And That

Wilkerson is in AA because he might get annihilated pitching in Colorado Springs, which is kind of what happened last year.

I've seen Peralta get pretty good movement on his two-seam fastball, somewhat similar to Miguel Diaz. He throws across his body and lands awkwardly so I question if he'll be able to have enough control to succeed at higher levels, but his arm action is pretty clean so it's possible. He throws a slider and change - I don't recall much about either so I guess that's not good or bad.

Brewers PD informs us of another undrafted free agent signing, RHP Cameron Hanes from Florida Southern.

RHP Freddy Peralta has been promoted from Carolina to Biloxi. C Natanel Mejia hits Biloxi's 7-day DL, which is the new Helena.

More moves: IF Weston Wilson and OF Carlos Belonis go from Carolina to Wisconsin. 3B Jose Cuas goes with Monte Harrison from Wisconsin to Carolina.

Add one more to the UDFA pile - catcher Kyle Beam from Old Dominion.

Triple-A baseball leaving Colorado Springs; Sky Sox will become Rookie League team By: Brent Briggeman The 30-year run of Triple-A baseball in Colorado Springs will end in 15 months. The Elmore Sports Group announced Wednesday it is responding to “pressure from within Major League Baseball” and moving the Triple-A Sky Sox to San Antonio for the 2019 season and replacing it in Colorado Springs with the short-season Rookie-level team currently in Helena, Mont. The Double-A San Antonio Missions will move to a new ballpark in Amarillo, Texas. The Elmore Sports Group owns the three relocating teams. The possibility of this move was reported by The Gazette in Jan. 2016, and the Elmore family appeared with a team mascot before the San Antonio city council a few months later to announce intentions to relocate to the Alamo City. But the transaction was dependent upon the contingency of San Antonio building a new ballpark to house the Triple-A franchise. That contingency no longer exists, and the only roadblock remaining is formal approval from the leagues involved. “Unless something wacky happens, I don’t think there’s anything that could derail this,” said D.G. Elmore, president of the Elmore Sports Group. The biggest impact for fans in Colorado Springs will be a drop from 70 to 38 home games and the length of time between seeing players at Security Service Field and in big league ballparks. The team in Colorado Springs will retain the name of the Sky Sox, and the mascot Sox the Fox will still be part of the ballpark experience. The degree of change on the field will be determined by fans’ ability to discern a difference in talent between the more refined Triple-A and Rookie Level baseball, where players are generally fresh out of college or even high school. Current stars like Nolan Arenado, Mike Trout, Kris Bryant and Clayton Kershaw logged time in short-season levels. “Fans are going to still get all the great promotions and see the great talent on the field that they’re used to seeing here at Sky Sox,” said team president and general manager Tony Ensor of the move to the Pioneer League, where the schedule runs from mid-June until early September, “but they’re going to get to do it in the best weather as opposed to coming out in April and May and experience some of those colder temperatures. “The players are going to be hungry to make an impact in professional baseball, that’s what I’m excited about. Young players who want to put their best foot forward, and we get to see that talent, in many cases, right after the MLB draft and the College World Series. Those players will be coming here to Colorado Springs, and I think our fans are going to love that.” The Sky Sox provided attendance data showing only 28 percent of its attendance over the past five years was accrued in the months of April and May, a span that accounts for roughly 40 percent of the home dates. Of the games lost to weather since 2006, 81 percent occurred in the time before the Pioneer League schedule opens. Elmore cited weather as an issue that prompted the move, and weather has certainly played a factor in attendance. The Sky Sox crowds were the smallest in the Pacific Coast League last year and have ranked better than 12th in the 16-team league just once in the past dozen years. Elmore, who didn't move the team through its consistent years of poor attendance, like the stretch from 2005-08 when it was last three out of five years, said the variable that changed and prompted the move was the impact of the city's high elevation. The Sky Sox, who moved to Colorado Springs from Hawaii in 1988 as the Cleveland Indians' top farm team, had been the top affiliate of the Colorado Rockies since the franchise joined baseball as an expansion team in 1993. When the Rockies ended that relationship and moved to Albuquerque, N.M., in 2014, Colorado Springs and a stadium that towers as the nation’s highest professional ballpark didn’t make sense as the final player development destination for another franchise. The Brewers were the last team standing in a multi-team affiliate shift in 2014 and have been paired with Colorado Springs since then by default. “When the Rockies left there was a lot of pressure from within Major League Baseball to find some place for Triple-A other than an elevation close to 6,500 feet,” Elmore said. The Brewers are affiliated with the Pioneer League team in Helena as well as the current Sky Sox, but affiliation agreements expire after the 2018 season so it is unknown which team will be tied to the new club in Colorado Springs. The Rockies own the Grand Junction team in that league, making them an unlikely option. Pioneer League teams travel by bus, which will make for some lengthy trips for the Sky Sox in an eight-team league concentrated largely in Idaho, Montana and Utah. Elmore, who is chairman of the board locally at Navigators, said he spends a lot of time in the Colorado Springs area and lamented that "it was a hard decision to make this move.” Largely quiet on the long question of a move away from Colorado Springs, Elmore addressed two longstanding questions on the issue. First, he said San Antonio was the only destination considered. Second, he said it would impossible to say if a new ballpark in downtown Colorado Springs might have prevented this move. “I don’t know. I’d hate to speculate that, ‘Gosh, if we would have had a downtown ballpark that would have made a difference.’ It doesn’t change the elevation much, I think it’s a few hundred feet,” said Elmore, whose group owns Security Service Field and has pumped more than $10 million in capital improvements in the facility over the past 12 years. “So probably not, but I’d hate to speculate on that.” The speculation that can finally end is whether or not Triple-A baseball will survive in Colorado Springs, and if a replacement could be found. “What I think is great about this is it answers all those questions, the rumors, that people have had over the past year, year and a half, about whether the team was going to be leaving,” Ensor said. “This answers that question in spades. The Colorado Springs Sky Sox are not going anywhere. We just celebrated 30 years here. I expect there to be a team to celebrate 60. I think that’s going to give our fans some comfort knowing that top-level, professional, affiliated baseball will be in Colorado Springs from here to eternity. We’re going to continue to create the best fan experience that we possibly can for the next year and a half as Triple-A, and then even more so as a Pioneer League short-season affiliate.”

