colbyjack

Allan Simpson recently has added the top 10 prospects in the Northwoods League at PG Crosschecker.com. This link is for subscribers: www.pgcrosschecker.com/su...19_06.aspx Former Brewers draftee and DFE candidate from a year ago, Tim Smith, was rated the league's third best prospect and is heading to Arizona State for his junior year. Jordan Zimmerman of UW-Stevens Point was rated the league's #1 prospect. Here's a link to all of the league top prospect lists at PG Crosschecker.com as well as links to the various summer notebooks: www.pgcrosschecker.com/su...bball.aspx

I tuned into the Helena game late, but the Idaho Falls announcer (no Helena broadcast available via the MiLB.com link) mentioned that Stephen Chapman made four highlight reel catches this evening, and added an assist from the outfield. Add in a couple of doubles this evening, and the Chukars announcers couldn't say enough kind things about the possible MVP candidate. Don't count on the baby Brewers to complete the organizational sweep. Pascual's ERA continues to grow, and Brewer once again not in the lineup. I think it's clear he was injured a few days ago, which is a shame given the hot streak he was enjoying to close out the season.

Congrats to Katin, very well deserved. I think I'd rather see Anderson stay where he's at since the Stars are making such a late, strong push. The Sounds could have enough bodies to make due for now. How about Gillespie to BC? Lorenzo Cain may be worthy for the last two weeks of the season, but the Brewers may wish to keep him with Brantley & Ford for now.

Congrats to Katin, very well deserved. I think I'd rather see Anderson stay where he's at since the Stars are making such a late, strong push. The Sounds could have enough bodies to make due for now. How about Gillespie to BC? Lorenzo Cain may be worthy for the last two weeks of the season, but the Brewers may wish to keep him with Brantley & Ford for now.

As his high school coach has reminded us before, no one works harder than Salome. That gives him a pretty good chance to condition his body and ankle back to where it was before the injury happened. If there is any silver lining to this story it's Salome's work ethic and overall workout regimen.

Errecart is a one-man wrecking ball for Helena tonight, now 3 for 3 with a walk, 2 doubles, 2 runs, 2 RBI, and a stolen base. Plus, he has thrown out two runners from left field: One at 3B and one at home.

The Brewers jumped Eveland past High Desert as well. At the time, Eveland and Jones really were the Brewers too biggest name pitching prospects, which is kind of hard to believe now given the number of arms we look forward to. Another great night to follow the minors. Eveland with another good night, Dillard keeps doing what he does best, Jones with a good outing despite the walks, we're getting spoiled by Inman, and Cain adds two more hits, both for extra bases. Unfortunately Brewer is still out of the Arizona lineup, but Chris Errecart is off to a good start this evening for Helena.

The Giants reportedly have signed 3B Carlos Villalona for $2.1 million, more than the $2 million the Yankees gave Jesus Montero. Here's a link to a translation from a Spanish version of the story from ESPN Deportes: www.mccoveychronicles.com...175832/146 Villalona was one of the Boras represented Dominicans. Carlos Truinfel and the really tall pitcher whose name escapes me (it's listed above) still have not signed.

I was just going to comment on that DHonks. I remember a few prospect experts questioning Sheets' long-term effectiveness due to his less than ideal strikeout ratio. John Sickels quickly comes to mind. As we all know, he's one of the better strikeout pitchers in the big-leagues now, as what he was doing in AA and what he is doing now are two completely different things. Yo may be a better pitcher at AA, but that doesn't mean he'll be a better pitcher in the big leagues. I hope so, because to be better than Sheets at his best is a pretty amazing accomplishment.

Helena just went up 4-3, middle of the 6th. Stephen Chapman just missed a grand slam. I guess it's really windy in Casper, which probably isn't helping the wild fires, but in this case the ball Chapman crushed was pushed just foul. Instead he is called out on strikes with the bases loaded. Bummer.

He still strikes out a bunch (>1:4 AB). If he continues to hit, does anyone think TC would get agressive with him? There's no prospect blocking him (unless you think Rottino is a 3B) at AAA and they've got to stick Heether somewhere with Gamel in Brevard... I don't see why Braun wouldn't be at AAA to open next year, although a lot of people thought he would open this year at AA. He is on almost the exact same timetable as Rickie Weeks was. And the more Gallardo pitches, the more I believe he will be at AAA to open next year as well. Heck, he may just may make a push to be in Milwaukee's rotation the way his season has gone.

