BrewersAA

My other speculations are, and it's pretty tough due to the conservative nature of the brewers when promoting players, as follows: AAA to MLB: Jimmy Nelson Jeffress Morris Gindl Green Blazek At this point basically any/everyone on the 40 man AA to AAA Based on all the pitching injuries at Nashville and in mil for that matter... Decent shot: Tyler cravey Brent suter Goforth Rogers Outside shot: Drew gagnon Kentrail Davis A+ AA This is all kind of dependent in the pitching moving above and keeping with the brewers likely keeping the outfield plus Arica together: Decent shot Wagner Austin Ross Hobbs Johnson (he fits the mold of pitching the brewers seem the want to push up quicker) Pierce Williams Outside shot Magnifico Lopez Delmonico Holle Viramontes Garfield Rivera A to A+ Decent shot: Coulter Gainey Taylor williams Fernandez Seidenberger Outside shot: Astin Alexander Spurlin McFarland Johnny Davis (mostly due to his age) Everywhere else to A Fill that sucker up with all those college senior just drafted and continue as planned with short seasoners! Obviously history tells us that we will probably only see 2-3 moves, but it's nice to have a year in the system with so many deserving guys, the system, especially the pitchers, have taken a major jump! Also, I considered doing a "lock" category, then I decided that was just silly!! (Especially for the brewers) Posted from my iPhone so breaks for spelling and such are appreciated ;-)

I could definitely see coulter spending all year in Appleton. I guess that was maybe a more of what I want in movement rather than most likely. I will share that one of my thoughts behind it though is that the brewers seem to be keen in getting the guys that they identify as future major players on the same team early and letting the play and grow and find success together. It would only make sense, in that philosophy, to get coulter with Taylor, Arica, reed, roach, and to a lesser extent Rivera (who could probably get bumped to AA, the bat seems to be coming around). One thing about the unfortunate playing conditions of the brewers minor league affiliates is that it creates this Garfield Rivera situation where the guys are at premium defensive positions and their defense has them ready for the next level, but everyone has them in the "wait for the bat to catch up" zone so they don't get the bump, the problem then is of course that brevard is one of the worst, if not the worst, offensive environments in all of baseball. So, it's my opinion that this creates kind of a black hole and it really hurts our hitters development especially for the guys at defensive premium positions. I just feel as though I have seen so many promising young hitters entirely lose confidence in their second tour of BC and then completely fizzle out. Ryan brauns worst minor league stop by far. I can really only think of 3 guys who ever really looked good offensively at BC, lucroy gamel and Kandy Khrush Davis, and only gamel spent a full season there, the others would have surely seen a numbers drop had they played a full season there.

Well there are a lot but I think one that should happen would be all of the catchers moving up a level, wiesenberg to AAA, Garfield to AA (this is his second year in A+ which is such an offensive suppressing league, and as we've seen in the last sometime players really out perform their brevard number in Huntsville), and coulter to A+, I'm am sure there is a catcher capable of handling the A job.

Okay, tried posting this yesterday but my wife interrupted me and I never got to it.... Excellent list, great community, lots of knowledge, and most importantly it's a great write up!! Excellent work, well done! Now, since I didn't put in my own list let me critique you all's ;-) . This is back to being almost as fun as the power 50 days when there were 60+ guys that all seemed to have a big league future! I can't argue with the top 10 necessarily but mine would be different. I think as a community we are weighted just a tad to the 'potential' side. I think that's a product of having a weaker system the last few years where our top few picks are generally instantly our top few prospects, I don't believe that's true anymore with the current depth but our list seems to reflect that. On my list I wouldn't be able to keep hellweg and Wagner out of the top ten and and there's no way gagnon isn't in the top twenty. Also I just can't buy denson being ahead of Lopez, both still have equally as much room to develop, Lopez has the higher ceiling and is further along, I know he's older but he still has quite a bit of projection left. I am very surprised that Barrett astin didn't get a single vote and I think Johnny Davis needs to at least be in The just off category due to his young 'baseball age". On the other side of the coin I am VERY surprised that Brandon Diaz didn't get a single vote, especially with the lean toward potential on the list, high school CFer that got off to an excellent start (out of sight out of mind maybe). I also think Ortega is getting close to prospect status he's 20 in the Midwest league and seems to be finding his bat, he has a great frame too. In the what could have been category the guys with the fanfare are rodon and covey, but not getting buck farmer signed is looking tough right now, he is killing it. Maxell smith is also off to a pretty good looking career. And for a reliever Steven okert is also dominating. Love the write up again!! Thanks for the work!!

