Jim Goulart

Enjoy the food spread Sunday and Monday, Rattlers -- Ramirez to rehab with Timber Rattlers

"Both Zarraga and Weisenburger have more walks than strikeouts as hitters an defensively Weisenburger has thrown out 44% of runners with Zarraga nabbing 47%." That quote from Jay's "System Overview: Catcher" at Reviewing the Brew.

Just a tad pricy if you plan on visiting Biloxi next season...

Audio via Jeff Hem's blog -- "Tonight’s interview is with left-hander Brad Mills, who dominated the Sky Sox last night with eight scoreless innings and a career-high 13 strikeouts. He discusses that outing and his season so far; his curveball development and great change-up; and pitching last year in Japan after spending the first half of the season at Round Rock with the Rangers." *** Hope everyone finds time during their Link Report visits to listen to all the audio links provided. Personally, I may not listen to each immediately as posted (for instance, Cubs-Brewers is now live), but I always catch up, and there's always at least one nugget or insight that's worthwhile.

Bonus worthwhile readings at Miller Park Prospects -- Minor League Mailbag: 5/28/14 Farm Progress Report: 5/30/2014 and they kick off our 2014 Dominican Summer League thread (season starts Saturday!)

Yes, they're back (Saturday May 31st) and Brad has a fantastic full primer on all things DSL Brewers via Miller Park Prospects. Awesome work, Brad!

From Steve in Huntsville -- The Stars have won four straight home games and 10 out of their last 11…The Stars and Smokies played their fourth one-run game of the five game series. The Stars and Smokies have played nine games against each other with eight out of the nine being decided by three runs or less. Six of the nine have been decided by one run, with the Stars going 5-1 in the 1-run games….The Stars won their second game against the Smokies and their tenth of the season when they are outhit by their opponent…The Stars improved to a season high 20 games above .500 and have a season high 10.5 game lead on the 2nd place team in the Southern League North standings…At 37-17, the Stars have the 4th best overall record in all of minor league baseball. The Stars, however have the best record out of 30 Double-A teams… The Stars improved to a league best 21-7 in the month of May. During the month of May, the Stars have the third highest team batting average in the league (.257) and the 2nd lowest team ERA (3.04)… It was the fifth straight day a member of the Stars bullpen collected the win as Tim Dillard was the latest out of the bullpen to a collect a win. Eriz Marzec allowed an RBI single to Raffi Lopez in the 5th inning which ended the bullpen’s run of 23.1 straight innings without allowing an earned run…Stars starter Jacob Barnes tossed three scoreless innings. It was the 6th straight start by a Stars pitcher where they gave up 1 ER or less. Over their last six starts in 32 IP, the starters have a 1.41 ERA… Jason Rogers went 0-3 last night ending his six-game hitting streak and also ended his string of recording at least one hit in 15 of his past 16 games. In May, Rogers is now hitting .307 with 3 HR and 19 RBI after hitting .242 with 1 HR and 12 RBI in 25 games in April… D’Vontrey Richardson went 0-4 last night ending his five-game hitting streak. During his streak, he went 10 for his last 24 (.417) He has seven RBI now in his last 11 games and has raised his batting average from .212 up to .236 during this span… Nick Shaw went 0-3 last night, putting an end to his on 22-game on base streak. His on base streak which began on April 30th was the longest active streak and is now the 4th longest on base streak this season in the Southern League. John Andreoli of Tennessee reached safely in 30 straight games. During Shaw’s streak he batted .313 with 5 RBI and had 15 walks during his streak. For the month of May, he’s batting .280 compared to .175 in April.

Nice (via Buck Rogers) -- On August 7th, the Stars will be at Birmingham to face the Barons. On that night the game will be telecast nationally on CBS Sports Network. Thanks to Jonathan Nelson, the Barons GM, for working thru the logistics and getting this game scheduled. And thanks to the Milwaukee Brewers for working with the Barons to make this happen so everybody can watch the Stars on TV that night. That game is now scheduled for 8:00 pm CT, not 7:05 PM CT as is printed on your pocket schedule. Please make a note of the change on your schedule.

Thursday -- VIDEO: Nashville's Brad Mills ends a stellar outing with his 13th strikeout of the Sounds' 3-0 win over Colorado Springs.

AAA All-Star Voting -- We can vote pitchers as well (wink-wink Nelson, Fiers, Mills).

