Jim Goulart

Denson enjoys All-Star experience Ryan Collingwood, Helena Independent Record http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/c4/9c4ba256-7d64-5d53-80fa-562b91f88c39/55c17bbdf0a56.image.jpg?resize=620%2C413 Helena Brewers designated hitter David Denson tips his hat to the crowd during Tuesday’s Pioneer League vs. Northwest League All-Star Game at Avista Stadium in Spokane. Photo by Josh Randolph, 9inningknowitall.com SPOKANE -- It's been more than 50 years since the Pioneer League has thrown together an assemblage of its finest for an All-Star Game. On Tuesday night at Avista Stadium in Spokane, the rookie league's best locked up with the top ballplayers from the Northwest League, a short-season, Single-A alliance. Some of the top prospects from 14 Major League teams were together at one of the most revered ballparks in the minor leagues. Four days ago, Helena Brewers slugger David Denson figured he'd be enjoying a few days devoid of baseball at the mid-season break as teammates Monte Harrison, Christian Trent and Marcos Diplan earned the All-Star game nod. The outfielder Harrison, the No. 3 prospect in the Brewers' organization, was scratched from the roster after suffering a season-ending leg and ankle injury. Trent (2-1), the strong-armed lefty from Ole Miss, was reportedly shelved by the Brewers coaching staff just before All-Star Game. It appeared as if the steady hurler Diplan (2-1) would be the Brewers' lone representative. But when Ogden Raptors second baseman Willie Calhoun was promoted to the A-ball affiliate Great Lake Loons on Saturday, it was enough for the Pioneer League to fill the spot with Denson, a 15th-round pick in the 2013 MLB Draft currently hitting .279 with nine doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs for the Brewers. "I was actually kind of surprised," Denson said during All-Star team's batting practice preceding the Tuesday night game. "I was coming back from a game, and they just said 'Hey, you're going to all the All-Star Game.' OK, I'm ready to go." Denson and Diplan and some young Brewers employees drove from Helena to Spokane Monday evening before a short trip east to idyllic Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Both the All-Star teams were introduced in a private ceremony at the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course, one of the top-ranked courses in the country. "It was really, really nice," Denson said of the Idaho resort. "Definitely an experience I'll never forget." Denson, who once hit three homers in four games and was named the Pioneer League Player of the Week, didn't participate in Tuesday's home run derby. He did, however, find himself in somewhat of a media frenzy. When word got out that the affable and charismatic Denson -- the same Denson who will dance on a dime and sing the national anthem before his own game -- was on-the-camera-radio gold, the Spokane-area media didn't hesitate. Television. Radio. Print. Bloggers. They all spoke to the Los Angeles-area product. Denson was just happy to be in sizable stadium again. He played in his share when he played at Single-A Wisconsin earlier in the season. "This is definitely one of the best ones I've been in, for sure," Denson said. "Especially for short-season A." He was quick to remind with an ear-to-ear grin which stadium suits his fancy the most -- diminutive Kindrick Legion Field in Helena. "I mean, it's not up there with our ballpark ... " Denson said.

