battlekow

And yet...

Stockfisch's Facebook profile indicates he was released in January and is now working for First Trust Portfolios.

Chris Mehring puts Scooter Gennett in the intimidating Interrogation Room. Also, Adam McCalvy has some tidbits on Logan Schafer and Caleb Gindl:

The Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck with an update on Adrian Rosario's chances of sticking with Baltimore:

The Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck with an update on Adrian Rosario's chances of sticking with Baltimore:

But then he'd get pigeonholed as a Quad-A player.

Another new DSL player: 18-year-old C Natanael "Don't Call Me Deivi" Mejia has appeared on the DSL Brewers roster.

I'm going to approach this from the perspective of predicting someone who's not really considered a prospect turning himself into a real one. An easy answer is Yadiel Rivera, but I doubt he'll "break out" so much as we'll correct the oversight of not having him on the Power 50. My pick is Lee Haydel, who seems to have made small but significant strides in his plate approach while tackling AA for the first time and whose defensive potential has remained untapped by virtue of having higher-priority guys stuck in center ahead of him. I doubt he'll ever hit enough to be a starter, but if he can keep refining that batting eye, he could be valuable 4th outfielder/bench legs.

Baseball America's Ben Badler recapped the Brewers' 2010 international signings in a subscribers-only piece. He brought to light three new players: 6'2", 175-lb. 17-year-old LHP Marcos Padilla, 6'6", 190-lb. 17-year-old RHP Pedro Peguero, and 6'1", 165-lb. 16-year-old middle infielder Orlando Arcia. Padilla apparently runs his fastball up to 89 and has a good curveball and decent changeup. Peguero touches 92 with his heater but doesn't have much in the way of secondary stuff. Arcia has "solid tools across the board" and while currently a shortstop might end up at second base.

3B/OF Wayne Dedrick suspended 50 games for his second positive test for a "drug of abuse" (i.e. not steroids). If you like, discuss in last year's rookie leagues thread. EDIT: Bill Mitchell had taken photos of Dedrick, this one as recently as this past fall in instructionals. Earlier photos here as well.

I'm sure we'll have more from the first live action of spring, but I just wanted to point out this humorous note from NBC's Craig Calcaterra:

From the University of Richmond's student newspaper (go Spiders!):

Per Bob Nightengale, the Brewers can void the 5th year of the contract if Weeks doesn't reach 600 PA in the last year of the deal or 1200 in the last two.

The Knoxville News Sentinel:

RHP Vince Perkins signed with the Blue Jays. It was from Toronto the Brewers claimed him off waivers in April 2006, though he was injured and didn't pitch for the organization until 2007--after which they too cut him loose.

Kintzler back where it beganKeith Lair/Whittier Daily News PASADENA - Brandon Kintzler admitted Jackie Robinson Field at Brookside Park has not changed much. "Everything looks the same," he said. "The field looks a little nicer. But they have better uniforms than we did." The major-league pitcher was back in the stadium on Thursday, his first appearance since 2003, when he pitched for Pasadena City College. "As much as I hated to come here, basically this is where I got found," he said. "This conference has great players and there are always scouts at games here." Kintzler, 26, was called up by the Milwaukee Brewers in September. He threw 7.1 innings in seven games and had a 7.38 ERA. He pitched in Triple-A Nashville, Tenn., for most of 2010. Pasadena coach Evan O'Meara invited Kintzler to throw out the first pitch before the Lancers' season-opening game against Antelope Valley on Thursday. The right-hander threw a nice soft pitch over the plate to PCC catcher Javier Estrada of Alhambra. "I'm so excited that they have a connection to this guy," O'Meara said. "He's six, seven years older than these guys, so he has a connection there. He played here and he's their size. He look like them. "This a professional baseball player." Kintzler is the lone PCC alumnus on a current major league baseball 40-man roster. At PCC, Kintzler was an All-South Coast Conference first team selection. He had a 5-3 record and 3.83 ERA in 106 innings. He struck out a team-high 72 batters and pitched two complete-game shutouts.