Why is everyone so eager to move such a talented kid with a good bat out from behind the plate? I've been saying this since last year, but Coulter has absolutely every tool you need to be a very good defensive catcher....I certainly hope they leave him there for the time being. I've personally seen this kid wrestle in HS and he was incredibly athletic and agile, and I've seen him catch. He's raw, but the areas in which he struggles are area's that simply take repetition. He has all the requisite skills. Arm, flexibility, quickness... Sorry, I would like to make it clear that i am all for Coulter sticking behind the play, hes MUCH more valuable there! So my opinion on his prospect status at first is not because I WANT him there, but simply because all of the literature I have read on him suggests that he will not make it behind the plate. Dick Groch (spelling) even seemed pessimistic about it in an interview, and if i remember correct he seemed to think the main reason was due to his size and that at his height and weight his body would not last behind the plate.

I can agree with this. Sorry for going the way of guys who don't currently play the position. The consensus seems to be that coulter wont stick behind the plate, but it would be awesome for the brewers if he does! I also wouldn't really have rogers in the 1B mix either, though, as the brewers seem very committed to him at 3rd. I am also maybe a bit prejudiced against cooper because i absolutely hated the pick when he was drafted, because there were a few live highschool arms available at the time, i just dont see any mlb potential in him, but hopefully i am wrong. On Denson... The kid has HUGE power and i was actually fairly surprised to see the brewers push him to Wisconsin to start the year. My impression of him was that he had 1 tool and a lot to learn, the fact that hes at Wisconsin is an incredible sign for his potential and progress. He is showing pretty darn good patience at the plate for a guy his age that shows his power (generally these guys have long hard swings and they swing often). The fact that hes holding his own in average is a great sign, if he makes some strides in this area i think we will see the power start to come more and more often. The kid could end up being a steal for a 15th round pick! With all of that said, hes still not there, and needs a lot of work and needs to continue to improve. Today I am not sure really where to put him as a prospect. But, of all of our 1b prospects, if the cards fall right with him and he makes the necessary improvements he will hit a ceiling much high than the rest. Big IF but exciting one!

Morris is the better player between he and ramirez by more than a little bit. You all are entitled to your opinions for sure, and i will listen to argument, but Hunters has the better tool in all of the 5. In power they are close, but hunter has the edge. In Hit hunter is quite a bit better. Defensively hunter has already won a gold glove, though both need work, but hunter has a good edge. they both K too much and dont walk enough, but again hunter has a SLIGHT edge here too, maybe too slight to see. Hunter will carry a better OPS by a strong margin. Hes a more polished and better hitter, these guys are both left handed, the exact same size (6'3" 225) and they are not even a full year apart in age. So, hunters 40 doubles, 6 triples, 28 homers, 113 rbis, .303/.357/.563/.920 season at huntsville he was only 23, where Nick is now and not putting up nearly the numbers (thought good numbers himself) is being done at age 25... I hope that helps show you in difference. Its my opinion that morris's ceiling is as a fringe average everyday MLBer. Ramirez's ceiling is probably a power bat off the bench or the left side of a platoon. Both should play in the MLB, neither a star, but Hunter is the better player. The best 1st base prospect in the system is probably Roach or Coulter.