Nice win by the Stars tonight. Steve Hammond with a solid outing. He gives up the same number of home runs in tonight's game that he has given up all season at AA (3). Those three runs accounted for all three of the Mudcats runs. Oddly enough, the same thing happened to Zach Jackson at AAA tonight, giving up two runs, both runs coming via solo shots. The announcer had an interesting point on Drew Anderson. As a left-handed hitter he actually hits LHP better (.308) than RHP (.272). Robert Hinton with a nice start for BC. WV faced Jared Hughes this evening, a pitcher many (including myself) were hoping the Brewers would draft in the early rounds. Nice to see the Brewers knock him around a little (especially since he's in the Pirates organization). Time to switch to over to Helena...

Just to expand on that, you have to be 21 years old within 45 days of the draft to be eligible. Draft eligible sophomores typically are those that red-shirted their freshmen years, but there are a few that are older than most in their class that qualify.

That's too bad about Salome. Hopefully it's just a strain that needs just a couple of days off. He's having too good of a year for it to be cut short now.

Thanks DKM4Boston. That would explain the 7 inning contest. No Brent Brewer in the other game anyway, at least not yet.

$300,000 is slot money comparable to an early 4th round pick. $200,000 is what an early 5th rounder would get. So, if Munson indeed was offered anywhere near $200,000 (which he would be nuts to turn down), he was being offered money comparable to a 5th rounder, not a 37th rounder. And it's not that I don't believe you, but I can't see a player in that position turning down that kind of money, especially when he contemplated going to a JC to remain under the Brewers control through next spring (meaning there was some obvious incentive to him to sign sooner rather than later).

I think the Baby Brewers game was played well before 9pm, since the box score already lists the game as being over. I know those games are played quickly... Unless of course the box score is incorrect. Anyway, I wanted to point out that since the beginning of the month, Brent Brewer is hitting .340 (18 for 53) with a .547 SLG. He has 1 2B, 2 3B and 2 HR over the past two weeks. Nice to see Brewer heat up over the final month of the season, hopefully he finishes the rest of the month off in the same fashion while pushing his BA closer to .300. And a really nice outing for Anundsen this evening.

SoCal, based on this comment from the story above, I'm guessing it's an '07 deal: Seidel, who will report to the Brewers? six-week fall instructional league on Sept. 15 in Phoenix, declined to reveal the terms of the deal.

I just learned that Chad Robinson and Lee Haydel will both take the JC route and will be under the Brewers' control through next spring as DFE candidates. Very good news. Andrew Clark is Mississippi bound, and thus will be the one and only draftee taken in the top 20 rounds that will truly get away.

Good point jwaltz, and it's something Jack Z. has done very well in every year he's been here with the exception of 2002 (the year they signed Parra for over $1.5 million). Chad Robinson may be a DFE, so if they don't get him signed, they may have the opportunity to follow him through next spring. EDIT: I'm hoping the Brewers find a way to either sign 19th rounder Lee Haydel or get him to go the JC route. As noted in one of the notes from PG Crosschecker under his draft profile page, he may red-shirt his freshman year at LSU since LSU is always under pressure to win each and every year, and they don't have the time to develop young, raw players like Haydel. 17th rounder Aaron Tulo appears to be a DFE, 18th rounder Andrew Clark seems intent on heading to Ole Miss, while I'm guessing 20th rounder Mehdi Djebbar, whom we know nothing about, is another DFE candidate. Even if they lose Haydel and Clark, they could be the only two players the Brewers lose from their day one/top 20 picks. Ole Miss' classes begin next Monday, 8/21. LSU's classes begin the following Monday, 8/28.

