Eye Black

Now exactly two weeks away from the draft we will use this thread to discuss names that get mentioned in connection with the Brewers. This can come in the form of private workouts, scouts in attendance at games, players mentioning the team has contacted them, or other forms of rumors. Admittedly our batting average on these rumors coming to fruition was pretty low last year (LINK to last year's thread), but nevertheless it is fun track the Brewers potential targets leading into the amateur draft. Our first LINK is homegrown high school (Verona) catcher Ben Rortvedt who as the article mentions recently played in front of Brewers senior advisor Doug Melvin (along with a flock of scouts from other organizations).

1.2: Reds - Kyle Lewis, OF, Mercer Out of the top five teams, the Reds are the team I have heard the fewest rumors about. I have heard they favor a college position player if Puk is not on the board. For this selection I was picking between Lewis and Ray, but with all the high school talent in play here and a lack of concrete rumors this pick seems volatile at the moment.

Final: Brevard County 7, Clearwater 2 Rubio's round tripper sparks Brevard County By Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/02/a1/02a1c24a4666e7b2d0ee725401fc7350.jpg?itok=ukgf22QT Elvis Rubio hit his second home run of the season on Wednesday, helping the Manatees to a 7-2 win over Clearwater. *** Brevard County Box Score Elvis Rubio hit his 3rd home run of the season counting his early season stint with the Timber Rattlers (2nd in Brevard County). Rubio's 2-for-4 night was his 5th multi hit effort in the last seven games. Rubio is 12-for-25 overall during that stretch and has a batting average since joining the Manatees of .317. Unfortunately he has drawn just one walk over those 61 plate appearances and has just two walks total on the season in 126 plate appearances.. Starting pitcher Angel Ventura struck out six and walked none over 4.2 innings pitched. He gave up four hits and just one earned run. In 34.1 innings pitched this season Ventura has struck out 43 and walked 12. Brevard County Game Log Malik Collymore tallied his first extra base hit since joining the Manatees, a double in the 4th inning. He scored later in the inning on a wild pitch.

Franly Mallen video (via Fangraphs)...

Demi Orimoloye video (via Fangraphs)...

Gilbert Lara video (via Fangraphs)...

Will Smith tosses scoreless inning in Brevard County By Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/e5/a5/e5a5f636d2d532a4f47073a8e25e8d0e.JPG?itok=cvhEfWLE Milwaukee Brewers reliever Will Smith pitched the seventh inning of Tuesday's 6-4 win. (Photo by Tim Holle - Brevard County Manatees) Many quotes from Will Smith and Manager Joe Ayrault provided in the article.

Final: Brevard County 6, Clearwater 4 Four-run fifth keys Manatees victory over Clearwater By Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/a1/4a/a14a3413108f46cd235b4564b64dad76.JPG?itok=71zUFqhL Malik Collymore got his first Florida State League hit Tuesday, a single in the fifth inning. (Photo by Tim Holle - Brevard County Manatees) PHOTO GALLERY: More photos available at link. *** Brevard County Box Score Bubba Derby allowed 7 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks and struck out a pair over 5.1 innings pitched. Rehabbing Will Smith pitched an inning in relief (detailed in the linked article below). Adam Weisenburger fresh off the DL at Colorado Springs went 2-for-3 in his first game at Brevard County since 2012. Elvis Rubio also finished with two hits. It was only the second game played for Malik Collymore who made his FSL debut last Friday. Dustin DeMuth extended his team lead in doubles with his tenth of the season. Don't miss the quote in the article from Manager Joe Ayrault regarding the progress Clint Coulter is making toward a return. Brevard County Game Log Five of Brevard County's seven hits came in the aforementioned 5th inning... Brevard County Bottom of the 5th Malik Collymore singles on a line drive to center fielder Carlos Tocci. Johnny Davis singles on a ground ball to left fielder Andrew Pullin. Malik Collymore to 2nd. Angel Ortega out on a sacrifice bunt, pitcher Shane Watson to first baseman Kyle Martin. Malik Collymore to 3rd. Johnny Davis to 2nd. Dustin DeMuth doubles (10) on a line drive to left fielder Andrew Pullin. Malik Collymore scores. Johnny Davis scores. Adam Weisenburger singles on a ground ball to pitcher Shane Watson. Dustin DeMuth to 3rd. Fidel Pena grounds out, shortstop Malquin Canelo to first baseman Kyle Martin. Dustin DeMuth scores. Adam Weisenburger to 2nd. Elvis Rubio singles on a line drive to center fielder Carlos Tocci. Adam Weisenburger scores. Dustin Houle lines out to center fielder Carlos Tocci.