Alright, went to the sounds @ redhawks last night... it was dollar beer night so as the game went on my accounts might get a little fuzzy ;-) . So, the sounds did not do much offensively to speak of and i was actually getting a beer when they scored their only run, so i have no idea if that was the only solid contact they made all night or not. The starting pitcher for the redhawks is a real nice prospect, 23 year old in tripleA and he was dialing it up to 97 and 98 but mostly worked 94, so it was a tough draw. Gindl and Morris made the best contact all night and both were outs, Gindl a real hot shot to third and morris a fly out to left just shot of the track. Morris looks pretty good, real nice level swing, not too long and he look professional at the plate, just looks better than the other guys. the team as a whole just wore out the redhawks 2nd baseman. Both gindle and morris's hits were bloops, taylor greens hit made it just out of the reach of the second baseman. Halton did not look very comfortable at the plate all night. I wish there was more to report on but thats it... No onto the otherside of the ball. Pena looked great! He had a tight strike zone all night and still managed pretty well. The 2 runs he gave up really not all that bad, it was a walk and then a triple, the triple looked like a single and then hermida just didnt get to it and then it went all the way to the wall. I dont know what his defensive reputation is and i know he was in the majors for a long time, but he did not look good in right at all and the bench was struggling to get him into the right position all night. So better Defense probably limits the damage to 1 run and maybe no runs through 5. I was a little disappointed in pena as he works mostly at 90-91 sometimes reaching 92 and as low as 88, i was expecting 94-95, the look of the pitches and the way he popped the mitt it just appeared he was throwing harder than the gun had him, but foltynewicz was at 97-98 all game so if the gun wasnt working that guy was working in the 100s all night. His fastball had great sink to it as well, the redhawks did not make good contact off pena all night. His delivery seemed all upper-body and if he used his legs to drive a little more he would have a little extra, the delivery was a little funky, he was kind of throwing himself at the plate, looked a lot like Krod which just a lot of arms and legs coming at you the way he flailed them, he just wasnt using his legs. he also appeared to work out of the stretch all night from pitch one, it was odd. I was just behind the visitor dugout so i could only see one break plane so his secondary pitch that was most used came in at 84-87 and it was either a change or slider, but it was very effective, generated a lot of swings and i cant remember good fair contact made on it all night. then his third pitch was a 70s curve that he only threw it seemed about 5 times and it absolutely devastated each hitter that saw it, it buckled guys on called strikes and generate the worst swings in the game, i wished he used it more. Pena also generated a ton of ground balls, the redhawks did not put much in the air past the infield while he was in the game. the only thing i didnt like were the walks obviously and the fact that he seemed to go deep into the count with most of the hitters, he wasnt working from behind in the count but he kept nibbling it seemed, the hits off of him came with 2 strikes so maybe he wasnt comfortable using the plate with 2 strikes cause he was getting hit... i dont know. The D behind him was underwhelming all around. Taylor Green, who I am a big fan of, looks pretty subpar at 3rd, Hector Gomez made a few really nice plays getting to the ball but that was about it, a good portion of his throws were low and away which lead to a few infield singles, he also took a maddening amount of time to release the ball on his throws, every play at first was close. Caleb Gindl showed better range than i thought, but he's not a center fielder. Heckathorn looked great! unfortunate he took an earned run cause he definitely didnt earn it.... his delivery is a little funky, it has a hitch and then he flicks his wrist almost like a quarterback. he strides well though, looked good, appeared to really pound the zone, he had real good mound presence, threw mostly fastballs from 88-91. then he lost a guy and put him on and they pulled him with 2 lefties coming up. Then Brent Leach came in and gave up the first really good contact of the game and then walked the bases loaded, he looked awful. The Blazek came in and the wheels came off, hit got hit HARD really hard and they were taking lots of early swings on him and connecting. even the foul balls were leaving the stadium. nobody hit one fair that far, but all of the sudden the redhawks looked like an allstar team. Blazek was coming in at 92 when i saw, but just about every pitch he threw was crushed, even the outs, so i was watching the play and not the score board. He was immature and fidgity on the mound, though i have to imagine its not easy to come into bases loaded 1 out. After that inning i decided to really take advantage of dollar beer night and went to work. Blazek's one K I take full credit for! the hitters name was Andy and i was front row and i gave him hell and really got under his skin, my shining moment, he slammed his helmet on the ground on gave me a dirty look. Then hunter morris signed my brewers hat and that was the ball game! ENJOY! Wish there was more good to talk about and not a 6-1 loss.

Alright guys, I get a slate of 4 good ones here in OKC coming up with weekend!! I will give a full report each night. Thursday is Pena, Fiers Friday, Hellweg/whomever takes his spot if he goes to the DL (would have to assume Jungmann) , and Nelson Sunday!! I am super pumped, my wife is out of town so i get to enjoy all 4 games with out "hearing" about it.

I think there have just been so many latin america signings that have been really big flops that we are all a little hesitant to put these guys like pena anywhere until we see a good amount of them stateside and for me at least A-ball level competition, whereas the amount of info we have on regular draft picks and comparability to what others similar have done we can feel more comfortable ranking them.

