Jim Goulart

Recent alumni post -- AUDIO: Donovan Hand on the Bill Michaels Show

For more on the Sounds (Hunter Morris, Tim Dillard), see the new posts in the Nashville thread this AM.

Sounds pitcher Tim Dillard waits two years to get wins record by Mack Burke, The Tennessean Sounds pitcher Tim Dillard won his 36th career game with Nashville on Sunday to become the team's all-time leader in wins. / Shelley Mays, Tennessean File Photo http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20130703&Category=SPORTS04&ArtNo=307030101&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Nashville-Sounds-pitcher-Tim-Dillard-waits-two-years-get-wins-record After throwing 2 1⁄3 innings of flawless relief behind starter Johnnie Lowe, who exited after giving up three runs in 4 2⁄3 innings of work, Sounds reliever Tim Dillard captured his 36th career win Sunday night against the Oklahoma City Red Hawks to become the club’s all-time wins leader. Outfielder Caleb Gindl, who rejoined the Sounds from the Brewers on June 29, hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning that put the team ahead 5-3 and lined up Dillard for his eventual record-setting win, which surpassed that of Keith Brown, who pitched for the club from 1988-92. “Well, I’ve been tied for first for two years,” Dillard said with a laugh. “But last night was perfect, and it’s great because this is a great organization and a great city.” Dillard stranded two inherited runners in the fifth, and he struck out the side in the sixth. Reliever Michael Olmstead pitched the eighth inning and recorded the hold, and closer Rob Wooten captured his 17th save. “Nobody really knew about it, and finally somebody said something (in the clubhouse) and everyone started congratulating me,” Dillard said. “Everyone was wondering why I was king cheerleader in the dugout, but when Gindl hit that home run, I was like, ‘We’re going to win this game!’ ” The 29-year-old Dillard has pitched for the Sounds in each season since 2007 and has appeared as both a reliever and a starter. He started 2013 with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Independent Atlantic League, but he returned to the Sounds after the Brewers purchased his contract from Lancaster on May 3. Dillard has been with the Sounds ever since and is 1-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 21 innings pitched. The future awaits: Sounds starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson, who has amassed an impressive 2.66 ERA in four starts on the mound since joining the team from Double-A Huntsville on June 5, has been selected to participate in the annual SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game on July 14 during the major league All-Star break. He is the only Sounds player who will play in the game. “It’s an honor to be able to represent the United States and the Brewers organization,” Nelson said. “This is something I’m looking forward to and have been working hard for, and this is just another one of the steps I’m taking in the right direction. “It’s a big accomplishment, and I’m very fortunate to be able to play this game. I’ve been blessed with this opportunity.” The 24-year-old said any extra expectations that might come with his Futures Game selection shouldn’t derail the expectations put in place when the Brewers drafted him. “There have been expectations since day one when I was drafted and signed, “Nelson said. “Whether you’re picked for an all-star team or not, the expectations are always there. “You just can’t put too much pressure on yourself, and you just have to go out there and have fun.” Nelson is in good company among former Sounds who have been named to a Futures Game roster. He joins Aramis Ramirez (1999), Nelson Cruz (2003) and Alcides Escobar (2009). This season, the Brewers’ 2010 second-round pick is 5-6 with a 2.72 ERA in 16 games started with Double-A Huntsville and the Sounds. He has suffered two losses in Nashville and has yet to capture a win. When the boss calls: The Sounds have seen a flurry of promotions and demotions since June 26. The first move of many was starting pitcher Johnny Hellweg, who was promoted to Milwaukee on June 26 to replace Brewers reliever Alfredo Figaro, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Hellweg leads the Sounds in wins (seven) and is fourth among starters in ERA (2.82), but in his only two outings with Milwaukee, he has been shelled for six runs on eight hits in 2 2⁄3 innings. The next day, outfielder Sean Halton was promoted to Milwaukee to replace second baseman Scooter Gennett, who was optioned back to Nashville. Halton was hitting .294 with one homer, six RBIs and a .500 slugging percentage over his last 10 games with Nashville before his promotion. Gennett hit .214 with one home run and five RBIs in 17 games with the Brewers during his first stint in the big leagues. The Brewers then sent starting pitcher Hiram Burgos on a rehab assignment to the Sounds on June 28, only to abruptly option him to remain in Nashville. This season, Burgos has one win and a 1.99 ERA in 22 2⁄3 innings with the Sounds. With Milwaukee, he has one win and a 6.44 ERA in six starts. Finally, on June 29, the Brewers called up starting pitcher Tyler Thornburg from the Sounds and optioned outfielder Caleb Gindl back to Nashville. Thornburg has struggled a bit with the Sounds this season as he has posted an 0-9 record to go along with a disappointing 5.79 ERA in 15 starts, but he has managed to find success in Milwaukee as he has yet to give up a run in nine innings pitched in three outings. In his first major league action, Gindl impressed with a .250 batting average and an RBI in 10 games. He leads the Sounds in RBIs (40) and is tied for second with nine homers to go along with a .275 average.

