battlekow

Haudricourt on Katin: On the radar screen When prospects in the Brewers' system are discussed, Brendan Katin seldom is mentioned. Yet the power-hitting rightfielder has almost single-handedly carried Nashville with his bat. Katin, 26, produced his third two-homer game Thursday in a span of six games, giving him home runs in seven of 14 games. Batting .340 over a 21-game stretch, the Sounds' rightfielder was at .281 with 12 home runs and 44 RBI in 46 games, with a .584 slugging percentage. Katin was selected in the 23rd round of the 2005 draft out of Miami, where he was a teammate of Ryan Braun, the Brewers' first-round pick that year. "He's got as much power as anybody I've ever seen, at any level," said Braun, who knows a thing or two about slugging. "He's a big, strong guy who hits a ball as far as anybody I've seen." Katin is in his second year at Nashville, where he batted .271 with 19 home runs and 72 RBI in '08. The reason Katin seldom is mentioned as a future Brewer is because he is a right-handed hitter and all-or-nothing type, something the club already has in abundance. Katin had drawn only nine walks in 178 at-bats while striking out 56 times. Melvin compared him to former Brewers slugger Rob Deer, prolific in hitting homers and whiffing. "That's probably what people say he is," said Melvin. "But this guy keeps hitting. He has hit at each level he has played, and he's got a plus arm. "He does get overlooked. If he continues to hit, at the end of the year, we've got to take a look at him. He's got power." Braun expects to see Katin in the majors at some point, if not with the Brewers. "Consistency has always been his issue," said Braun. "But when he's going good and centering the ball, he hits it as far and hard as anybody I've ever seen. He's actually a really good athlete for a big guy (6 feet 1 inch, 235 pounds). "Prospect status a lot of times is a direct result of what round you're drafted. It shouldn't be that way but it is. He wasn't a high draft pick. If you look at physical tools, he's about as talented as anyone in our system."

Yeah, that's weird. When he got skipped last time, Chris Mehring emphasized that it wasn't due to injury, but not only did he not pitch tonight, he's not scheduled to pitch at all this series.

Schafer's DHing for Huntsville, which is odd. Nice to see an XBH from Lucroy (triple). Great game from Dan Merklinger. He needs to get some traction and earn a promotion.

BA now has the Brewers taking A.J. Pollock.

Tomo Ohka joins the Indians rotation in place of Fausto Carmona, who was dispatched to rookie ball(!); Ohka's pretty well stretched out, as he's pitched five innings of relief in each of Carmona's last two starts.

Tomo Ohka joins the Indians rotation in place of Fausto Carmona, who was dispatched to rookie ball(!); Ohka's pretty well stretched out, as he's pitched five innings of relief in each of Carmona's last two starts.

Anundsen was #12 on this week's Hot Sheet:

You can convert a pitcher to a relief role whenever. You want to find out if they can succeed as a starter first, and I don't think that question has been answered for Jones, Rogers, or Braddock. It's not like any of them are in a position to help the big club out of the pen this year.

Here's the thread about it from Future Redbirds. In the comments, there's a quote from a Post-Dispatch chat: As one of the other comments says, the fact that they're repeatedly saying it was only a performance-based move leads you to believe the exact opposite.

Possibly telling quotes from the official site: So, college pitcher at 26? That would certainly be different.

I thought everyone hated Dave Kingman--we're really campaigning to have 75% of Dave Kingman start for our team? Sure, Hart may not be the answer, but that doesn't mean that the guy playing his position at AAA is the answer.

Jonathan Mayo has the Brewers taking Matt Davidson in his newest mock (linked in the original post). Excepting Donavan Tate, who is a horse of a different color, and Bobby Borchering, who seems to have separated himself from the HS hitter pack, who do you guys like most between Davidson, Wil Myers, Mike Trout, and Everett Williams?

Ah, the perils of having a last name too close to that of your hometown:

Wow, Schafer is really trucking through the system. At this rate, he might beat Lorenzo Cain to Milwaukee, seeing it sometime next year--assuming he keeps hitting this well, which with his walk rate might be tough. EDIT: Also, does this mean Lorenzo Cain to Nashville when he returns from his knee injury?

