Jim Goulart

Misc. Huntsville musings: Remember Hunter Morris' nightmarish defensive season at first base at Brevard last year? Only one error thus far in 2012. Third base has been tough to fill after Andy Gonzalez' promotion to AAA; Domnit Bolivar (.450 OPS in 101 AB's) and Matt Cline (.389 OPS in 85 AB's) are splitting time there and are struggling defensively as well. Thornburg - Heckathorn - Stinson - Anundsen - Burgos gives the Stars a pretty good chance every night. What was the point of making a paper transaction back on April 25th to place RHP Nick Bucci on the Stars' roster (DL)? That was a big tease, still waiting on Nick. How's Brock Kjeldgaard's torn thumb ligament (April 23rd), not to mention Cody Scarpetta's ailing elbow? Khris Davis' calf? Is RHP Andre Lamontagne going to miss a second season?

Stars Capitalize on Errors; Beat M-Braves 6-2 HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - A struggling Huntsville Stars offense was sparked by four Mississippi Braves errors, leading to three runs in the fourth inning and a 6-2 victory on Saturday night to open up a six-game series at Joe Davis Stadium. In the first inning, the M-Braves capitalized off of some early struggles from Stars starter Josh Stinson. After Stinson hit two of the first three batters he faced, center fielder Todd Cunningham singled home Phil Gosselin to give Mississippi an early 1-0 lead. Finally, in the third inning, the Stars offense began to wake up. Catcher Adam Weisenburger doubled to lead off the inning for his first ever Double-A hit. He scored on a two-out RBI double by center fielder Josh Prince to tie up the game at 1-1. Just one inning later, Huntsville became the beneficiaries of some defensive miscues by the Braves. Following a leadoff double by second baseman Scooter Gennett, an error by first basemen Ian Gac on a Hunter Morris grounder allowed Gennett to score to give the Stars a 2-1 lead. A single by Tommy Manzella put runners at first and second. Another error by Gac on a Kentrail Davis grounder loaded the bases. After a sacrifice fly by Weisenburger scored Morris to make the score 3-1, a throwing error by catcher Christian Bethancourt on a stolen base attempt by Davis plated Manzella from third to increase the Stars lead to 4-1. That was plenty of run support for the Stars pitching. Stinson improved to 7-2 on the season after giving up just two runs (one earned) while scattering four hits over six innings. In addition to Stinson, reliever Jesus Sanchez threw two scoreless innings and RHP Brandon Kintzler pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the victory for the Stars. On offense, the Stars were led by Gennett, who went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Morris also added some run support, launching a two-run home run in the eighth inning off of Braves RHP Mark Lamm. For Morris, the round tripper was his team-leading fourth of the season. For Mississippi, Zeke Spruill took the loss, falling to 5-5 on the year after giving up four runs (two earned) on just four hits in seven innings of work. The Braves scored their only other run of the game on a RBI single by Gac in the fifth inning. On Sunday, the Stars and M-Braves will play a doubleheader as part of a rescheduled game from a rainout earlier this season. First pitch for game one is at 2:03 PM, with game two beginning approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of the first game.

Periard was released by Milwaukee in May of 2011, spent the remainder of 2011 in Jack Z.'s Seattle's system (on paper only), as he never pitched for them (career stats). Now out of baseball. This is Evan Anundsen's 7th year in the system (career stats), meaning he's eligible for minor league free agency at the end of this season. He only just turned 24 this past May, so with a solid season he should have no shortage of organizations willing to sign him. If the Brewers choose, they could add him to their 40-man roster in order to retain him, or could reach out to him with an offer to sign a one-year minor league contract for 2013.

Latest Post-Crescent Q&A Profile -- closer Seth Harvey

Maryvale Brewer Danny Keller has tweeted out several of his "tape creation" photos in the past, this one's pretty impressive (click link). http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FnWzaiJnL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

From Huntsville: Happy 5-0… Today, Stars manager Darnell Coles turns 50 years old. The former big leaguer is currently serving the final game of a three-game suspension. *** Nashville Media Notes LACKING QUALITY: Nashville starting pitchers have thrown only one quality start in the last 12 games (Mark Rogers on May 26). *** Wisconsin Media Notes

2008 5th round RHP Maverick Lasker, who has been out with a lower back injury, indicates he'll be on a Maryvale mound soon *** The Manatees give us a corrected doubleheader pitching matchup menu for tonight. Big-time opener in battle of first-rounders. *** Rattler Radio Blog: Combined Nine after Friday and before Saturday Yes, an entertaining cheerleader death stare to begin...

