And That

MLB Pipeline have revealed their top 30 international prospects for the upcoming July 2 signing period. The Brewers are still linked to Ernesto and Rodriguez, ranked #14 and #28 respectively. Reading up on Ernesto a bit more, he might be a top 30 Brewers prospect upon signing. There are also a larger-than-usual number of "uncommitted" prospects the Brewers could still jump in on, including the #6 and #8 prospects on the list.

Gideon's bat speed is not good. He will hit some home runs this year, but expecting a batting average over .260-.270 is probably unrealistic, especially as he moves up the chain. And that's compounded by his reluctance to take walks.

There might be 10 guys on the list - my guess is quantity, not quality. I'd be happy to be wrong, though.

Clark and Ray aren't looking good so far... Clark has a career 120ish wRC+ and he's in advanced A ball less than two years after being drafted out of high school. He's sometimes patient to a fault. If that's his main fault... Corey Ray has a wRC+ of about 100. And in a whopping 340 career PAs.

Segovia Drives in Game-Winner in Tenth Wisconsin beats Bowling Green 5-4 in ten innings By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) (Segovia is somewhere under there.) Wisconsin Boxscore This was a pitching duel that turned into an offensive nail-biter in the last few innings. Joantgel Segovia was the hero of the day, driving Tucker Neuhaus home from third base with two outs, on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the 10th. And by drive, I mean hit a slow roller up the third base line. The play at first was pretty close, but the throw from the Hot Rods' third baseman pulled their first baseman off the bag, and that was that. It was Segovia's third hit of the day, and pushed his batting average back over .200. Big victory, small victory. A few innings earlier, the Rattlers loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth in a 1-1 tied ballgame. The first two batters that came up with the bases loaded were Ronnie Gideon and Segovia. Both popped out on the infield en route to what was looking like a missed opportunity. The next batter was Jose Cuas, and he got to a 2-2 count before redeeming the offense by hitting a bullet over the head of the Hot Rod center fielder, who may have gotten a glove on it on a diving catch attempt. The ball rolled to the wall, scoring Mario Feliciano, Monte Harrison, and Tucker Neuhaus. In addition to Cuas' triple, Jonathan Oquendo and Feliciano each had a double in today's game. Feliciano also had two walks and caught one of the two runners trying to steal a base on him. Trey Supak started and had another good outing, throwing 5 innings of 1 run ball. He allowed just two hits, walked two, and punched out nine. Parker Berberet, who I am guessing is not long for Wisconsin, pitched three near-flawless innings of relief, giving up a single and striking out three. I watched part of his second inning and all of his third inning, and it seemed like he threw more curveballs than fastballs. Just kept flipping curves up there, one after the next. It has a big 12-6 break, and if he can throw strikes with it, that'll go a long way in his progression as a pitcher. Luke Barker, on the other hand, could not find the strike zone in the ninth and recorded only one out, giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, and the three run lead. He left the game with one out and the bases juiced in the top of the ninth, but Aaron Myers picked him up, inducing a line drive on his second pitch right at Gideon at first base, who stepped on the bag to double off the runner. Myers would go on to pitch a clean 10th inning. Don't think I've mentioned it before on Myers, but given how over the top his delivery is, he gets pretty great fade on his changeup. It's not easy to move pitches laterally with that kind of throwing motion. Wisconsin Log The lead!: Wisconsin Bottom of the 8th Pitching Change: Elias Torres replaces Ethan Clark. Mario Feliciano walks. Monte Harrison hits a sacrifice bunt. Mario Feliciano to 2nd. Monte Harrison to 1st. Tucker Neuhaus hit by pitch. Mario Feliciano to 3rd. Monte Harrison to 2nd. Ronnie Gideon pops out to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe in foul territory. Joantgel Segovia pops out to shortstop Lucius Fox on the infield fly rule. Jose Cuas triples (1) on a line drive to center fielder Josh Lowe. Mario Feliciano scores. Monte Harrison scores. Tucker Neuhaus scores. Gilbert Lara flies out to left fielder Jesus Sanchez. Losing the lead: Bowling Green Top of the 9th Pitching Change: Luke Barker replaces Parker Berberet. Rene Pinto singles on a line drive to left fielder Demi Orimoloye. With Nathaniel Lowe batting, wild pitch by Luke Barker, Rene Pinto to 2nd. Nathaniel Lowe singles on a line drive to center fielder Monte Harrison. Rene Pinto to 3rd. Adrian Rondon singles on a ground ball to right fielder Joantgel Segovia. Rene Pinto scores. Nathaniel Lowe to 2nd. Eleardo Cabrera singles on a bunt ground ball to pitcher Luke Barker. Nathaniel Lowe to 3rd. Adrian Rondon to 2nd. Garrett Whitley pops out to third baseman Jose Cuas in foul territory. Lucius Fox walks. Nathaniel Lowe scores. Adrian Rondon to 3rd. Eleardo Cabrera to 2nd. Josh Lowe walks. Adrian Rondon scores. Eleardo Cabrera to 3rd. Lucius Fox to 2nd. Pitching Change: Aaron Myers replaces Luke Barker. Miles Mastrobuoni lines into an unassisted double play, first baseman Ronnie Gideon. Josh Lowe doubled off 1st. The win!: Wisconsin Bottom of the 10th Monte Harrison reaches on a fielding error by third baseman Adrian Rondon. Tucker Neuhaus grounds into a force out, shortstop Lucius Fox to second baseman Miles Mastrobuoni. Monte Harrison out at 2nd. Tucker Neuhaus to 1st. With Ronnie Gideon batting, wild pitch by Spencer Jones, . Tucker Neuhaus advances to 3rd, on a throwing error by catcher Rene Pinto. Ronnie Gideon lines out to left fielder Jesus Sanchez. Joantgel Segovia singles on a ground ball to third baseman Adrian Rondon. Tucker Neuhaus scores.

