DHonks

Billy Hall appears to have a different stance and has bulked up, but the difference is probably confidence. As I said at the time, his bat speed last year blew me away. I saw him pounce on a ball at Wrigley for a big homer. He just looked very raw. I am comfortable with him at SS in 2004.

while I'm normally a huge optimist, I have to say that Harang scares me. Still, with Dunn and Larkin out, I'm not sure who else on the reds is left that traditionally beats us.

Sheets throws 2 different fastballs. You can't really call them the same pitch. And he's been throwing his changeup more & more this year. While I have yet to see him throw the changeup with confidence, let's also remember how pitchers change throughout their careers. I remember Greg Maddux saying in an interview that while he was a good pitcher with the Cubs, he didn't become dominant until his last year there when he finally realized the importance of a changeup and worked hard on it. Sure enough, it's been one of his best pitches for the last decade, especially since he no longer throws his heater in the 90's. With Sheets, you're right on Colby. He has two fastballs. the 2 seamer regularly sits around 88-92and yields his groundballs. He decided last year to start throwing the 4 seamer on 2 strike counts (which resulted in higher strikeout totals), and so he catches a lot of guys by surprise in 2 strike counts by throwing 4 seamers up in the zone. For as good as his curve is, it seems he rarely get's strikeouts with it.

The mighty Parra has outgrown Beloit! It is time for him and his golden left arm to conquer the Desert! What about the possibility of having Parra bypass HD and Lee finally going to AAA? Of course, Parra to HD, Adams to the AA rotation, and Lee to AAA would work, too. Our AAA rotation currently has the new guy, Manning, Coco, ?????

Actually, Gwynn is well known for his speed and defense. In fact, BA rated him the best defensive player among college draftees He was also rated the third-fastest baserunner...you could very well argue that he's a pure tools pick, even though he was a college player... While I was extremely young at the time, I have to think that he sounds a lot like his father did at this age. From the footage I've seen, Tony Sr was fast, good defensively, a walk man, and of course a great hitter. After the draft someone criticized Gwynn's toolset by calling him something like a fast light hitter who walks....and once again I pointed out that describes Tony Gwynn early on.

Also Al, I think it seems like if we trade Vanderwal and Jenkins/Sexson/Leskanic/Dejean, then we have Zocco and the pizza-man on the roster.

Jenkins is on fire now, but you really think he and Sexson will come back to Milwaukee when their contracts are up? It's laughable to think that. Looking at AAA, Rushford and Smith are deserving of promotions, and Zocolillo could also deserve a shot. I think all three would fit the team's need of a gritty player who can get the job done and will give 100% each time out.

I believe that's three straight where he's gotten more groundouts than flyouts, so hopefully Ben has righted the ship and will continue to get groundouts as he has in his brief history. On a sidenote, I was at the Dbacks vs Reds game tonight, and I can't believe the ending. Reds up 5-4, Williamson in. Walks Womack, then bad pickoff throw sends Womack to third, where a wild pitch scores him to tie it. a few pitches later, Cintron hits a jack and the Tucson Sidewinders...err, Az Dbacks were jumping and celebrating at the plate.

this will be interesting as the only person I can compare Sheets' mechanics to is Radke. Should be a fun game.

I would think no promotions now, but by July there could be some as Weeks, Gwynn, and some hot rookie ballers could be in Beloit. While Hinton has been struggling, he seems to get lots of doubles (when he gets hits) and could be worth a look in HD where his bat might come around

I saw Weaver on TV yesterday and it was pretty funny. My roommates and I were impressed with how similar this kid's mechanics were to JEff Weaver, then low and behold, we found out his name. He had good stuff, but I'm sure there's someone better out there