The Northwest Indiana Times reports that RHP Rob Currie will have a tryout with the Diamondbacks.

From the Cape Cod Times:

Rocky Hill's Pat Egan Will Try To Make Milwaukee Brewers' Pitching StaffDom Amore/Hartford Courant CROMWELL — He has been watching Pat Egan work out for 11 years, watching him chase something that has always been far off. This winter, Pete Asadourian sees something a little different. "It's 'go time,' " Asadourian said. "And Pat knows it. He knows it's go time. He doesn't have to be told what's right in front of him now." Egan has overcome two major surgeries and massive odds, but when he leaves Asadourian's gym next month for Glendale, Ariz., leaving the Rocky Hill High freshman basketball team he is coaching, he will be going for a job in the major leagues — in the bullpen of the Milwaukee Brewers. "It has got to be like the regular season for me," Egan said. "I have to be ready to go." The Brewers took Egan, 26, in the Rule V draft in December. He had finished last season in Triple A for the Orioles. So, by rule, the Brewers paid the Orioles $50,000 and have to keep him on the major league roster all year or offer him back to Baltimore for $25,000. They would prefer, of course, that Egan justify their choice in spring training and make the team. "I was excited when I found out," Egan said. "It feels great to be wanted." He faces strong competition. The Brewers, who expect to contend in the NL Central, have added veteran relievers Sean Green and Takashi Saito. Egan, 6 feet 7, and 235 pounds, was moved from starting to relief pitching last year, the Orioles thinking his sinking fastball could be a more effective weapon out of the bullpen. He was 6-1 with a 2.12 ERA in 22 appearances for Double A Bowie, allowing 29 hits and seven walks in 46 2/3 innings. That led to a promotion to Triple A, where Egan struggled to a 5.11 ERA in 27 games. He rebounded with a 2.53 ERA in the Arizona Fall League. "I think I made a breakthrough with my mind-set," Egan said. "What [the games at Bowie] did was give me the confidence." If Egan can take the final step and make Milwaukee's Opening Day roster, it would be the culmination of a journey that has had more than enough obstacles. "He's had some speed bumps," Asadourian said. "Someone else might have shut it down." Egan was a basketball and baseball star at Rocky Hill, leading the Terriers, coached by Asadourian, to a state basketball title. He played both sports for a time at Quinnipiac, but realizing his future was baseball, he began concentrating on that full time as a sophomore. Then, as he prepared for a postseason game, he felt something strange. "My arm swelled up to almost the size of my leg," he said. "And I felt, the best way to describe it, is an uncomfortable stretch near my armpit. I went out and started throwing BP and guys were way out in front, asking, 'What are you throwing, all changeups?" I told Coach [Dan] Gooley, 'I better get this checked out.'" Egan was first told he had a torn pectoral, but he knew that wasn't right and sought a second opinion. Ultrasound revealed he had a large blood clot in his shoulder, too hardened to be broken up by medication. Egan underwent surgery to remove part of a rib that doctors believed caused the clot and had part of a vein removed from his leg and moved to his shoulder. "I feel like it cost me two years," Egan said. "When I came back, there's no prescribed rehab for something like that. I started long-throwing and pitching." Shortly after returning, Egan hurt his elbow and ended up getting Tommy John surgery. During the yearlong rehab, Egan began to doubt whether he would make it back. "The rehab is so long and tedious," Egan said. "One day, you feel like you can go out and throw 110 pitches, the next day you're sore and hurting." Egan did make it back, though, and the Orioles drafted him for the third time after he completed his redshirt senior year. As he moved through their system, Scott McGregor, pitching coach at Aberdeen in the New York-Penn League, had a great influence and helped convince him to rely on his two-seamer, the sinker. Despite his height, Egan has never thrown over the top, just "three-quarters," almost sidearm. Hitters, especially righthanders, find it hard to pick up. "That gives him some deception," Dick Groch, a Brewers special advisor, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It's a little cross-body. He's a big, strong, physical guy." Though he looks like a guy who might throw 98 MPH, Egan throws 91-93, which also fools the hitters, and he has the sinking action. "Strikeouts are great," Egan said, "but for me it's all about pitching to contact, getting ground balls." The Brewers see him in the mold of Kameron Loe, a 6-8 righthander who is not overpowering but had a 2.78 ERA in 53 games for them in 2010. When he returned home from Arizona, Egan stepped up his training with Asadourian at Future Fitness in Cromwell, a small gym behind Champions Skating Center. A number of other local pro athletes work out there. Asadourian, who has returned to coaching the boys basketball team at Rocky Hill, asked Egan to take over the freshman program. Egan's father, Pete, the career rebounding leader at the University of Hartford (1971-75), is the Rocky Hill girls varsity coach. Egan, who also gives lessons at Baseball City in Hartford, has been throwing regularly for several weeks. He sometimes pushes equipment aside at Future Fitness, approximating 60 feet, 6 inches, and fires in to Asadourian, his trainer since age 15. "My hand is throbbing when he's through," Asadourian said. For Egan and those pulling for him, it's living in the moment — and the moment for which he has worked a lifetime is at hand. "There's no question about it," he said, "you go through life and you make decisions and you wonder, and people wonder, if they're the right ones. Now, you have the chance to make it all pay off."