The Sky Sox will cease operating as a AAA team as of 2019, and join the short season Pioneer League.

If you're talking about Ernesto Martinez, Jr., yes, he's eligible to play this year, and has. If you're talking about Larry Ernesto, who will be signed on July 2, he won't be eligible to play until after this season.

Brewers add two more UDFAs, this time announced by the team's Twitter: RHP Matt Hardy (insert wrestling joke) from Nova Southeastern (same school as Mike Fiers); and, catcher Johan Mojica from Grambling State.

Series of Timber Rattlers moves: RHP Andrew Vernon has been transferred to Helena. I believe this is not a paper move and he's actually going to Helena, but will confirm. C Mario Feliciano and RHP Braden Webb are now both back on the Rattlers' roster, having been reassigned from the Helena paper roster. New C A.J. Murray has been placed on the Rattlers' 7-day DL. SS Trever Morrison has been reassigned from the Helena roster to the Rattlers' roster, and then placed on the Rattlers' 7-day DL. Wisconsin LHP Cam Roegner, Biloxi RHP Tyler Spurling, and Biloxi IF George Iskendarian are all three still in Helena roster limbo. That should be resolved shortly.

That's correct. The question is, do the Brewers think there's anything to unlock by having Peralta pitch in AAA? While it seems kind of silly to pay his contract to play for a different organization, they are paying it either way and there's an opportunity cost of having Peralta take up a AAA roster spot that could go to someone who might have a better shot at being a long term piece of the Brewers' staff. Whatever they end up doing, I think we'll find out shortly.

Wang's stuff has backed up since he was on the Brewers' MLB roster. His fastball now scrapes 90 and his changeup is only other regularly viable pitch.

Which is exactly why I don't take quotes from managers seriously.

That's a huge bummer about Helena's audio.

4th rounder Brendan Murphy has signed as well. https://twitter.com/brewcrewblue/status/876957977793703936

I wouldn't worry about. Unless an injury comes up, I'd be extreme surprised if the Brewers didn't sign all of their top 10, probably even top 12, picks. On a related note, 5th rounder Nick Egnatuk has signed.

Clearly, Joe Winkelsas.