Guys, this list is HARD! And the guys making it hard are Scooter and Khrush… Believe me, I know you cant do what I am about to do, so I don’t want the lecture, but I thought it would be fun and wanted to show you all some numbers. If you project scooter out over 530 Abs (avg regulars at bats today) he would have 27 homers, his numbers across the board (except taking walks) are better than Brandon Phillips. “Scouts” said his defense was improving, prospect graders said “even though a scout told me… the prevailing feeling is still that he will be below average defensively.” Well his range factor is actually above average and his overall defensive ability definitely passes the eye test, way better then Rickie Weeks who was generally considered league average. The power has obviously been there, prospect grading services would have lead me to believe he might finish his career with 5 homers and a .275 average, imagine my surprise when he hits 5 in his first 100 Abs while carrying an avg over .300. Then Khris Davis, the “fringe prospect who will never hit enough to tap that power”, with the historic start, if you project him out to the league average Abs he is at 56!!%! Homeruns and don’t forget his .338 avg. He is hitting 1 every 9 Abs, the other Chris davis is hitting one every 11.5 abs. Look, I know this won’t hold up for either guy, but it makes it really hard to grade the brewers system. Khrush Davis is batting .338 with 8 homers in the bigs over 75 abs, Tyrone Taylor and Orlando Arcia may never make the bigs nonetheless put up that kind of line, so how do I rank them ahead? Scooter has clearly been undervalued and under rated. Another thing that makes it hard to rate is something that I have always been a firm believer in, and that’s promoting deserving players/performances when they earn it, something the brewers often times do not do, because without fail when a player appears to be on the verge of a call-up and game after game they put up unworldly numbers and then Melvin signs a street free agent (bum) to fill the open spot at the higher level, the player that was deserving of the call up then has a considerable performance drop off and never finishes the year strong (guys this is literally without fail for the 15 years I have followed the brewers minors, with 11 of those being under melvin). Who knows how those players development and potential might be viewed if they got the call-up and their performance stayed at a high level, often times we look too much at the raw numbers and forget about the absolute mental nightmare minor league baseball can be. Put yourself in the shoes of Taylor Jungmann and Ariel Pena who both were absolutely killing it both on #1/2 type starter stretches when the brewers needed help at AAA… De la cruz and Laffey instead are signed (one of whom subsequently demoted) and Jungmann and Pena are both finishing off the season very mediocre. At this same time Jed Bradley was putting up an impressive stretch probably deserving of a call up, Brent Suter too who has been beat up lately but should still finish with a nice line. Also, lets not forget that tyler wagner was absolutely killing it and Jorge Lopez was on an unbelievable stretch all the way back to respectability, both have since really cooled off and will finish the year on a down turn. Who knows, maybe they just aren’t ready and will fail, but they seem to consistently fail at their current levels after these situations and there is at least one every year, this year there were several (I think it speaks to our system improving) And Lastly there is Tyler Thornburg, is he graduated, a starter, a reliever?? Regardless he has been our most exciting prospect and our tops prospect at different points in time and now he can add having a dominant string of big league starts to his resume… where in the world do you rank this guy? 1. Jimmy Nelson 2. Tyrone Taylor 3. Johnny Hellweg 4. Orlando Arcia 5. Taylor Jungmann 6. Scooter Gennett 7. Tyler Thornburg 8. Khris Davis 9. Devin Williams 10. Nick Delmonico (strictly on other peoples opinion… sure only looks to be our 6th best hitting prospect at high A, I think that speaks to our system being underrated) 11. Ariel Pena 12. Hunter Morris 13. Jed Bradley 13. Victor Roach 14. Jorge Lopez 15. Mitch Haniger 16. Tyler Wagner 17. Caleb Gindl 18. David Goforth 19. Clint Coulter 20. Drew Gagnon 21. Tucker Neuhaus 22. Damien Magnifico 23. Michael Reed 24. Gian Rizzo 25. Nick Rameriz 26. Taylor Williams 27. Yadiel Rivera 28. Barrett Astin 29. Kentrail Davis 30. Brent Suter 31. Jason Rogers 32. Mark Rogers 33. Cameron Garfield 34. Hiram Burgos (would be higher, but I forgot him and I don’t want to redo the list) 35. D’vontrey Richardson (“”) 36. Anthony Banda 37. Max Walla 38. Jesus Sanchez 39. Sean Halton 40. Kyle Heckathorn 41. Josh Prince 42. Mike Fiers (another forgotten one, does he still qualify?) 43. Chris Mcfarland 44. Brooks Hall 45. David Denson 46. Eric Arnett 47. Garrett Cooper 48. Austin Ross 49. Tyler Roberts 50. Tyler Cravy Just missed: Ruben Ozuna, Jacob Barnes, Omar Garcia, Cody Scarpetta, Renaldo Jenkins, Austin Blaski, Brock Kjellgarde (spelling), Zach Quintana, Michael Ratterree, Nick Bucci (forgot about him), Elvis rubio, Jorge Ortega, & Shawn Zarraga How was 50 a regular following… man that’s tough, nice that there are guys with potential that didn’t make the 50, 2/3 years ago it was hard to find 30.

He is downhill thunder!! I thought everybody knew that.

Not sure if its the same brad Nelson but he just crushed a 2 run double, just a beautiful swing and contact.

Quick update: just saw Justin Grimm get lit up for 7 runs in 2ip with no long balls... Mike olt doesn't have a hit but his bag is legit, his contact sounds better than anyone's in this game.