Rocky Hill's Pat Egan Will Try To Make Milwaukee Brewers' Pitching StaffDom Amore/Hartford Courant CROMWELL — He has been watching Pat Egan work out for 11 years, watching him chase something that has always been far off. This winter, Pete Asadourian sees something a little different. "It's 'go time,' " Asadourian said. "And Pat knows it. He knows it's go time. He doesn't have to be told what's right in front of him now." Egan has overcome two major surgeries and massive odds, but when he leaves Asadourian's gym next month for Glendale, Ariz., leaving the Rocky Hill High freshman basketball team he is coaching, he will be going for a job in the major leagues — in the bullpen of the Milwaukee Brewers. "It has got to be like the regular season for me," Egan said. "I have to be ready to go." The Brewers took Egan, 26, in the Rule V draft in December. He had finished last season in Triple A for the Orioles. So, by rule, the Brewers paid the Orioles $50,000 and have to keep him on the major league roster all year or offer him back to Baltimore for $25,000. They would prefer, of course, that Egan justify their choice in spring training and make the team. "I was excited when I found out," Egan said. "It feels great to be wanted." He faces strong competition. The Brewers, who expect to contend in the NL Central, have added veteran relievers Sean Green and Takashi Saito. Egan, 6 feet 7, and 235 pounds, was moved from starting to relief pitching last year, the Orioles thinking his sinking fastball could be a more effective weapon out of the bullpen. He was 6-1 with a 2.12 ERA in 22 appearances for Double A Bowie, allowing 29 hits and seven walks in 46 2/3 innings. That led to a promotion to Triple A, where Egan struggled to a 5.11 ERA in 27 games. He rebounded with a 2.53 ERA in the Arizona Fall League. "I think I made a breakthrough with my mind-set," Egan said. "What [the games at Bowie] did was give me the confidence." If Egan can take the final step and make Milwaukee's Opening Day roster, it would be the culmination of a journey that has had more than enough obstacles. "He's had some speed bumps," Asadourian said. "Someone else might have shut it down." Egan was a basketball and baseball star at Rocky Hill, leading the Terriers, coached by Asadourian, to a state basketball title. He played both sports for a time at Quinnipiac, but realizing his future was baseball, he began concentrating on that full time as a sophomore. Then, as he prepared for a postseason game, he felt something strange. "My arm swelled up to almost the size of my leg," he said. "And I felt, the best way to describe it, is an uncomfortable stretch near my armpit. I went out and started throwing BP and guys were way out in front, asking, 'What are you throwing, all changeups?" I told Coach [Dan] Gooley, 'I better get this checked out.'" Egan was first told he had a torn pectoral, but he knew that wasn't right and sought a second opinion. Ultrasound revealed he had a large blood clot in his shoulder, too hardened to be broken up by medication. Egan underwent surgery to remove part of a rib that doctors believed caused the clot and had part of a vein removed from his leg and moved to his shoulder. "I feel like it cost me two years," Egan said. "When I came back, there's no prescribed rehab for something like that. I started long-throwing and pitching." Shortly after returning, Egan hurt his elbow and ended up getting