And That

I mean, by definition if the choices are only truth or overreaction, none of those things are ultimately knowable at this point, so the dichotomy suggests overreaction.

I absolutely stand by the precision of my rankings, especially as it approaches 100 players deep. 100%!

Otani's playing schedule in Japan is that he pitches on Sunday and plays offense Monday-Thursday (give or take). If he thinks that schedule is part of what keeps him fresh and playing at a top level, perhaps the Brewers could promise to commit to maintaining that schedule. It would wreak a bit of havoc with the rotation, but if that's what it takes, it's probably worth it. And FWIW, Otani lives in Nippon's player dorm. No house, no car. To what extent he wants to maintain that lifestyle is up for debate, but it would be a lot easier to live a secluded, dorm-ish life in Milwaukee than it would be in the SF bay area, Seattle, or New York. "No chance" is inaccurate - of course Milwaukee has a chance. Might be really, really small, but it's there nonetheless. Maybe he'll be the Brewers' Reggie White.

River Bandits Outslug Wisconsin Teams combine for eight home runs out of 31 hits By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) Wisconsin Boxscore 0-3. 1-0. 3-2. 11-18. The fourth game was a different animal than the first three of the Rattlers' season. After a combined nine runs for Wisconsin and their opponents through the first 27 innings, 9 runs had been scored in this affair before there were two outs in the top of the fourth inning. The River Bandits jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the top of the 5th, but the Rattlers came all the way back and tied it at 10-10 after seven. However, the Wisconsin offense was just not able to keep up to the Quad Cities' withering offense and the team ultimately suffered a pythagorean-ruinous 11-18 loss. The offense raised their team batting average by .039 points, a not-insignificant jump even four games into the season. Tucker Neuhaus was the best of the best, slugging two doubles and two home runs in five plate appearances, and pumping his OPS to an unsustainable but awesome 1.471 through 17 PAs. Demi Orimoloye (2-6, HR), Monte Harrison (2-5, HR), and Ryan Aguilar (2-5) each had multi hit games as well, and Ronnie Gideon, Gilbert Lara, Nate Rodriguez, and Jose Cuas all had a double. Yesterday's hero Mario Feliciano was the lone hitless Rattler, though he did get on base via walk and threw out the lone base stealing attempter. Speaking of defense, the Rattlers fielders committed four errors after going two straight games without one. The guilty parties were Aguilar, Neuhaus, Lara, and Rodriguez. This was Lara's second error in four games, though I have been relatively impressed/surprised by his defense at short. The pitching was a dumpster fire that was inflamed by the errors. 13 of the 18 runs were earned. If there was a silver lining, it was that 2017 3rd rounder Braden Webb made his long-awaited pro debut. If you want to look at the pitching lines of Webb, Cam Roegner, Dalton Brown, or Luke Barker... knock yourself out. I will treat this as a "if you don't have anything kind to say..." moment. Wisconsin Log The Rattlers came all the way back to tie it at 10, and then: Quad Cities Top of the 8th Randy Cesar singles on a line drive to left fielder Demi Orimoloye. Anibal Sierra singles on a line drive to center fielder Monte Harrison. Randy Cesar to 2nd. Carmen Benedetti singles on a bunt ground ball to pitcher Braden Webb. Randy Cesar to 3rd. Anibal Sierra to 2nd. Daz Cameron called out on strikes. Alexander De Goti singles on a ground ball to first baseman Ronnie Gideon, deflected by pitcher Braden Webb. Randy Cesar scores. Anibal Sierra to 3rd. Carmen Benedetti to 2nd. Ronnie Dawson reaches on a fielding error by second baseman Tucker Neuhaus. Anibal Sierra scores. Carmen Benedetti scores. Alexander De Goti to 3rd. Chuckie Robinson reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Gilbert Lara. Alexander De Goti scores. Ronnie Dawson to 2nd. Pitching Change: Luke Barker replaces Braden Webb. With Stephen Wrenn batting, throwing error by Nathan Rodriguez on the pickoff attempt, Ronnie Dawson scores. Chuckie Robinson to 3rd. Stephen Wrenn homers (1) on a fly ball to left center field. Chuckie Robinson scores. Spencer Johnson singles on a line drive to left fielder Demi Orimoloye. Randy Cesar strikes out swinging. Anibal Sierra grounds out, third baseman Jose Cuas to first baseman Ronnie Gideon.

Dalton Brown transferred onto the Wisconsin active roster from Helena prior to today's game. Zack Brown taken off of the Wisconsin roster. Not able to listen into the game today so I hope this is just a standard "Helena move" to temporarily get an extra arm on the roster. Wisconsin's Brown pitching roster count remains at two.

I would give it much more than three games before seriously reconsidering anyone's prospect status. That said, it's nice to see a great performance over a three game period from guy who was overshadowed by most of the rest of the lineup going into the season.

Goforth over Scahill because Goforth can go more than two innings if necessary. At least that was the reasoning given.