I'm trying to figure out if this guy is legit. I have no idea what his stuff is, but he has been incredible this season (with last night being another great start). I realize he's a little old for his level, but he's not that much more advanced being 23 in highA. Just wondering if anyone has a current scouting report, because it would appear that the stuff has improved since draft day. Also I love his left handedness. Jacob Barnes is another one at brevard that's having a nice season. Anyone know his stuff. Tyler cravy and chad pierce are putting together nice seasons as well. I think I would have considered all of these guys way outer fringe prospects at best and now I'm starting to think the brewers might be on to something here, if one of them pans out I think that's a big win. Anyway, just looking for some current scouting reports and discussion!

^^this I came back to this thread just to say I was disappointed that it turned into a Melvin thread for some reason.

I think this has to do with a quicker pace, even though they may not seem related, because i have noticed that Peralta has been more balanced on the mound. I dont mean pitch selection or emotional (which he has been more balanced in both of those areas) but actual balance. He seems to be getting into the next pitch quicker, hes spending less time deciding what to throw, and so it appears that he is spending a split second longer getting good balance on his right leg as he winds up. This is having two major positive effects on his delivery as a whole and what you can actually see, pay attention next time you watch him pitch, when he pushes off the mound his toe is almost dragging down the mound (good thing for balance) where as in may it was about 6 inches up off the mound as he was coming through his arm action. the other noticeable thing is that he seems to not be falling off the mound (to the left) nearly as hard and it is helping immensely with his control, which is directly related to him keeping that foot down, what is directly related to him finding his balance on that back leg, which appears to coincide with a slightly quicker pace. For willy right now, in my opinion, its all about balance!

hmm, would have like to see Arrieta come to the crew in something... seems like he just needs a change of scenery, great move for the cubs. Told my cousin from chicago, who thought the cubs would be good this year... idiot :p, that the only reason epstein spent the way he did this off-season was to load up on trade assets, unfortunately he'll like have the cubs turned around in 3-4 years.

Devin Williams looking like the real deal! Have the brewers finally hit on a you g pitcher?!?

Agree and Agree. The workload does worry me a lot. One tactic that I am a fan of that I have talked about before, and would be interested to see if the brewers would ever use, is starting the high workload college arms off as relievers and letting them move through the levels relatively quickly. then start them off their second year as a starter in AA or high A if they make it that far. This cuts the first year work load while still letting them compete and advance. The brewers accidentally did this with mike fiers and it worked brilliantly, they also did it successfully with andre lamontange, they just got unlucky. It seems like they are only willing to do this with older guys and i am not sure why, I think its a great way to limit innings and let your college guys advance and find success. As far as selling, well that is a bummer because i just dont think they will either. I am sure they trade 2 of mike gonzales, krod, and axford, but it probably stops there. All my friends think i am terrible because "all i want to do is trade everybody" but i strongly believe this team will be much better off long term trading yoga, lohse, and aramis. possibly even Aoki too, but he does still have control years and fits well in the leadoff spot. This is a great year to be sellers, with there being so many teams in contention, and a top heavy draft coming next year.

He was perhaps the best player the brewers have drafted in the last 5+ years and they did not get a deal done and he went on to NC State. They are now playing bad enough that they may be in a position to grab him next year in the first pick or two. Would love to have him, he would be a fast riser, and is like a left handed strasburg-lite. what are you guys' thoughts? and at this point do the brewers throw the season (sell every one they can and start the young guys) just to enhance their draft position? wasnt sure where to put this, but its mostly related to the minor leagues i guess.

Wish I lived in an affiliate city, but i do catch nashville when they come through OKC. I have to agree with you on the eye test, when i saw Nashville 3 years ago the player i was BY FAR most impressed with was logan schafer. I think he is proving that view correct.

Does Jungmann get the bump to replace hellweg? another very solid start that makes like 12 in a row. side note, would bradley get the bump to double A, hes been pitching MUCH better his last 5-6 starts. and on down the line, would Wagner get the bump to high A? I feel like he deserves it.

not Seth/TC07, just me, and very honest post, i doubt we will hit on that many guys, but if we do we need to be willing to trade them away to keep things rolling.

I honestly kind of hate this strategy, it's frustrates me to no end watching this team draft the last few years. The only hope I am holding out is that they are smarter than I am and this thing comes together well. I don't think any of it will ever work until Melvin becomes more willing to trade pitching, he has missed so many sell high opportunities I can't stand it. The brewers need to be a team that's always selling and restocking and then having to money to lock up the next Braun, not signing Kyle lohses. I worry that they might just hit on 5-6 of these guys and instead of trading away one or two to keep things reloading they will let the few odd men out rot and lose value in AAA.