Weather.com: Nashville, TN Huntsville, AL St. Lucie, FL Cedar Rapids, IA

Sortable individual stat pages: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin

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

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

Friday's Daily Menu: TGIF! All times are Central Nashville: RHP Ariel Pena at home vs. Colorado Springs (Rockies), 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 Andy Moye at home vs. Tennessee (Cubs), 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 Austin Ross at St. Lucie (Mets), 5:00 PM pre-game, 5:30 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: RHP Barrett Astin at Cedar Rapids (Twins), 6:15 PM pre-game, 6:35 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 Saturday evening, May 31st (MyNew32 TV).

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Hi Josh. Zach Kroenke was just signed by the Nationals out of indy ball. During the offseason, we posted this about Kroenke -- LHP Zach Kroenke has pitched well in the Dominican Republic this winter -- earlier this fall, his agent (Joshua Kusnick -- known to many as agent39 here), tweeted that Kroenke was sleeping on a very fine offer from the Brewers. Apparently Kroenke didn't think the offer was "that" fine (and maybe would have preferred it being kept quiet), and that helped spark one of the more interesting twitter conversations of the offseason. *** I respect quite a bit about your openness with fans, but is this one case where maybe it should have waited until the ink was dry? Congrats on the Michael Brantley deal (and your cut ) -- I listen to and read a ton of national MLB outlets, and it's pretty fair to say there is universal respect for the young man both on and off the field, very nice he's been loyal to you as well all these years.

OK, you just listened to Jeff Hem's calls of those two Jeff Bianchi highlights, now watch each in this Nashville local sports desk report. Also, "the Sounds launder the Sky Sox". Like that one...

Nashville -- AUDIO: Robinzon Diaz HR AUDIO: Jeff Bianchi smacks a 2-run homer off the guitar scoreboard AUDIO: Bianchi Diving Catch AUDIO: Brad Mills sets a new career high with his 12th strikeout vs. Colorado Springs

Brevard County -- AUDIO: Middle infielder Yadiel Rivera joins Andrew Luftglass to discuss learning the English language and adjusting to playing both 2B and SS AUDIO, Game Highlights: The 'Tees explode for seven runs late and beat the Mets, 9-1 AUDIO: Catching up with Tyler Wagner after another dominant, eight-inning performance

Final: Brevard County 9, @St. Lucie 1 'Tees trounce St. Lucie, 9-1 Wagner allows one run in eight innings as Brevard tallies 18 hits By Andrew Luftglass / Brevard County Manatees Brevard County starting pitcher Tyler Wagner, seen here in a game from earlier this season, earned his first win since April 14 as he struck out a season-high eight batters in eight innings of work in the Manatees' 9-1 win over the St. Lucie Mets on Thursday night at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography) http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/0/8/77419708/cuts/Wagner_4.3_3_640x360_r599qkyi_ojs63i8n.jpg PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - In both his longest and best outing of 2014 thus far, Tyler Wagner stymied the St. Lucie Mets on Thursday night at Tradition Field, as he fanned a season-high eight over eight innings, in a 9-1 Brevard County Manatees' victory. In the end, Wagner (4-3, 1.94 ERA) allowed just one run on a solo shot by Phillip Evans in the fifth. He walked one and surrendered six hits to pick up his first victory since April 14. Wagner was terrific from the start, as he nearly struck out the side on nine pitches in the first inning, but settled for a perfect frame with a pair of strikeouts. The next few innings were almost as smooth for the Manatees' starter. Wagner faced just one man more than the minimum in the first three innings, thanks to a pair of double plays. The starter only allowed three men to reach scoring position all night. While Wagner was a tough nut to crack, the Manatees (27-25) had no trouble striking early against St. Lucie (31-22) starting pitcher Luis Cessa. Brevard County ripped three doubles in the first inning and scored two runs to take an early lead. Nathan Orf led off the game with a two-bagger and Orlando Arcia followed with a double of his own to score Orf. After CF Tyrone Taylor singled, Nicky Delmonico smoked a two-base hit to bring Arcia home. The 'Tees went through a scoring drought in the middle of the game, but broke out of it decisively in the seventh and eighth. Brevard County had two men on and two outs in the seventh, when Taylor hit a broken-bat double down the left field line. His MiLB-leading 21st double of the season scored Mike Garza and Jose Sermo to expand the Manatees' lead to 4-1. Brevard flooded the scoreboard with runs in the eighth inning. The 'Tees scored five runs and four different Manatees contributed RBI singles. Garza, Sermo, Arcia and Taylor each delivered those knocks and Delmonico added a run on an RBI ground out. Sermo's run-scoring single came on a beautiful safety squeeze. The switch-hitter - batting left-handed - dropped a bunt down the third base line with Yadiel Rivera on third. Rivera raced home, ran past Mets catcher Albert Cordero and slid around his tag to score. Cessa (3-4, 3.35) took the loss for the Mets, though he settled down and did not give up a run after the first inning. The right-hander struck out five, walked two and allowed seven hits over his six innings of work. Six Brevard County hitters recorded at least two hits each as the 'Tees tallied 18 total. Orf, Arcia, Taylor, Garza and Sermo all had three hits each, while Delmonico had two. The first four hitters in the Manatees' order - Orf, Arcia, Taylor and Delmonico - combined to go 11-for-20 with four doubles and seven RBI. Brevard County has taken two of the first three games against the St. Lucie Mets and will look to win the four-game set on Friday night in Port St. Lucie, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. Austin Ross (3-0, 3.31) is scheduled to start for the Manatees against the Florida State League leader in wins, Matthew Koch (6-0, 2.83). Brevard County Box Score Great writeup from the 'Tees staff, as always. This is one where you just soak up the box score. Even catcher Cameron Garfield (0-for-5, three K's) can know that he guided Tyler Wagner through a great performance. Brevard County Game Log