Hader fitting right in with Shuckers Left-hander tosses five one-hit innings in first start in Brewers system By Robert Emrich / MiLB.com http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/5/0/141275750/cuts/19857813538_0d0baac54f_k_47mkn7oi_wm6sfb2v.jpg Josh Hader has allowed one earned run on seven hits over 16 innings in his last four starts. (Shane Roper/MiLB.com) Neither Josh Hader nor the Biloxi Shuckers missed a beat on Tuesday night. The Brewers' No. 15 prospect struck out nine and gave up one hit over five innings as Double-A Biloxi blanked Mobile, 3-0, at Hank Aaron Stadium. Hader (1-0) allowed a one-out single to Jack Reinheimer in the bottom of the first, then walked Socrates Brito before retiring nine in a row. Gabriel Guerrero ended the streak by reaching on a wild third strike, but the 21-year-old left-hander cruised throug the fifth and ended up throwing 55 of 73 pitches for strikes. "Everything was right on point today," Hader said. "Fastball command was up there and I was throwing my slider for strikes early in the count, so that helped out big-time. Some [strikeouts] were fastballs, and the occasional slider." Hader was one of four players shipped by the Astros to the Brewers on July 30 for Carlos Gomez. The Maryland native is no stranger to being traded, having been dealt from the Orioles to the Astros at the 2013 deadline for Bud Norris. "I kind of had an idea that I was going to get traded," Hader said. "We had just got done throwing and I saw our [Corpus Christi] manager [Rodney Linares] on the phone and I was like, 'What's going on?'. Then I saw our pitching coach, Doug Brocail, on the phone and I knew something was going on." Behind Hader, the Shuckers posted their Southern League-leading 12th shutout and third in six games. "It feels good," said Hader, the 2014 California League Pitcher of the Year said. "Obviously, we've got pitchers on the staff and all of them can pitch. Having 12 shutouts is a good thing and it's nice to see that I can help bring another one." Even though he was pitching for a new team in a new league, the basics remained the same for Hader. "It's still 60 foot, six inches," he said. "Still playing baseball, just got to go out there and pitch. Don't feel like there's a difference." Brooks Hall followed Hader with three perfect innings, fanning two, and Damien Magnifico worked around two hits in the ninth for his 14th save. Brewers top prospect Orlando Arcia went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI to extend his hitting streak to seven games, while newly acquired No. 2 prospect Brett Phillips scored twice for the Shuckers. BayBears starter Yoan Lopez (1-5) took the loss after giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts in six innings.

RHP Ariel Pena is starting for the Sky Sox, not Drew Gagnon. If you listened to the Rick Sweet audio interview linked earlier this week, you know the two have swapped rotation and bullpen spots, basically because neither was succeeding in the role they were in, as per Sweet.

AUDIO: OF Domingo Santana via Monday's Colorado Springs pregame show with the Voice of the Sky Sox Dan Karcher

Here's your Brewers Player Development Tweets honoring the organizational Pitcher of the Month and Player of the Month. See if your predictions match up, if you didn't see already.

Via the Brewers -- RHP Brandon Kintzler (left knee) will begin a rehab assignment with the Rookie Arizona Brewers tonight.

Tuesday's Farmhand Birthdays: Biloxi SS Orlando Arcia turns 21. Please act responsibly. Colorado Springs' Hiram Burgos turns 28, while the Sky Sox' fellow RHP Josh Roenicke turns 33. (Only Pete Orr, Kyle Lohse, Francicso Rodriguez, and Neal Cotts are older than Josh in the system).

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.

Look for these just prior to the respective game times -- Colorado Springs Media Notes - Home games only, it's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Multimedia" banner on the Sky Sox' site. Biloxi Media Notes - Linked on the Shuck Dynasty blog Brevard County Media Notes - It's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Multimedia" banner on the Manatees' site. 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 de Macoris *** Sortable individual stat pages: Colorado Springs Biloxi Brevard County Wisconsin Helena Maryvale DSL Brewers *** Weather.com: Colorado Springs, CO Mobile, AL Viera, FL Lansing, MI Spokane, WA Maryvale, AZ San Pedro de Macoris, DR

Follow Tuesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Colorado Springs Biloxi Brevard County Wisconsin Pioneer League vs. Northwest League All-Star Game Maryvale DSL Brewers MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

The Brewers announce the release of soon-to-be 26-year-old RHP Mark Williams from the Brevard roster. The moves makes room for RHP Johnny Hellweg. Williams had been the most recently archived pregame interview by the Manatees Radio staff, as we had linked to on the 30th. Williams was the rare independent league signing who had not had prior affiliated ball experience, also reaching the AA level within less than two years of that signing. He had been suspended for 50 games for an amphetamine violation last August, but obviously the Brewers thought enough of him to bring him back for 2015, so that became a non-factor this year, except for the delayed start to his season (May 1st with the Timber Rattlers). Good luck to him in the future, baseball-wise and otherwise.

Tuesday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Colorado Springs: RHP Drew Gagnon at home vs. Iowa (Cubs), 7:05 PM pre-game, 7:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link We welcome Dan Karcher, who is the longtime play-by-play voice of the Sky Sox; follow him on Twitter @SkySoxKarch 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: LHP Josh Hader makes his Brewers organization debut at Mobile (Diamondbacks), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link We also welcome Chris Harris as the very first play-by-play voice of the Shuckers! Follow Chris on Twitter @CHarris731. We'll be linking to his fantastic "Shuck Dynasty" blog. 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! NOTE: This series in Mobile, is unfortunately, not available via MiLB.TV. ********** Brevard County: RHP Javier Salas at home vs. Tampa (Yankees), 5:05 PM pre-game, 5:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link Dave Walkovic returns as the play-by-play voice of the 'Tees; follow the Brevard broadcast booth staff on Twitter @BCManateesRadio, as all home games and the "commuter" road games are scheduled to be broadcast in 2015. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Eric Hanhold at Lansing (Blue Jays), 5:45 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link - 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. NOTE: Forty-two (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (9) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (34) 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. So, for the $49.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sky Sox games, most Shuckers games, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. *** Helena: It's the inaugural Pioneer League vs. Northwest League All-Star Game in Spokane, WA, gametime 9:00 PM; representing the Brewers are RHP Marcos Diplan, LHP Christian Trent, and 1B/OF David Denson (injured OF Monte Harrison was also honored) Free Live Audio Link NOTE: This game is also available, live and archived, for MiLB.TV subscribers. *** Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): at home vs. the mini-Reds, 9:00 PM gametime; never audio for games in this league *** DSL Brewers: at home vs. the DSL Red Sox #2 squad, 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

As per some tweets with Adam Rygg from last evening, the Brewers have signed RHP Jack Finnegan, a 6'2", 175 21-year-old out of McLennan Junior College in Texas (stats). Finnegan pitched well for Falmouth in the Cape Cod League this summer (stats). He also pitched well at the JUCO World Series in Colorado this summer. You can follow him on Twitter @finneganjack30.

There is a new home for Colorado Sky Sox pre-game audio archives -- you can catch up from the past week here.

AUDIO via the Shuck Dynasty Blog -- Shuckers newcomer Brett Phillips discusses trade and first few days as a Brewer

Colorado Springs' Jason Rogers smashes a two-run bomb in the Sky Sox's 12-10 loss to Iowa

PHOTO GALLERY: A Rare gallery from the Gazette, not well-captioned, unfortunately

