Jim Goulart

Notes from Steve in Huntsville -- The two home runs Mitch Haniger hit yesterday marked the first time in his three-year professional career that he had a multiple home run game. It also were his first two road home runs hit this year after hitting his first four of the year at home. It was quite the series for Haniger, who in game one of the series in Jackson had a career high four hits. In the series he finished 8-21 (.381) with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. In general, his bat is heating up with at least one hit in 12 out of his past 16 games. In his last 16 games, he’s batting .344 (22-64)… Stars reliever Tanner Poppe (pronounced: Papi) pitched two scoreless innings. With the bases loaded and one out and the Stars ahead by two, he struck out the final two hitters. Since making his Double-A debut on May 22nd, Poppe has allowed just one run which came in his first appearance (5/22), a home run. Since he has tossed 6.2 scoreless innings out of the Stars bullpen… Jason Rogers extended his hit streak to five straight with an RBI single in the 3rd inning. During the streak he’s(7-23, .304) with a home run and 3 RBI. Since the start of May until now Rogers has the 6th most home runs in the league with four and tied for the 5th most RBI with 22…Nick Ramirez recorded his 5th triple of the season. Before this season, Ramirez just had three triples total in his first 289 career games as a pro. All three were last year at High-A Brevard County. His five triples are now tied for 2nd most in the Southern League…Josh Prince had an RBI single Wednesday. Since May 1st, Prince is batting .305 with 4 HR and 11 RBI in 29 games after batting .183 in April.

Happy 25th Birthday, Jimmy Nelson!

Weather.com: Memphis, TN Huntsville, AL Viera, FL (Melbourne) Grand Chute, WI (Appleton) Santo Domingo, DR

Sortable individual stat pages: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin Dominican Summer League Brewers

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Southern Division AA - Southern League North Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division DSL - Dominican Summer League San Pedro de Macoris

Look for these just prior to the respective game times -- Nashville Media Notes - it's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Roster" banner on the Sounds' site. Brevard County Media Notes - again, it's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Multimedia" banner on the Manatees' site. Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

Follow Thursday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin DSL Brewers MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

Looking forward to seeing what LHP Clint Terry does tonight in his first Timber Rattlers start. Terry, who turns 22 this coming Monday, excelled in Maryvale last summer, and inexplicably never received a Helena callup. He debuted with Wisconsin in relief last Saturday with 4.2 scoreless innings.

Thursday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Ariel Pena at Memphis (Cardinals), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the play-by-play voice of the Sounds; follow him on Twitter @jeffhempbp; we'll link to his blog updates at On the Air…and Off MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Nashville games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $49.99 season-long package ($12.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Tyler Cravy at home vs. Mobile (Diamondbacks), 6:15 PM pre-game, 6:30 gametime Free Live Audio Link Steve Jarnicki is the new play-by-play voice of the Stars - welcome aboard! Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveJarnicki. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. MiLB.TV - It appears seven of the ten Southern League teams telecast their home games (not the Stars). ********** Brevard County: RHP Damien Magnifico at home vs. Bradenton (Pirates), 5:05 PM pre-game, 5:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the proper link based on listed schedule Dave Walkovic returns as the play-by-play voice of the 'Tees; follow the Brevard broadcast booth staff on Twitter @BCManateesRadio. All home games and many road games are scheduled to be broadcast. When road games are only available via the opponents' audio feed (or not at all), we'll let you know that. No Florida State League games are available via MiLB.TV. ********** Wisconsin: LHP Clint Terry at home vs. Cedar Rapids (Twins), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. For the $49.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from seven Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. NOTE: Thirty-nine (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (9) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (30) will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and remember to refer to the Rattlers' full TV schedule so you can coordinate your DVR activity. DVR Alert: The next Wisconsin game scheduled for local TV is Friday evening, June 6th (MyNew32 TV), 7:00 PM airtime. ********** DSL Brewers: at home vs. the DSL Blue Jays, 8:00 AM, although game data won't be available until later in the day We're going to lock in the link to Brad Krause's fantastic Miller Park Prospects - Dominican Summer League primer right here, at least for the first couple of months of the DSL campaign, for your easy review. Brad will also be adding DSL Link Report duties to his Brevard coverage for us here. Thanks, Brad!