Here's the list of players eligible for the Rule 5 draft for this first time after this season: Jacob Nottingham Dustin DeMuth Mauricio Dubon Aaron Wilkerson Freddy Peralta Brandon Diaz Tucker Neuhaus Joantgel Segovia Nattino Diplan Franly Mallen Yeraldy Martinez Julio Mendez Nic Pierre Nelson Hernandez Juan Diaz Carlos Luna Daniel Missaki Devin Williams Joaquin De La Cruz Also eligible: Tyler Heineman Garrett Cooper Nate Orf Kyle Wren Tristan Archer Wei-Chung Wang Yhonathan Barrios Angel Ortega Clint Coulter Javier Betancourt Wendell Rijo Johnny Davis Matt Ramsey Josh Uhen Tyler Spurlin Preston Gainey Carlos Belonis Victor Diaz Rodrigo Benoit Tyrone Taylor Milton Gomez Yosmer Leal

A complete FWIW, but this random guy on Twitter says the Brewers are interested in Seth Lugo. Whether or not there is interest or even mutual interest there is a "who knows?" at this point, but it does make some sense. Lugo is 27 and is controllable through at least 2022. He has excellent peripherals in the minors, and possibly the curveball with the best spin rate in baseball. He was injured this spring after the WBC, but appears to be healthy again and just got stuck back in the minors. That would make it appear the Mets do not value him maybe as highly as they should as their rotation is a mess at the moment.

Players who are not on the Helena roster who, if healthy, I thought would be: C Carlos Leal RHP Milton Gomez RHP Scott Serigstad RHP Nash Walters LHP Christian Trent LHP Drake Owenby LHP Jake Drossner RHP Jake Smith RHP Matt Smith RHP Dalton Brown LHP Blake Fox

Rattlers End First Half With Loss at Kane County Wisconsin falls for tenth straight time By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) Wisconsin Boxscore The Rattlers slump to the finish of the first half, losers of 20 of their final 23 games. They were a game over .500 on May 27th, but are now 16 games under .500 less than four weeks later. The offense was once again sluggish, though they did briefly take the lead in the 5th on a Trey York single that scored newcomer A.J. Murray. Parker Berberet, however, was unable to hold the 2-1 lead for very long as he surrendered 4 runs in the bottom of the 5th, and then another in the bottom of the 6th. Tom Jankins pitched ok in his 4 inning start, though he allowed 8 baserunners. Luke Barker continued his earned run-less streak. Wisconsin's next game is on Thursday, after the Midwest League All-Star break. We'll see if a fresh start helps, and we might see a few roster changes in the interim as well. Wisconsin Game Log Taketh: Wisconsin Top of the 5th Caleb Whalen singles on a fly ball to center fielder Ben DeLuzio. A. J. Murray doubles (1) on a fly ball to left fielder Fernery Ozuna. Caleb Whalen to 3rd. Jose Cuas grounds out, shortstop Manny Jefferson to first baseman Mark Karaviotis. Caleb Whalen scores. Joantgel Segovia pops out to shortstop Manny Jefferson. Trey York singles on a ground ball to right fielder Luis Silverio. A. J. Murray scores. Monte Harrison flies out to center fielder Ben DeLuzio. Giveth: Kane County Bottom of the 5th Pitching Change: Parker Berberet replaces Thomas Jankins. Luis Silverio grounds out, shortstop Gilbert Lara to first baseman Ronnie Gideon. Mark Karaviotis singles on a fly ball to center fielder Monte Harrison. Ramon Hernandez singles on a line drive to center fielder Monte Harrison. Mark Karaviotis to 2nd. Manny Jefferson singles on a ground ball to right fielder Caleb Whalen. Mark Karaviotis to 3rd. Ramon Hernandez to 2nd. Adam Walton grounds into a force out, shortstop Gilbert Lara to second baseman Trey York. Mark Karaviotis scores. Ramon Hernandez to 3rd. Manny Jefferson out at 2nd. Adam Walton to 1st. Fernery Ozuna triples (1) on a fly ball to center fielder Monte Harrison. Ramon Hernandez scores. Adam Walton scores. Jose Queliz doubles (1) on a line drive to left fielder Joantgel Segovia. Fernery Ozuna scores. B. J. Lopez called out on strikes.

I take this to mean that 26th round pick Carson McCusker is not going to sign.

The co-op team is about 2/3 Brewers players. I guess I'm comfortable assigning wins and losses organizationally to them. That squad couldn't field a team without the Brewers players; it could field a team if only the Brewers players were there.

The DSL teams are .500, 7-6 and 6-7. So they're a game under with or without.