Eye Black

Mass, not sure if you want to keep this thread dedicated to just team workouts, but Brewers scouts were present at Ashe Russell's last start per today's Indy Star, LINK.

I forgot one, back in 2011 I was pretty certain Taylor Green was going to become a major league regular.

Another one that probably isn't fair because he had his share of success at the big league level, but the first Brewers player I remember being excited about when he made his debut was Cal Eldred. More recent guys I thought were going to be future stars for the crew include Mark Rogers, Nick Neugebauer, and Brett Lawrie. Guys I was excited about when they were drafted (mainly because of bloodlines) included Tony Gwynn and Cutter Dykstra.

Thanks for sharing Splitter, certainly not an easy year to try and project the first round, so kudos for taking on the challenge. I see you have Kyle Tucker listed at #5 to the Astros, and it reminded me I wanted to bring him up at some point. I realize #5 is in line with where he has been projected by some, and he is certainly a realistic candidate to go in the top 10. I also realize he is 6'4" with an extremely thin frame (175 lbs.), so there is room for added strength and projection. He also appears to have good bat speed and swings from the left side. What makes me wonder about him as a top five or top ten pick is he appears to have some flaws in his swing. My problem is mainly with his footwork, watch his at bats in this . His weight transfer seems erratic from swing to swing with him completely picking his back foot off the ground on several of the swings. Obviously it is something that can be worked on, but I am a little surprised a guy that is a candidate to go in the upper third of the first round wouldn't have a more repeatable and balanced swing. EDIT: I realize scouts that do this for a living see 100's of swings from these guys, and judging anyone off of a 2:00 minute video isn't remotely close to fair. I am just genuinely curious about it because there are several other high school hitters that appear more polished (again judging off of short video clips). Interested what others think?

Out of curiosity, other then Baseball America's reports of Ray Montgomery scouting Funkhouser in-person as well as other Brewers evaluators at the ACC tournament, what experts have you seen report the Brewers are likely to go for a low-risk college arm? I haven't seen other reports tying them specifically college arms, but would be interested in reading them.

A lot of good comments above, and really appreciate Colbyjack's sharing his insight. A few random thoughts/observations... Regarding Kevin Newman, I would be disappointed if he was being targeted by the Brewers. I realize he hit well in Cape Cod the past two summers, but there are doubts about him sticking at shortstop, and at he lacks any hope of developing enough power to become a star at another position. Of the position players likely to go in the first round, I would bet on Ian Happ becoming the most consistent MLB hitter. I realize Brendan Rodgers has a much higher ceiling with more power, and at a premium position, so Rodgers clearly has more overall value. I do think it is worth noting however that Happ is young for his grade while Rodgers is old for his. Happ has three years of college baseball under his belt, but he is just under two years older than Rodgers. I agree that pitching should be the Brewers focus in the first round. It seems likely there will be good options available. Based on Montgomery's track record, I expect the Brewers to take a pitcher with the first selection. If guys like Allard, Nikorak, Funkhouser, and Bickford are available at the Brewers selection, they will have a tough decision. Out of that group I think I would prefer Allard or Nikorak.

I do think somewhere in the range of Chris Anderson to Zach Lee would be a good fit in regards to a Lohse trade return. I am not sure both would be possible unless the Brewers added a second piece. While Grant Holmes is the exact player I would like to see the Brewers pull from the Dodgers, I am having a hard time coming up with a trade proposal that fits both teams. If the Brewers trade one of their top tier pieces, like Lucroy, then Holmes seems a little below the type of player you would want back as a headliner to the trade. If the Brewers trade from their secondary pieces, like Lohse, then Holmes seems too rich for what the Dodgers would be getting in return. Even if you package a couple of Brewers trade chips, I also don't think the Dodgers would be interested in a quantity for quality trade involving Holmes.

