colbyjack

I've been watching quite a bit of baseball lately, particularly from the college level, catching up on a long summer of misc. videos, recordings, etc. (thanks to the people that have helped me out in this regard, you know who you are). I think the college bats could be similar to the number available in 2005, when Alex Gordon, Jeff Clement, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki were selected among the first seven picks of the draft. Pedro Alvarez is this year's version of Alex Gordon, who has been putting up big numbers ever since stepping onto Vanderbilt's campus. I've had a few opportunities to see him in action for Team USA, and he is about as refined and lethal of a hitter as you can find, and he has really impressed me with his glove. I got a chance to see Alvarez play in person back in April, and it's impossible not seeing him lacing up the spikes at the big-league level. Justin Smoak is also playing for TUSA, and he too has a lethal bat, a switch-hitting bat to boot. He along with Yonder Alonso, and even Allan Dykstra, are going to give next year's draft some serious first base sluggers to look forward to. Alonso is probably my favorite of the three, as he has an extremely patient eye and I think his swing will lead to more hits and a better overall hitter. I've already shared my thoughts on David Adams earlier. The guy can rake, and he's a pretty good overall athlete. He hasn't hit for much power in college, but I think it will come down the road. He reminds me of Jeff Kent every time I watch the guy. There are a lot of guys that could really elevate their positions with strong springs. Jordan Danks will once again form one of the more feared tandems in all of college baseball with Kyle Russell returning to Texas. Brooks Kieschnick has big-time power and is a prototypical RF in the mold of Jeromy Burnitz, but like Burnitz he really needs to tone down his swing to cut down the Ks. Brett Wallace could be the nation's best hitter, and may be a perfect fit for the A's as somewhat of a Scott Hatteburg clone in that he doesn't have an ideal position on the field and receives scrutiny for his body type. Brandon Crawford, Ryan Flaherty, Danny Espinosa, Logan Forsythe, Jermaine Curtis, Conor Gillaspie and Gordon Beckham are all very skilled infielders, with Gillaspie making the most of his summer opportunities. Jemile Weeks didn't play this summer trying to recover from a few nagging injuries carried over from the spring. He is arguably the most dynamic player available from the college ranks, and as we've talked about on this forum before, probably a more "true" leadoff hitting second baseman than his older brother. And Matt Hague, coming off of a solid summer on the Cape, may put up some huge numbers since he transferred from Washington to Oklahoma St. Not a huge fan of the catchers that are available. Petey Paramore (ASU) may be the most patient slugger in the country, but I'm not sold on his D', while Buster Posey may be better off making the most of his athleticism a la Craig Biggio by moving him to 2B at the pro level. The college pitching, similar to '05, isn't as strong IMO. Brian Matusz is one heck of a lefty. Not as overpowering as David Price, but with very good stuff and a very tall, projectable frame. Matusz should front arguably the best pitching staff in the nation at San Diego. After Matusz, you have a collection of guys that really haven't separated themselves, with none of them currently projecting as a staff ace. Lance Lynn (Ole Miss), Aaron Shafer (Wichita State), Aaron Crow (Missouri), Jacob Thompson (Virginia), Tyson Ross (Cal) and Christian Friedrich (Eastern Kentucky) could all factor in the first round, but a few of them need to step up to make me feel more comfortable with the college pitching that projects to be available. Cole St. Clair and Josh Fields both decided to return for their senior seasons (Rice and Georgia) and will help make the '08 draft class that much better. They along with Cody Satterwhite (Ole Miss) and Brett Hunter (Pepperdine) give the '08 draft several live-armed short relievers that could/should factor into the first round.

I wanted to point out that former Brewers DFE candidate (twice actually) Aaron Tullo was named the 2nd best prospect in the Florida Collegiate League from this summer according to PG Crosschecker. Same old, same old for Tullo, who was praised for his live arm but couldn't hit the strike zone with consistency, walking 23 batters in 27 IP. Scouts are still saying his control issues come from TJ surgery, but that was two years ago now.

This shouldn't be a surprise...from a chat with Peter Gammons a couple of days ago: http://chats.boston.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=auditorium&webtag=bc-sportsmain The Yankees have already spent more than $8 million internationally, and are expected to sign Dominican shortstop Edward Salcedo for more than $4.5 million.

