Jim Goulart

AUDIO via Friday's Sky Sox game -- the weekly informative visit with Manager Rick Sweet

Want to thank WV Brew, willing to return to Link Report duty with the DSL, thanks so much! Just something to watch, normally a 4th inning exit like this means an injury on the way to first base or a removal after venting some disappointment with the at-bat. DSL Brewers Bottom of the 3rd Jose Pena singles on a ground ball to pitcher Felix Taveras. Luis Manon grounds out, first baseman Jose Cabello to pitcher Felix Taveras. Jose Pena to 2nd. Edwin Sano singles on a ground ball to second baseman Luis Aquino. Jose Pena to 3rd. Aaron Familia out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Franklin Sierra. Jose Pena scores. Antonio Perez strikes out swinging. DSL Nationals Top of the 4th Defensive Substitution: Javier Castillo replaces shortstop Luis Manon, batting 1st, playing shortstop.

Jacob Nottingham has hit a rough patch with the Shuckers, 2-for-28 with ten K's.

Manatees' Ponce fans career-high 12 Brewers No. 8 prospect gives up three hits over six scoreless innings By Michael Leboff / MiLB.com In a start in which Brewers No. 8 prospect Cody Ponce set career highs with 12 strikeouts and six scoreless innings, he was most satisfied with the fact that he didn't walk a single batter for the third straight outing. "My goal is to walk the least amount of people I can," he said. "Minimizing walks is something I strive for every time. Some people would say the 12 strikeouts is the best part of my outing, but to me it was the no walks. It's an organizational rule to limit the walks as much as we can." In his seventh start of the season, Ponce allowed three hits on Saturday before Class A Advanced Brevard County fell, to Bradenton, 2-1, in 13 innings at McKechnie Field. It was the second straight scoreless outing for the 2015 second-round pick, who posted five zeros against Dunedin on July 4. "I talked with my catcher, Dustin Houle, and we went with what worked last time," Ponce said. "We established the fastball low and away and low and in. Then we worked off that with my off-speed stuff." After beginning his outing with a 1-2-3 first and working around a single in both the second and the third, Ponce put on a clinic in the fourth and fifth, striking out six straight Marauders. "I felt really strong in the beginning, but as I got deeper, I felt even better and more comfortable," the 22-year-old right-hander said. "We had a lot of trust in my changeup tonight and it served as a good setup pitch when I was behind in the count, and then the slider was the wipeout pitch. I have to give Dustin the credit tonight, I don't think I shook him off one time, and I trust my defense and that makes the strikeouts a lot easier to come by." Ponce was able to work around a leadoff single to get through the sixth for the first time in his career. The Cal Poly Pomona product was efficient, throwing 52 of 73 pitches for strikes. "My goal every night is to go all nine, no matter what," he said. "I think that's every starting pitcher's goal and tonight, six was my limit, and I got through it. I wanted to go one more, but that's the nature of the beast. You always want to keep going." After spending the first two months of the season in extended spring training to recover from forearm fatigue, Ponce made his season debut on June 8. He's pitched to a 3.24 ERA and 1.00 WHIP while fanning 29 and walking three in 26 innings. "I've worked with my teammate, Kodi Medeiros, a lot on living over the zone," he said. "That's what they teach here; we call it living over the fat part of the plate. He's really helped me catch up to these guys and stay on track after I had a little bump in the road with the forearm fatigue."

Chris Mehring confirms that RHP Zack Brown will be RHP Corbin Burnes' tandem partner this evening. Go that DVR set?

Ventura is the TBD for Biloxi tonight. Shuckers currently sporting the 14 pitcher - 11 position player look.

The Sky Sox have placed on LHP Josh Hader on the Temporary Inactive List (Futures Game) -- an allowed common sense ruling by MiLB.

OK then, thanks. Pretty unusual to be in uniform but not formally on the roster, but his activation must be imminent.

From the Transaction Thread -- Ventura is the TBD for Biloxi tonight. *** Also, it's apparent, at least for now, that the Twitterverse tweet we linked to in Friday's report indicating Helena RHP Trey Supak is in Wisconsin, should have indicated one of the other of the promoted Corbin Burnes (from Maryvale) or Zack Brown (from Helena) instead.

