Jim Goulart

Frosty Microbrews: Road Life Kyle Lobner, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Cool article...

Frosty Microbrews: Road Life Kyle Lobner, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Cool article...

VIDEO: A bit more from Biloxi's loss on Wednesday

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 *** Sortable individual stat pages: Colorado Springs Biloxi Brevard County Wisconsin *** Weather.com: Colorado Springs, CO Biloxi, MS Lakeland, FL Peoria, IL

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

Thursday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Colorado Springs: LHP Sam Freeman at home vs. Omaha (Royals), 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: RHP Javier Salas at home vs. Mississippi (Braves), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:10 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: LHP Clint Terry at Lakeland (Tigers), 5:00 PM gametime Sorry folks, no audio available for this series... 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 Devin Williams at Peoria (Cardinals), 6:40 PM pre-game, 7:00 gametime; expect RHP Jordan Yamamoto to pitch in a tandem role 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.

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AUDIO via MLB.com Tue. 5/31: "Jonathan Lucroy's value off the field is as great as it is on the field. MLB.com's Matt Waymire and Brewers reporter Adam McCalvy spotlight Lucroy's work with Honor Flight, discuss Ryan Braun's status and whether or not Jeremy Jeffress could take Will Smith's spot in the rotation." *** AUDIO via WTMJ Wed. AM 6/1: Jeff Levering *** AUDIO via the Bill Michaels Show Wed. 6/1: Seth Everett *** AUDIO via Brewers.com Wed. 6/1: Lane Grindle's latest version of the "Brewers on Tap" podcast - Blaine Boyer and Kodi Medeiros of the Brevard County Manatees join the podcast this week *** AUDIO via WTMJ Wed. evening 6/1: Brewers VP of Amateur Scouting Ray Montgomery *** AUDIO via WSSP 105.7 FM's Postgame Show Wed. 6/1: Adam McCalvy *** AUDIO via WTMJ Thurs. AM 6/2: David Stearns *** AUDIO via Baseball Prospectus Milwaukee: Their debut podcast *** AUDIO via WSSP 105.7 FM Thurs. AM 6/2: "What is Ryan Braun’s trade value right now? Matt Snyder, from CBS Sports, joins the show to talk some baseball. What other players on the Brewers’ roster will have a high trade value this season?" *** If you are so inclined, the WSSP pre-game show for home games is always chuck-full to the end once you get past the starting lineups and such in the first few minutes of the archive. From the past week, there was a Tue. 5/31 show.

M-Braves win 14-inning marathon over Shuckers at MGM Park Patrick Magee, Biloxi Sun-Herald BILOXI – Mississippi Braves third baseman Carlos Franco ripped a two-run ground rule double to right field in the top of the 14th to break a 2-2 tie and lift the Braves to a 6-2 victory over the Biloxi Shuckers Wednesday night at MGM Park. The Shuckers (30-22) went up 2-0 in the second inning but failed to score a run in the final 12 innings of the game before a crowd of 2,156. The M-Braves (23-29) weren't much better at the plate, stranding a total of 15 runners. But they managed to get to relief pitcher Tristan Archer with four runs in the top of the 14th. Archer (4-4) took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits in one inning out of the bullpen. Willians Astudillo followed Franco's double in the 14th with his own two-run double to set the final margin of victory at four runs. Garrett Cooper paced the Shuckers at the plate, going 4-for-6 with an RBI. The Shuckers stranded a total of 12 runners on Wednesday and failed to take advantage of opportunities late. “It's just baseball,” Cooper said. “You're going to have your ups and downs. Sometimes the hits aren't going to come with runners in scoring position, but you take today. The pitching was great. You just move on to tomorrow.” Both teams ran out of position players entering the 14th inning. Cooper played three different positions Wednesday – left field, right field and first base. “I've never done that,” Cooper said of playing three different positions in one game. “It's baseball. You do anything you can to help the team.” Starting catcher Jacob Nottingham also played multiple positions, moving to first base in extra innings as Rene Garcia moved behind the plate. First baseman Jacob Schrader was 4-of-6 to lead the M-Braves' effort in the batter's box. Shuckers starting pitcher Adrian Houser put in a quality start, but didn't factor into the decision. He allowed one run on seven hits in six innings, striking out six and walking three. Ole Miss product Chris Ellis overcame a bumpy start for the M-Braves to put in a nice outing of his own. He allowed two runs on six hits while striking out six and walking three. The Shuckers had the first four men reach in the bottom of the second – a single by Nick Ramirez, a double by to left by Nottingham, an RBI infield single to shortstop by Cooper and a walk by Nick Shaw. Javier Betancourt then lifted a sacrifice fly to left to bring home Nottingham from third to give the Shuckers a 2-0 lead after two innings. Johan Camargo hit a solo home run in the fifth and Mel Rojas Jr. hit an RBI double in the seventh to tie the game at 2-2 and push the contest into extra innings. Tyler Spurlin, Stephen Kohlscheen and Daniel Tillman combined to throw five scoreless innings in relief Biloxi, but that streak ended with Archer's struggles in the 14th. Right-hander Stephen Janas (3-2) earned the win for Mississippi by throwing two scoreless innings. Right-hander Javier Salas (3-1, 3.79) is set to be the starting pitcher for Biloxi at 7:10 PM on Thursday at MGM Park. Mississippi will counter with left-hander Sean Newcomb, who is 2-2 with a 3.71 ERA.

Final, Game One: Colorado Springs 6, Omaha 5 Final, Game Two: Colorado Springs 5, Omaha 0 Sky Sox Sweep Twin Bill Over Omaha Sky Sox walk-off in game one then throw shutout in game two to sweep doubleheader By Aaron Cheris / Colorado Springs Sky Sox http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/3/8/181638738/cuts/06_1_3089sm_pk_hrv702va_2zphseip.jpg Michael Reed was at the center of the celebration after his walk-off RBI gave the Sky Sox the win in game one. (Paat Kelly photo) Do click the summary for the full details of a very good night... *** Colorado Springs Game One Box Score RHP Hiram Burgos needed 100 pitches to get through five; the catching duo of Pina and Pinto has been ridiculous all season... Colorado Springs Game One Game Log *** Colorado Springs Game Two Box Score Sky Sox batters had 19 hits (three of them doubles) and six walks in the 13 innings of doubleheader at-bats... Colorado Springs Game Two Game Log

Waiting for the Sky Sox summaries, but for now, here's one of Orlando Arcia's five singles (5-for-7, one walk) from the Sky Sox twinbill sweep tonight --

Attendance: 160. Gotta love Lakeland hanging in there all these years in the FSL.

AUDIO via WTMJ's Sports Central Wed. 6/1: Brewers VP of Amateur Scouting Ray Montgomery

The Brewers have made official the promotion of four pitchers to Maryvale from the Dominican Summer League -- 22-year-old RHP Rodrigo Benoit moves up after three DSL seasons, with his most recent being pretty spectacular (2.10 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, although low K totals). 21-year-old RHP Junior Flores has toiled for four seasons in the D.R., and the numbers aren't very pretty, but the Brewers see something that gets him stateside. 23-year-old RHP Juan Diaz got a late start to his pro career, all 42 appearances in his two seasons have been out of the pen. 22-year-old RHP Nattino Diplan (apparently no relation to the Timber Rattlers' Marcos, based on our prior inquiries) has also posted weak numbers over three DSL seasons, but a promotion given the numbers normally indicates faith in a "big arm". *** Three DSL releases just announced: Now a 22-year-old, OF Anderson Jesus posted a .705 OPS last season, his first with the Brewers. Anderson was listed at 6'2, 168, the same as Baseball Reference listed him back when he played for the DSL Rangers in 2011 and 2012. Jesus had been idle (not sure if injury-related) for the prior two seasons. *** Catcher Bismar Nunez turned 21 in January. He posted a very solid .766 line in his first pro season last summer. LH hitting OF Adolfo Morillo spent his age 17 season with the Crew last season (.550 OPS). The interesting thing about the fact these two releases were announced together was how they were each acquired, as posted last April and May -- We posted that earlier in this thread, back in April. Now notice another name on that release list, catcher Bismar Nunez, mentioned in Eddy's note above. Like Morillo, we now learn the Brewers have signed the former Yankee signee Nunez, who never played at all for the Yankees organization. *** For much more on the 2016 DSL roster, see the new thread just posted.

