Jim Goulart

You won't have trouble locating Brewers links regarding the signing of 1st round high school catcher Clint Coulter, and Adam M. indicates via Twitter that Coulter will begin his pro career with the Maryvale Brewers.

Via Adam McClavy: Brewers 25th rounder Lance Roenicke, son of the skipper, signed yesterday & will report to Helena after finals at UCSB.

Here's WSSP's audio interview with RHP Eric Semmelhack, the 12th round University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee product. Fun interview, we learn that he'll be flying directly to Helena -- no Maryvale.

From Chris Mehring: Roster moves for the TimberRattlers: IF Carlos George to the DL (retroactive to June 7). OF Ben McMahan activated for tonight.

Wisconsin Media Notes

His friends in the organization may want to know that RHP Bradley Blanks, released from the AA Huntsville roster just days ago, found work with the Laredo (TX) Lemurs of the independent American Association (yes, that's been the name of an indy league for a few years now -- see above post on another version of the "AA"). I think the best part of any indy update has to be the team name.

FYI: Helena's season begins Monday June 18th at home vs. Great Falls Maryvale's season begins Thursday June 21st at home vs. the Dodgers' kids

It's so obvious, and I'm not the first to suggest this. Look at the PCL standings, and see just how easy it would be to create a third AAA league representing the cross section of the country. Then you could schedule "inter-league" games with International or Pacific Coast League teams to diversify a bit. Is there an ivory tower for the PCL League office that just won't abdicate power or something? Ridiculous, as recently as 1997 we had this, it was called the American Association. C'mon, Bud!

Nashville Media Notes *** Frequent flying affects Sounds' record by Greg Sullivan, The Tennessean While the Nashville Sounds have been an average team at home this season, road games have been a problem. Nashville was a league-worst 8-23 in road games after Thursday night’s series-opening 5-4 loss at Iowa, compared to 14-14 at home. Sounds outfielder Corey Patterson, who has spent parts of 12 seasons in the major leagues, said the travel realities of the Pacific Coast League could be part of the disparity. Unlike major-league teams that typically use charter flights, Triple-A teams generally fly commercially, and the Sounds are the eastern-most of the PCL’s 16 clubs. “I don’t really like to make excuses because it’s not just our team, it’s all of them,” Patterson said. “But getting up at 3 in the morning and traveling and playing in the same day. ... Sometimes it takes us a day, maybe two days to catch up. And we’re probably one of the teams that is in an unfortunate situation travel-wise (due to distance).” Aside from Memphis, none of Nashville’s opponents is close. The Sounds have already visited Albuquerque, Tucson and Las Vegas this season. Doubleheader times two: The Sounds will play four games in two days beginning with today’s doubleheader at Iowa because of a pair of rainouts in late April. The back-to-back doubleheaders are part of an unusual six-game, four-day series. “We don’t go back to Iowa (this year) and the last time we were there we got rained out twice and they don’t want to lose the games,” Sounds Manager Mike Guerrero said. “I think the starters are going to have to go deeper (over the two days) and we’re going to have to pitch the late games with whoever is left.” Who’s in left? It’s only June, but the Sounds have already used 10 players in left field going into Thursday’s game — Erick Almonte, Jordan Brown, Brooks Conrad, Eric Farris, Jay Gibbons, Caleb Gindl, Edwin Maysonet, Patterson, Logan Schafer and Hainley Statia. All but Statia had started at least one game at the position. Nashville used eight left fielders last season.

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.

Nice -- the Stars gained a game in the loss column when Jackson lost last night. Three back in the loss column, ten games remaining (nine for Jackson). Go Huntsville!