As noted in the MLB forum, Victor Roache was traded to the Dodgers today for a PTBNL or cash. RHP Aaron Wilkerson has been activated from the temporary inactive list to the Shuckers' active roster. Biloxi still has one move to make to get back to 25 players. They currently have 13 pitchers and 11 position players.

New aggregate ranking, updated with Baseball America and Chris Crawford's new lists: 1. Hunter Greene, HS, RHP/SS 2. Brendan McKay, 4yr, LHP/1B/OF 3. Royce Lewis, HS, OF 4. Kyle Wright, 4yr, RHP 5. JB Bukauskas, 4yr, RHP 6. MacKenzie Gore, HS, LHP 7. Jeren Kendall, 4yr, OF 8. Austin Beck, HS, OF 9. Pavin Smith, 4yr, 1B 10. Alex Faedo, 4yr, RHP 11. DL Hall, HS, LHP 12. Nick Pratto, HS, 1B/LHP 13. Jo Adell, HS, OF 14. Adam Haseley, 4yr, OF 15. Shane Baz, HS, RHP 16. Seth Romero, 4yr, LHP 17. Griffin Canning, 4yr, RHP 18. Taner Houck, 4yr, RHP 19. Keston Hiura, 4yr, 2B/OF 20. David Peterson, 4yr, LHP 21. Trevor Rogers, HS, LHP 22. Sam Carlson, HS, RHP 23. Hans Crouse, HS, RHP 24. Jake Burger, 4yr, 3B 25. Logan Warmoth, 4yr, SS 26. Alex Lange, 4yr, RHP 27. Brendon Little, JC, RHP 28. Heliot Ramos, HS, OF 29. Nate Pearson, JC, RHP 30. Nick Allen, HS, SS At the Brewers slots for the first five round, I currently have: 9. Pavin Smith, 4yr, 1B 34. Wil Crowe, 4yr, RHP 46. Cal Mitchell, HS, OF 84. Morgan Cooper, 4yr, RHP 114. Ricky Tyler Thomas, 4yr, LHP 144. Jayson Gonzalez, HS, 3B

Chris Crawford has refreshed his top 125 prospect list as well.

BA has refreshed their top 100 draft prospect list into a top 200 draft prospect list. Meanwhile, MLB Pipeline has a new mock draft of the top 15 picks. Their mock draft will be updated for the full first round next week, and will be updated every week until the draft.

RHP Tristan Archer goes back to Colorado Springs for the 2nd time this year. He was on the Sky Sox roster from 4/10-4/24. He has been with Biloxi for the bits of time he hasn't been with the Sky Sox. He takes the place of RHP David Goforth, who goes on the Sky Sox 7-day DL. Just speculation, but would not be surprising to see Archer's vacated Biloxi roster space filled by activating Aaron Wilkerson or Preston Gainey, or by promoting Tyler Spurlin from "Helena".