ROSTER: Here is what the Brewers show currently for their DSL squad

We realize one of the bigger questions fans may have is regarding the starting spot for catcher Jose Sibrian, mentioned above, and whether he'll begin his career in the Dominican or stateside, considering he took part in fall instructionals in Arizona. No word on that as of yet.

The Brewers have made official the promotion of four pitchers to Maryvale from the Dominican Summer League -- 22-year-old RHP Rodrigo Benoit moves up after three DSL seasons, with his most recent being pretty spectacular (2.10 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, although low K totals). 21-year-old RHP Junior Flores has toiled for four seasons in the D.R., and the numbers aren't very pretty, but the Brewers see something that gets him stateside. 23-year-old RHP Juan Diaz got a late start to his pro career, all 42 appearances in his two seasons have been out of the pen. 22-year-old RHP Nattino Diplan (apparently no relation to the Timber Rattlers' Marcos, based on our prior inquiries) has also posted weak numbers over three DSL seasons, but a promotion given the numbers normally indicates faith in a "big arm".

Players mentioned for the first time and officially in the fold -- RHP Freisis Adames OF Jose Pena

We'll get a note into the Brewers, shouldn't be too much to worry about, but it's unusual that player pages were created for many new players, but not the three in red above, SS Luis Avila, and the two higher-end bonus signings, Sibrian and Lujano. Avila was in the media guide, Sibrian and Lujano were not.

Here's the March 7th post -- Add yet another -- 22-year-old 6'3", 190 lb. Dominican RHP Miguel Sanchez, as per the Brewers. Turned 22 on New Years' Eve, decidedly late to be making a pro debut -- if he does debut in the Dominican Summer League as expected, he'll be about three years older than the average teammate and/or competitor. It's going to be huge year of turnover on the DSL squad -- latest signing just announced: Dominican RHP Jenri Montas, 19 years old, 6'3", 200 That means a minimum of 17 Latin players will debut in 2016.

Here's a re-post about two other players that were reported on this offseason, but again, didn't make it into the media guide. Each of these players now is listed on their own MiLB.com player page. *** We now learn that Avalo was an $80,000 signing. *** OK Brewers, keep stocking 2016's Dominican Summer League team. Another signing, the latest a 6'2" LH-hitting Dominican outfielder with the awesome name of "Yorki Franco", as per the January 12th transactions on the Brewers' site. This tweet provides a sweet picture --

Top portion here originally posted November 26th -- From the overnight twitterverse December 1st -- LHP Luis Cordero already w/Brewers. Infinite thanks to God for another chance one of our players and scouts Alcides Melendez, Fernando Veracierto and Manny Batista to believe in our players. The Brewers don't have a Venezuelan academy nor field a Venezuelan Summer League team (all the kids go to the Dominican complex), but they have a strong scouting presence there, and in recent seasons, several of the higher-end Latin talents in the system hail from Venezuela, so signings like this are always welcome news. Similar to the other signings listed above, we'll wait on the media guide and/or prospect blurbs from Baseball America if warranted. As for the Brewers' search beyond the Dominican, let's remember that RHP Carlos Luna, who earned Dominican Summer League All-Star MVP (and season-long All-Star honors) was signed out of Panama in July 2013 and broke out in his second pro season. NOTE: The Venezuelan Summer League no longer exists, not enough teams wished to maintain full complexes given the tenuous nature of the government there. *** Those signings didn't make it into the media guide, as the Brewers explained to me, because the age verification and other paperwork was still being vetted this spring. But now those three players have their new MiLB.com roster pages. One signing we had might have fallen through: Harold Chirino, 17 years old (1/12/1998) from Pueblo Nuevo, Venezuela; no details on height, weight, listed as a RHP

OK, on to new news -- Three DSL releases just announced: Now a 22-year-old, OF Anderson Jesus posted a .705 OPS last season, his first with the Brewers. Anderson was listed at 6'2, 168, the same as Baseball Reference listed him back when he played for the DSL Rangers in 2011 and 2012. Jesus had been idle (not sure if injury-related) for the prior two seasons. *** Catcher Bismar Nunez turned 21 in January. He posted a very solid .766 line in his first pro season last summer. LH hitting OF Adolfo Morillo spent his age 17 season with the Crew last season (.550 OPS). The interesting thing about the fact these two releases were announced together was how they were each acquired, as posted last April and May -- We posted that earlier in this thread, back in April. Now notice another name on that release list, catcher Bismar Nunez, mentioned in Eddy's note above. Like Morillo, we now learn the Brewers have signed the former Yankee signee Nunez, who never played at all for the Yankees organization.