We have our first high school signee -- 13th round: Alan Sharkey, 1B, Coral Springs (FL) High School His Tweet

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern 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

Follow Friday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Game One Nashville Game Two Huntsville Game One Huntsville Game Two Brevard County Wisconsin

Bethany’s Sermo Drafted By Milwaukee Brewers Bethany College baseball player Jose Sermo was drafted in the 35th round of the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. The draft concluded on Wednesday as 27 NAIA programs had players drafted by 23 of MLB’s 30 clubs. In total, 42 NAIA student-athletes were selected during the three-day, 40-round event. Bethany College is the only school in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference with a baseball player drafted. Sermo, a junior short stop from Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, transferred to Bethany from Yakima Valley Community College in August 2011. Prior to college, he attended Ileana de Gracia Vega Alta High School in Puerto Rico. While at Bethany, Sermo earned first-team all-KCAC honors. He is ranked no. 11 in the NAIA in total triples (6) and no. 11 in triples per game (0.128). Sermo’s season batting average was .363. Head Baseball Coach Jeremy Cantrell says, “This is a great recognition of Jose’s persistence and work ethic. Jose has been a pleasure to work. Although this journey is going to be even more difficult than the previous one, Jose is prepared because of the quality traits he already possesses.” Sermo worked out all winter with the Bethany indoor track team. Due to eligibility issues he was never able to compete. Cantrell credits Head Track Coach Robert Spies for his part in having Sermo in great physical shape for the baseball season. Sermo also participated in an invitation-only workout with the Kansas City Royals on May 31. Sermo is the second Bethany baseball player in four years to get drafted by the MLB. In 2010, Aaron Larsen was drafted in the 34th round by the Oakland Athletics. http://salinapost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/jose_sermo_176_mba.jpg

Friday's Daily Menu: TGIF! All times are Central Nashville: RHP's Claudio Vargas and Donovan Hand in a doubleheader at Iowa (Cubs), 4:50 PM pre-game, 5:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the new 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). We imagine the audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP's Josh Stinson and Evan Anundsen in a doubleheader at Mobile (Diamondbacks), 4:50 PM pre-game, 5:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page I-Phone friendly audio link Alex Cohen is the new play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. It's fantastic that Huntsville is returning to what will be a traditional broadcast format this year. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. MiLB.TV subsciption note: Huntsville road games in four locales (Mississippi, Tennessee, Jacksonville and Pensacola) will be broadcast. ********** Brevard County: RHP Taylor Jungmann at Jupiter (Marlins), 5:35 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Jupiter feed from the MiLB main audio page Once again this season, Brevard does not have its own audio coverage. It appears two teams in the Manatees North Division (within which the majority of games are played) have audio, and all six teams in the South Division have audio (at least for their home games), so there will be opportunities to listen to approx. 70% or Brevard's games this season, just all from the opponent's perspective. There are no Florida State League games on MiLB.TV this year. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Matt Miller at home vs. Clinton (Mariners), 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. MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; Wisconsin is one of only two (Great Lakes) Midwest League clubs that have all their home games available via MiLB.TV; Chris' call provides the audio. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, all Timber Rattlers home games, and 24 Stars' road games (one Helena series this summer, too). ********** DSL Brewers: Idle

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OnMilwaukee.com: Brewers make a dream come true for UWM pitcher Semmelhack