Tennessean -- Getting to Know: Tim Dillard

Nashville Sounds' Hunter Morris makes his dreams come true Majors draw near for first baseman by Mack Burke, The Tennessean Sounds first baseman Hunter Morris was only 8 or 9 years old when he discovered he had an overwhelming passion, and talent, for baseball. “I didn’t really know what kind of future I could have in baseball, but that was kind of when I started getting the itch and wanted to do it all the time, and it was something I really had a passion for,” Morris said. “And it probably began then that I started to pursue the goal of getting to a major league career.” Morris, who leads the Sounds in home runs with 14, attributes his start in baseball to his mother’s passion for the game as well as his father’s shared passion and competitiveness. He said that was really when he started playing catch and learning the rules of the diamond. Morris and his father would spend additional time together at the batting cages near their home after Morris finished with baseball and basketball practice. He said that he and his father, during each season of the year, would stay up until midnight hitting baseballs in the cages, knowing that he had to be up early for school the next morning. “It seemed like every night after practice or a game, I would go home and finish up my schoolwork and then I’d head to the cage with my dad for an hour or so,” Morris said. “There were nights where we’d get home at 11:30 or 12, and I’d have to be up at 7 o’clock for school.” Morris’ practice and motivation helped develop his advanced skills, which allowed him to play up several age groups when he was younger. He then had to adjust to the type of play exhibited by the older kids. Morris said when he was 9 years old he was placed on a 12-year-old-level team, where he quickly earned a starting role. He started playing travel baseball when he was 10 years old and went across the Southeast for tournaments. “I started playing travel ball when I was 10, and I think that kind of opened the door to everything I’ve been able to do to this point,” Morris said. “We would travel around and play in Memphis, Nashville, Southhaven (Miss.) and Birmingham (Ala.).” Morris’ advanced skill carried over to high school where, in eighth grade, he earned a starting spot — hitting in the third spot in the lineup — for the varsity team at Virgil Grissom High School in Huntsville, Ala. He said that he and a few other players always would show up to school about 6 a.m. to get extra work in the batting cages with their coach. “We worked hard; we pushed each other,” Morris said. “My best friend growing up, Blake Martz, played at Troy University, and if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have had that competitive drive to get to where I’m at.” Morris hit .470 in high school with 46 home runs and 198 RBIs, played for Team USA in the World Games in Cuba in 2006 — where he won a silver medal — and was drafted by the Red Sox in the second round in 2007. However, he didn’t sign with Boston and instead attended Auburn. “I was looking forward to the draft, and I wanted to sign out of high school. I wanted to go play,” Morris said. “But, at the same time, college was important, so I tried to make my decision on college early enough that I didn’t have to deal with (pressures of choosing college or professional baseball) along with the draft.” Morris’ choice to attend Auburn worked out. He met his future wife, Macie, who played softball at Auburn, as he put together star seasons for the baseball program. In 2008, Morris was named the SEC Freshman of the Year and was selected to the All-SEC second team. He was honored as SEC Player of the Year in 2010 after hitting .386 with 23 home runs and 76 RBIs. Morris was only the second player in SEC baseball history to be named both SEC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year. “(Auburn) wanted me to play from day one, and that is a big selling point for anybody who is going to play for a big program like that,” Morris said. “I had to earn it, and by all means it wasn’t given to me.” Morris’ Auburn team, though, never made it to a College World Series. After college, Morris was drafted in the fourth round by the Brewers in 2010, and his first stop in the minor leagues was with the Low-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, where he had nine home runs and 44 RBIs while hitting .251 in 71 games. He then moved up to the Advanced-A Brevard County Manatees in 2011, where he hit .271 with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs in 126 games before being promoted to the Double-A Huntsville Stars for four games. In 2012, Morris had an eye-opening full season with hometown Huntsville, where, in 136 games, he led the Southern League in home runs (28) and RBIs (113), plus added 40 doubles to go with a Minor League Rawlings Gold Glove Award at first base. Morris said his time at Huntsville was comforting because of all the family and friends he had in the area to support him. “It was nice to have friends and family every day,” Morris said, “and to go home and be with my wife and son every night was just really awesome. “My parents still live in Huntsville, and my wife’s from Huntsville, so it’s her whole family, and it made a lot difference in my personal life,” Morris said. “It’s a chance most guys don’t get, and most guys that have families, kids and wives may go six or seven months without seeing them, but for me, I was literally at home for half of the season being able to sleep in my own bed.” In 2013, entering Tuesday night’s game, Morris was hitting .240 for the Sounds and is second in RBIs (37). He has been able to ride the wave of his humbling career experiences on and off the field. “Certainly a year like last year will give you some confidence moving forward, knowing that you belong and you’ve earned a chance to move up and spend another year trying to prove yourself,” Morris said. “But, for me, there have certainly been some struggles this year. “The home runs are there, but there are still some adjustments to be made. The game changes, and it has changed this year for me, so now it’s just about learning a new approach to hitting and learning more about myself as a player. “I’d rather take my lumps now and learn from it rather than spinning my wheels and trying to keep my head above water.” Hunter Morris leads the Sounds with 14 home runs and is second on the team in RBIs. / Autumn Allison Photo, The Tennessean http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20130703&Category=SPORTS04&ArtNo=307030109&Ref=AR&Profile=2072&MaxW=640&Border=0&Nashville-Sounds-Hunter-Morris-makes-his-dreams-come-true