Veteran Mills shines in 13-strikeout gem Left-hander making good impression on fourth club in as many years By Ashley Marshall / Special to MiLB.com The past few years have brought nothing but change for Brad Mills, but he's taking everything in stride in an attempt to get back to the Majors. Thursday's strong performance is the latest effort that could give him hope in a season full of them. Mills (4-0) allowed three hits and struck out a career-high 13 batters over eight innings in the Triple-A Nashville Sounds' 3-0 win over the visiting Colorado Springs Sky Sox. "I mean, it was pretty good," Mills said. "I will take eight shutout innings any day. It was fun. It's up there. You remember the games where you go past seven innings. We needed the win and any time you can go eight innings with the pitch counts in the Minors, it's one you remember." Selected by the Blue Jays in the fourth round of the 2007 Draft, Mills threw 74 of 101 pitches for strikes and induced seven ground balls at Herschel Greer Stadium to lower his ERA to 1.74. Mills bookended his gem by striking out the side in the first and eighth innings. He also fanned two batters in the third and fifth frames, plus one each in the second, fourth and seventh. "I would say three of my four pitches were working. My changeup and curveball were really good and I had fastball command," said Mills, who was traded from the Blue Jays to the Angels in December 2011, selected and released by the Rangers less than four months apart in 2013 and then signed by the Brewers as a free agent this January. "I didn't really throw my cutter. It's my fourth pitch any way and it's what I go to the third and fourth time through the order, but my other three pitches were pretty good. I don't throw super hard, but I have deception and the off-speed had good action so they couldn't sit on a particular pitch in a particular spot." After 11 consecutive outs to begin the game, Mills allowed a two-out single to Kyle Parker. Jason Pridie added a two-out double in the sixth and Kyle Parker collected a leadoff single in the seventh, but no Sky Sox batter made it to third base. The eight innings tied a career high and marked the 11th time in his professional career that he pitched at least seven innings without allowing a run. Donovan Hand replaced Mills in the ninth, striking out two hitters in a perfect frame to complete the shutout. The University of Arizona product hopes the hot start in his new environment will help him find his way back to the Majors. He has started just one big league game in the past 32 months and he's with his fourth organization in as many years. There's also been some change in his home life since that last start, five shutout innings for the Angels against the Orioles in July 2012. His first son, Nixon, will turn 2 in June, while his second child, Noah, will soon be 9 months old. "It is hard," Mills said about moving to another new team. "You don't know anyone, any of the coaches or the rovers. You don't know the staff or how people do things. There's definitely an acclimatization process. But if you throw well, it helps you with the guys and helps you feel part of the team. "My wife [Annie] is a champ. She takes care of them on road trips and she meets with the other wives, especially those who have kids. She does it all. I'm the one who does the fun stuff. I get to hang out in locker rooms and eat out every night. In the midst of it, you can think it is sometimes a crazy life, but one day I will look back and treasure this." Brad Mills has allowed six runs over his past 38 2/3 Pacific Coast League innings. (Nashville Sounds photo) http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/0/0/77446400/cuts/mills_ohcu42on_yc7w86iw.jpg

AUDIO: Manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Matt Erickson joined fill-in host Kyle Lobner of Milwaukee Magazine on the WSCO Home Stretch Thursday, May 29th to talk about the Rattlers current road trip.