And That

SS Devin Hairston indeed active for Wisconsin tonight after being transferred from Helena. RHP/former IF Jose Cuas transferred from Helena to Wisconsin as well and will make his pro debut as a pitcher in the next day or two. RHP Bowden Francis activated for Wisconsin from the 7-day DL. 2B Franly Mallen has been released from Wisconsin. RHPs Jenri Montas, Joaquin De La Cruz and Matt Hardy all transferred from Wisconsin to Helena.

Here are the aggregate top 100 prospects in the draft, based on 10 different public and paid sources. Brewers picks highlighted: 1. Casey Mize, RHP, 4yr 2. Matthew Liberatore, LHP, HS 3. Nick Madrigal, 2B, 4yr 4. Jarred Kelenic, CF, HS 5. Shane McClanahan, LHP, 4yr 6. Travis Swaggerty, CF, 4yr 7. Ryan Rolison, LHP, 4yr 8. Alec Bohm, 3B, 4yr 9. Brady Singer, RHP, 4yr 10. Nolan Gorman, 3B, HS 11. Kumar Rocker, RHP, HS 12. Carter Stewart, RHP, HS 13. Jackson Kowar, RHP, 4yr 14. Logan Gilbert, RHP, 4yr 15. Brice Turang, SS, HS 16. Ethan Hankins, RHP, HS 17. Mason Denaburg, RHP, HS 18. Cole Winn, RHP, HS 19. Joey Bart, C, 4yr 20. Ryan Weathers, LHP, HS 21. Mike Vasil, RHP, HS 22. Sean Hjelle, RHP, 4yr 23. Nander De Sedas, SS, HS 24. Jeremy Eierman, SS, 4yr 25. Cole Wilcox, RHP, HS 26. Triston Casas, 1B, HS 27. Tristan Beck, RHP, 4yr 28. Greyson Jenista, OF, 4yr 29. Will Banfield, C, HS 30. Connor Scott, CF, HS 31. Trevor Larnach, RF, 4yr 32. Steele Walker, RF, 4yr 33. Mike Siani, CF, HS 34. Noah Naylor, C, HS 35. Griffin Conine, RF, 4yr 36. Jonathan India, 3B, 4yr 37. Konnor Pilkington, LHP, 4yr 38. Tristan Pompey, OF, 4yr 39. Anthony Seigler, C, HS 40. Alek Thomas, CF, HS 41. Seth Beer, 1B, 4yr 42. Kris Bubic, LHP, 4yr 43. J.T. Ginn, RHP, HS 44. Jake McCarthy, CF, 4yr 45. Tim Cate, LHP, 4yr 46. Xavier Edwards, 2B, HS 47. Austin Becker, RHP, HS 48. Jordan Groshans, 3B, HS 49. Blaine Knight, RHP, 4yr 50. Nico Hoerner, SS/2B, 4yr 51. Griffin Roberts, RHP, 4yr 52. Slade Cecconi, RHP, HS 53. Joe Gray Jr., OF, HS 54. Jeremiah Jackson, SS, HS 55. Luke Bartnicki, LHP, HS 56. Lenny Torres Jr., RHP, HS 57. Nick Schnell, OF, HS 58. Zack Watson, OF, 4yr 59. Nick Decker, RF, HS 60. Austin Bergner, RHP, 4yr 61. Owen White, RHP, HS 62. Tanner Dodson, OF/RHP, 4yr 63. Parker Meadows, CF, HS 64. Jameson Hannah, OF, 4yr 65. Nick Northcut, 3B/RHP, HS 66. Jonathan Childress, LHP, HS 67. Simeon Woods-Richardson, RHP, HS 68. Landon Marceaux, RHP, HS 69. Steven Gingery, LHP, 4yr 70. Osiris Johnson, SS/OF, HS 71. Elijah Cabell, OF, HS 72. Luken Baker, 1B, 4yr 73. Sean Wymer, RHP, 4yr 74. Raynel Delgado, 3B/SS, HS 75. Grayson Rodriguez, RHP, HS 76. Adam Hill, RHP, 4yr 77. Daniel Lynch, LHP, 4yr 78. Gunnar Hoglund, RHP, HS 79. Grant Lavigne, 1B/3B, HS 80. Jake Wong, RHP, 4yr 81. Kyle Bradish, RHP, 4yr 82. Jaden Hill, RHP, HS 83. J.P. Gates, LHP/1B, HS 84. Kendall Logan Simmons, 3B/SS, HS 85. Isaiah Campbell, RHP, 4yr 86. Adam Kloffenstein, RHP, HS 87. Cody Deason, RHP, 4yr 88. Matt Mercer, RHP, 4yr 89. Chandler Champlain, RHP, HS 90. Mitchell Kilkenny, RHP, 4yr 91. Zack Haake, RHP, 4yr 92. Ryder Green, OF, HS 93. Cadyn Grenier, SS/2B, 4yr 94. Justin Jarvis, RHP, HS 95. Durbin Feltman, RHP, 4yr 96. Jordyn Adams, CF, HS 97. Blaze Alexander, SS, HS 98. Max Marusak, OF, HS 99. Cole Sands, RHP, 4yr 100. Grant Koch, C, 4yr 125. C.J. Willis, C, HS 155. Trey Riley, RHP, JC 185. Ty Madden, RHP, HS 215. Dallas Woolfolk, RHP, 4yr 245. Cooper Stinson, RHP, HS