as usual, mine won't work. I'm thinking it's because I use Netscape or because I use the USAToday.com boxscores. Okay, I've tried it in Netscape and IE, and with both the entire boxscore appears in one line, so I give up. Anyways, good to see HD's offense can still get hits (they sure were sorry up here in San Jose last weekend), but it's too bad they can't stop opposing teams. LAKE ELSINORE 13 AT HIGH DESERT 9 (EXTRA INNINGS) YTD YTD LAKE ELSINORE AB R H BI AVG HIGH DESERT AB R H BI AVG F.Guzman DH 5 1 1 0 .286 C.Morris CF 6 1 3 1 .256 J.Furmaniak SS 6 3 3 2 .335 R.Santana 2B 6 1 2 1 .310 J.Barfield 2B 6 3 5 3 .357 J.Raburn LF 4 1 2 0 .284 G.Sain 3B 4 3 1 1 .274 J.Belcher RF 6 1 2 1 .318 J.Benick 1B 6 1 1 2 .311 F.Villanueva 1B 6 1 2 2 .306 J.Carter CF 5 2 1 1 .302 B.Foster DH 4 1 0 1 .191 J.Hastings RF 5 0 1 2 .230 M.Ernster 3B 4 2 2 0 .280 K.Reinking CAT 5 0 1 1 .193 J.Alvarado CAT 4 1 1 1 .157 M.Nettles LF 2 0 0 0 .234 T.West SS 5 0 1 2 .260 J.Gerber LF 2 0 0 0 .261 C.Petty PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 J.Germano PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 T.Stavros PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 R.Ramsay PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 J.Backsmeyer PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 J.Craker PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 B.Bystrowski PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 R.Garvin PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 J.Cassel PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 K.Beavers PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 TOTALS 46 13 14 12 TOTALS 45 9 15 9 LAKE ELSINORE 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 4-13 14 1 HIGH DESERT 0 2 1 2 1 0 1 0 2 0 0- 9 15 0 E--K.Reinking. DP--LAKE ELSINORE 1, HIGH DESERT 1. LOB--LAKE ELSINORE 5, HIGH DESERT 8. 2B--J.Carter (9), J.Hastings (13), R.Santana (7), J.Belcher (13), F.Villanueva (10), J.Alvarado (2), T.West (9). 3B--J.Furmaniak (6), F.Villanueva (2). HR--J.Furmaniak (9), J.Barfield (<img src=http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif ALT="8)"> , J.Benick (7). SB--F.Guzman (27), J.Furmaniak (<img src=http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif ALT="8)"> , J.Barfield (7), C.Morris (35), M.Ernster (6). CS--B.Foster. YTD IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA LAKE ELSINORE J.Germano 3.2 9 5 5 3 4 0 4.42 R.Ramsay 2.1 1 1 1 1 2 0 1.59 J.Craker 1.0 1 1 1 0 2 0 4.73 R.Garvin 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 5.28 J.Cassel 1.1 3 2 2 1 1 0 5.91 K.Beavers (W,1-2) 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4.05 HIGH DESERT C.Petty 6.0 6 5 5 2 4 1 12.79 T.Stavros 1.2 3 3 3 3 4 0 4.95 J.Backsmeyer 2.1 1 1 1 0 3 1 4.39 B.Bystrowski (L,0-2) 1.0 4 4 4 0 1 1 3.71 WP--T.Stavros, B.Bystrowski. SO--F.Guzman 2, J.Furmaniak, G.Sain 2, J.Benick, J.Hastings 2, K.Reinking 2, M.Nettles, J.Gerber, C.Morris, R.Santana 2, J.Raburn 2, J.Belcher, B.Foster 3, M.Ernster, T.West. BB--F.Guzman, G.Sain 2, J.Carter, J.Gerber, J.Raburn 2, B.Foster, M.Ernster, J.Alvarado. T--3:53. A--4318

Sure would be nice to see Travis Hinton get hot. He was solid back in Ogden that one year but has really scuffled for Beloit in 2 seasons. Also, has anyone else noticed that the pizzaman is on his way towards fighting for another batting title?

In some ways you can blame Sheffield for the beginning of the franchise's downfalls. When we were forced to trade him, we received Matt Meiske, Ricky Bones, and Jose Valentin if I am remembering correctly. All three were okay players, and I think Meiske would have been better had be been given chances to play everyday, but they started the franchise's downward spiral. With Molitor gone, Yount retired, Gantner hurt (and eventually retired), Jaha and Nilsson constantly hurt, Vaughn inconsistent, Listach hurt, etc, the franchise needed some bright spot to give hope, but unfortunately Sheffield's attitude only united fans against him. He left, then all of those happened, and the franchise hasn't been the same since.

in case people didn't catch it, Jim Powell raved about Brewerfan.net throughout the entire top of the 7th. He mentioned how we'll be raving about Mike Jones' performance today. early numbers are Huntsville wins 6-1 with Hart, Hardy, and Gemoll all homering. He also gave tremendous plugs for the draft section

don't forget our strongholds in South Africa and Germany.