New Sounds could be a hit Gibbons, Brown bring offense needed power by Greg Sullivan, The Tennessean New Sounds slugger Jay Gibbons brings Nashville a big bat that includes more than 100 major-league homers. Former International League batting champion Jordan Brown, who like Gibbons joined the Sounds in May, already has seen his lumber begin to heat up. The two pickups share plenty of similarities, including the belief they can help Nashville’s scuffling lineup turn itself around. “We’ve got a lot of good hitters. It just seems like the few days I’ve been here we just haven’t put it together all at once,” said Gibbons, 35, who was called up from Double-A Huntsville on May 28. Heading into Thursday’s series opener at Iowa, Nashville was last in the 16-team Pacific Coast League in hits (487) and runs (206), 15th in homers (37) and 14th in batting average (.254). Gibbons hit 127 home runs in parts of nine big-league seasons with the Orioles (2001-07) and the Dodgers (2010-11). “I saw (Brown) play a little bit last year,” Gibbons said. “He is a lot like me as a player. Left-handed, has some pop and can play first and (left and right field). Just the few days that I’ve been here he’s been the one that’s been hitting the most. I’ve been really impressed.” Brown is hitting .315, despite getting off to a slow start after joining the team on May 3. Brown started this season in the Mexican League after he was released by the Astros on the final day of spring training. He gave the Sounds’ offense a big boost last year, hitting .317 after arriving in midseason. The 28-year-old, who grew his hair out long during the offseason, smiled at comparisons to Gibbons, who is 35. “He’s been a guy that’s been a 20-plus home run guy in the big leagues (three times). If we were the same guy I would have a few more zeroes in my bank account,” said Brown, who made it to the majors for 26 games with the Indians in 2010. “A player like (Gibbons) is certainly something you hope for whenever you have a struggling offense.” Gibbons has been playing mostly left field and Brown has played first base in an effort to get both bats in the lineup. “We need to produce some runs,” Sounds manager Mike Guerrero said. “I think both of them have already proven themselves. We’re hoping that they pick up the slack for us since (Brooks) Conrad was called up.” Conrad was leading the Sounds with a .405 average and 10 home runs in 74 at-bats when he was called up to the Brewers for the second time this season. That cleared the way for Gibbons’ promotion from Double-A Huntsville, where he was hitting .316. “My role is going to be to drive in runs,” Gibbons said. “I know when Conrad was here he knocked the cover off the ball. I just hope I can fill (the void) a little bit.” He is hitting .118 in seven games with the Sounds. Gibbons was released from the Orioles after being named in the 2007 Mitchell Report for using performance-enhancing drugs. Now he will try to reach the big leagues via Nashville for the second time. He hit .312 in 29 games with the Sounds in 2008 and eventually made it back to the majors with the Dodgers in 2010. Last season, Gibbons started in the majors but battled complications from preseason vision correction surgery. He began to hit well in Triple-A following another eye surgery in June, finishing the year in Albuquerque hitting .300, but he did not get called up. “I still think I can (reach the majors) and that’s why I put the uniform on,” Gibbons said. “Yeah, I have been through this route before and I’m comfortable with doing this and trying to re-prove myself. “I feel like, as an older player, you have to do that every year because time is really not on our side, baseball-wise, and you’ve got to keep proving you can play.” Sounds players Jay Gibbons and Jordan Brown (Photo by DIPTI VAIDYA, THE TENNESSEAN) http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20120608&Category=SPORTS04&ArtNo=306080061&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&New-Sounds-could-hit

We won't put him on the board quite yet, but it's just a formality. Read about Harvard LHP Brent Suter via this link.

We're going to place this young man in the signed category -- Link to article, text pasted below -- Former St. Cloud State pitcher Nick Anderson was chosen in the 32nd round by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 995th overall selection. Anderson transferred to Mayville (N.D.) State for his senior year after spending his first three years at SCSU. Anderson went 2-2 with a 3.27 ERA in eight starts for Mayville this spring. Anderson was working on his sister’s car at his parent’s home in Brainerd when he found out the news. “My mom and my sister came running out of the house and they were just frantic. I figured it out pretty fast after that,” Anderson said. I got a call a few minutes later from the scout. I just stood their in shock. “My mom was crying and shaking. I didn’t know what to do. I’m just glad I’m getting the opportunity.” Anderson knew the Brewers were probably going to take him. He worked out at Miller Park last week with Milwaukee scout Drew Anderson. “They were giving me the most attention,” Anderson said. “That was the only workout I did for a team. After I went to Milwaukee, I really wanted to go there.” Anderson said he expected to sign with Milwaukee as soon as Wednesday evening. Once Anderson signs his contract, he’ll be assigned to rookie ball.

This morning's BrewCrewBall "Today in Brewers History" (please read for context) reminded me to link to the unquestioned Greatest, Most Entertaining Brewerfan Game Thread Ever. A Tuesday night, West Coast game, 17 innings, four hours and 46 minutes, a Brewers victory -- awesome. Living on the East Coast, I still remember staying up for every pitch and listening to Jim Powell comment on the thread, which was brought to his attention, as he relayed how impressed he was with the number of people who stayed with this great contest. Needless to say, a few of us struggled at work or the classroom the following morning. Be sure to check out the remarkable work of our then-staffer "Batman" on this game. Batman left us without nary saying goodbye, but is still doing well, from what the web tells me. He had to cold turkey us, but man, was he prolific while on board.

