baseball player manager, but monetary matters will be left to his father/manager and prospective suitors to hammer out. It's an unwanted distraction for an uncomplicated young man whose focus is simply to go out and play ball. The only difference is James Beresford plays it better than most. National under-age championships Under-18: Geelong, start today Under-16: Lismore, start tomorrow Under-14: Perth, start Saturday I see now that deeswan beat me to the punch on this.....feel free to delete this post

www.caledonianrecord.com/.../f4664dcf6 A Brewer in the works. Chad Paronto is signing this week with the Milwaukee Brewers. He has a verbal agreement and has been invited to spring training in Arizona, but it's not quite on paper. He reports on Feb. 19. Before that, he'll go to Florida to take a cruise on Jan. 7 with his family plus throw and work out in the warmer climate. When Chad's agent went to the winter meetings, 14 teams expressed an interest in him. The San Francisco Giants were interested early and the Mets late. Even the Yankees (his dad is a diehard Yankee fan). Last year, Chad signed within a week of becoming a free agent and later developments prevented him from ever getting out of triple A for the Cleveland Indians. So this time he wisely waited a little longer to see what developed. Chad was looking for the best opportunity to play in the big leagues. So he sat down with his advisers and narrowed the choices to five teams before deciding that the Brewers would be his best shot. Milwaukee is a very low payroll team, around 30 million compared to 200-plus mil for the Yankees, so they don't have a lot of money to attract a host of big players. Milwaukee just traded their closer and top setup man and those are the pitching jobs that Chad likes best. The Woodsville High and UMass right-handed pitcher was home in North Haverhill over the Christmas weekend and found the Milwaukee paperwork waiting when he returned to his Massachusetts home. If he does have to spend time in triple A that will be in Nashville, Tenn. First he's going to the Brewers spring training camp. We'll see what happens from there for Chad Paronto. The North Country will be cheering for him.

Does Gwynn Jr. still have a hitting steak going on? If so, it has been a very peculiar streak to say the least. Seems like he always has one hit....goes 1 for 4 or 1 for 5...his average has not really moved up as you would expect it to during a good-sized hitting streak. I want to say he is around 12 games now????

High Desert drops a 9-4 decision to Bakersfield.

Is that how we decide the lineup now? Hit a homer or go 3-4, you ride the pine? That's exactly what Yost did with Bill Hall in August of last year. Hall went 3 for 4 in back to back games, and then rode the pine for the next two games.

Link 2 Brewer farmhands make the squad: 1B: Prince Fielder, Beloit Snappers (low A), Milwaukee Brewers. Just 19, the son of former AL home run champ Cecil Fielder was impressive in his full-season debut with the Snappers, vying for the Midwest League Triple Crown down to the final weekend of the season. The 2002 first-rounder batted .313 with 27 homers and a league-high 112 RBI, striking out just 80 times while drawing 71 walks. His slugging percentage was .526 and his on-base average .409. LHP: Luis Martinez, Huntsville Stars (AA)/Indianapolis Indians (AAA), Milwaukee Brewers. Coming off of a season at Huntsville where he posted a 5.20 ERA, the 23-year-old Martinez was one of the most pleasant surprises in the minors in 2003. Returning to the Stars' rotation, Martinez didn't allow an earned run in his first four starts. Promoted to Indianapolis in late July, he began his Triple-A career with another shutout string. In seven starts for the Indians, five were scoreless. Overall, his 162 strikeouts between the two stops ranked him among the minor league leaders, and he finished at 12-5 with a 2.12 ERA.

Only one Brewer farmhand sees action, and they lose their first game: Coincidence? I don't think so http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/happy.gif

Saguaros win again, 9-4. Ben Hendrickson goes 3 innings, allows 2 hits. No walks, no strikeouts. Krynzel is 1 for 5 with an RBI. Strikes out twice. Rickie Weeks is hitting .500 after going 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI. He struck out once. He played 2B, and did not commit an error http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif The complete box score is up at baseball america...but I don't know how to paste it in (gets all un-aligned)

Jenkins is listed on the Brewers bench on CBS Sportsline website. I assume that he has not been officially put on the DL....is that right?

Monday: 4 for 5 with 2 Runs scored and 3 RBI Tuesday: Riding the pines. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

I believe that Conti was added to the 40-man roster for his callup, but was then removed as part of his outright to Indy.

Keith Ginter for President!!!!! Bill Hall as his running mate!

Can't wait for him to get back. Ginter's made two errors already today. Get Helms back at third, move Ginter to second, and Hall to shortstop. I hope that you are right....this team is almost worth watching with some youth on the infield. Bill Hall's bat is getting in gear given some regular playing time. Come on Ned, do the right thing, and send Royce to bench when Helms comes back!

How many pitches did Clayton take before he grounded into the double play in the third? Good grief....Billy Hall was doing a great job in the leadoff spot at Indy....bat him leadoff, leave Podzilla in his normal #2 spot, and bat clayton #9. (That's not a type-o, Clayton should be batting after the pitcherhttp://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif )

Whether it was intentional or not, it was good to give the bullpen a day off. I really don't see what harm it would do to give Ford a few starts.....Is the pressure of being a starter for the Breweres going to be too much for him to handle?http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif