colbyjack

DAS1410, welcome aboard. Refer to the Brewerfan.net FAQ about posting a picture, either in your post or in your avatar. Pictures are not allowed as signatures, just so you know. Brewerfan.net FAQ

Rice has committed to play at Southern Illinois. I'm going to see him pitch this weekend in Cedar Rapids, IA and Perfect Game's indoor pitcher/catcher showcase. Word has it his fastball continues to get better and better, and was recently clocked at 91 (he's been around that range in the past, but he is most consistently in the 84-87 range).

Baseball America's top prep draft list has been out for a week or two now, and PG Crosschecker continues to update their top 2,000+ list. Massachusetts LHP Jack McGeary graced BA's homepage today, which I felt was enough to kick off the high school resource thread. http://www.baseballamerica.com/images/jmcgeary07428309rg.jpg The story on McGeary and BA's high school top prospect and tools lists are all for subscribers only, so I'll include a link to their HS page: BA: High School Coverage Here's a link to PG Crosschecker's HS page (after looking, their top 2,000 prospect list was just revised today): PG Crosschecker HS Prospects And if you haven't noticed yet, PG Crosschecker has enjoyed a facelift to help make all of their content a lot easier to find and navigate. Please use this thread to post all pertinent news-related items and updates on notable high school prospects eligible for the 2007 draft.

The Yankees are probably top 10, but it's important to remember that Tabata enjoyed his success at the low-A level last year, Betances pitched in rookie ball, Kennedy and Chamberlain were just drafted, while Whelan and Cox are relievers as endaround noted. Sanchez was a good pickup, but he has durability and conditioning concerns, which isn't a good combo for a young flamethrower. If readiness plays a large role, the Brewers have two players no the cusp of being big contributors at the big league level (Gallardo and Braun), plus everyone seems to love their depth. The Diamondbacks have one of the most impressive top 3 prospects in the game in Upton, Young and Gonzalez, not to mention some pretty good depth of their own. Having the Yankees ahead of those two teams alone makes it seem as though Goldstein is either a big Yankees fan or he's trying to be different.

With all due respect 999555999, if the Wisconsin Rockhounds were a AAA equivalent team, they wouldn't have a high school freshman that throws 74 mph on their team.