Just saw this cartoon on JSonline, and had to post it for everyone. brewers draft cartoon

Harris did pitch both ways in a game for the Expos...I believe his final game ever

I'll write more later, but it was cool seeing Mike Lindskog in action. He was at his finest today as we witnessed some pretty sad play by the High Desert MAvericks. I guess I'll finish this early summary by saying that they need some offensive help ASAP (also, Robinson looks good. his mechanics are clean and crisp...looks like a Jamey Wright clone in terms of build and mechanics, only take away all the flaws Wright had...like the loopy arm on its way back and the flying open front shoulder. Robinson also was regularly at around 92 mph on the gun).

I guess just to put things in perspective...I saw one game. Tomorrow I'll see another. These say nothing about a player's overall talent, as I'm nowhere close to a scout. I'm seeing days when some players might be in slumps, banged up, or facing tough pitching. I guess the observations that intrigued me the most were general ones. For instance, the ball sounded terrible when it hit bats in the game today. That is, nothing hit the sweet spots. Ernster had a nice deep sac fly, Boyd hit the double, and Santana hit that solid liner to center, but it might just have been good pitching? Like I said, Kolb wasn't overly impressive, but he sure didn't look like a guy carrying an ERA of 7.00 into the game. He had some nice offspeed pitches. Another general observation was the radar gun. When it did work, it showed most of the pitchers hitting about 88. Those numbers just really didn't jump out at me. Perhaps this was the so-called 'slow-gun.' Maybe the velocity didn't seem that impressive because of Foster's receiving skills (ie, maybe he catches the ball more softly somehow). On the whole, this is a team full of athletes. I compared Raburn and West to Counsell, and I mean that as a compliment. They both look extremely fast and have the potential to fill out a little bit over the next few years. Villanueva had a nice pickup early in the game when he threw to second. He just had some really bad ones (I see only one was a charged error). I thought our hitters did an outstanding job of working the count. I don't think they walked much, but I don't think the San Jose pitchers threw many balls. Our hitters NEVER looked silly up there, so that was very good. The team really put a lot of balls in play. I'm assuming the San Jose starter had a good sinker, because I swear we grounded out a lot. And I guess to also make things seem better for our defense, there were some obvious terrible bounces, so the infield doesn't seem friendly. So if I sounded critical, I don't mean to make fans think this team is full of nobodies. This is a very athletic team. The outfield covers a lot of ground, and the infield contains four players with terrific range. Plus, I'm not sure we have a 3b or 1b. I notice Villanueva, Ernster, Candaleria, et al have all logged some time at those positions, so it has to be difficult playing on hard infields in extreme heat while playing positions they may not be comfortable with. I look forward to a win tomorrow, and hopefully there'll be fewer mistakes that make fans cringe