1.1: Phillies - A.J. Puk, LHP, Florida If the Phillies don't take the Cedar Rapids native 1.1, I think it's possible Puk will fall a few picks because it seems like some of the other teams with top five selections are zeroing in on other guys right now.

Final: Jupiter 1, Brevard County 0 Hanhold goes seven strong innings in loss at Jupiter By Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner *** Brevard County Box Score Well a full baseball game played in one hour and 46 minutes is impressive, unfortunately this Brevard County offense continues to be overmatched. The Manatees have now gone scoreless in 49 of their last 51 offensive innings. On a positive note it was a solid day for Eric Hanhold completing 7.0 innings pitched and allowing just 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, while striking out 4. Hanhold has a 2.39 ERA on the season which ranks 16th in the FSL among qualified pitchers. Brevard County Game Log As noted in the game story Johnny Davis extended his on base streak to 29 games with a bunt single in the 9th inning. As pointed out in yesterday's Link Report, the majority of his recent hits have come off infield hits and bunt singles. Will Smith's upcoming rehab debut offers something on the horizon to look forward to in Brevard County.

Audio interview of recent Brewers signee Santos Saldivar who was signed after an email exchange between the Effectively Wild co-hosts and a member of the Brewers organization. Baseball Prospectus' Effectively Wild Episode 888: Ben and Sam talk to former Sonoma Stomper (and The Only Rule Is It Has to Work character) Santos Saldivar, a pitcher they discovered on a spreadsheet last summer who was just signed by the Brewers. I HIGHLY recommend you take a listen to the audio interview. As a fan of baseball it is just a great story. A player that was written off a couple of times and ready to give-up on his dream finding an unorthodox path into professional baseball with the encouragement of Sonoma Stompers front office (Sam and Ben).

More on Delvin Perez: Fangraphs recently hired Eric Longenhagen who has been providing us great AZL video for some time now and also working with ESPN and Keith Law (which it sounds like he will continue to do through the draft). Anyway Eric hosted a chat session on Friday which included this Q&A... Also, I haven't come across much recent video of Delvin Perez, but did find this YouTube of mostly bad cell phone footage that is allegedly all Delvin Perez at-bats. Some good looking hits, but based on a couple of the post hit antics I am going say that modesty may not be a strength at this point. Don't get me wrong I get a kick out of a good bat celebration as much as anyone, but I have a hard time picturing shuffling down the line with your bat held straight in the air going over well in professional ball. Not trying to be overly harsh on the kid though, he is 17 years old and knows he is about to be very wealthy.

Final: Jupiter 13, Brevard County 3 Jupiter hammers Brevard County in Sunday matinée By Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner *** Brevard County Box Score A combination of hits (including a home run), errors, a balk, a hit batter, and even a wild pitch on a third strike... the linked article covers Kodi Medeiros' nightmare outing spanning only 1.2 innings. Dustin DeMuth's 3-run home run was his second HR of the season and moves DeMuth into a tie with Clint Coulter for the team lead. DeMuth also holds the team lead in doubles (9), RBI (17) and strikeouts (49). Brevard County Game Log Heading into the 6th inning on Sunday the Manatees offense had scored just one run over their previous 42 innings, and had gone completely scoreless over 23 straight innings. Let's just call this inning overdue... Brevard County Top of the 6th Pitching Change: Tim Berry replaces James Buckelew. Brandon Diaz singles on a line drive to left fielder Taylor Ard. Johnny Davis singles on a soft ground ball to shortstop Justin Bohn. Brandon Diaz to 2nd. Angel Ortega strikes out swinging. Dustin DeMuth homers (2) on a line drive to center field. Brandon Diaz scores. Johnny Davis scores. Fidel Pena walks. Dustin Houle flies out to right fielder John Norwood. Taylor Brennan called out on strikes.