College baseball returns to TV this weekend with a tape-delayed broadcast of the Miami-Florida game on Sunday. Here are the details: Miami @ Florida When: Sunday, 2/18, 10:00 PM CST Where: FCSA (channel 107 for TW Digital Cable Milwaukee subscribers) If you remember, last year the Saturday game of this series was televised, as we got an early look at LHP Manny Miguelez and RHP Bryan Augenstein. Jack Zduriencik was in attendance for this game as well, shown on TV personally clocking Miami closer Chris Perez (hopefully that means Jack Zduriencik will be on Talkin' Brewers as well this Saturday). Assuming the tape-delayed broadcast of the game will be Sunday's game (according to Florida's site, both Saturday's and Sunday's games will be shown in Florida by the SUN network), if the rotations hold, Miguelez should be going on Sunday vs. Florida RHP Billy Bullock (a 20th rounder of the Dodgers a year ago). Miami has plenty of players worth watching, highlighted by Jemile Weeks and Yonder Alonso, who is pounding the ball like few others so far this season. Florida's most notable hitter is slugging senior 1B Matt LaPorta, who we all had plenty of opportunities to see a year ago (Florida, Florida State and Miami all had plenty of games on TV last spring). An early TV update looking ahead to next week... Florida State @ Florida When: Tuesday, 2/20, 5:30 PM CST Where: FCSP (channel 109 for TW Digital Cable Milwaukee subscribers) I'm not sure why the Pacific channel of the Fox College Sports channels is carrying this game, but who cares? College baseball on a Tuesday in February? No clue on the possible starters in that one. _____________________________________________________________ Here's looking ahead to the weekend schedule: Notable ranked teams Clemson (vs. George Mason), North Carolina (vs. Seton Hall), Wichita State (vs. Pepperdine) and Nebraska (as part of the UT-Arlington invitational tournament) all start their seasons this weekend. Some of the more notable series: Rice vs. Long Beach State Long Beach State is off to a hot start, taking 2 of 3 from both USC and Texas the past two weekends, while Rice is off to a slow start. Radio (LBSU is one of the few schools that still carries online broadcasts for free without needing to sign up for anything): www.longbeachstate.com/gen/thisweek.html Arizona State, Missouri, Oregon State, and Gonzaga will take part of the Coca-Cola Classic in Surprise Arizona. Cal State Fullerton takes on Arizona, who is off to a relatively surprising 8-0 start. Stanford travels to play Texas this weekend in a re-match of the CWS finals from two years ago. _____________________________________________________________ Prospect watching outside of the marquee matchups: Vanderbilt plays Ohio this weekend. NC State plays Gardner-Webb. Georgia Tech takes on UIC (keep an eye out for UIC RHP and Madison native Ryan Zink, who missed last year due to TJ surgery and has yet to make an appearance this season). Arkansas hosts UW-Milwaukee. Go Panthers! San Diego hosts Virginia Commonwealth. UCLA plays East Carolina. TCU will face Oral Roberts. Tennessee plays Bethune-Cookman. Oklahoma State plays La Salle, Florida Atlantic and Ball State at the FAU Beach Ball Bash tournament. Mississippi hosts Evansville this weekend. And finally, Beau Mills of NAIA national powerhouse Lewis-Clark State College begins play this weekend. I have to share this picture of Texas' Kyle Russell, a draft-eligible sophomore OF with awesome power potential due to a mighty swing. This is reminiscent of Geoff Jenkins, who also never gets cheated at the plate: http://cache.texassports.com//image_lib/russell_kyle_102506_400.jpg I will be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa attending the Perfect Game Indoor Showcase for pitchers and catchers this weekend, which is why I'm getting a head start on the games to be played.

In Jim Callis' most recent AskBA, he notes that compensation picks will be awarded to teams that lost Type A FAs first, then to those that lost Type B FAs, while also providing an updated draft order. I will make those same changes to the draft order as shown on an earlier page in this thread. www.baseballamerica.com/t...63316.html EDIT: The Brewers 3rd-round pick, their second selection in the draft, stands as the 101st overall selection right now. That is an 18 pick difference from their 3rd round a year ago (Cole Gillespie, 92nd overall) when you factor in the fact that the Brewers slot this year is nine places higher than their 16th slot a year ago. That third round pick can be no worse than the 103rd overall selection based on the two remaining Type B free agents that have not signed. The pick could be as high as the 100th selection overall should those two free agents not end up signing with other ballclubs and if Max Scherzer signs with the D-Backs before draft day.

Yup, I read Shep's post, and Turner isn't quite the unknown that he was when Shep initially posted that (word spreads quickly in the scouting community). He's a good five-tool prospect, highlighted by his speed. He's a little on the smaller side, checking in around 5'11" and 180 pounds, and I'm not so sure about his overall power potential (Shep tossed out a comparison to Manny Ramirez, which of course is never fair). He's a good CF, has very good instincts for the game, knows how to go the opposite way, and makes good contact. He also receives high marks for his character, which is always plus. I think Shep also noted that Turner elected not to participate at the East Coast Professional Showcase, and his lack of participation at any big showcase or tournament event has caused him to be somewhat of an unknown. But scouts are well aware of him.

This thread was buried a couple of pages in, but it talks about Perez at great lengths: p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...3915.topic At the time of his signing, the Brewers hoped to get Perez to their instructional camp, but were unable to clear the red tape. So, he has yet to get any professional playing time. He has been invited to the team's big-league camp, and is expected to open the season with AA Huntsville. He hasn't played for two years, so there could be some rust for him to shake off. His best attributes are his speed and defense, and he has some potential with his bat as well. While he enters the season with quite a few people excited about what he can do, no one really knows what to expect from him.

Savery profiles better as a pitcher, as he can touch the mid-90s when healthy and has a very good breaking ball with pretty good command. However, he didn't pitch much last spring, he didn't pitch at all over the summer and he just started pitching again early this year. He has had some shoulder concerns, which is never good news, but he seems to be pitching through those problems while building up strength. In addition, Rice pitchers always draw some skepticism, although I always counter by saying Head Coach Wayne Graham has produced the likes of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. He pitched a good game yesterday (against Texas A&M's David Newmann, a Brewer draftee from a year ago): 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 K, 2 BB, and hopefully for Savery he keeps it up. He's the one college pitcher that legitimately fits the Brewers with the 7th overall position. Guys like Price and Brackman will have to fall due to signability (or get injured), and after those two there is a pretty big gap until you get to the next group of quality starters that includes guys like Nick Schmidt and Jake Arrieta. Savery's health this spring will be key to where he ends up going, as most have him ranked in the 5-10 range overall should he stay healthy (he's just outside of my top 10 since I'm always a little more cautious about pitchers with injury concerns). Check out the first post on the third page of this thread to read a more detailed scouting and statistical breakdown: p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...mp;stop=48 EDIT: Also be sure to check out page one of this thread to see comments from Blazer25 about Savery's mechanical problems based on the pictures provided of Savery and Price.

Many of the teams of the Brewers DFEs have begun their seasons, and a few of their team sites have done a good job keeping their stats up to date even this early in the season. I'm not going to bother updating those stats this early, as they have barely gotten their feet wet, but I just wanted to point that out to the die-hards (I know there's at least one http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ). Anyway, I missed this from a draft-related chat over at BA several days ago, but there's a nice note from Alan Matthews in response to a question about what players could make the biggest jump up in the draft: On the junior college side, Chad Robinson was up to 94 mph in his first outing of the season at a juco in Nevada. He's a big, physcial righthander who had labrum surgery in high school. He's under control with the Brewers, and could be turning a corner. That is very exciting to hear. We've heard reports of Robinson getting back into the 90s, but hitting 94 in his first outing is very encouraging. Speaking of the CC of Southern Nevada, I'm not sure if they just haven't updated their online roster, but OF Terrell Alliman is not listed despite reports that he transferred there.

I can't access the video via CSTV because it says you have to be running IE 6 or 7 on a Windows platform. In this day and age of technology, given the advancements of Mac OS X, that is simply inexcusable and lazy on the part of CSTV. I will check out the archives of it at work on Monday where I do have access to a PC.

I'm having better luck accessing the Gametracker from CSTV's site, as opposed to following the links from the individual team sites: www.cstv.com/media/livega...rval=today I thought you had to sign up for the MLB.com offseason package to watch the games for free?

Tim Smith is now playing at ASU, although he is having a hard time cracking a starting lineup that includes Matt Spencer in left and Ike Davis in right (recent LSU transfer Jarred Bogany is in center). He already has seen some time as a late-inning replacement and pinch hitter, and as long as ASU continues to blow out opponents, he will continue to get those opportunities. I have heard that Smith was looking for a six-figure bonus last year. When you factor the money with the fact that he would have taken a work visa, since he's a native Canadian, to play pro ball in the states, it made his signing a little more difficult than most players. He's a good hitter, and he has some speed, but he's an outfield 'tweener in that he doesn't have the ideal speed or range to play center and he doesn't have the ideal power for a corner spot. He should get drafted in the top 5-7 rounds this coming June, possibly in the 3-5 range depending on how many ABs he gets this spring.

Gametracker was working pretty flaky for me yesterday, but I was able to get it to work on a PC using IE 7. I haven't tried it today, although I am listening to the Vandy/ASU contest through Vandy's online broadcast.