Colby, I noticed you still have Gibson really high, at #4. What are you hearing about his chances of free-falling due to the loss of velocity/injury scare?

Wooten must have been really off tonight, to give the lead away twice. Wild pitch, walk, HBP, run-scoring balk--he hit all the low notes.

Kjeldgaard down to 6th in the T-Rats lineup.

2008 Brewers draftees eligible for the 2009 draft: 27th-round pick Austin Adams (Faulkner University) was drafted by the Brewers as a shortstop but will get taken this year as a RHP. He's the fourth-ranked prospect in Alabama and 172-ranked overall prospect in the country, the only nationally ranked 2008 Brewers draftee. BA says: 39th-round OF Eric Decker (University of Minnesota) is the third-ranked prospect in Minnesota. BA, in addition to calling him "one of the best pure athletes in the draft", says: 29th-round RHP Tommy Collier (San Jacinto JC) is the 30th-ranked prospect in Texas. BA: 34th-round RHP Calvin Drummond (Orange Coast CC) is the 84th-ranked prospect in California. BA: 42nd-round SS Ryan Wood, Corey Kemp's teammate last year at East Carolina, is the 35th-ranked prospect in North Carolina. BA: 36th-round LHP Evan Bronson (Trinity University) is the 108th-ranked prospect in Texas, and Tommy Collier's teammate at San Jacinto, 50th-round LHP Sean Nolin, is unranked. 33rd-round RHP Michael White (Walters State CC) is unranked in Tennessee. 41st-round SS Joe Scott (Cal State Fullerton) is unranked in California. 44th-round RHP Kaleb Herren (University of Oklahoma) and 45th-round 2B James Kottaras (Connors State JC) play in Oklahoma, whose prospect list does not appear to have been published yet.

Here's the actual BA State Report on Wisconsin. The state gets two stars out of five ("Not up to par"). The rankings are: 1. Kevin James, lhp, Whitefish Bay HS, Milwaukee 2. Joel Effertz, rhp, Ladysmith HS 3. Charlie Markson, of, Whitefish Bay HS, Milwaukee 4. Adam Walker, 3b/c, Milwaukee Lutheran HS 5. Jason Hooper, rhp, Wisconsin-Whitewater 6. Nick Rice, lhp, Madison Area Tech JC 7. Tim Suminski, lhp, Parkway Christian HS, Oak Creek Comments include: James' curveball and changeup need "a lot of work". Notre Dame head coach Dave Schrage compared Markson to A.J. Pollock. Effertz' velocity has been down and his arm action and conditioning are problems. He's not expected to be drafted high enough to keep him from attending Arizona. Hooper is "too raw for pro ball at this point".

Chris Dennis was in Wednesday's Minor League Update from Kevin Goldstein at BP: Finally, an answer for why he didn't make the T-Rats roster out of spring training.

No, but a Gerut (or Catalanotto)/Hart platoon would be more productive than Hart.

I guess the rain delay means Braddock is only going to go an inning. Too bad.

Good day for the top Nashville prospects: Escobar finishes 2-4 with a double and Salome finishes 1-3 with a double and a walk.

Uh, wow. Aguilar entrusted with a five-run lead and is only able to get one out before blowing it. He gave up a game-tying grand slam, the first homer he's allowed this year. At least he hasn't lost it (the game) yet.

Looks like Brendan Katin had a nice outfield kill to keep the Sounds' lead at two runs in the 5th: Steve Clevenger grounds out, second baseman Hernan Iribarren to first baseman Joe Koshansky. Nate Spears singles on a line drive to center fielder Jason Bourgeois. Anderson Machado pops out to shortstop Alcides Escobar. With David Macias batting, Nate Spears steals (3) 2nd base. David Macias walks. Esmailin Caridad singles on a line drive to right fielder Brendan Katin. Nate Spears out at home on the throw, right fielder Brendan Katin to catcher Angel Salome.