Posted this in the Minor League Transaction Thread as well, but unfortunately Trent Clark has been placed on the DL with the hamstring injury suffered yesterday.

Per @BrewersPD via Twitter...

Delvin Perez "almost a virtual lock" to go at #5 to the Brewers? The Brewers heavy interest in Perez "the worst kept secret in the industry"? That is the case according to 2080 Baseball's CJ Wittmann and Perfect Game's Brian Sakowski on the most recent episode of 2080 Baseball's The Scale Podcast. Go to the 13:00 minute mark and listen from there. Also interesting they mention that Perez was reported to have run a 6.2 60-yard dash at a showcase in Puerto Rico recently.

This isn't exactly related, but I stumbled upon this neat (and simple) site that shows the maps of each organizations affiliates. When you click on each team map it takes you from city-to-city in the chronological order a player would advance from Rookie ball to MLB. Here is the site... Called Up Interesting how spread out some teams are versus teams like Baltimore and Washington who stick to close geographical proximity among all of their affiliates. The Rockies map draws what looks pretty close to a star.

Final: Jupiter 2, Brevard County 0 Perrin takes tough-luck loss against Jupiter By Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner *** Brevard County Box Score It was an up and down game for Jon Perrin. His line is partially noted above (7.0 IP, 1 earned run, 3 strikeouts). He did allow 6 hits and while he didn't walk anyone he did plunk two batters. Perrin also had a throwing error on a pick-off attempt to first base that allowed the runner to advance to third and ultimately score an unearned run on a sacrifice fly. Perrin threw 58 of his 77 pitches for strikes. RF Elvis Rubio went 3-for-4 including a double. The double was the only extra base hit of the night for the Manatees, and only their third extra base hit (all doubles) over their past 8 games (and actually just the second extra base hit in the last 7 games). Fidel Pena (2-for-4) was the other Manatee with a multi hit game. Pena is batting .289 over his past 10 games. Brevard County Game Log Johnny Davis led off the game with a hit to extend his on-base streak to 27 games and his hitting streak to 6 games. Over the past 6 games Davis is 10-for-20 at the plate. Over that stretch 7 of those 10 singles are infield hits including 2 bunts for base hits. Even for as speedy as he is, Davis was caught stealing for the 10th time this year.

Not sure if this is who you are referring to, but Lucas Giolito was reportedly touching 100-mph during his high school career.

Final: Jupiter 2, Brevard County 0 Jupiter blanks Brevard County in series opener Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/bb/78/bb78e06631610c6924490c7e98e6d320.jpg?itok=ia_BLunX Angel Ortega went 2-for-4 in Friday night's loss to Jupiter. *** Brevard County Box Score The top two Brevard County hitters in both the batting ordered and batting average, Johnny Davis and Angel Ortega, each had a hit to start the game. Ortega added a second hit and was the only Manatee with multiple hits. Clint Terry went 5.0 IP allowing 7 hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, and sending one batter down on strikes. Brevard County Game Log Kender Villegas pitched 3.0 innings without allowing any hits, runs, or walks while striking out 5. He did however hit back-to-back batters in the 6th inning and as the game story points out one of the hit batters took a pitch to the helmet. Forgettable debut at the plate for Malik Collymore who struck out in his first at-bat and proceeded to ground into double plays in his only two other appearances.

