Jim Goulart

About three days left on the Timber Rattlers Star Wars Jersey Auction...

Sounds Media Notes: GOOD CHEESE: Outfielder/first baseman Sean Halton -- the hottest hitter in the Pacific Coast League -- is batting .525 (21-for-40) during a career high-tying 12-game hitting streak. He has recorded multi-hit efforts in six of his last seven games, including three-hit performances in three of his last four contests. The slugger’s .477 average and .549 on-base percentage are tops in the PCL for the month of June, and Halton’s .640 average (16-for-25) and 1.839 OPS in the last week of play are the best in the PCL over that stretch; however, he was edged for league player of the week honors by Reno’s Mike Jacobs, who produced a lower average and OPS than Halton but slightly better home run and RBI numbers while playing in hitter-friendly facilities in Reno and Tucson. *** Boo, PCL!

Happy 25th birthday to 2009 supplemental first rounder and current Nashville Sound Kyle Heckatorn!

Weather.com: Nashville, TN Huntsville, AL Viera, FL (Melbourne) Santo Domingo, DR

Detroit Tigers could look at John Axford, former Milwaukee Brewers closer, as trade possibility Does anyone think the Brewers will offer Axford arbitration to build off his current $5 million salary? If not, then you can't just non-tender and let him walk.

Look for Nashville media notes at the link just prior to game time. New this season: Brevard County has media notes; as of now, it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here.

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

Monday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: LHP Zach Kroenke at home vs. New Orleans (Marlins), 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 $39.99 season-long package ($9.99 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. Chattanooga (Dodgers), 6:28 PM pre-game, 6:43 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page Alex Cohen is the play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. It appears four Southern League teams air their home games on MiLB.TV, and we'll let you know when those dates pop up on the schedule ********** Brevard County: LHP Jed Bradley at home vs. Lakeland (Tigers), 5:05 PM pre-game, 5:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the link based on listed schedule Manatees audio, hooray! Dave Walkovic is the first play-by-play voice of the 'Tees since 2007, he's joined by Andy Towne; 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, we'll let you know that. ********** Wisconsin: Idle (details on the All-Star Game will be in Tuesday's Link Report) ********** DSL Brewers: at the DSL Blue Jays, 9:30 AM, although game data won't be available until later in the day

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

If you thought Mike Fiers' (likely) season-ending broken forearm injury would open up an opportunity for Taylor Jungmann or Ariel Pena at AAA, sorry to report that, at least for now, it's veteran RHP Frankie De La Cruz returning to AAA. That doesn't mean De La Cruz will necessarily slide back into a starting role at Nashville (made up currently of Hellweg, Nelson, Thornburg, Seidel, and once Chris Narveson wraps up, some combination of Kroenke / Lowe and possibly a re-assigned Burgos). Plenty of options currently even after Fiers' injury, obviously some more exciting than others.

Clint Coulter's eventual activation from the DL (oblique strain) will include a transfer down to Helena from Wisconsin, via his tweet.

Is this "T-Bone"/John's kid? Yes, earlier article via the Brewers site.

Baseball America's Matt Eddy tells us that 23rd round Texas high school OF Eric Williams and 31st round RHP Tanner Poppe, out of the University of Kansas, have signed. The master list shows us 24 out of 40 signees that we're aware of.

I'll politely refrain from the Block commentary, but Jeff is ridiculously good.

VIDEO from Saturday: Nashville's Sean Halton hits second homer of game as Sounds fall to New Orleans, 6-3 *** "Halton can tie it with one big swing..." -- Nice pre-call, Jeff! VIDEO from Sunday: Halton hits a three-run homer as Sounds fall to New Orleans, 8-5

Via Jeff Hem's blog -- Audio from Nashville — Brewers Scout Corey Rodriguez Here is today’s pregame interview with longtime Brewers scout Corey Rodriguez, who currently serves as the Brewers’ West Coast Crosschecker. Rodriguez discusses his scouting background, some players he’s signed over the years, including former Sound Logan Schafer, how the Brewers evaluate how their performance in an amateur draft, the difficulties in trying to project players and what haunts a scout years after he watched a certain player.