Tommy John surgery. During the yearlong rehab, Egan began to doubt whether he would make it back. "The rehab is so long and tedious," Egan said. "One day, you feel like you can go out and throw 110 pitches, the next day you're sore and hurting." Egan did make it back, though, and the Orioles drafted him for the third time after he completed his redshirt senior year. As he moved through their system, Scott McGregor, pitching coach at Aberdeen in the New York-Penn League, had a great influence and helped convince him to rely on his two-seamer, the sinker. Despite his height, Egan has never thrown over the top, just "three-quarters," almost sidearm. Hitters, especially righthanders, find it hard to pick up. "That gives him some deception," Dick Groch, a Brewers special advisor, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It's a little cross-body. He's a big, strong, physical guy." Though he looks like a guy who might throw 98 MPH, Egan throws 91-93, which also fools the hitters, and he has the sinking action. "Strikeouts are great," Egan said, "but for me it's all about pitching to contact, getting ground balls." The Brewers see him in the mold of Kameron Loe, a 6-8 righthander who is not overpowering but had a 2.78 ERA in 53 games for them in 2010. When he returned home from Arizona, Egan stepped up his training with Asadourian at Future Fitness in Cromwell, a small gym behind Champions Skating Center. A number of other local pro athletes work out there. Asadourian, who has returned to coaching the boys basketball team at Rocky Hill, asked Egan to take over the freshman program. Egan's father, Pete, the career rebounding leader at the University of Hartford (1971-75), is the Rocky Hill girls varsity coach. Egan, who also gives lessons at Baseball City in Hartford, has been throwing regularly for several weeks. He sometimes pushes equipment aside at Future Fitness, approximating 60 feet, 6 inches, and fires in to Asadourian, his trainer since age 15. "My hand is throbbing when he's through," Asadourian said. For Egan and those pulling for him, it's living in the moment — and the moment for which he has worked a lifetime is at hand. "There's no question about it," he said, "you go through life and you make decisions and you wonder, and people wonder, if they're the right ones. Now, you have the chance to make it all pay off."

Rogers talking at a Portland Sea Dogs banquet tonight:

The Sounds site caught up with Brendan Katin, who reveals himself as an Eagles fan (sorry, Brendan) and displays a sense of humor about his extended tour of duty in Nashville:

From a subscribers-only piece by John Manuel at Baseball America on Mark Rogers:

Per Baseball America, the Brewers signed RHPs Morgan Brinson and Jameson Dunn and released RHP Luis Guerrero. Brinson was a 32nd-round pick of the Giants in 2004 and pitched with them until 2008; he was last seen throwing a third of an inning in low-A Northwest League. He's Canadian, not unexpectedly. Dunn (not Canadian) is an undrafted free agent out of Oral Roberts, where he was Andre Lamontagne's teammate for two years. Both Brinson and Dunn just turned 24. Guerrero missed all of 2010 with an arm injury on the heels of a promising 2009 that saw him strike out 45 in 38.1 innings as a 19-year-old in the Arizona League.

The St. Paul Saints site has a long, comprehensive review of what Kintzler's been through in his career so far; well worth a read.