Brief Huntsville video lowlights

As of this AM, the DSL box score / game log on MiLB.com is still not updated. Brad gets his info for his earlier reports via the Dominican Summer League site (notice in the upper right, you can save the info locally for viewing on your PC). There was one doubleheader game from last week that never did show up on MiLB.com.

Here are the video highlights from the Helena game, including the one Great Falls hit and missed opportunities.

VIDEO from Monday: Nashville's Hunter Morris homers in the Sounds' 3-2 win

Helena Pre-Game Audio with Manager Tony Diggs

Nicolas Pierre Photo Tweet

Stars Stifled by Von Schamann, Lookouts Alex Cohen, Huntsville Stars After mounting two straight comeback wins, the Huntsville Stars dropped game four of a five-game series to the Chattanooga Lookouts by a score of 5-1 on Tuesday night at Joe Davis Stadium. Despite giving up just three runs and six hits through five innings of work, Stars starting pitcher Brooks Hall fell to 0-3 on the season with the loss. Hall put himself in that position when he gave up an RBI single off the bat of Lookouts catcher Matt Wallach in the second inning. The 23-year-old righty also gave up an RBI double to outfielder Brian Cavazos-Galvez in the third inning while a solo homer by outfielder Joc Pederson gave Chattanooga a 3-0 edge in the fifth inning. For Pederson, the blast was his 14th of the year and his fifth against the Stars in 13 games this year. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Stars were able to plate their only run of the game against Chattanooga starting pitcher Duke Von Schamann. Following a leadoff walk drawn by pinch-hitter Nick Shaw and a single from outfielder Chadwin Stang, another single by third baseman Shea Vucinich scored Shaw to put the Stars on the board and cut their deficit to two. En route to improving his record with the Lookouts to 2-0, Von Schamann gave up that one run on five hits in six innings of work. Aside from Von Schamann, relievers Hector Nelo, Onelki Garcia and Yimi Garcia shutout the Stars offense over the final three innings. Chattanooga scored their final two runs in the ballgame in the top of the ninth inning on back-to-back RBI singles from pinch-hitter Angelo Songco and second baseman Ozzie Martinez against Stars reliever Greg Holle. On offense, the Stars had five hits by five different players. Third baseman Mike Walker hit a double in the second inning to give him his third straight game with an extra-base hit while Vucinich now has six runs batted in during three games this series. On Wednesday, the Stars and Lookouts will wrap up a five-game series at Joe Davis Stadium. Huntsville will send RHP Andy Moye (3-9, 4.59 ERA) for the series-deciding contest of a five-game set. Chattanooga will counter with RHP Ross Stripling (5-1, 2.34 ERA). First pitch is at 6:43 PM.

Dan Powers of the Post Crescent took the photo none of us really want to see: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers' Orlando Arcia injures his right ankle while trying to score a run against Kane County's catcher Carlos Escobar during their baseball game Tuesday, July 2, 2013, at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wis. Arcia had to be helped off the field. Dan Powers/Post-Crescent Media http://cmsimg.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Site=U0&Date=20130702&Category=APC0206&ArtNo=307020268&Ref=PH&Item=1&Maxw=620&Maxh=465&q=90 Post-Crescent Photo Gallery