The Brewers have released 21-year-old 6'6" 3rd year RHP Starling Duval from the Dominican Summer League squad. Duval was signed for the 2015 season after the Diamondbacks released him after his 2014 rookie season. Duval had last pitched on Tuesday the 5th. His stats, as always with linked player names, are at the link.

Be sure you see the cool photo gallery just linked in our Dominican Summer League thread.

A new Dominican Summer League Brewers photo gallery has been posted (click this link for the full gallery) from action vs. the Angels' kids earlier this week. Unfortunately, the photos aren't captioned, and although we know uniform numbers, nobody turns their backs for the camera here!? Is that Jose Sibrian (12) or Bryan Connell (32) at bat? Included are these two nice shots for Brewers fans who can dream on these young men -- http://www.dominicansummerleague.com/www/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/782016/ILC_5292.JPG http://www.dominicansummerleague.com/www/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/782016/ILC_5290.JPG

Timber Rattlers DVR Alerts (including tonight!) SAT, July 9, vs. Peoria Chiefs, 7:00 PM, MyNew32 TV MON, July 11, vs. Peoria Chiefs, 7:00 PM, TWC SportsChannel

Look for these just prior to the respective game times -- Colorado Springs Media Notes - Linked on the Sky Sox official blog Biloxi Media Notes - Linked on the Shuck Dynasty blog Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog *** STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division AA - Southern League South Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division Pioneer League North Division Arizona League Central Division Dominican Summer League San Pedro Division *** Sortable individual stat pages: Colorado Springs Biloxi Brevard County Wisconsin Helena Maryvale DSL Brewers *** Weather.com: Colorado Springs, CO Pensacola, FL Bradenton, FL Grand Chute, WI Helena, MT Goodyear, AZ San Pedro de Macoris, DR

Follow Saturday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Colorado Springs Biloxi Brevard County Wisconsin Helena Maryvale. AZ MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

Saturday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Colorado Springs: RHP Jorge Lopez at home vs. Iowa (Cubs), 7:30 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Dan Karcher, the longtime play-by-play voice of the Sky Sox is on Twitter @SkySoxKarch; joining him this season is Dan Acheson (@Dan_Acheson) MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Colorado Springs 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. The video of each game is archived online, which is a nice feature. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. NOTE: Notice that on MiLB.TV's page, you can click on "Filter", then "Milwaukee Brewers", and you'll see just the Crew's organizational TV lineup. ********** Biloxi: TBD at Pensacola (Reds), 6:10 PM pre-game, 6:30 gametime Free Live Audio Link Chris Harris is the play-by-play voice of the Shuckers. Follow Chris on Twitter @CHarris731. We'll be linking to his fantastic "Shuck Dynasty" blog. Thaddeus Krzus (@Shucks1stIntern) joins Chris often. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be radio broadcast. MiLB.TV - Eight of the ten Southern League teams telecast their home games, and Biloxi is among them. ********** Brevard County: RHP Cody Ponce at Bradenton (Pirates), 5:30 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link (Bradenton Feed) Unfortunately, the Manatees have dropped their broadcast coverage for 2016. No Florida State League games are available via MiLB.TV. Ten of the 12 Florida State League teams provide audio (some only for home games), we'll do our best to let you know when an opponent's audio is going to be available. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Corbin Burnes at home vs. Peoria (Cardinals), 6:15 PM pre-game, 6:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link 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 - Eight of the 16 Midwest League teams telecast their home games, and Wisconsin, once again, is among them. We'll let you know when a road TV feed is available. NOTE: Thirty-nine (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on local TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (10) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (29) will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and remember to refer to the Rattlers' full TV schedule (scroll to bottom of link) so you can coordinate your DVR activity. ********** Helena: RHP Jordan Desguin at home vs. Missoula (Diamondbacks), 7:50 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link We welcome and look forward to hearing first-year Voice of the H-Crew Craig Durham ([b@CraigMDurham[/b] on Twitter). ********** Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): at the Indians' complex in Goodyear, 9:00 PM gametime; never audio for games in this league ********** DSL Brewers: at home vs. the DSL Nationals, 9:30 AM, although game data won't be available until later in the day We'll link to this Dominican Summer League Brewers' thread as part of the Daily Menu all season to assist you with your familiarity with these young men.