More on 16th round 1B Adam Giacalone, including a local news video / audio interview report

Brewers land Otterman in MLB draft By John Kurucz, Coquitlam Now (British Columbia, Canada) With the Milwaukee Brewers now in command of his future, Coquitlam's David Otterman will now look to return the favour. Taken in the seventh round - 245th overall - by the Brew Crew on Tuesday, Otterman and those around him know that velocity and arm strength can only get you so far. Now, it's all about location, location, location. "By no means is my delivery perfect," Otterman told The NOW Wednesday. "There are some things in there that I have to clean up, and if I can get my velocity up a few more miles an hour and the command is there, then the results should come." Listed at six-foot-three, the left-handed UBC product was the highest B.C.-born player taken in this week's Major League Baseball draft. As of Sunday, Otterman will report to Helena, Montana, where he'll suit up with the Helena Brewers, the MLB club's advanced rookie team that plays out of the Appalachian League. "I didn't really have any idea going into the draft where the Brewers had me or anything like that," Otterman said. "When they took me I was shocked. It was crazy." That's not to suggest the Brew Crew didn't have a good look at the life-long Coquitlam minor baseball product. Otterman attended a one-day, pre-draft workout in the Wisconsin city last week and was suitably impressed by what life in the bigs could look like. "As far as the experience went, it was incredible. To be able to play at Miller Park, or any big league park like that, is an absolute privilege," he said. "I thought I threw the ball really well there, and obviously they did too." That he threw the ball really well in his third year at UBC helped get the scouts attention, as Otterman struck out 69 batters while posting a 5-4 record. His earned run average sat at 2.96, while he kept opposing batters to a .196 batting average. In fact, it was only during this past season that at least one member of his family thought Otterman's big-league aspirations would come to fruition. His stepfather Steve recalled a game in May during which Otterman's advisor left little to the imagination as it pertained to David's future. "In his Texas drawl, he said to us 'There's not much there not to like. I want to get this boy into a warm climate where I can really see how he can throw,'" Steven recalled. "At that moment I knew things were getting pretty serious. We are just over the moon about David being drafted." UBC coach Terry McKaig had a front row seat as the scouts routinely came to get a look at Otterman, particularly over the course of the most recently completed campaign. However, drawing a line between what was needed in the here and now, and what's looked at for future success, proved to be a balancing act for McKaig's staff. "The tough thing for a guy like David this year was that every time out, there were numerous, numerous scouts in attendance. The No. 1 they're there to see is what their radar gun says, so David is forced to throw as hard as he can almost every single pitch. Well, that's not always the recipe for success in terms of throwing where it's supposed to go. So you're kind of caught in between these factors." A life-long Coquitlam resident, Otterman came up through Coquitlam Minor Baseball before making the jump to the Coquitlam Reds of the B.C. Premier Baseball League for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. "He was a dominant left-handed pitcher in the league," said Reds manager Kyle Williams, who was still serving as the club's assistant during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. "He threw hard, he had a really curve ball and he was wild. His pitch count was always up, but my understanding is that he's really fixed that at UBC. He has learned to throw strikes and it's taking him to the next level. Not only did Otterman leave his mark on the league during those two years, he also left his name in the club's record books: his 11 wins in 2008 sees him tied for the third most wins in a season in franchise history. "David's come right up through Coquitlam - he's a true Coquitlam kid," Williams said. "Right from the days at Mackin Yard in little league and all the way through to us, so it's a really good to see a Coquitlam kid getting to the next level because of the programs in this city."

Kyle from BrewCrewBall made use of his press credentials to speak with Timber Rattlers Manager Matt Erickson, Greg Hopkins, Seth Harvey, and filed a detailed report.