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

Hoping it doesn't take this thread too off-topic, but: CNN Feature Article: One-third of babies born in the UK in 2013 are expected to live to 100, according to their Office of National Statistics. In the United States, the population has seen similar trends. Wow.

Article Marc Flores, University of Hawaii first baseman (Baseball America has Flores ranked No. 88 among their Top 100 college seniors). The Cubs, Brewers, Twins and Giants have all shown interest in Flores. Obviously a later round talking point, but if the Crew picks him up, we'll have some background.

Sounds manager Rick Sweet on changing signs Mack Burke, The Tennessean A look at baseball strategy and current events from the viewpoint of Sounds manager Rick Sweet. Topic: Explain a situation where you would need to change pitch calls, or signs, and what do you go through with your players or coaches to get the calls changed? Sweet says: "Sometimes you have to (change signs) right in the middle of the game. If you think the runner on second is giving signs, which is a common thing, then you'll call time and send a guy out to change the signs. They're very easy to change. So, we change signs a lot with a runner on second, and that's with the catcher to the pitcher. "And then sometimes, if we trade somebody, and he knows all the signs, like from me to the hitters, then you have to change all your signs. Usually, you have a system set up to where if it's an indicator, all you have to do is change the indicator and everything (else) stays the same so you try to make it so the simplicity of changing (allows) to do it right in the middle of the game. "Sometimes you do it before a series against a traded guy, but most of the time it's right in the middle of the game where you think, 'Oh, something's up, they've got our signs and we need to change them.' We simply call time and go out and change them right then because sometimes if you wait until they get into the dugout then it's too late and you've lost the game. "When a ball is hit, all lot of times, I don't watch the ball, I watch what everybody else is doing—their reactions, where they're going, and what's happening in the game. We're looking for (sign stealing) all the time. You get a sense something's up; you see a guy at second base, who's doing stuff that normally you wouldn't see, then you say, 'All right, let's change it real quick and not even wait to take a chance.' "

More expanded highlights from the MyNew32 Rattlers TV broadcast The "bench-clearing" aspect of the highlights is seemingly very tame; you won't be encouraged by Clint Coulter's catching skills after viewing...

Rattler Radio Blog - HR Video, Photos, Audio Interviews and Ironic Civility!

AUDIO, Game Highlights: Behind a dominant outing by starting pitching Austin Ross, the Manatees defeat Bradenton, 3-1.

Brevard County - AUDIO: OF Michael Reed joins Justin Rocke on the Manatees Pregame Show to talk about Reed's recovery from a recent oblique injury.

VIDEO: Huntsville's Mitch Haniger hits his second homer of the game, a go-ahead three-run shot against Jackson