Some nice tidbits from Heyman's article today, including some insight into players and teams that have been discussed on this forum as trade targets (EDIT- Just noticed this info was posted in the Major League forum earlier today, so I apologize for the redundancy):

Yes those crazy people who pointed out of from the start that Lohse would have little impact on the Brewers as a whole and how giving up a 1st round pick was a waste of a resource, those damn whiners are the worst! Why is it so difficult to truly consider both sides of an argument? Completely agree with TC07. I don't think those who valued the draft pick over the acquisition of an aging pitcher on a team that was on the fringes of contention and had a dire need for an infusion of young talent should be deemed "whiners". Ironically, four out of the five players taken in that 2013 draft in the range surrounding the Brewers forfeited #17 pick (picks #15-19) were in the top 100 prospects in baseball heading into this season (J.P. Crawford, Braden Shipley, Tim Anderson, Marco Gonzales). I don't know what the Brewers will ultimately get back for Lohse, but I am fairly certain the value won't be anywhere close to the caliber among those four players.

Watching Carlos Gomez get plunked with another scary HBP makes me cringe. He could prove to be a valuable trade asset this season, but not if he spends significant time on the DL. Glad to see he once again appears okay.

To be fair, Lagares isn't far from the player offensively that Carlos Gomez was until he hit his prime years and made a significant transformation with the bat. Gomez didn't post an OBP over .298, an OPS better than .679 or an OPS+ greater than 82 until his 6th major league season. Lagares bested all of those marks last season in his age 25 season (OBP of .321, OPS of .703, OPS+ of 101). While I am not going to predict a Gomez-ian jump offensively, it's reasonable to think that Lagares' best production is ahead of him has he enters his prime years.

As far as a Lucroy trade, how about a deal with the Angels. Obviously Newcomb would have to be a PTBNL unless the trade took place after this year's draft. Angels get: Jonathan Lucroy, C Bullpen Arm Brewers get: Andrew Heaney, LHP Sean Newcomb, LHP Kyle Kubitza, 3B Carlos Perez, C

I have seen Hultzen mentioned by a few folks, but as you alluded to he is coming off major shoulder surgery, until this month hadn't pitched since 2013, and will be out of options next season. The odds seem stacked against him ever reaching that upside.

Finally got a chance to read through this entire thread. There is some great dialogue throughout from posters with very different opinions and organization building philosophies. One comment in particular that sparked some good commentary... A successful rebuilding process relies on a combination of all three of the primary ways to acquire young talent (draft, international market, trades). Regarding specifically the Astros and Cubs it seems like both have done it a little differently, but both have used trades as a significant contributing factor to building talented young cores. They have also obviously drafted in the range where there is a much greater probability to acquire impact talent and had some success on the international market as well. For each team, the rebuilding process has played out over a handful of years now. While I think hoping for a meaningful major league turnaround by 2017 is a little ambitious, I do agree with Oldcity's assertion that the Brewers still sit in a more enviable starting point for a rebuild than the Cubs and Astros once did. One team that seems to have recently accelerated the rebuilding process by using quality MLB talent to acquire good young talent is the Braves. Since the end of last season they have sacrificed their potential for present day success in order to stock their organization with enough quality depth that the odds would seem in their favor for future payoff. Since the end of last season they have added the following players via trade: Shelby Miller, RHP - Cardinals Matt Wisler, RHP - Padres Michael Foltynewicz, RHP - Astros Max Fried, LHP - Padres Rio Ruiz, 3B - Astros Tyrell Jenkins, RHP - Cardinals Manny Banuelos, LHP - Yankees Arodys Vizcaino, RHP - Cubs Jose Briceno, C - Rockies Dustin Peterson, 3B - Padres Jace Peterson, INF - Padres Ricardo Sanchez, LHP - Angels Mallex Smith, OF - Padres Andrew Thurman, RHP - Astros Certainly not all of these players will become stars or even MLB regulars, but it would seem likely that there are enough good players on that list to provide a strong young core in the near future. Now the Braves began to execute their rebuilding plan a little earlier in the process than the Brewers, so they probably had some more attractive trade options overall. Still, the Brewers have some players that will be highly sought after in the coming months, and I think at this point they must use it to their advantage to help supplement the core for what will be their next good (hopefully great) major league team.