Final: Clinton 7, Wisconsin 3 LumberKings Defeat Wisconsin 7-3 Teams split four-game series By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers *** Splitsville: Rattler Radio Postgame Podcast — April 26, 2018 The Timber Rattlers showed some fight in getting the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning after trailing the Clinton LumberKings 7–0 on Thursday. However, the Rattlers lost 7–3 and saw their brief two-game winning streak end. Mehring & Kyle talk about the game and some of the turning points on the podcast. Plus, hear from Demi Orimoloye, Christian Taugner, & Matt Erickson. *** Wisconsin Box Score See my breakdown of Taugner above. Right after I stopped watching, he apparently starting catching more of the plate and got knocked around in the 5th for a few runs. I believe this is the 57th time this season the offense has scored exactly 2 runs. While they don't have the lowest team batting average, the Rattlers do have the lowest team OBP in the Midwest League, and have scored the fewest number of runs per game. Wisconsin Game Log

First look at Christian Taugner. Not listening so don't know about velocity but doesn't appear to be a hard thrower. Maybe 90-91. Has a bit of late life on his FB. Throws what Diaz has signalled as a slider but to me looks like a curve, so we'll call it a slurve. 1-7 break, sometimes more lateral, doesn't appear to have tremendous depth. In my glancing back and forth between the game and work have only seen a changeup or two. Clearly a command-based pitcher who works the corners hard and tries to keep off the barrell of the bat by moving the ball around in and out of the zone. If he misses, will get some balls rocked. Stuff works at this level. Will be interested to see how command, especially FB command, plays at a more advanced level. Edit: He's getting a lot of calls on low inside and low outside corners, some a little generous, which seems to be causing LumberKing hitters to expand their zone and not get as much solid contact on hittable pitches. If Taugner isn't getting those corner calls, he might get into trouble. Also appears to be mixing in 4- and 2- seam fastballs, with the 2-seamer having some decent life at the end, as mentioned above.

Exactly. I actually have a bad feeling about this weekend's series because the bullpen's luck has to run out at some point.

Kirby is still working back from injury. He'll be on a pretty strict pitch count for awhile, though they might bump him up to 60 pitches within the next few weeks.

Erceg is by far the better prospect. Better hitting tool, loads more power, and much better defense. He's also a year younger than Carroll and playing a level higher. Carroll is fine as a 2B/3B utility guy. Like you mentioned, he has a knack for getting on base but he doesn't have much pop and his defense is lacking. He has a below-average arm and not a lot of range. His like 98th percentile outcome might be Mark Loretta.

Final: Wisconsin 5, Clinton 4 Five-Run Inning is Enough for a Rattler Win Wisconsin tops Clinton 5-4 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers *** Wisconsin Box Score As Chris mentioned, the Rattlers got all of their offensive business done in one inning, the 2nd, and that was enough to eek out their second win in a row. The offense wasn't exactly electric, as all 8 hits were singles and the team walked but twice. There were also a number of errors on the basepaths. But hey, a win's a win. Couple of random thoughts... Tristen Lutz still has the same bat speed, he's just swinging at bad pitches, which is a problem up and down the lineup. And Lutz has a cannon of an arm in the outfield. Gabriel Garcia has a good enough arm at third, but his range/reactions are just not there (yet). Joantgel Segovia looks a lot better all around, including his outfield defense. Everything Dylan File throws moves. I don't think he's a particularly hard thrower (did not hear a gun reading), but the way his pitches dance up there, he has a chance. Wisconsin Game Log

I suspect Perrin will be activated for Colorado within the next day or two. I don't think we ever heard why he stayed back in Arizona?

I hear you. I don't disagree that Woodruff should be starting instead of Suter. But that die was more or less cast when they announced the weekend starters a day or two ago.

I don't know the answer as to why they continue to start Suter but my point was, the Brewers decision on who the starting pitchers are against the Cubs almost certainly wasn't going to be changed by a member of the offense getting hurt.

If Thames wouldn't have been hurt, I don't think there would have been much additional conversation about replacing Suter with Woodruff. A position player injury usually doesn't change the calculus on the constitution of the rotation.