LINK INCLUDES VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH TYLER WAGNER (it includes many of the quotes seen below) *** Timber Rattlers pitcher Tyler Wagner stellar in victory over Kane County by Mike Woods, Post-Crescent Media GRAND CHUTE — After throwing one of the best games of his professional career, Tyler Wagner knew he had only a few hours to enjoy it. “It’s definitely something I can remember,” said Wagner after giving up five hits and three runs in the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers’ 5-3 Midwest League victory over Kane County on Tuesday on Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. “Just don’t dwell on it and don’t think too much of it.” But there was a lot to talk about. After a rough first inning in which he gave up three hits — including a two-run home run — and had to be bailed out with a pair of solid defensive plays, Wagner (7-6) suddenly found his groove. After giving up a leadoff single in the second, he recorded 22 straight outs before giving up another hit with one out in the ninth. His 8 1⁄3 innings was a career best. Of the 25 outs he recorded, 20 were groundouts, he struck out three and there were two fly outs. He threw 103 pitches and recorded 62 strikeouts. It was impressive. But it was only one game. “I think he takes it right now and learns from it and (today) he’d better condition a little bit more because he couldn’t finish nine innings today,” said Timber Rattlers manager Matt Erickson, “and then it’s back to his five-day routine and he’s going to be right back on the mound here in five days. I don’t think you read much into it good or bad, you just try to execute each fifth day when you go out there.” The execution was spot-on for much of Tuesday’s game. “He’s kind of a rhythm guy and that’s not uncommon for him to have a little bit of a slow start,” said Erickson, “but usually he finds a nice little rhythm and today he got a lot of ground balls early in the count and had a couple of really quick innings. “His pitch count was low deep into the game and, obviously, that’s what we preach. That’s what we’ve been trying to get most of the year, that kind of execution. If you do that, you’re going to have a chance to get deep into the game and possibly finish some. I wanted to see if he could finish. He was still under his pitch count, so that was a good day for him all around.” Wagner, a fourth-round pick in the 2012 draft, said he was able to overcome his shaky start with some mental adjustments. “I made a couple of mistakes in the first inning, left my ball up,” he said. “Just making adjustments to stay through the ball, stay on top of the ball. I think it’s just a mental thing of having trust in your fastball and trust in all your other pitchers that you can get through the whole game.” Once he conquered that hurdle, he was nearly unhittable. “My fastball was down with some sink,” said Wagner. “It’s just better for my confidence to know that I can get people out swinging rather than trying to make them miss the ball. “When I stay down in the zone and stay on top of the ball and create a sink and they hit the top half of the ball and get ground balls, that’s why I try to do.”

Forgot to mention from last night's Maryvale box score -- The Royals drafted a 5th round California high school OF named Amalani Fukofuka. Probably five years away from the bigs, not sure we're going to hear Ueck give that one a try.

Wow, another DVR alert not on the original schedule Timber Rattlers on MyNewTV 32, chance to watch Jorge Lopez 6:30 PM pre-game, 7:00 game broadcast

Via Jeff Hem's blog -- Audio from Nashville — Brewers scout Doug Reynolds Here is tonight’s interview with Doug Reynolds from the Milwaukee Brewers’ scouting department, who discusses baseball scouting, which I believe to be a fascinating industry. Reynolds describes his role with the Brewers; the difficulty of trying to project what, for example, a 16-year-old player can be when he’s 26 years old; some of the players he scouted and signed with the Brewers, such as Caleb Gindl and Tim Dillard; how a major league team evaluates its draft success; and how technology has changed a baseball scout’s profession.

Via Alec at BrewCrewBall: Brewers Minor League Report: Who's Hot and Who's Not, June 2013 Tyler Wagner says he disagrees.

16-year-old Panamanian catcher as well

Via the Sounds' web site: Rob Wooten Named To PCL All-Star Team Reliever To Represent Sounds, Pacific Coast League At Triple-A All-Star Game On July 17 In Reno The soon-to-be 28-year-old Wooten is Brewers property for one more season (2014) before he'll earn free agency.

As noted by "And That" in the Draft Forum (please place any commentary here): Brewers Sign No. 20 International Prospect Nicolas Pierre Dominican outfielder Nicolas Pierre, the No. 20 international prospect for July 2, has signed with the Brewers for $800,000. Pierre, 16, has an athletic 6-foot-3, 170-pound frame and made an impression with some scouts for his bat-to-ball ability from the right side of the plate and overall improvement as July 2 approached. He has good instincts in the outfield and has a chance to play center field. Pierre played in the International Prospect League and trains with Nelson Montes de Oca.

Via the Brewers -- AA Southern League Huntsville All-Stars Congratulations to Jason Rogers, Taylor Jungmann, Kentrail Davis, and the recently-promoted Jimmy Nelson Huntsville 2013 Stats

Helena video from Monday night's 5-0 loss, including of this catch we linked to earlier: http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/ravallirepublic.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/1e/51e6650a-a291-5d0d-8e50-c8ba1dda6bae/51d24b3243f99.preview-620.jpg

Happy 27th birthday to Huntsville OF and Toronto native Rene Tosoni, who just missed a Canada Day birthday! Happy 19th birthday to Dominican native Elvis Rubio, off to a red-hot start in Maryvale!

In Monday's Report, we linked to Chris' Rattlers Radio Blog which included game video highlights. *** Available now are game highlights from the MyNewTV 32 broadcast. Post Game interview with Catcher Parker Berberet