The Midwest Blazers are a traveling scout team based out of SE Wisconsin, but made up of players from around the Midwest (and even nationally): http://eteamz.active.com/blazerhs/index.cfm?showdonate=1

Pitch counts aren't really a new thing, as teams have been managing their young pitchers more and more conservatively for years now. There have even been studies about how pitchers fare at the big league level from start to start when they are allowed to throw more than 120 pitches (or a figure around there) in a game. Livan Hernandez is usually the exception to this, and while I don't remember where I saw the study, I do remember that most pitchers seems to have rather poor outings the next time out if they went deep the game before. And of course there is always an example like Blyleven. I always seem to hear from someone talking about how Tom Seaver threw 250 innings at the age of 22 and how he didn't have a single year in which he didn't throw under 200 innings until he was 35 years old. But for every Seaver and Blyleven you have examples like Dwight Gooden and Fernando Valenzuela, extremely talented young pitchers that burnt out early in their careers. Many attribute them burning out so fast due to their extremely heavy workloads in their early 20s (actually both began their big-league careers at the age of 19). I know a lot of old-school baseball fans, and some involved with the game itself, bring up points like JohnBriggs', but when you look at every single level of baseball these days, almost every single coach across the nation is doing something aggressively and pro-actively to make sure they are taking care of their pitchers arms.

My mom was cool enough to drive me to school every day during the first semester of my last year in college before I had enough money to buy a beater car since I couldn't afford housing around UWM's campus. I told her all the time that I would take the bus (I would take the bus home from school as she worked in the afternoons & evenings), and to this day when it is brought up in random conversations she always mentions how much she enjoyed spending that time with me. Which I think is crazy, because I'm always groggy in the morning and not the best of company before 9am (not that I am afterwards), but I guess my point is that your parents are probably more than happy to do this because they probably truly enjoy spending time with you. Just my take. If your parents are willing and able to do it, go for it. Plus, I'm sure they're happy that you have a job, a job that you seem to take quite seriously.

Thanks for sharing that. Hawn and Bell would have been ideal DFE candidates, although I'm sure the Brewers will be keeping a close eye on both of them, particularly Hawn, knowing they have another shot at him next year.

They've got deep fried cheese curds. I got some at the last game I went to (early August) from the concession stand just behind home plate on the field level. You don't get many, and you pay something like $4, but that's to be expected.

All of the players listed are the ones I was particularly impressed with, which not only reflects their performances from the Aflac game, but some of the other events they have participated at this summer. Tim Melville is a stud. He's big, athletic, he can pitch and hit and he's one of those guys that just has it. Jack Armstrong doesn't throw hard, but I loved the way he pitched. Tim Beckham, Ethan Martin, Eric Hosmer, Kyle Skipworth and Harold Martinez are all going to hit. I think Galloway will as well. Taylor Jungmann was probably the most pleasant surprise for me of the group. Gerrit Cole can also bring it. Two guys stood out to me though: Alex Meyer and Aaron Hicks. Hicks is just an exciting all-around ballplayer. Offensively he reminds me of Jose Reyes. Pitching he reminds me of Jeremy Jeffress. All around explosive athlete that can make a difference no matter how he's doing it. Meyer really impressed me with his fastball-slider combo. He spotted his FB very well, and his slider got better the more he threw it. He's a big guy, the type of pitcher I usually shy away from, but he reminded me a little bit of Dellin Betances in that he had great stuff, commanded it well and showed that he knew how to pitch. He's almost as tall as Betances but has a lot more meat on his bones. Now, if I had the first overall pick I'm not saying I would take either one of those two players (I would probably take one of either Melville, Beckham or Skipworth), but they made the biggest impression on me. Once again SoCal is loaded, and I hope you get the chance to get out and see some of these kids play in person. Did you make it to the Aflac game?

We'll take your high quality pictures of the Power any way we can get them. If you would like, I would be happy to take any picture you have and re-size them for posting. You could have your own gallery really, as I would love to see what else you have. Jinxing no-no's and big pictures aren't in violation of any rules that I'm aware of http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

Brevard County all over St. Lucie in game two. That will be a fun box score to gander at when its all said and done. Near-useless nuggest of knowledge: St. Lucie's catcher, Sean McCraw, is a former Brewers DFE candidate from the '05 class that included Lorenzo Cain, Darren Ford and Derek Miller.