Okay, just back from the High Desert game, so I'll give my notes in bullet form. First off, the line score: High Desert 2 8 3* San Jose 3 8 0 I'm not sure how we ONLY committed 3 errors. I think I counted three by Villanueva alone. - First off, maybe it's the bats they use in the minors aren't as good, but boy nothing sounds good when contact is made. Of course, maybe that had to do with the fact that maybe only two balls were really ripped all day--one on a deep drive to center by Santana - I was shocked that the team only tried one steal, and Ernster was out by about 6 steps. - Another general observation, as noted above, is that the defense was atrocious (sorry, that spelling doesn't look right). Santana made a nice play or two at 2nd and Ernster made a great play to initiate a DP by leaping into the air, but beyond that it was ugly. San Jose had about 4 amazing diving stops, while Villanueva booted 2 routine balls and threw high on another, Ernster charged in on a ball and its last hop before hitting the bag took a big hop and it went off his chest, and finally a liner to right took a goofy short hop for Belcher and he failed to keep it infront of him. One side note on the play with Ernster is that Kolb almost made a highlight real play by running over to the line and doing a full out dive in an effort to barehand the booted ball, all while having his foot land on the bag. Unfortunately he fumbled the ball with his barehand as he hit the ground causing the runner to reach. - Another general note, our pitchers don't throw very hard. Maybe it was Foster's fault, but the only pitcher who could make his glove pop was Bystrowski. He was consistently hitting 92-93 while throwing a huge breaking curve that registered at 74. Others to throw in the game were Dan Kolb, David Nolasco, and Justin Blacksmeyer. - Kolb didn't dominate at all, as it seemed the first few innings the Giants were stranding two guys an inning. His offspeed pitches seemed his strength. In the end he threw 6+ innings allowing 5 hits and a couple of walks, with I believe 1 run (not sure it if was earned). What stood out about Kolb was that his upper half and lower half seem to be working against eachother. - Nolasco came in and really had a couple of good heaters right away that popped the glove (I think the radar gun wasn't working his inning). He inherited two runners, allowing only 1 to score. His motion and build are much more traditional for pitchers. His motion seemed pretty smooth, and he kind of turns a bit so that he shows his back to the hitter. He also has a high leg kick, so on the whole he brought back memories of an older Brewers pitcher, perhaps it is Jaime Navarro that I'm thinking of. - Raburn and West look like clones of Craig Counsell. No, they don't have his stance, but they look like they could pass for not a day older than 16. They are as skinny as baseball players come. Raburn also showed a very strong arm on a throw from left to almost nab a guy sliding into second. He really tracks flyballs well, something I was curious about since he has traditionally been an IF. -Foster was as expected. I think he had two very weak groundouts and then K'd, once looking and once swinging. - Villianueva had 2 groundouts--one in which the SS went deep into the hole, lept, and in mid-air made a Vizquel-like throw to get him. He also had a soft lineout and a bloop single. In the field it was a nightmare. He had a routine chopper down the line that he dropped (I don't know if they gave him an error...home scorer I guess). I believe that one allowed the winning run to score. Earlier he also had a two hopper hit about 2 steps to his left. He tried to snare it off to the side and saw it go right under his glove. That was credited as San Jose's 4th hit on the day. If he gets in front of that ball, then there's no way he doesn't get the runner. And finally he had the routine chooper down the line that he bobbled then threw high and Ernster couldn't haul it in - Just when I thought Boyd looked overmatched he stepped up and hit the game's longest drive (with the only competition being Santana's deep out to center) off the wall in left. He also was a victim of a diving stop down the 3b line. - Jason Belcher really impressed me early in the game. I got there in the bottom of the first, and the first batter I saw hit a fly to right and Belcher came flying in to make a nice grab. I was impressed by his range and how he ran for a former catcher. on the day he went 2-4, with both hits being seeing eye singles up the middle. His final at bat didn't impress me much. Once again he hit a soft 4 hopper up the middle. The shortstop went a long ways to get it, then did an all out dive behind the 2b bag, took his time, got up, and fired a throw to first that beat Jason by several steps. Maybe he didn't run hard out of the box thinking he had a hit or maybe he just got a bad first step, but it didn't help get a rally going in the 9th. -Ernster looked overmatched at the plate. That's all there is to say. - Morris shocked me. He's tiny, but he looks like Popeye. Either he wears a small shirt or he's absolutely ripped. He hit a great RBI double in his second at bat that was a hooked shot over the first baseman. Unfortunately he didn't do a good job of hitting the ball on the ground. He had a soft popup and a bunt that got Raburn forced out at second. I'm not sure if he was trying to bunt for a hit or a sacrifice, but with his speed, he should be so good at bunting that the ball NEVER goes right back to the pitcher so quickly that he's able to cut down Raburn infront of him. All in all a fun day in the sun, although I'm pretty red now. They sure have some fun promotions out here. My roommate and I are gonna head to the game tomorrow. I think it's at 12:45, so we'll get their ASAP, but class gets out at 12:50. We may miss the whole first inning. Oh, and the hot dogs are good at this ball park, but I was disappointed because they had Bud products and Pepsi products