That is absolutely awesome news. I think Jeff Sackmann is everyone's hero. --------------------------------- BA's Aaron Fitt is in Houston covering the tournament I mentioned above. If you haven't seen it yet, BA has a new college blog where Fitt and John Manuel submit frequent entries to share their random thoughts. Fitt likely will add more about today's game given the much anticipated matchup between #1 Rice and #1 prospect David Price: www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/ Here's BA's weekend preview: www.baseballamerica.com/t...63310.html Plenty of good matchups to follow this weekend. In today's game Price started off a little shaky, walking a couple of batters in the first two innings and giving up a couple of earned runs. I listened to most of the game, and the runs Price gave up could be chalked up to shaky defense, but no errors were recorded. He settled down nicely in the 3rd and started to mow batters down as a result. Based on the internet broadcast, it sounded as though he was catching the corners with his curve, a pretty nice sign so early in the season. No report on how hard he was throwing, but again, I have a feeling Aaron Fitt will enlighten us with those numbers in the BA blog. Here's Price's final line: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 6 K, 3 BB BTW, Joe Savery did not start today's game for Rice, instead electing to stick with his usual Sunday spot since he also plays first and hits cleanup for the Owls. Rice reliever Cole St. Clair is expected to miss a couple of weeks wtih some soreness in his pitching shoulder (more details in BA's college blog and weekend preview as linked above). Andrew Brackman and NC State also began their season today against William & Mary. Here's his line on the day: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 3 K, 1 BB Matt Wieters and Georgia Tech begin their season tomorrow (Saturday) against Georgia Southern. Last year's ACC Player of the Year, two-way standout Sean Doolittle took the mound today as Virginia kicked off their season vs. Elon. Here's his line: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R (1 ER), 6 K, 1 BB Here's the aforementioned BA blog entry on David Price: www.baseballamerica.com/b...lege/?p=19 And BA also has one on Andrew Brackman, who they report was in the 92-95 range and repeated his delivery well: www.baseballamerica.com/b...lege/?p=21 And one on the ASU/Texas A&M matchup, in which ASU OF Matt Spencer continues to stay red-hot: www.baseballamerica.com/b...e/?p=20%22 BTW, here's Brewerfan.net's scouting profile on Spencer coming out of HS: www.brewerfan.net/ViewAma...;draftId=2 And Alan Matthews was in SD to see Matusz, with a few notes on highly-touted USC freshman Robert Stock: www.baseballamerica.com/b...lege/?p=23 And here's Matusz' Brewerfan.net scouting profile coming out of HS: www.brewerfan.net/ViewAma...;draftId=3 Thanks to templeusox for his updates just below. Joe Savery vs. Texas A&M (as detailed below): 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 K, 2 BB Jake Arrieta vs. Central Florida: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5 K, 3 BB

I too enjoy Rome, but this season has had it's fair share of really corny moments. Pulo quickly grabbing a horse, and then his wife, to ride to Verinus' aid was one of them, and fading out to the theme music to end this past week's episode was another. It's an interesting and entertaining show, no doubt, but this season, much like the second season of Carnivale, seems to be a little lost. The lack of Cesar's presence I think hurts a lot as well, although we all saw that coming http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . I don't know the name of the actor that played Cesar, but I know I have seen him in other movies, most recently Munich. He's a great actor that doesn't seem to be very recognizable to the common movie watcher like yours truly, as I'm sure Robert and others will point out a few other stellar roles he's taken. The one thing I am constantly impressed with HBO programs is their casting. They always seem to pick the perfect actors for the perfect roles.

One name popped out to me in the spring training roster thread that Jamie provided on the MLB forum: Garth Iorg. p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...3969.topic He's listed as an instructor. I read and re-read the post Mass has made recently concerning the coaching changes, and didn't see Iorg's name mentioned. Mass also noted that Helena needs a new manager now, so I'm curious if Iorg may be the guy. Garth has a couple of talented sons that play ball. Eli Iorg is a power-hitting corner OF prospect in the Astros system, while Cale Iorg is a draft-eligible sophomore this year, although I believe he is still on a 2-year church mission.