I haven't seen Cates play outside of the college baseball regionals this past year. His height is really going to restrict what he can and can't do on a baseball field, but he's going to draw a lot of comparisons to Eckstein given his size, work ethic and overall style of play. I hate to dismiss him just because his height, but he is really going to have to earn every promotion he receives. What I saw of him briefly it's hard not to like and root for the guy. And not a weird question at all, enjoy him while you can at Beloit. It does say something that he made it to low-A after debuting in the Appalachian League just a couple of months after he was drafted.

I sure did. My column from last week got buried a little on PGCC's homepage due to the amount of info recently released on the Aflac game, Area Code Games and the East Coast Pro, but here's the link if you're interested: http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/crackthebat/patrick_ebert/07_08_17_aflac_impressions/

In relationship to Aaron Crow, I forgot to add the prospects since 1999 that have received the top prospect award in the eyes of scouts. Some pretty good names on this list, which usually can attest to not only the talent level on the Cape, but how well the scouts are at evaluating that talent: 2006: Matt Wieters 2005: Andrew Miller 2004: Tyler Greene 2003: Wade Townsend 2002: Wes Whisler 2001: Russ Adams 2000: Bobby Brownlie 1999: Mark Teixeira Keep in mind that Townsend and Brownlie in particular were very highly sout after pitching prospects entering their junior years in college. Injuries for the most part really got both of them. This list reminded me just how big of an impression Wes Whisler left on scouts in 2002, in which he was named the league's top prospect after his freshman year at UCLA. He never was the same player, a mystery that left quite a few people scratching their heads.

Most to all of the summer leagues have wrapped up play, with Yarmouth-Dennis taking the crown on the Cape. Here's a link to the Cape's website to check stats, play of the year awards, etc.: http://www.capecodbaseball.org/ Wichita State 3B Conor Gillaspie was named the league's MVP by leading the league in hitting and slugging, and was among almost every other major statical category as well hitting .345/.448/.673, which are some incredibly impressive numbers. Missouri's Aaron Crow was named the league's best pro prospect as voted by the scouts that covered the league. Crow is a RHP that commands his 90-94 mph fastball incredibly well, going 3-1 on the summer while posting the league's best ERA at 0.67. He was particularly impressive in the All-Star Game, striking out the side in the first inning (Cole Figueroa, Collin Cowgill and Yonder Alonso, three pretty good bats). St. Cloud took the Northwoods League title, beating Eau Claire last Saturday. The top prospect lists for all of the summer leagues will soon be posted on PGCrosschecker as well as Baseball America. I actually compiled this summer's top prospect list for the Northwoods League, going 25 players deep, compiling thoughts from each of the league's 14 field managers as well as area scouts that covered the circuit.

Nope, nothing on Montes. That doesn't mean he's not a prospect, but none of the handful of places that I look to find info on the top international guys has him listed.

I mentioned the part I did about signing bonuses after the 5th round because for all we know the Brewers dropped some signifcant money on players that were drafting in the 11th rounds and below. For instance, the Brewers signed 6th rounder Dan Merklinger for over $123,000, the so-called slot value for any pick after the fifth round. They also dropped $115,000 on 7th rounder Efrain Nieves and $100,000 on 9th rounder Kristian Bueno. Their respective slot values, if they were to continue to decrease pick-by-pick beyond the 5th round would be significantly less than those amounts. I also remember reading/hearing somewhere on the forums that 20th rounder Cameron Robulack signed for a pretty healthy amount, and I wouldn't be surprised if guys like Zarraga, Wheeler, Morales and Paciorek signed for healthy bonuses, even if none of those bonuses were considered over slot. And they have already dropped $450,000 on Itaniel-Guzman, the outfielder from the DR. Jonathan White is a guy I also would have loved to see sign, but I knew as soon as I saw his name that we would be heading back to Vanderbilt with the possibility of being a 3rd-5th round guy next year, possibly signing in the $500,000 range.

BTW, Salcedo particpated at Perfect Game's National Showcase in mid-June as a 15-year old, more than holding his own with and against the top players in the nation, mostly high school seniors to be, many of whom who were on display during the Aflac All-American Classic which was televised last weekend. http://www.perfectgame.org/players/playerprofile.aspx?ID=123749 Man alive, how many people out there looked anything like this kid at 15 years old? I think I was still trying to break the Mendoza mark for height (5'http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif.