Link includes video highlights from spring training -- Brewers' Haniger homers twice in Stars' win Huntsville center fielder goes 3-for-4, plates four in comeback victory By Danny Wild / MiLB.com Mitch Haniger may be a middle of the lineup power threat for first-place Huntsville, but back in March, the outfielder was an afterthought at the end of the dugout bench. "I got maybe two at-bats a game, so every time I got to the plate, I cherished every pitch," he said. "I didn't take anything for granted." The Brewers outfielder got a taste of his dream in 10 Major League Spring Training games, where he was used as a pinch-hitter. He's taken the same mentality into the daily grind of his second full Minor League season. "It just helps your focus level; when you get one at-bat a game or every couple days, your focus level is at all-time high," he said. "I've learned to bring that into every single at-bat and take the same approach into a full year." Haniger showed off the results of that mindset, going 3-for-4 with a pair of homers, including a go-ahead three-run drive in the fifth inning, and four RBIs to help the Huntsville Stars past Jackson, 7-5, on Wednesday afternoon. The breakout game comes a day after eight of Haniger's teammates were voted to the Southern League All-Star Game and two days after he and the Double-A Stars clinched their division. "It was good -- we've been scuffling a little bit the past few games," said Haniger. "We haven't been hitting as well as we should and we haven't been pitching as well as we've been, so it was good to get back and get a win. We came out swinging today." Haniger and the Stars, in the team's final season before relocating to Mississippi, clinched the Southern League's first-half North Division crown June 2 thanks to a loss by Tennessee. Wednesday's victory moved the Stars to 20 games over .500 at 40-20 this year and also snapped a three-game losing streak. "It's been good, baseball is fun, especially when you're winning a lot," he said. "We want to be looser at the plate and on the mound, we've been having a fun year so far, we've got a lot of good players in our clubhouse." Haniger, the Brewers' No. 5 prospect, hit a solo shot in the second inning off Jackson starter Trevor Miller to give Huntsville a 1-0 lead. After the Generals rallied for five runs in the bottom of the third, Haniger capped Huntsville's response in the fifth on a go-ahead three-run drive to left, moments after Cam Hobson came in to relieve Miller (4-6). "[it was a] 3-2 slider, just got out in front a little bit, I hit it to left, hit it pretty good," he said of the first home run. Huntsville's bullpen then did the rest, with Tanner Poppe and David Goforth combining for four scoreless innings after starter Andy Moye (2-0) was charged with five runs on eight hits over five innings. Goforth struck out two for his 13th save. "It was good -- [Moye] gave up a few runs, but he still pitched pretty good. He kept us in the game, and that's what we needed," Haniger said. "I was looking for a fastball, and it was a fastball middle-in, hit it well. It put us up by two I believe." Haniger, the Brewers' supplemental first-round pick in 2012 following the loss of Prince Fielder, saw action in 10 Spring Training games earlier this year, hitting .500 with a pair of homers and seven RBIs in 16 at-bats for the Brewers. He faces a challenge of reaching Milwaukee with center and right fields currently occupied by Carlos Gomez and Ryan Braun, though. With just one full season in the Minors under his belt, he was one of three non-roster outfielders who received invitations to big league camp, joining Kentrail Davis and Kevin Mattison. He's transitioned from that atmosphere, of being a 23-year-old prospect surrounded by veterans, to one of the leaders on a Stars roster full of young All-Stars. "It was awesome, I just learned to cherish every pitch I have at the plate," he said. "It's been the same here. We have a really loose clubhouse, a lot of down to Earth guys, a couple goofballs, but it's real good, it's been fun. It's good to see some of those guys' hard work pay off, and clinching the first half was fun -- that was the first time I've been a part of that. But we just got back to work the next day, and we're looking to win the second half too."