Some pretty sweet Isan Diaz photos.

Rattlers Rally to Win Home Opener 3-2 Feliciano breaks tie with eighth inning home run By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) Wisconsin Boxscore Mario Feliciano made his first hit of the year count. Ryan Aguilar continued his strong start by posting the only multi hit game for the good guys, one of which was a double. The Rattlers have scored 4 times in 3 games. But hey, they've won 2 of them. Starting pitcher Tom Jankins flashed a good change up. He pitches from a high three quarters delivery and is able to keep a good plane on his fastball, which makes the change more effective. He threw a handful of what looked to me like curveballs, but Mehring referred to as sliders. His high delivery point limits how much horizontal break he can give his offspeed stuff, so while it may be a slider grip, it had more of curve shape at least today. In any case, given his height and downhill fastball, he'll generate plenty of ground balls when he's on, and his change should give him a weapon against LHB that many RH sinker-type pitchers don't have. At least if he's able to keep executing that pitch like he was today. He's an interesting prospect. He did leave the game maybe earlier than expected after taking a hard ground ball off the ankle in the 5th. Didn't look like a long term worry but it's possible it could swell and cause him to miss a start or two. Nattino Diplan is a pretty fascinating pitcher in his own right, but I'll speak about him more another time. He was inconsistent today in his 2/3 of an inning, but you can see why they've spent so much time developing him. Dan Brown and Aaron Myers finished things out with 3 1/3 scoreless but I didn't see either pitch so I can't add much. Myers got yet another pop up. Wisconsin Log

Big league spring training 2015 was the last time his name was in a published box score. Arm troubles started there.

Taylor Jungmann has officially been assigned to the Biloxi roster. They'll have to make a move, which likely means sending a pitcher off of the active roster, when he reports and is ready to pitch.

Harrison Homers for Rattlers in 1-0 Win Supak, Desguin, & Barker combine on five-hit shutout By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) Wisconsin Boxscore The Rattlers took 16 2/3 innings this season to score their first run, but that run was good enough today thanks to amazing pitching from righties Trey Supak, Jordan Desguin, and Luke Barker. The run was courtesy of Monte Harrison, who drilled a home run to left field with two out in the seventh. Monte also added a double in the sixth. Ronnie Gideon and Joantgel Segovia both had two singles. Ryan "The Other" Aguilar had the other Rattlers extra base hit, a double in the seventh. Aguilar also participated in the strangest play in the game that I saw. The game log says that Ryan lined into a double play in the second, but... Ryan hit a line drive towards the third baseman, who appeared to trap the ball, and with no immediate call from the ump Ronnie Gideon (who was at first) kept going from first to second. The River Bandits played on as well, going around the horn to complete the play as if it had been a ground ball, though Aguilar beat the throw at first. He thought. Eventually the umpire decided that the River Bandits third baseman had indeed caught the line drive, and Gideon was ruled doubled off of first, via an assist from the second baseman. Manager Matt Erickson protested, but he doth protested in vein. Oh, and also Trey Supak had a perfect game going through 5 2/3 innings before surrendering a double. Supak did a great job moving his fastball around the zone, and he was throwing well, in the 92-93 MPH range, though his fastball doesn't have a ton of natural movement. He mixed in a big curve effectively. Supak got most of his seven strikeouts on the fastball. I don't recall seeing a changeup, though I stopped watching after the 4th inning due to having kids. Desguin pitched a scoreless inning and two thirds. He left men on first and third with one out in the 8th, but debuting former indy baller Luke Barker came in a promptly induced a double play ball to get out of the jam. Barker is a big dude, with some physical similarities to Jake Arrieta. (Make no mistake - not a comp to Jake Arrieta.) The one fastball velocity I heard on Barker was 89. Barker got himself in trouble in the ninth, but with runners on 1st and 2nd and one out, he induced an atom ball that third baseman Jose Cuas speared, and threw back to second for the easy double play. Wisconsin Log Supak's perfect demise: Quad Cities Bottom of the 6th Jake Rogers strikes out swinging. Anibal Sierra grounds out, second baseman Tucker Neuhaus to first baseman Ryan Aguilar. Chuckie Robinson doubles (1) on a fly ball to left fielder Demi Orimoloye. Daz Cameron walks. Pitching Change: Jordan Desguin replaces Trey Supak. Stephen Wrenn singles on a ground ball to shortstop Trever Morrison. Chuckie Robinson to 3rd. Daz Cameron to 2nd. Ronnie Dawson called out on strikes. Aguilar'd: Wisconsin Top of the 2nd Ronnie Gideon singles on a ground ball to pitcher Carson LaRue. Ryan Aguilar lines into a double play, third baseman Randy Cesar to second baseman Alexander De Goti to first baseman Taylor Jones. Ronnie Gideon doubled off 1st. Joantgel Segovia singles on a line drive to left fielder Ronnie Dawson. Jose Cuas called out on strikes. Harrison'd: Wisconsin Top of the 8th Demi Orimoloye grounds out to catcher Chuckie Robinson. Demi Orimoloye out on batter interference. Trever Morrison pops out to shortstop Anibal Sierra. Monte Harrison homers (1) on a fly ball to left field. Tucker Neuhaus walks. Ronnie Gideon singles on a line drive to right fielder Stephen Wrenn. Tucker Neuhaus to 2nd. Ryan Aguilar strikes out swinging.