it's pretty darn late, and it seems I've stirred up some controversy, so I'll just address Scoop. You would have melvin pass over one of the consensus top 2 to draft a pitcher who doesnt hit 90 on the guns?? Say it aint so man. No, what I was saying is that if he's as smart a pitcher as Jones, I'd have a hard time passing on Alliston. Jones was a hard thrower (97 I believe) in high school. Yet reports show he now regularly hits 90-92. I think we all know he can hit 97 still on occasion, but the key is that he knows how to pitch. He knows how to get guys out. And he knows that strikeouts don't mean anything in most situations. I'm saying that--based on his numbers--if Alliston is a SMART pitcher who realizes he doesn't have to juice it up there, then I'd have a hard time passing up on him. While I'd be more inclined to choose the college righty (Sleeth, assuming Young goes #1), I think it I were to have knowledge about Alliston's personality and mentality, that I could logically consider him a potential pick for the Crew. As bjkrautk said, it's hard to make a pick at an offensive machine with no position. Give me a hustling 2b and a good pitcher over a very good 2b and a mediocre pitcher any day of the week. Good pitching almost always beats good hitting over the long run.

a potential franchise type middle infielder who has epic bat speed, outstanding eye (leads the nation in hitting), unbelievable athleticism, great speed on the base paths (27 for 27 in SB), tremendous power potential (hit a home run in the College World Series today...and that ain't the SWAC), a tireless work ethic, a burning desire to get better, great character, etc. okay, I'll address some of these. First of all, I'm not a huge believer in the idea of a "franchise type" 2b. SS, OF, 3b, 1b, SP...yes. 2b or catcher no. 2b is kind of the position I would never worry about, because there's even more guys that can play 2b in the bigs than power arms for bullpen fodder (which people regularly say are a dime a dozen). The athleticism and speed are nice, but what about defense? He can't play SS, and he'll probably wind up in the OF. Great work ethic? Maybe on offense, but I still can't understand why with his tools he isn't being billed as a top defender, too. As for the home run...don't pay attention to one or two games. I'll remind you that Antone Williamson had a multi-homer game (I believe 3 homers) in the College World Series his junior year of college. I understand your enthusiasm, I just really can't stand the idea of drafting a 2b. I also agree with those who said that we already have a 2b of the future in Cruz. Scoop loves bat speed, and there's no doubting Cruz's batspeed. Like I've said, I'd rather have a HS hitter or college pitcher, unless the hitter can be compared to Burrell, Texeira, or Blalock in recent drafts. And I also am intrigued by Alliston. If he can learn to throw at about 90 mph, he could be a dominant #1 pitcher.

It shouldn't matter how much or little he signed for, because the team's payroll is several million dollars below budget, and so I'm sure the team has the resources available to sign quality players.

Well BlazinWings, I think you're pretty accurate there. I guess my post was in general I would prefer college pitching or high school hitting. My reasons are more based on the past than what I know. High school pitching for the Brewers.....D'Amico, Wunsch, Neugebauer, Gold. College pitching for high Brewers recent draft picks...Sheets, Peterson, and Steitz (far too early to tell with him). Now those high school pitchers have gotten 3 to the bigs, but D'Amico is probably the only one with a chance of long term success. More recently, I think Jones has been spectacular, but I still would feel safer avoiding a high schooler. With hitters, I look at college players Antone Williamson, Chad Green, Geoff JEnkins, etc. With high schoolers we see Fielder, Hardy, Krynzel, Hart, etc. So while I don't have an advanced knowledge of this year's draft picks, some things scare me about Weeks. 1) nobody knew of him 3 years ago 2) he has no position. I've read that most clubs view him as a CF, but I really don't want to draft a 2b to convert him to CF. What if he has Sanchez-itis in the OF and can't track them? Why was he playing 2b already? In college you stick the best athletes (especially those under 6') at SS and CF, and he already has been given up on at SS. If he's that fast and that good, then how come they couldn't improve his skills at SS during fall practice? I guess those are some questions that scare me. I guess it stems from the school of thought I heard that you don't draft 2b, you move people to 2b--so why was his school sticking him at 2b defensively? As for why I prefer Young or Sleeth, it's because young talented outfielders are lacking in our system. We have decent ones. If he signs quickly, he could be hitting behind Prince by mid July. With Sleeth we get a very good pitcher who everyone is high on. Sounds to me like another Ben Sheets. Sure he's no Mark Prior, but Sheets isn't bad. And as we know based on looking at our minor leagues, you can never have too much pitching. If there's a chance he can pitch half a season in A-ball (or even go to AA), then we'd be adding another power arm that's just a phone call away from Milwaukee. Well, those are my thoughts...and thanks for the compliment about my posts scoop.