MLB Mock Draft 2015: Version 2.0 May 15, 2015 by John Manuel

Found this Kiley McDaniel Fangraphs article on the D-Backs Plans for the First Overall Pick interesting. According to the article they are exploring the possibility of cutting a deal at 1.1 with some players not recently considered as likely to go in the first few picks (C Tyler Stephenson, CF Garrett Whitley, and CF Daz Cameron) which could potentially save them in the range of $4-5 million on the first pick which has a slot value of $8 million. The money would then be available to be used on signing other picks above slot value. It would be a move somewhat similar to what the Astros did when they drafted Carlos Correa and signed him for $2.4 million under slot, although I think Correa was projected at the time to still be among the top 6-8 picks. According to Kiley, Stephenson is currently projected to go more in the 8-15 range currently.

Good question, I guess saying any coach is close to "perfect" is probably a set-up for criticism so I will just say I think Joe Maddon is a very good baseball mind and teacher. Maddon's early Rays teams lost nearly 200 games in two seasons, followed by winning more than 90 games in 5 of his past 7 seasons. He also maintained success with a fair amount of roster turnover from year-to-year. I have no idea what percentage of those wins can be attributed to Maddon as I typically tend to think a manager has only a very small influence over wins and losses. I will say that in my opinion Joe Maddon has many of the traits that I believe help make the grind of a baseball season a little less monotonous. Some of these things are impossible to quantify, but here are some attributes I appreciate in Maddon: - He does not get set into any particular line of thinking (i.e. player X must be a number 4 hitter), and he is constantly adjusting his line-ups and defensive shift strategies - He fosters team activities as a way to strengthen camaraderie. - He understands that pitching is paramount to anything else that happens on the baseball field. - He has years of experience, but seems to embrace learning new or evolving concepts. - He isn't afraid to stand up for his players or team publicly (or on social media) - His players seemingly both like him and respect him - He is quirky, witty, and fun. Those are some of the things I believe make Maddon a good baseball coach and mentor of young people. I think he has the type of personality and managerial style that transcends some of the potentially divisive issues in a clubhouse such as egos, diverse backgrounds and beliefs, language barriers, etc. He seems like the kind of guy that connects well with all of the players on the roster regardless of their levels of talent and experience.

Joe Maddon? If he isn't the perfect manager, he's pretty darn close.

I am not nearly as concerned with who manages the team for the remainder of 2015 as I am that the front office begins an aggressive organizational rebuild. I want the Brewers to emulate what the Atlanta Braves have done over the past six months. Unfortunately, I am far from convinced that Doug Melvin is the right GM to successfully lead the organization down that path.

My guess is this one as well.

It's only 12 games in, but still quite impressive that Clint Coulter is now sitting with a 1.198 OPS to start the season in the FSL.

I thought Taylor's outing was the highlight of yesterday's game. As noted he displayed a nice looking curveball that he appeared to command well with I believe just one exception. My expectations for Jungmann's ceiling were tempered long ago, but I remain (cautiously) optimistic that he can develop into a reliable backend major league starter in the very near future.

1. Orlando Arcia 2. Tyrone Taylor 3. Monte Harrison 4. Gilbert Lara 5. Clint Coulter 6. Devin Williams 7. Taylor Jungmann 8. Kodi Medeiros 9. Jacob Gatewood 10. Taylor Williams 11. Tyler Wagner 12. Corey Knebel 13. Wei-Chung Wang 14. Jorge Lopez 15. David Goforth 16. Yadiel Rivera 17. Jason Rogers 18. Jed Bradley 19. Victor Roache 20. Marcos Diplan 21. Miguel Diaz 22. Hobbs Johnson 23. David Denson 24. Michael Reed 25. Joantgel Segovia

Colbyjack, this fascinates me, do you happen to know which top draft prospects are represented by Close? I look forward to following this possible storyline leading up to the draft.

A good reminder that prior to spring is too early to pay much attention to mock drafts, Dillon Tate who some weren't projecting in the first round a month ago is now in the conversation for 1-1 according to Minor League Ball's article Scouting the Draft. The successful switch from reliever to starter has helped Tate garner lots of attention from scouts this spring.