Bowling Green Shuts out Wisconsin 3-0 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) Wisconsin Boxscore The Rattlers drop back to a game under .500 after a sleepy perfmormance at the plate. Monte Harrison hit the lone Rattlers XBH, a double, his sixth of the year. Nate Rodriguez had two of the five hits in the game for Wisconsin, and he walked once as well. Haven't talked about Rodriguez a whole lot this year because Mario Feliciano, but I really do think he is a prospect in his own right. He will stick behind the plate - he does everything pretty well as a backstop. He has a good idea at the plate, will work counts and is able to put the bat on the ball. Not a starting catching prospect, at least not at this point, but I could see him as a valuable big league backup down the road. Cam Roegner started and while he got a few key strikeouts to limit damage, also pitched himself into damage situations. Much like Tom Jankins a day prior, when Roegner is successful, he is creating plane on his pitches with his big frame. When he's not, the ball stays up and he gets hit because he will not blow the ball by hitters for the most part. Today was one of those days. He allowed six hits in five innings, including two doubles and a home run. Braden Webb bounced back from a stinker of an outing, allowing a run over three innings. He has pitched better than his 5.28 ERA indicates. Wisconsin Log

The pending move was placing RHP Jon Olczak on the 7-day DL.

Gatewood with a walk and two more hits today, including his fifth home run. I am going to give it another month before getting fully on board with the new and improved and visually unimpaired Gatewood, but he just keeps on hitting. His strikeout rate is dipping lately as well. And Wuilder Rodriguez has been pretty great since being activated a few weeks ago.

Rattlers Stop Hot Rods 5-2 Lara Homers in Wisconsin victory By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin pulls back to .500 at 11-11 with contributions from a number of players. They have the exact same record they did through 22 games last year, though 2016 game #22 was the final game of a six game winning streak. Last year's Rattlers would go on to flirt with .500 for much of the rest of the season and finally earn a playoff spot in the generous Midwest League postseason system. I think this year's team is not necessarily more talented than the group that was there at this time last year, but they have more of a college backbone, especially in the pitching department, that might allow them to take a few more steps forward for steps back than they were able to manage in 2016. The Rattler offense drew six walks, which has to be close to a season high - as a team they've drawn the second-fewest walks in the Midwest League this year. (On the flip side, the pitching staff has given up the fifth-fewest walks in the 16 team league.) Demi Orimoloye and Ronnie Gideon both worked two walks. Orimoloye also stole bases numbered 6, 7, and 8, which leads the team. Gideon was caught stealing for the third and fourth time this year, one of which was a pickoff. I have not seen close to all of the Rattlers' game action this season, but I have managed to see all four of Gideon's stolen base attempts. He needs to be more... selective. Sneak attack. Gilbert Lara, whose batting average is still a meager .164, ran into one in the fifth inning, and when he runs into them, he hits them a long way. It was his second home run on the season. Joantgel Segovia hit his first extra base knock of the season, a double. Tucker Neuhaus added his ninth double as part of a 2-hit night. Monte Harrison struggled at the plate again, logging 3 strikeouts for the second time in three games, though he did barely miss his 7th HR in the fifth inning, a line drive that hooked foul down the left field line at the last moment. Monte also made a number of really nice plays in the outfield. On the pitching side, Tom Jankins was solid, allowing 2 runs over 5 innings. He's been leaving the ball up more than he should the past few starts. He got away with it for the most part today. Jankins just touches 91-92, so it is imperative he keeps the ball down and hits his spots. I have confidence he will keep doing that more often than not - he's one of my favorite "under the radar" prospects. The diminutive Dan Brown had perhaps his best outing as a pro, earning the three-inning save. He allowed three singles, and struck out three in three scoreless innings. Brown has been in a quasi-tandem role this season, though I do think his future lies in the bullpen long term. Wisconsin Log

When Guerra gets back, which will still be a little while from now and other things could happen, I think the leading candidate to get sent down is Jimmy Nelson. He's pitching better than he was in the second half last year, but I don't know if that's good enough to retain a big league rotation spot.

Update on Trent Clark... His OPS: .742 Average Carolina League OPS: .719 And I mentioned his K rate, which is not as bad as I thought it was. Trent Clark K%: 29.4% Jake Gatewood K%: 28.9% (Which is still bad. For both.)

Harrison needs to stay in Wisconsin for the time being. Let the poor guy have an extended run of success for once. Maybe revisit at the All-Star break. Clark has a .358 OBP through 4 ABs today so it's not like he is totally flopping. He looks a bit lost on defense and has an obnoxious number of strikeouts, but I don't think he's done enough to get demoted.

Wisconsin doubleheader rained out again. The final three games of the four game series were washed out. One game will not be made up. Two of the games will be made up as part of back to back doubleheaders on June 15th/16th. The Rattlers are off tomorrow, so assuming Tuesday's home game is actually played, the Rattlers will have had 4 days off in a row. Meanwhile, Carolina just blew another late lead.

Rattlers doubleheader rained out. Doubleheader tomorrow to make up one of the games. Did not see an announcement for makeup date of the second game, or if there will be one.