If you live anywhere near Houston, get in your car and head for Minute Maid Park for a fine collection of college teams. Rice, Arizona State, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Houston and Baylor will take part in the Houston College Classic, and no doubt this event will packed not only with fans, but scouts, crosscheckers, scouting directors and probably a few GMs as well. Vanderbilt and Rice kick off the tourney at noon on Friday, and both teams are currently ranked in the top 10 (Rice is ranked #1). This game will mark the season debut for the preseason #1 draft eligible player in the nation, LHP David Price. Joe Savery was originally slated to be Rice's Sunday starter, so we'll see who goes for the Owls. Arizona State vs. Texas A&M follows, which could offer a match between two former Brewers draft picks, Texas A&M LHP David Newmann and Arizona State OF Tim Smith. ASU is an offensive powerhouse, while Texas A&M could surprise some people this season. Houston & Baylor finish up Friday's action. Neither team is loaded with '07 talent, but Baylor in particular is a team to watch in the future. There should be some fun stats and other tidbits to report from this tournament.

Sorry, but there is no comparison between Jackson and Garza. Garza at least has the stuff to match, not to mention the peripheral statistics and ratios to back him up. Jackson needs to start missing more bats.

That's great news about Munson and Luzcak. I had completely missed that, so thanks of the head's up.

Zimmerman really is the only guy in-state that has a legitimate chance to be taken in the top 5-10 rounds of the draft. It's a down year for Wisconsin. UW Platteville has a decent prospect in 1B/OF Ross Bennett. He hit .385/.471/.720 last year as a sophomore, and was rated BA's #5 prospect in the Mountain Collegiate League. He isn't the most toolsy players, but if he keeps on hitting he's going to draw some interest. I have a UW-Stevens Point/UW-Platteville contest in late March circled on my calendar that I hope to attend. UW Whitewater and Oshkosh always seems to have a player or two emerge over the course of the spring. Kenosha Tremper has two pretty good pitchers in LHP Nick Rice and RHP Andrew Paulauskas. Rice is generally considered to be the best prep player in the state. The Casey kid from Whitefish Bay that has committed to play for Notre Dame is 1B David Casey. LHP Nic Jensen from Appleton East is a fair prospect. He has committed to play for Iowa. Beaver Dam's Collin Kuhn has committed to play for Arkansas, arguably the most notable commitment from an in-state player. Blazer could comment on the in-state players a lot better than I can, but those are the names that stand out the most to me. Sounds like a boastful statement by a overly proud parent or fellow citizen (not you). It would be against MLB rules to offer a contract or anything for that matter to a kid who is not a senior in High School. And to top it off, if that senior was good enough, or even borderline good, he would have been drafted at some point, and for the Astros to be talking to him, they would have had to been the ones who drafted him. Seeing as how he is only 16, that seems highly unlikely. The scenario berniebrewer4life mentioned is quite common, as Sam noted. Teams send these letters out to players just to let them know that they're watching. It isn't a contract or anything else that would infringe on any MLB or even prep eligibility rules. The fact that the player is 16 years old has nothing to do with it. Most teams challenge their area scouts to go out and contact, and in many cases, conduct home visits with as many players as possible. The players are interviewed, tested, etc., and as long as the scouts (or recruiters) don't buy the kids a meal or anything else, there is nothing wrong with any of this. The '08 prep class should be much better than this year's. There is Muson and Theis as noted, as well as a RHP from Green Bay named Chris Wakefield that has touched the low-90s and another player from Southern Door whose name currently escapes me. EDIT: Apple-ton display issue

I'm all for pitching in for a team bat should that avenue be pursued. I'll try to get my money to you soon.