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

Whoa, and RHP Trey Supak as well! SWEET TWEET The Rattler rotation was already killer, these two guys would make a heck of a tandem. We'll update the transaction thread after official announcements later today.

Final: DSL Brewers 19, DSL Angels 2 As noted early in this thread, a ten-run top of the 9th for the boys... DSL Brewers Box Score 19 runs, solid pitching, and clean defense -- winner, winner, chicken dinner... Panamanian 18-year-old RHP Deymar Alvarado with a really pretty five-inning line, the type of effort which allows the training wheels to come off moving forward. One does wonder if in five-six years we'll be linking back to one of these DSL game posts as a breakout star emerges in Miller Park. If not for Alvarado, it'll be another, we'll find out eventually. Finally some pop, seven (!) doubles among the 13 Cerveceritos hits. Drawing ten walks, getting plunked three times, watching seven wild pitches and five Angels' errors aided the cause, too. DSL Brewers Game Log Weather: 85 degrees, sunny. Says that darn nearly every box score, what a weather paradise.

Final: Colorado Springs 15, Iowa 5 Sky Sox Defeat Iowa 15-5 In Rout Sky Sox score early and often to win second straight over I-Cubs By Aaron Cheris / Colorado Springs Sky Sox http://www.milb.com/assets/images/2/2/6/188823226/cuts/07_08_4788sm_pk_p9fhjk7g_ifiyz7v2.jpg Manny Pina led the way with four RBI in the Sky Sox win on Friday. (Paat Kelly photo) Enjoy the read...and this -- Colorado Springs Box Score As with Aaron Hill, veteran free-agent-to-be RHP Blaine Boyer's eventual departure would make room for a well-earned Corey Knebel big league return - giving RHP Jacob Barnes a bit more seasoning could be in the works as well to allow for Corey's call-up. Tough decision on pulling LHP Brent Suter an out for a win-qualifying effort (73 pitches). Would anybody be surprised if Manny Pina and Josmil Pinto were the big league catching tandem next season? At some point you can only factor in the Pacific Coast League effect so much and have to give proper due. Pina reached base five times, Pinto, Kyle Wren, Nate Orf, and Garin Cecchini were all on base four times, Orlando Arcia and Michael Reed thrice. Add that all up, and the Sky Sox had an incredible 29 at-bats with runners in scoring position (11-for-29). Colorado Springs Game Log

Here's another look at the highlight we linked to earlier in this thread --

As also archived in full within our Helena / Maryvale feature thread -- Orimoloye trying to make some MLB history Ryan Collingwood, Helena Independent Record Just two continents are devoid of a major leaguer born on their soil. Frigid and essentially uninhabited Antarctica is an obvious choice. Vast and populous Africa is the other.