Be sure to see this thread for a thorough update on the DSL roster status and news regarding this year's squad (and last year's DSL'ers).

The DSL Summer Season begins today, Saturday, June 2nd. *** Two players who saw action in Maryvale in 2011 are on the DSL roster to begin 2012, INF Alejandro Machado and 6'6", 230 lb. Hitaniel Arias, the former high-profile signee who is converting to pitcher this year, as we told you earlier this spring. *** LHP Brandol Perez, listed as a November 2011 signing in this year's Brewers media guide and discussed in detail by us here, is not listed on the updated DSL roster as of yet. Keep in mind that the online MiLB.com DSL roster may update after today's first official game is in the books. *** Four new signees that were discussed in this earlier post are now listed on the DSL roster. *** 20-year-old RHP Elvis Mora has been placed on the reserve list, according to the DSL transaction page, updated on Friday 6/1. From MiLB.com -- Reserve list: This is now a little-used term, primarily seen in the Mexican League where teams have a 35-man roster but only 30 players may be active per game, so the other five players are technically on the reserve list. (And actually, MiLB.com also lists DSL roster limits at 35, it doesn't appear the Brewers are quite there.) *** RHP Osmel Perez is listed as on the restricted list. From MiLB.com - The Restricted List is used for many reasons. A team can request that a player be placed on the restricted list if that player has left the team without a valid reason, or has announced his intention to retire but is still of an age or level of skill that could allow him to return to professional baseball in the future. In effect, the team states that it retains rights to the player if and when he becomes active again. A player on the restricted list cannot be signed by another team unless compensation is paid to the team who placed him on the list. The list is honored throughout organized baseball and in leagues that have working agreements to respect the contracts of organized baseball, such as Nippon Pro Baseball. The list is most often used today when a player retires at a young age without receiving his unconditional release. If he decides to return to playing, he must do so with his last team, unless a trade or other deal can be worked out. The Restricted List is also for players who are suspended because of failure to adhere to the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. It also may be used if a player violates contact terms or fails to appear for a team or camp assignment. An example of the latter is a foreign player who cannot join his team because of visa problems. *** Two players will open the 2012 season on the DL with knee injuries, according to the linked-above DSL transaction page. For one, however, that may be a misprint, as the Brewers media guide indicated that 18-year-old RHP Pedro Peguero underwent surgery to repair a stress fracture in his right elbow January 26th. The other player, 3B Juan De Leon, did undergo ACL surgery on his left knee in January. *** There are ten players not listed on the DSL Brewers roster who are still with the organization. These players are currently in Maryvale preparing for their first stateside activity. Technically, four of the players are currently listed on the Helena roster and not the Maryvale roster, perhaps indicating the Brewers' brass believes they are more advanced. This does not mean they will be placed there when the summer short seasons begin in a couple of weeks. We'll see... From the current Helena "paper" roster: SS Orlando Arcia, out for the 2012 regular season with a fractured ankle (may be back for fall instructionals) RHP Joel Dicent OF Dionis Hinojosa OF Jose Pena From the current Maryvale "paper" roster: RHP Juan Francisco RHP Leonard Lorenzo RHP Carlos Sosa C Deivi Mejia 2B Yonki Hernandez OF Raul Mondesi, Jr. The easiest way for you to visit the past stat lines for these players is to click on their name via the Helena and/or Maryvale MiLB.com roster pages. We will point out that when you look at those two roster pages, you will see names of released players like Seth Lintz and several other released players that had been previously mentioned here. Those two pages get cleaned up once the summer leagues begin. *** Finally, there are an additional four players making their pro debut with the DSL Brewers this year. There are others we linked to earlier, but these four were signed just within the last two months, after the Brewers 2012 media guide went to press. RHP Victor Diaz, 6'1", 170, a Venezuelan who will turn 19 in October RHP Junior Flores, 6'1", 175, a Venezuelan who will turn 18 in October RHP Melvin Tejada, 6'3", 175, a Dominican native who turned 17 last January C Kevin Martinez, a 5'10", 180 lb. catcher out of Venezuela, who also just turned 17 last January Given that the Brewers potential success ratio, just on the peripheral, seems to have been more fruitful in Venezuela than the D.R. in recent years, that seems like a good crop to follow. *** The Brewerfan Player Index and Transaction Archive have been updated to reflect all these updates.