The Timber Rattlers' game has been postponed due to wet grounds. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader tomorrow.

New aggregate ranking, updated with MLB Pipeline's new list: 1. Hunter Greene, HS, RHP/SS 2. Brendan McKay, 4yr, LHP/1B/OF 3. Jeren Kendall, 4yr, OF 4. Royce Lewis, HS, OF 5. JB Bukauskas, 4yr, RHP 6. Austin Beck, HS, OF 7. Kyle Wright, 4yr, RHP 8. Alex Faedo, 4yr, RHP 9. Pavin Smith, 4yr, 1B 10. DL Hall, HS, LHP 11. MacKenzie Gore, HS, LHP 12. Nick Pratto, HS, 1B/LHP 13. Seth Romero, 4yr, LHP 14. Jo Adell, HS, OF 15. Taner Houck, 4yr, RHP 16. Alex Lange, 4yr, RHP 17. Keston Hiura, 4yr, 2B/OF 18. Adam Haseley, 4yr, OF 19. Shane Baz, HS, RHP 20. Griffin Canning, 4yr, RHP 21. Hans Crouse, HS, RHP 22. Wil Crowe, 4yr, RHP 23. Logan Warmoth, 4yr, SS 24. Brendon Little, JC, RHP 25. Clarke Schmidt, 4yr, RHP 26. Jake Burger, 4yr, 3B 27. Trevor Rogers, HS, LHP 28. Nick Allen, HS, SS 29. Jacob Heatherly, HS, LHP 30. Quentin Holmes, HS, OF At the Brewers slots, I currently have: 9. Pavin Smith, 4yr, 1B 34. David Peterson, 4yr, LHP 46. Riley Adams, 4yr, C 84. Bryce Bonnin, HS, RHP/SS 114. Riley Ottesen, 4yr (So.), RHP

MLB Pipeline has refreshed its draft top 50 into a top 100. They have Austin Beck at #9. I don't know if he slips that far, but if he's there at 9, right now I think he'd be in heavy consideration to be the pick.

Rattlers End Losing Streak with Win at Burlington Desguin goes five scoreless innings as Harrison & Neuhaus homer in 6-1 win By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) BURLINGTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers snapped a four-game losing streak with an emphatic 6-1 victory over the Burlington Bees at Community Field on Thursday night. Monte Harrison and Tucker Neuhaus each hit a home run for the Rattlers. Jordan Desguin pitched five shutout innings to earn his second win of the season. Wisconsin (10-11) scored a run in the first inning. Demi Orimoloye doubled to start the game. Mario Feliciano blooped a single to right that put runners on the corners. Burlington starting pitcher Nate Bertness got Harrison to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, but Orimoloye scored from third for the 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Joantgel Segovia singled and Jose Cuas doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. Burlington brought the infield in and Gilbert Lara lined a single through the drawn-in infielders to drive home both runners. Harrison made it 4-0 when he started the third inning by lining a 1-0 pitch to right for his sixth home run of the season. Jordan Desguin was the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. He allowed a two-out single in the first inning, but picked that runner off first. In the second, he walked the first two batters he faced, but escaped the inning with no damage thanks to a strikeout and an inning-ending double play. Desguin pitched five shutout innings, allowed one hit, walked three, and struck out five. The Bees (8-11) got on the scoreboard with a two-out rally against reliever Miguel Sanchez in the seventh inning. The right-hander hit Roberto Baldoquin with a pitch to put a runner on base. Brennan Morgan followed by lining a double to left to score Baldoquin to cut Wisconsin's lead to 4-1. In the eighth inning, Wisconsin tacked on two runs on one swing of the bat. Harrison drew a walk to start the inning. Then, Neuhaus cracked a long, towering home run to right-center and the Rattlers were up 6-1. Harrison and Neuhaus each have six home runs in 2017. Both are tied with Bradley Jones of Lansing and Carlos Rincon of Great Lakes for the Midwest League lead in homers this season. Luke Barker closed out the game with a scoreless ninth for Wisconsin. Game two of the series is set for Friday morning. Victor Diaz (0-1, 8.31) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Andrew Vinson (1-2, 8.31) is set to start for the Bees. Game time is 11:30am. Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Log

Everything Coming Into Focus for Jake Gatewood by Kyle Glaser, Baseball America

According to a Brewers PD tweet, we know who was affected by the arrival of Nieuwenhuis and Suter on the Sky Sox roster: Today's moves: Noriega & Kohlscheen placed on DL w/Col Springs as of 4/24. We've also released RHP Yunior Juan and RHP Wilson Adams.