1B Alan Sharkey

Final: Huntsville 7, @Jackson 5 HANIGER POWERS STARS TO VICTORY Steve Jarnicki, Huntsville Stars Jackson, TN - Huntsville Stars RF Mitch Haniger hit a pair of long home runs Wednesday, including what turned out to be the game winner, as the Stars beat the Jackson Generals 7-5 at The Ballpark at Jackson. The Stars were trailing 5-4 in the fifth inning. Jackson starter Trevor Miller (4-6) walked a pair of runners and was taken out of the game before Haniger came to the plate. LHP Cam Hobson entered with two on base and with two outs. Haniger then lined a pitch over the left field wall which is twenty four feet in height. The only question was if the ball would stay fair or go foul. It stayed fair for a three-run home run and Haniger had his first multiple home run game of the year. Haniger’s sixth homer of the year gave the Stars a 7-5 lead. The Stars built an early lead in the second. Haniger blasted a solo shot to left field giving the Stars a 1-0 lead. In the third inning, Shea Vucinich reached on a two-base error by third baseman Patrick Kivlehan. Two batters later, Josh Prince lined an RBI single to left field scoring Vucinich. The Stars made it 3-0 after Nick Ramirez’s RBI triple and Jason Rogers also singled into left field scoring Ramirez. All three runs came in succession for the Stars who took a 4-0 lead. The Generals responded with a five-run third inning against starter Andy Moye (2-0). Jack Marder lined a two-run double over D’Vontrey Richardson’s head in centerfield. Dan Paolini added an RBI single cutting the deficit to 4-3. The Generals then grabbed their only lead when Dario Pizzano launched a two-run homer to right field giving Jackson a 5-4 lead. Moye, who earned the win, went five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits. Tanner Poppe and David Goforth combined for four scoreless innings out of the Stars bullpen to nail down the victory. Goforth, earned his 13th save of the season as he left the tying runners on base in the ninth. The Generals (25-34) took three out of five from the Stars (40-20) who ended their three-game losing streak with the win. The Stars will return to Huntsville to begin a ten game homestand starting Thursday night against the Mobile BayBears, the Double-A Affiliate of the Arizona Diamonbacks. RHP Tyler Cravy (8-1, 1.76) will start for the Stars. Mobile will send RHP Mike Lee (3-3, 4.43) to the mound. Thursday’s game can be heard starting at 6:15 CDT on 92.9 FM, 1450 AM WTKI and wtkiradio.com. Huntsville Box Score Just tremendous to see Mitch Haniger absolutely rake the last two weeks. The .631 OPS vs. RH pitchers is still a bit scary, watch for that to continue to rise. Twenty-six of Nick Ramirez' 61 hits have been for extra bases, tripled here, and he's having a very, very solid AA season. Ho hum, Shawn Zarraga raised his OBP to .459. Huntsville Game Log RHP Tanner Poppe, the 31st round find, hadn't even been drafted at this time last year. Now he's in AA and not blinking an eye in his first six Huntsville appearances. Go Jayhawk, Latroy Hawkins would be proud of the Kansas product. Poppe turns 24 in July, but his arc is incredibly impressive (see below). Jackson Bottom of the 6th Pitching Change: Tanner Poppe replaces Andy Moye. Kevin Rivers strikes out swinging. Mike Dowd pops out to second baseman Shea Vucinich. Nathan Melendres grounds out, third baseman Jason Rogers to first baseman Nick Ramirez. Jackson Bottom of the 7th Jack Marder singles on a ground ball to center fielder D' Vontrey Richardson. Leon Landry reaches on a fielding error by right fielder Mitch Haniger. Jack Marder to 2nd. Daniel Paolini called out on strikes. Patrick Kivlehan walks. Jack Marder to 3rd. Leon Landry to 2nd. Dario Pizzano strikes out swinging. Mickey Wiswall called out on strikes. RHP David Goforth stranded the tying run in scoring position -- Jackson Bottom of the 9th Daniel Paolini grounds out, second baseman Shea Vucinich to first baseman Nick Ramirez. Patrick Kivlehan singles on a fly ball to center fielder D' Vontrey Richardson. Dario Pizzano strikes out swinging. Mickey Wiswall singles on a line drive to right fielder Mitch Haniger. Patrick Kivlehan to 3rd. Offensive Substitution: Pinch-runner Jamal Austin replaces Mickey Wiswall. With Kevin Rivers batting, Jamal Austin steals (16) 2nd base. Kevin Rivers pops out to shortstop Nick Shaw.

Much too early for rosters, heck half of Helena's team hasn't been drafted yet, but we'll place player tweets here with Helena destination news (unlikely we'll see "yay, I'm staying in Maryvale" tweets). 3B Tucker Neuhaus

Chris Mehring's All-Star Write-Up

Archived from today's Link Report -- Brennan, Coulter, Astin, Gainey, and Williams are the T-Rat representatives. Midwest League names All-Star teams Speedy Smith, powerful Coulter to bolster Eastern, Western lineups By Sam Dykstra / MiLB.com *** Great picture here.