I actually think the exact opposite. Pint is the guy among the elite pitchers that I am the most confident in being a starter long term (barring a major arm/shoulder injury). I am not sure if you see a reliever/closer role because of the velocity, but Pint seemingly has a lot to like beyond a blazing fastball including reportedly having a four pitch mix. He is said to have extremely improved command and control from where he was at last summer. This spring he has shown an upper 80's changeup that some have graded plus-plus and even referred to as the best changeup in the entire draft class. He also has a low-to-mid 80's curve that is reportedly a well repeated delivery and identical arm angle to his fastball. Everything I have heard that he is NOT your typical high school pitcher because of his advanced repertoire. If others have seen conflicting info please share. I was skeptical of Pint originally, but the reports I've seen/heard more recently have been overwhelmingly glowing.

Game Suspended (9th Inning): Brevard County 1, Bradenton 1 Late run leaves Manatees and Marauders tied in suspended game By Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/96/ab/96abb1bb41be6698ee4cd854f7682eb6.JPG?itok=djWnaBT7 Johnny Davis went 3-for-4 on Thursday, extending his on-base streak to 25 straight games. *** The tie game was suspended due to rain in the bottom of the 9th inning with one out and Jose Cuas the baserunner on 1st base. Brevard County Box Score Tees starter Angel Ventura went 6.1 innings allowing just two hits and one run on a solo homer to the Pirates 2015 first round pick (#19 overall) Kevin Newman. Ventura only walked one while recording five strikeouts. Brevard County Game Log After watching teammate Omar Garcia get called up to Biloxi, lead-off hitter Johnny Davis continued his offensive tear in Brevard County with two infield hits and a line drive hit to center. By finishing 3-for-4 at the plate Davis raised his batting average to .320 (9th best in the FSL) and on-base percentage to .406 (4th best in the FSL) for the season. Davis also threw a runner out at the plate (via the cutoff) in the 7th inning. As others have noted in previously, Davis appears a worthy candidate to get an opportunity to advance to Biloxi.

Interesting that in the most recent MLB Pipeline podcast Jonathan Mayo brings up that the Brewers have held workouts for Georgia outfielder Taylor Trammell and mentioned him as a possibility at #5 in what would be a draft pool savings deal. Mayo also mentions hearing the Brewers linked with Delvin Perez and Josh Lowe. Callis said he has heard many possibilities at #5 with Corey Ray the strongest at the moment.

This TWEET from a couple of days ago slightly tempered my optimism regarding a trade with Texas... Although I guess another way to look at it is as an illustration of how low the bar is for offensive production among catchers. Lucroy would provide a significant offensive boost at the position for most teams.

Final, Game One: Brevard County 3, Bradenton 2 Final, Game Two: Bradenton 8, Brevard County 0 Manatees split doubleheader with Bradenton Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner *** Brevard County Game One Box Score Manatees RHP Eric Hanhold's outing ended at 81 total pitches in the top of the sixth inning when rain delayed the game for more than two hours. His final line was 5.1 innings pitched allowing five hits, one earned run, one walk, while striking out a pair. In 42.0 inning pitched this season Hanhold has an ERA of 2.57 which currently ranks 17th in the FSL among pitchers with more than 35 innings. Brevard County Game One Game Log Johnny Davis recorded a pair of hits and a walk to extend his on-base streak to 23 (and later in the evening 24) games. Jose Cuas had a double on a line drive to left field during the Manatees three run 2nd inning. Brevard County Game Two Box Score A forgettable game for RHP Bubba Derby who threw 78 pitches over 3.1 innings in an outing where he allowed six hits, four earned runs, three walks, and managed two strikeouts. Johnny Davis with another base hit in this one to raise his batting average to .309 on the season which ranks 10th overall among qualified hitters in the FSL. Brevard County Game Two Game Log This recap looks pretty much like what you would expect from an 8-0 game as the Manatees were out hit by the Marauders 14 to 3.