I'm starting to look ahead more and more to the '07 draft class, having watched half of the Aflac game last night and checking up on the collegians that have recently finished up their summer seasons. Heading into the 2007 season, David Price is typically considered the top college, and overall, prospect. A 6' 6" lefty from Vanderbilt, Price has a very similar scouting makeup to Mark Prior (Prior as he was coming out of USC, not necesarrily the Mark Prior of today, as he was one of the most celebrated amateur prospects ever). Matt Wieters, a switch-hitting catcher from Georgia Tech, is a player I had ranked very high coming out of HS (top 10 opening the spring of 2004, 22nd in my final ranking-just behind Yovani Gallardo for what it's worth). Most didn't rank him that high because it was almost a given that he would attend college. Wieters also serves as the Yellow Jackets closer, and has been clocked as high as 98 mph with good control and a good breaking ball. Behind the dish is where Wieters' value lies. As noted he's a switch hitter with power, discipline, the ability to hit for average and he's pretty good defensively. He is also praised for his leadership abilities, all of which makes for an easy comparison to Jason Varitek. Let's take a look at Wieters' and Price's numbers this summer and their cumulative totals from their first two years in college: David Price Brewerfan.net 2004 profile Final 2004 Brewerfan.net ranking (141, but I don't rank past the top 30) comment: Projectable lefty with good stuff. Summer of 2006-Team USA 5-1, 0.20 ERA (only 1 ER), 8 games (7 starts), 1 CG shutout, 44 IP, 21 H, 61 K, 7 BB Cumulative total at Vanderbilt, Freshman & Sophomore years 11-9, 3.61 ERA, 35 games (27 starts), 2 CG (1 shutout), 179.2 IP, 143 H, 247 K, 73 BB, 13 HR allowed Price obviously has the propensity to miss a lot of bats, and he has brought his walk total down significantly this summer. As a left-handed pitcher with the size and stuff to match, he seems poised to be a staff ace and probably the best LHP to come out of college since Mark Mulder. Matt Wieters Brewerfan.net 2004 profile Final 2004 Brewerfan.net ranking (22) comment: A great athlete, will probably go to Georgia Tech and won't get drafted where he should based on talent. Summer of 2006-Cape Cod League (Orleans) .307/.417/.535 in 127 AB, 5 2B, 8 HR, 27 BB, 21 K, 0 E in 24 games as catcher Cumulative total at Georgia Tech, Freshman & Sophomore years .360/.475/.595 in 486 AB, 37 2B, 1 3B, 25 HR, 101 BB, 71 K, 4 E Threw out 19 runners in 55 attempts (35%) Wieters' batting average and OBP was 2nd in the Cape this summer, while his slugging percentage was third. He was also tied for second in home runs, that after arriving on the Cape a little later than everyone else given GT's postseason run. He controls the strike zone incredibly well. As much as I like lefties, especially seemingly can't-miss lefties like Price, catchers like Wieters simply don't come around very often, and he has proven to hit both at GT and with wood on the Cape against some of the best players in the nation. My nod for the best prospect for the 2007 draft will go to Matt Wieters, with David Price a close second. I will offer my top 10-12 prospects frm both the college and high school in my annual draft recap story which should hit the homepage in mid-to-late September.

Jerry Ford and Allan Simpson of PG Crosschecker have some really nice writeups of the Aflac All-American Classic that are free for everyone to enjoy: Aflac Day One Aflac Day Two Aflac Day Three Aflac Day Four I'm going to be watching the game over the next few days and will offer my own thoughts on the players & performances within the next week or two. Here's BA's coverage of the game: www.baseballamerica.com/t...62209.html

That's great news, thanks for the link tookej. I always like to hear that these players had some kind of revelation when they sign, or as Seidel puts it, an epiphany. The Brewers probably offered $500k http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

PG Crosschecker (see the link above) has a lot of good stories out right now covering the East Coast Professional Showcase in Wilmington and the Area Code Games. They also are starting to break down the top 10 prospects in each of the college summer leagues (scroll down towards the bottom of the homepage). There is some great information to enjoy for those of you that to keep up with the next crop of draft eligible prospects. BA has a story on their homepage concerning the Area Code Games. Nowhere near as detailed as PG Crosschecker's, but it's free: www.baseballamerica.com/t...62136.html And I love seeing the young kids wearing Brewers' gear: http://www.baseballamerica.com/images/mdominguez06428309js.jpg

I wanted to bump this thread up having found an interesting story from ESPN Deportes from early July that lists some of the top Latin players: sports.espn.go.com/mlb/co...id=2505742 Of the players listed, the only two that remain unsigned are the two Boras clients: 3B Angel Villalona and SS Carlos Truinfel. Boras also represents a Dominican RHP, Jose Luis Arias, who stands at 6'8" and throws in the low-90s with a wicked slider that has been clocked in the upper 80s. Arias is already 19 years old, and is somewhat of a late bloomer. You know the Brewers love tools, and pointed to Pascual's height when they signed him, so it could be a potential match. Plus, as noted above, the Brewers reportedly were trying out some of the better Latin players including the Boras clients. Truinfel and Villalona reportedly were expecting to get at least as much as last year's top signing, who checked in at $1.4 M. The universally believed top signing this year is Jesus Montero, who signed for $2M with the Yankees, so I don't think either of the Boras clients will get more than that. Esmeily Gonzalez, who signed with the Nationals, signed for $1.4 M, and it's believed the Nats outbid teams like the Rangers by a good half million. Balbino Fuenmayor reportedly got the third highest bonus, just around $1M. Plus, there are 5 Cubans that have defected outside of the original Gourriel report (who didn't defect). RHP Segei Linares, SS Yohannis Perez and RHP Yoslan Herrera are the top 3 players of the 5. Linares is well built (6'4", 225) with a low to mid-90s fastball. Perez is a slick fielding SS with a line drive bat similar to the Mariners Cuban SS (Betancourt?), and Herrera throws a low-90s fastball and a splitter, and reportedly could pitch in a big-league bullpen right now. So, there are six fairly big names left out there. Hopefully Team Canada can go out there and nab one or two of them.