Matusz is definitely reinforcing his position as one of the top college players available for the '08 draft. Some notes from around college baseball this weekend: Florida State swept Tennessee. RHP Bryan Henry picked up where he left off from a year ago, tossing 6 scoreless innings with 11 Ks. Michael Hyde followed Henry on Saturday with a gem of his own, tossing 6.1 scoreless innings with 10 Ks. Tennessee didn't do much right over the weekend, as they hit .215 as a team and posted a collective 9.75 ERA. Cal State Fullerton swept Stanford, with Wes Roemer getting the win on Friday giving up 3 runs in 6 innings with his usual strike zone mastery (8 Ks, 1 BB). San Diego continues to have Texas' number, taking their weekend series 2 games to 1. As noted above, Matusz looked good one again as the Toreros Friday ace. Arizona State outfielder Matt Spencer had a huge weekend as ASU swept Southern Utah. Spencer drove in 13 runs over the 3-game series, adding 15 total bases in just 9 at-bats. Spencer transferred from UNC during the offseason after it seemed he wouldn't get much playing time for the Tar Heels, and was a very talented hitter coming out of high school. The Sun Devils hit .470 as a team and scored 61 runs. Another transfer, Friday ace Brian Flores, also got off to a good start, tossing five innings without giving up an earned run, while allowing just 2 hits and striking out 5. Arizona swept Gonzaga. C.J. Ziegler was the main catalyst for the Wildcats, scoring 8 runs, swatting 4 doubles and walking 4 times over the weekend. Long Beach State took 2 of 3 from the USC Trojans, with strong pitching throughout the weekend. The Dirtbags lost on Friday despite a very good pitching performance from sophomore RHP Vance Worley (6 K, 0 BB, 4 H, 1 ER over 6 IP). Transfer Manny McElroy pitched well on Saturday. UCLA took 2 of 3 from Winthrop. Cal took 2 of 3 from UC Irvine. Miami had a tough weekend, losing 2 games to Mercer and had the third game cancelled due to bad weather. Arkansas took 2 of 3 from Louisiana Tech. Nick Schmidt didn't look particularly sharp in Friday's contest despite giving up only one hit. He walked 5 batters and gave up 2 earned runs over 3 innings of work. UNLV took 2 of 3 from Pepperdine. Pepperdine ace Barry Enright was sharp in Friday's win as he didn't give up an earned run in 7 innings of work.

The Brewers have been pretty consistent with the money they use for player development. When they don't have a draft pick, such as a 2nd rounder, or a particularly enticing DFE candiate, they go and spend some money on the Latin American market, like they did with Pascual and Peralta over a year ago now. RJ Seidel is a good example of what to do with the money. Take a guy that is already considered a very good prospect, see what he does over the summer months (in Seidel's case, playing Legion ball), and then sign him away from college. Tom Wilhelmsen is another example of this. Maybe the Brewers never lose players like Jemile Weeks and Jake Arrieta from two short years ago knowing they don't have to save that money for anything and also knowing that if those players don't sign by August 15th, they are no longer under their control. Maybe take a draft-eligible sophomore that is a perceived tough sign and follow him over the summer, such as on the Cape League, to see if such a player is worth a big investment. Take a junior that had a disappointing season and see if they can turn things around over the summer (USC's Paul Koss, a senior now, would have been a perfect example of this from a year ago, as he had a greats sophomore year, a bad junior, and then bounced back as a Cape All-Star). Take a chance on an injured player that regains his health in time for the summer. San Diego's Nate Boman is a great example of this, who pitched well on the Cape last year before the Red Sox (I think it was the Red Sox), signed him. David Newmann, whom the Brewers drafted last year, may have been a perfect example of this as well. Or, you just sign the players you have normally taken anyway, such as Chad Robinson and Lee Haydel. The DFE process also effects the decisions of the players, and more players may be push more towards signing out of high school knowing they can't be followed via the DFE process. Of course they're still eligible to be drafted after one year in junior college, but the DFE process seems to inflate the value of attending a JC. It's funny, I think Mass Haas provided a link a few weeks ago to a roundtable discussion (I think on scout.com) in which several of the participants debated that the DFE process was unfair. Unfair? If teams like the Brewers used the process more so than most other teams I have a hard time believing that it was unfair. The Brewers definitely used the process more than most in an attempt to find yet another niche, as Jack Zduriencik has been on record several times in saying that he and his department have to be creative in how they evaluate and procure talent. It's a good point igor to note that now is the time to start thinking about new ways to find that niche since one of their favorite "advantages" is about to be gone.