Cain was released.

Trey Supak has had a... pretty good first 4 innings.

The farm system is 2-1 going into today's games. I believe it's the first time the farm system has gone into a day with a >.500 record since at least 2014. I'll try to figure it out when I get home. Phone research is hard.

Wisconsin Shut Out to Open 2017 Quad Cities beats Wisconsin 3-0 to start the season By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Photo: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) Wisconsin Boxscore The 2017 version of the T-Rats didn't exactly come steamrolling out of the gates on day one, but baseball is back, so who cares? Demi Orimoloye paced the offense with 2 hits, and Tucker Neuhaus added the only extra base knock of the night, a 6th inning double. The "position player unit" had all sorts of trouble making contact, striking out 15 times on the night. Trever Morrison took a golden sombrero in the leadoff spot. Ronnie Gideon struck out three times, though he did also manage a walk and made a really nice defensive play, an over the shoulder catch in foul territory, and a dart back into the infield to keep a River Bandit at second base. There were also a handful of defensive miscues, two of which resulted in errors: SS Gilbert Lara made an errant throw and 3B Jose Cuas dropped a pop fly. And two batters after the Cuas dropped pop fly, Demi dropped a fly ball in shallow left, but got the force at third base and thusly received no error. Joantgel Segovia sounded like he had some issues in RF as well. I found it somewhat curious that Orimoloye was in LF and Segovia was in RF - their profiles would suggest the opposite. Versatility, eh? As for the pitching, Zack Brown is one of two non-tandem starters for the team to open the season. He was on a pitch count of 75, and made it through 4 innings on 69. It looked like he was on pace to go at least 5, but ran into command problems in the 4th and made almost 30 pitches. Brown had 8 K's in those 4 innings, a career high, and got at least one strike out on each of his fastball, curveball, and changeup, a great sign. He only walked two, but command started to falter a bit after the second inning. Miguel Sanchez was fine in his two innings, and Aaron Myers, making his full season debut, worked around the Cuas error in the 7th and had a 1-2-3 8th. Much like he did the last few years, Myers generated lots of weak contact. For pitchers with at least 20 IP, he lead Brewers minor leaguers last year in pop up%, and although there's not a ton of year to year correlation in pop up rates, it wouldn't shock me to see him be above average there again. Wisconsin Log The 3 runs of doom: Quad Cities Bottom of the 4th Taylor Jones homers (1) on a fly ball to left field. Randy Cesar pops out to first baseman Ronnie Gideon. Alexander De Goti singles on a line drive to center fielder Monte Harrison. Jake Rogers walks. Alexander De Goti to 2nd. Anibal Sierra singles on a ground ball to left fielder Demi Orimoloye. Alexander De Goti scores. Jake Rogers to 3rd. Anibal Sierra to 2nd on the throw. Carmen Benedetti strikes out swinging. With Daz Cameron batting, wild pitch by Zack Brown, Jake Rogers scores. Anibal Sierra to 3rd. Daz Cameron called out on strikes.

They were holding his hand/wrist in place, but looks like that was maybe to brace his hand to pop a finger back in. Could be much worse.

Lewis Brinson seems to have injured his left wrist/forearm on a head first slide into second base. He's been taken out of the game.

I had him at 42. With the depth of the system over the past year or so, I think it is very possible to like someone a lot and not have him in the top 25, or even 50.

At least on my mobile device, the Wisconsin game is not being streamed. Sad day.

Next up, Carolina has sent RHP Wuilder Rodriguez and C Cooper Hummel to Helena to begin the season. And of course by Helena, we mean just not on the active roster.

The Mudcats are not alone in getting their Opening Day delayed - so far, 8 opening days around the minor leagues have been postponed.

Tonight's opener for the Mudcats has been postponed due to weather. It'll be made up as part of a doubleheader on the 29th. We'll have to wait one more day to see our new affiliate in action.

In order to get down to 25 in Wisconsin, C Yoel Vasquez, OF Caleb Whalen, and RHP Dalton Brown have been assigned to Helena.

RHPs Tyler Spurlin and Angel Ventura, and C Natanael Mejia have all been assigned to Helena off of the Biloxi roster in order to get that roster down to the 25-man limit. Ventura has been listed as the Shuckers' 5th starter, so he'll be "back from Helena" by next Monday. RHPs Adrian Houser and Jorge Ortega have been placed on the Shuckers' DL.