I'm a little surprised they didn't recall Lopez instead, which they could have done due to a DL move even though he was sent down less than 10 days ago. But if they didn't want Lopez, the only other options on the 40-man roster besides Woodruff were Wilkerson (hurt), Peralta (not ready yet), Houser (just started yesterday), or Diplan (really not ready yet). It was really either Lopez or Woodruff. They went with the fresher arm of the two.

Jankins certainly doesn't have overwhelming stuff but he does enough things well that I think he has at least a shot at the big leagues as a back-end starter, yes. He's kind of a pitcher's pitcher.

I got to see about 3 innings of Jankins' work this morning and man, he is fun to watch pitch. Does a great job keeping his fastball down and uses both his breaking ball (I think it's a slider?) and changeup well to attack the corners. When he gets on a roll ball after ball just gets pounded into the dirt and/or reached for and popped up. Has been one of my favorites since I first saw him last year early on with Wisconsin.

Here's what I saw from Petersen as I watched his outing over lunch: high 3/4 delivery, fairly straight FB with occasional armside run, swing and miss true 12-6 CB that he commanded pretty well, a few changeups (I think that's what they were) that had some dip. He was missing pretty regularly with his FB both gloveside and up, especially early on. Batters were having a hard time getting around on the FB. Not sure his command plays at a high level at this point, but it's better than it was reported to be. I do think the CB has a chance to be a plus pitch, and his arm angle/long arms certainly help with it.

Yah, he's been a super sleeper prospect for a few years. Bill Mitchell (I think) had a few reports on him back in 2015 in the AZL that piqued a lot of interest but it took Petersen a few years to get out of short season so that initial excitement fizzled a bit. Like you said, great arm and pitching tools. His issue dating back to his work as an amateur has always been control. If and when he is able to harnass that, and it appears he has thus far this year, watch out. I actually haven't seen him pitch yet this year, but I do intend to go back and watch last night's game at some point soon.

Final: Wisconsin 3, Clinton 1 Rattlers Snap Streak with 3-1 win over Clinton Hernández & Petersen tame LumberKings By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers *** Wisconsin Box Score Joantgel Segovia and Nick Roscetti each had two hits as the Rattlers win for the first time in 11 games. Nelson Hernandez pitched 6 strong innings in easily his best start this year, and Michael Peterson ran his unscored-upon streak to 11 2/3 innings to begin the season. Wisconsin Game Log

The A's have been playing well, and may keep playing that way. By Fangraphs, they have the best offensive unit in baseball by quite some margin, and have an above average pitching staff as well. Who knows if this continues, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that the A's add at the deadline. Lowrie would have been a good add in the offseason, but I'd put the odds of him playing for the Brewers this season as very low at the moment.

Final: Clinton 6, Wisconsin 2 LumberKings beat Rattlers 6-2 Clinton Spoils Wisconsin's Return Home By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers *** Wisconsin Box Score Lineups featuring 5 guys batting under .200 and a pitching staff featuring an ERA approaching 5.50... not good. Wisconsin Game Log

PG Mock Draft 1.0 Has the Brewers taking prep catch Will Banfield. Jeff Ellis' mock draft Has the Brewers taking Wichita State CF (and likely pro RF) Greyson Jenista.

Suter's ability to locate has been bad this year. Seems especially so against RHB. For a guy that throws as hard as he does and for as high in the zone as he likes to pitch, location is obviously key. To reiterate when most others are saying, he seems like the most obvious candidate to go into a bullpen long reliever-type role. If that even is a specific role anymore.

Final: Peoria 6, Wisconsin 3 Rattlers Can't Hold Late Lead in 6-3 Loss at Peoria By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers *** Wisconsin Box Score Wisconsin Game Log

Final: Peoria 6, Wisconsin 2 Peoria's Power Puts them Past Rattlers Chiefs hit three homers to send Wisconsin to its seventh straight loss By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers *** Wisconsin Box Score Wisconsin Game Log

Peralta has extraordinary extension on his delivery, which shortens the ball's path to the plate and the time the batter has to react. So while he usually does sit 88-91, it appears much faster to the hitter. He also has a weird lower arm slot, arms and legs delivery that throws off batters, especially righties. He's also adept at changing speeds on all three of his pitches intentionally and likes to move everything around the zone. He's a good sequencer. He has a good slider. When he's commanding, he's pretty much unhittable against right handed batters and with his improving changeup, he's getting there against lefties as well. Now the command part is going to determine whether he can remain a starter or not, as will the continued development of his changeup. I was a little iffy on him last season but have completely bought in after watching his starts this year and the command progress he's made. To me, he's arguably a better pitching prospect than Corbin Burnes right now.