Now, regarding those final statistics, a few players were released late in the season or after the season. Among those would be LHP Isaac Silva, C Dilson Fernandez, and RHP Yan De La Cruz (those three briefly reviewed here last August). Veteran catcher Sandy Martinez was eligible for and became a free agency in November. *** This was posted as of December 14th re: OF Yunior Santana -- The Brewers have released 22-year-old OF-turned-RHP Yunior Santana, who struggled to a .495 OPS with the Maryvale Rookie Brewers in 2014. That came after two less than scintillating seasons in the Dominican Summer League. Dominican Summer League Transactions Page For his three-year pro career (as a position player), Santana was successful on 39 of 53 stolen base attempts, including a pretty 16-for-19 effort in Maryvale in 2014, but when the 6'3, 210 lb. Santana was signed in November of 2011 for a $110,000 bonus, power was supposed to be the projectable tool. Baseball America's Ben Badler stated at the time, "raw RH power, athletic, likely a corner OF". So for 2015, Santana was converted to pitcher and returned to the Dominican Summer League, where in his age 21 season, he was now two years older than most of his competition. But that conversion did not go well, as Santana made 12 relief appearances totaling only ten innings, posting a 10.80 ERA, walking 19 while throwing ten wild pitches. It should also be noted that according to a roster provided by the Brewers last spring, Santana was listed at 6'4", 241, for the start of 2015 season. Other members of that international class include OF Carlos Belonis ($550,000), who should reach full-season ball for the first time with the Timber Rattlers in 2015, first baseman Juan Ortiz ($375,000), who has yet to see Helena after four pro seasons but was promising in Maryvale last summer, and the hopeful prize of the group, RHP Miguel Diaz, signed then as a 17-year-old, and now in the Brewers' Pipeline Top 30. *** We posted this as part of the Christmas Eve cuts posting -- 21-year-old Dominican Summer League OF Ariel Estades' release may be a statement about the Brewers' tolerance of indiscretions in the future. That's a fine line to walk, because the organization should hold highly-regarded talents to the same standards as more fringe farmhands. Estatdes was suspended 72 games for steroid use in July. Here's what we posted last March when the Brewers gave him a second chance at affiliated life -- We know the Brewers scout pretty heavily in Puerto Rico, as noted by the number of draft picks used on that island's players during the Melvin era. Milwaukee has signed a soon-to-be 21-year-old CF who the Royals drafted in the 17th round in 2012, but released this past season (on July 1st, only four games played in 2014). Ariel Estades is a LH bat, listed at only 5'11", 150 on his most recent MiLB.com player page. *** From April 13th -- Released were: RHP Yomelbin Almonte - Now 23 years old, we introduced Almonte to you in this post last May. INF Henry Correa - Just entering his age 19 season, the LH bat struggled in his two prior teenage DSL campaigns. INF Roosevert Chal turned 22 earlier this week. In limited action over three years, Chal posted a .525 OPS in 179 AB's. Chal (now listed at 5'10", 158) is another in a long line of undersized young Dominican kids the Brewers have hoped would develop over the years, perhaps both physically and on the field. In the future, size on a middle infielder (along with defensive ability) might give us more hope for progression. From Chal's debut season in 2013: Brad Krause told us about new DSL infielder Roosevert Chal Friday night in his Link Report entry which included a unique DSL scouting video peek (no cage, good contact every pitch).

Time for several Dominican Summer League Brewers updates! First, the DSL schedule has been released. Opening day is Saturday, June 4th. *** Here are the final 2015 DSL Brewers statistics.