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.

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

Saturday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Claudio Vargas at home vs. New Orleans (Marlins), 6:20 PM pre-game, 6:35 gametime 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 Josh Stinson at home vs. Mississippi (Braves), 6:28 PM pre-game, 6:43 gametime 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's Taylor Jungmann and Brooks Hall in a doubleheader at home vs. Bradenton (Pirates), 4:05 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Bradenton 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 Beloit (Twins), 6:40 PM pre-game, 7:00 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: at home vs. the DSL Braves in the season opener, 9:30 AM, although game data won't be available until late afternoon at the earliest

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

Video from Huntsville's Wednesday game: Josh Prince steals his third base of the game in the Stars' 4-1 loss to the Tennessee Smokies

Q&A: Nashville Sounds catcher Jason Jaramillo talks about time at OSU Former OSU All-American still views the Cowboys as a national baseball power

Stars now 3.5 games back, three in the loss column, with 15 games remaining in the first half. They do not play first-place Jackson (Mariners) in that span.

Stars Bats Silenced in Rubber Match With Smokies, 2-1 KODAK, Tenn. - A night after only being able to manage one run on two hits, the Huntsville Stars were once again limited to one run on six hits, losing the rubber match of a five-game series by a score of 2-1 on Friday Night at Smokies Park. Just like Thursday night, the game began as a pitchers duel, this time between Stars RHP Hiram Burgos and Smokies RHP Trey McNutt. Both teams were unable to manage a run in the first five innings in the ballgame. In the sixth inning, it was the Stars that broke out to the initial lead. After center fielder Josh Prince singled, shortstop Tommy Manzella continued his hot hitting with an RBI double that scored Prince from first to make the score 1-0. For Manzella, the RBI was his 6th of the series. Burgos was chased from the game with a high pitch count after five innings of six-hit scoreless baseball. The Smokies were able to get to Huntsville RHP Santo Manzanillo. Tennessee led off the inning with back-to-back singles from outfielders Jim Adduci and Rebel Ridling. Then, after advancing to third on a single by Matt Cerda, Adduci scored on a wild pitch from Manzanillo to tie the game up at one apiece. The same at-bat, Mike Burgess doubled home Cerda to give the Smokies the lead for good. Through the rest of the game, the Stars offense was shut down by reliever Alberto Cabrera for two innings, and then RHP Marcus Hatley in the ninth to notch his second save of the season. The Stars will return home on Saturday to open up a six-game series against the Mississippi Braves at Joe Davis Stadium. First pitch is at 6:43 CT.

The Manatee auction link is now live.

Audio from OKC — “Mike (McClendon) at the Mic” Jeff Hem's note: Tonight’s interview from Oklahoma City is with Sounds reliever Mike McClendon, who has allowed just one earned run in his last nine innings as a Sound and recently tossed 2 2/3 shutout innings during a call-up for the Brewers while they were in Arizona. The injury-laden Brewers have called on McClendon twice already this season, and the right-handed ‘pen hurler nearly made the Brewers’ major league roster out of Spring Training. He was sent down a few days ago when the Brewers needed to call up Mike Fiers to start last Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Huntsville Media Notes

Breakdown of Florida State League North Division All-Star Team: Dunedin (Blue Jays) - 6 Daytona (Cubs) - 5 Lakeland (Tigers) - 4 Clearwater (Phillies) - 3 Tampa (Yankees) - 3 Brevard County (Brewers) - 1, RHP Jimmy Nelson

From Brevard: Tonight's game has been postponed due to inclement weather. The Manatees and Marauders will play two tomorrow at 5:05 PM (4:05 Central).

Reminder from the Manatees -- sweet jersey auction (will ba available for bid as of 4:00 PM Central today, Friday) *** Fans, don't forget that the Manatees will be wearing beach jerseys both tonight and tomorrow for Beachside Weekend! The jerseys will be auctioned off online at manatees.milbauctions.com and all proceeds from the auction will go to benefit Taylor 4 Teens. The auction will begin at 5:00 p.m. ET today and end on Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. ET (10:59 CT).

Getting To Know The 2012 Sounds: Manager Mike Guerrero Favorite MLB Teams: Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees Want a mulligan on that answer, Mike? Some of your bosses are reading...