There's a new name on the international free agent market, Dominican SS Edward Salcedo, who didn't turn 16 until July 30. Salcedo is a true 5-tool talent, represented by Scott Boras and being courted by the usual suspects (Yankees, Mets, Mariners...apparently the Red Sox already spent enough money on Latin shortstops this summer). Baseball America has noted that there are a couple of mid to small market clubs still in the running as well, although Salcedo is expected to sign for much more than the $1.5 million the Red Sox dropped on Michael Almanzar. The Brewers have made a few surprising moves on the international market the past few years, and while I'm not optimistic about them competing with the likes of the Yankees and Mets, I'm hoping they have one more surprise up their sleeve. Salcedo's signing according to the story at BA is expected to be finalized at some point this week.

The common comp I hear for Gillespie is Matt Murton of the Cubs, at least as a hitter, and Murton has not quite been accepted as a full time player. (Some of that has to do with defense and baserunning I guess, but I don't know how much better Gillespie is defensively...I think he's faster and more athletic than Murton but I might be wrong about that.) Murton would seem to be a good comp. Gillespie actually has drawn some pretty big raves from the Brewers front office for his defense. I remember Doug Melvin (or Reid Nichols, or Jack Zduriencik, I can't remember) making a comment last winter when talking with Jim Powell on Talkin' Brewers that Gillespie could be a Gold Glover right now at the big league level, the type of guy you won't have to worry about finding a place for on the field (which is why he played a little CF last year, but I think his arm -- after shoulder surgery a few years ago -- relegates him to left). And he has decent wheels as well, swiping a few bags with fairly good success this year and last, and everything else I have heard about him, such as baserunning, seems to imply that he is very fundamentally sound. I do understand though why some may be a little leery of him. Next year he definitely will need to pick up where he is poised to leave off this year. I'm somewhat surprised that the Brewers initially haven't found a place for him in either Arizona or Hawaii. And I recognize that Brantley is young and has great discipline, but again, he has NO power at this point in time. It can't be simply assumed that he will develop power, which in my mind is the hardest tool to develop. I hope he does, but again, not many people thought Tony Gwynn Jr. was an everyday player as he ascended to the big leagues, and yes I do recognize the difference in ages vs. levels. And as pogo has pointed out several times before, Brantley doesn't have Gwynn's glove.

Scarpetta signs for $350,000 per PGCrosschecker: [link]http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/draft/2007/notebooks/allansimpson/notebook_81707.aspx[/link The Brewers and Mets also made significant runs at signing their picks, both signing their first 19 selections. The Brewers went over slot on only one of their selections in doing so, signing Scarpetta in the 11th round for $350,000. Keep in mind that MLB only makes slot recommendations for the first five rounds. After that, they ask that any pick signed after the 5th doesn't exceed what the last slot in the fifth round was (I believe around $120,000).

Chad Robinson with a tough start for Helena this evening, but the announcer did note that his velocity bounced back this evening, sitting in the 92-93 range, as it sounded as though he hasn't been pitching this hard prior to tonight's game.

Gillespie is actually just one year removed from college. But I do recognize that he is somewhat older, but as noted, he did skip WV. I'm somewhat surprised that the Brewers didn't find a spot for him in Arizona or Hawaii this fall, although I wouldn't be surprised to see him eventually wind up in AZ as a replacement of some sort. I recognized that Brewer is not moving off of SS anytime soon just above. This is nothing against Brent, just a personal opinion that I have held since way before the Brewers drafted him. To me he is more of a strider, which would make him more of a natural fit for CF, where I feel his defense could make an impact similar to Torii Hunter. As for Brantley, I also recognize that he could develop some power, but right now he has none. Going from none to some isn't enough for me to believe he could be an everyday player at the MLB level, as we've had the same conversation countless times with Tony Gwynn Jr. His SLG is just far too dependent on how well he's hitting.

I have learned that not only have the Brewers signed Cody Scarpetta, but they have also signed 44th round catcher Shawn Zarraga. Zarraga is an extremely athletic catcher that will add depth to a position that seemed to be an organizational weakness but is slowly but surely becoming a modest strength. Kudos to the Brewers scouting dep't. for signing all of their picks within the top 20 rounds, and 32 players overall.

Thanks for finding and sharing that link ImGantnerDamit (still the best handle ever). That's good news to have Scarpetta in the fold. And congrats to you and your former players Blazer.