Huntsville Video Highlights / Darnell Coles Video Quotes

Lieser got call at right time Andy Rennecke, St. Cloud (MN) Times When Scott Lieser wasn’t selected in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft, he thought his dream of playing professional baseball would have to start in an independent league. Lieser, the former St. Cloud State pitcher and Browerville High School graduate, had an offer from Fargo-Moorhead of the American Association after he wasn’t picked. But then came a call from Milwaukee Brewers scout Drew Anderson on Wednesday. It was the call Lieser had been waiting for his whole life. The call came right before he was going in for a job interview at his uncle’s company in St. Paul. It’s strange how life works sometimes. Lieser was probably hours away from accepting a full-time job after thinking his baseball options were limited and almost over. “I was bitter right away about not being drafted,” Lieser said. “I had to sit back for a little bit and think about things. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Drew called me literally five minutes before the interview. I had a pro contract waiting for me and I knew what I wanted to do.” Lieser feels like he has a lot to prove after not being drafted. He had a solid four-year career at St. Cloud State, which included throwing three no-hitters. Not every college pitcher can say they did that. He’s headed to Phoenix on Monday to begin rookie camp with the Brewers. Before he signed with the Brewers, he was playing amateur ball with Lake Henry to begin the summer. His dad is the manager for the Lakers this season. “I’m going in with the mentality that I have a lot to prove,” he said. “I’m just saying the heck with it. Let’s move on to the next stage and show the Brewers that I can pitch. I’m going to give my best and that’s what I’m hoping they see.” Lieser, 23, admits he’s a little nervous about beginning his professional career. “A little bit. But it’s probably more excitement than nerves,” he said. “Everybody has those early nerves when you start something new. I’m leaving for Arizona and I don’t know anyone on the team or any coaches. I’m looking forward to the challenge. “I’ll miss my friends and family. I love Central Minnesota. I’ll be back here in the offseason.” Lieser doesn’t know much about the Brewers, except that they’re the Twins’ National League rival. It didn’t matter who he ended up playing for. He’s just grateful he got a chance at making it with an MLB team. He’s also hoping to eventually run into Minnesota State-Mankato pitcher Harvey Martin, who signed a free-agent deal with the Brewers the same day as him. “I’m looking forward to this,” he said. “I would have drafted Jason Hoppe and Harvey Martin if I had had the chance. They’re both so good. I know Harvey was probably disappointed he didn’t get drafted, the same as I was. “But I think the Brewers got two pretty good pitchers from the NSIC (Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference).”

Nothing formal regarding Mike Fiers (broken forearm) yet, but catcher Dayton Buller was activated from the DL after Caleb Gindl's callup to fill the open AAA spot.

Via the Tennessean and the Sounds: Playing ball, being dad is tough doubleheader Happy Father's Day!

Lookouts Homers Down Stars By Alex Cohen / Huntsville Stars For the second night in a row, the Huntsville Stars offense was held to a single run, losing to the Chattanooga Lookouts by a score of 8-1 on Saturday at Joe Davis Stadium. Chattanooga got the scoring started first when Stars starting pitcher Taylor Jungmann served up a solo homer to second baseman Rafael Ynoa to put the Lookouts up 1-0. In the bottom half of the third, however, the Stars were able to even things up. To leadoff the inning, outfielder Kentrail Davis doubled off of Chattanooga starting pitcher Andres Santiago (W, 5-3). After advancing to third on a groundout from first baseman Jason Rogers, Davis then scored on a wild pitch from Santiago to tie up the game at one. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Stars would get. After allowing three of the first four batters of the inning to reach base and walking in a runner with the bases-loaded in the top of the fifth inning, Jungmann was taken out of the ballgame with one out in favor of lefty Dan Meadows with the Stars down 2-1. Meadows then served up a grand-slam homer to pinch-hitter Brian Cavazos-Galvez on his first pitch to put the Lookouts up for good. With the loss, Jungmann fell to 7-6 on the year after giving up five runs and five hits in 5.1 innings of work. The outing snaps a streak of four straight wins for Jungmann and seven straight quality starts. Chattanooga tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning against righty Eric Marzec and a solo homer from pinch-hitter Jan Vasquez in the ninth off of reliever Frankie De La Cruz. On offense, the Stars were held to just one run for the second consecutive game. Aside from a two-hit night from Davis, the only other hits for Huntsville were infield singles by outfielder Brock Kjeldgaard and shortstop Hector Gomez. On Sunday, the Stars will try to even up the series with Lookouts as the two teams will play game four of a five-game series at Joe Davis Stadium. Huntsville will send RHP Arcenio Leon (1-5, 7.05 ERA) to the bump as Chattanooga will counter with RHP Duke Von Schmann (1-0, 1.50 ERA). First pitch is at 4:03 CT.

Impressive. Actually for me, the item to note is the excellent work done by the Isotopes announcer (Josh Suchon, I believe) -- not an easy thing to describe working solo on radio. Composed while painting the picture well for those not in the stands, and then providing game background from earlier to put the brawl in context. Kudos.

Impressive. Actually for me, the item to note is the excellent work done by the Isotopes announcer (Josh Suchon, I believe) -- not an easy thing to describe working solo on radio. Composed while painting the picture well for those not in the stands, and then providing game background from earlier to put the brawl in context.

Brief Huntsville video highlights