Final: Iowa 12, Colorado Springs 10 Bullpen Blows Two Late Leads In 12-10 Loss COLORADO SPRINGS, CO —The Sky Sox dropped a wild 12-10 contest to the Iowa Cubs in disappointing fashion before a crowd of 2,145 at Security Service Field on Monday night. The Sky Sox got off to yet another fast start, this time against Iowa starter Felipe Paulino as Colorado Springs plated a first-inning run on an RBI single by Jason Rogers that scored Kyle Wren from third. The first-inning run was the fourth scored by the Sox offense in the opening frame in their last two games. Iowa tied it up at one with a run in the fourth thanks to a run-scoring error by first baseman Matt Clark. Sox starter Hiram Burgos would work out of the inning without further damage before the Colorado Springs offense took control in the very next frame. Michael Reed and Yadiel Rivera combined to drive in three runs in the home fourth on RBI singles as five Sox hitters reached safely on four hits and a Clark hit-by-pitch. Rogers, who drove in three on Monday night, finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored and a two-run home run that extended the Sox lead to 6-2 in the seventh. The long ball came off of Iowa left-handed reliever Zac Rosscup with one out in the frame. Burgos allowed just two runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks while striking out a whopping nine I-Cubs batters over six extremely strong innings of work before handing the ball off to David Goforth for a scoreless seventh. Paulino would exit after allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out four over six. Rosscup surrendered three total runs in relief, including Rogers’ two-run shot, to help Colorado Springs extend their lead to 7-3 through seven. After seven impressive innings from their first two pitchers, the final four arms out of the Sox pen would combine to allow 10 runs (nine earned) over the game’s final two frames. Austin Ross would not record an out in the top of the eighth as he was tagged for five runs (four earned) on two hits and two walks with the big blow coming on a John Andreoli bases-clearing triple. After the six-run I-Cubs eighth, Colorado Springs trailed 9-7 heading into the home half of the inning. The Sox offense battled back, scoring three runs on four hits and an intentional walk against reliever Joe Ortiz (3-1, 5.54) to retake a 10-8 lead going to the ninth. RBI knocks by Wren and Luis Sardinas gave the Sox the late lead once again before Domingo Santana plated a run with an RBI groundout. The RBI was Santana’s fourth in two games since joining the Sky Sox. Rob Wooten (4-2, 6.25) and Jeremy Horst could not keep the Iowa offense at bay in the ninth as the Cubs rallied for four runs on three hits and two walks with Javy Baez’s bases-clearing two-out double serving as the proverbial dagger. Carl Edwards, Jr. (S, 2) came on to toss a scoreless bottom of the ninth, securing the back-and-forth battle for Iowa with a 12-10 defeat of the Sox. Colorado Springs would ultimately outhit Iowa 16-12 as Wren, Sardinas, Rogers, Clark and Juan Centeno each recorded multi-hit games for the Sox. With the loss, the Sky Sox fell to 43-64 while the I-Cubs improved to 59-50. The Sky Sox will look to salvage the final game of this four-game set with Iowa on Tuesday night as RHP Drew Gagnon (1-11, 7.00) takes the hill against RHP Carlos Pimentel (7-5, 3.28). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM MDT (7:35 Central) from Security Service Field. Colorado Springs Box Score RHP Jaye Chapman was also victimized late, just not as badly as the other bullpen arms mentioned... Colorado Springs Game Log

Includes the audio of Brett Phillips' first Brewers organization base hit...

Via the Manatees -- C Robinzon Diaz has been reinstated from the Colorado Springs DL and has been transferred to Brevard County. He will join the Manatees for Tuesday night’s game vs. Tampa. C Paul Eshleman has been placed on the Brevard County DL. *** Also, LHP Jarret Martin has had his rehab session ended, meaning he now counts against roster limits. To begin, he'll join up with the Timber Rattlers from Maryvale as of Tuesday. To make room there, LHP Tyler Linehan has been placed on the Wisconsin DL.

Monday's Farmhand Birthday -- Happy 23rd to Helena RH reliever Bubba (actual first name) Blau.

Colorado Springs' Pete Orr triples to drive home a run in the first inning of a 9-7 Sunday loss to Iowa

TWEET - Brett Phillips having fun with his fellow former American League affiliate minor leaguers, who will get a chance to come to the plate this week.

Congratulations go out to David Denson! Denson Added To Pioneer League All-Star Team SPOKANE, WASH. - Jim McCurdy, President of the Pioneer Baseball League, announced today that due to a promotion, Helena's David Denson will replace Ogden's Willie Calhoun on the Pioneer League roster for the inaugural Pioneer Baseball League vs. Northwest League All-Star Game. Denson is in his third professional season after being drafted in the 15th Round of the 2013 MLB Draft. Entering Friday's game, Denson is hitting .279 with nine doubles, four home runs, 13 RBI, and 15 walks. The inaugural Pioneer Baseball League vs. Northwest League All-Star Game will be held on August 4, 2015 at Avista Stadium in Spokane, Wash. - the home of the Spokane Indians of the Northwest League.