PHOTOS at the link Orimoloye trying to make some MLB history Ryan Collingwood, Helena Independent Record Just two continents are devoid of a major leaguer born on their soil. Frigid and essentially uninhabited Antarctica is an obvious choice. Vast and populous Africa is the other. Nigerian-born outfielder Oluwademilade Oluwadamilola Orimoloye -- the 14th-ranked prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers' farm system -- wants to change the former. "Hopefully, I'm the first one to pave the path for (Nigerian baseball players)," said Orimoloye, whose family relocated to Canada when he was 18 months old. Better known by his abbreviated first name, Demi, the 20 year old's developing three-pronged skill set has his foot in the door. His upside has the organization's developmental coaches giddy, reminiscent to that of sizable 2014 second-round pick Monte Harrison, the former Helena Brewer and Nebraska football signee Orimoloye's 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame is akin to a big-college tight end's. He has swift feet to match. Helena Brewers manager Nestor Corridor dubbed him the fastest player in the Pioneer League, having registered a team-high nine steals. Orimoloye's power is evident, having belted three triples, a pair of doubles and a home run in 16 games. Defensively, he has one of the surest arms from his post, typically in left field. "Demi is a very special kid with a power and speed combination that not many people have in this game," Corredor said. "He can change the game with one swing, or by running the bases. He's a really good tools guy. He just needs to learn how to put it all together." Corredor would know, having also managed Orimoloye for the Brewers' Arizona League last summer, just after he was taken in the fourth round of the MLB Draft out of high school in Ottawa, Canada. Orimoloye stole 19 bases in just 33 games in the AZL, adding six home runs, nine doubles and two triples. "He's still pretty raw. He needs to play more games," Corredor said. "Sometimes, we forget these guys are just babies learning how to play this game." He'd have exhausted just two years of collegiate eligibility if he enrolled at the University of Oregon, a program to which he committed in 2014 before opting to take the professional route, netting a $450,000 signing bonus. Orimoloye didn't start playing baseball until he was 10. By 15, though, he already was one of the most decorated prep standouts in Canada and was a member of the country's junior national team. He was a member of his high school's football, basketball and track teams, too, but made it clear in the recruiting process that baseball was his primary sport. When the time came to choose between time in Eugene, Oregon, or take the direct path to MLB-affiliated baseball, he consulted his parents, former Nigerian government employees, and his Canadian national coach. "I just knew I was ready for pro ball," said Orimoloye, the second-ever Nigerian to play MLB-affiliated baseball. "I've been playing against professionals since I was 15." Wande Olabisi was the first Nigerian-born talent to play affiliated ball, selected by the Padres in the 2009 draft before ending his career at the Single A level. A slew of prospects from other African countries played in the minors, but never made it to the bigs. And Orimoloye knows what he has to do if he wants to make history. "I always want to get better, obviously, but I've developed a lot since I was 16 and raw," he said. Now I'm just trying to work on my tools and be consistent every day."

Final: Missoula 13, Helena 4 The Missoula Osprey salvaged a split of the two game series in Helena, pounding out 19 hits including six home runs in a victory over the Brewers on Friday night at Helena's Kindrick Legion Field. *** PHOTOS: James Ridle has taken excellent photos for the Helena Independent Record all season; three more at the link Via the Record -- politely avoiding many of the pitching details Proceeding the Helena Brewers' Pioneer League outing against the Missoula Osprey Friday night, a cache of crowd-pleasing fireworks were launched from Kindrick Legion Field. The Osprey had already set off a few blasts of their own, however, in the form of six home runs, routing the Brewers 13-4 to split the two-game series. Missoula, which tied a franchise record with single-game homers, teed off on the Brewers in the third inning, hitting four homers in the frame -- including a grand slam by Eudy Ramos. Ramos also had a solo homer. The Osprey (10-11) who tallied 19 hits and the Brewers (9-11) had nine. Joantgel Segovia paced the Brewers, going 2 for 3 and was walked twice. Lucas Erceg hit a two-RBI single in the third and Yeraldy Martinez hit a solo homer. The Brewers next play host to the Billings Mustangs at 7:05 PM Saturday (8:05 Central) at Kindrick Legion Field. Helena Box Score Fifth Pioneer League appearance was not positive for RHP Gentry Fortuno, a shocking line given all the success he's had going back to his Maryvale debut last summer, so let's just file this one away for good. Fortuno may be the rare youngster who needs to avoid the strike zone a bit more. RHP Rodrigo Benoit also did not issue a walk, but was more effective over the final four mop-up frames. CF Joantgel Segovia was on base four times, seven other Brewers recorded a single hit. Yerald Martinez walked, and his 5th HR (tied for 2nd most in the Pioneer League) was the H-Crew's lone extra-base hit. The only Brewer without a hit was SS Gilbert Lara, 0-for-5, batting 2nd in the lineup in this one. Yes, Lara did net his first XBH of the season, a double, in his prior game, and we'll remind ourselves that this is his age 18 season, but if some of you are becoming concerned, you'd have some right to be. As for Oluwademilade Oluwadamilola Orimoloye, it's now nine steals in 12 attempts (17 games), and as you may have seen at the photos link above, more on him in a moment... Helena Game Log

Via the Biloxi Sun-Herald -- "“I think (Brandon) Woodruff threw the ball well,’’ Shuckers manager Mike Guerrero said. “The run they scored on him came on an error. “The problem in the game is we need to come up with clutch hits. You have to make good pitches when it counts. They got key hits when it counted and we didn’t.’’ *** VIDEO via WLOX: Biloxi high/lowlights