colbyjack

UWRyan, be sure to check out Brewerfan.net's rankings: www.brewerfan.net/ViewDra...?draftId=3 And here's a good thread that discusses Jeff Clement in greater detail: p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...=705.topic Re: Jeff Clement vs. Lou Palmisano: They're really two different types of hitters, in that Clement offers a pure pull power bat from the left side while Palmisano is a gap to gap hitter from the right side. They are similar in that there are some questions about their defense, and both of them likely will always be considered better hitting backstops. I think Clement has erased some concerns about his ability behind the plate, particularly with his ability to throw out baserunners. Clement currently is catching one of the best pitchers in all of college baseball in Ian Kennedy, and he has caught even more top level college pitchers while playing for Team USA the past two summers. There was a comment from BA that mentioned he was more of a AL type of player, so there still is somewhat of a stigma about his ability to stay behind the plate. outside of Townsend, I don't see a pitcher for us Why not? Unless you're automatically eliminating the Boras guys (which is understandable), there could be several talented pitchers that would be more than worthy of selecting fifth overall. While many don't have Cal State Fullerton LHP Ricky Romero very high at this point in time, I think he's going to be drafted much earlier than what most people think at this point in time. Since Jack Z. always says he lets a draft dictate to him whom he will select, I agree that at this point in time the pick likely will be a positional prospect. However, if it weren't for the Boras affiliation, I would be all over Luke Hochevar and even Mike Pelfrey. If it weren't for the high school pitcher thing, Sean O'Sullivan is another guy I really like, and he could even be used as a 2-way guy at the lower levels of the minor leagues.

While this isn't an update, and isn't completely restrictred to draft eligible players to '05 (Kyle Drabek, son of Doug Drabek, is a junior), here is Baseball America's preseason high school All-American list: www.baseballamerica.com/t...3hsaa.html

I'm not sure what you mean by a college repeat, but if you read some of the recent threads within this forum you'll find that a lot of people too would prefer a college 3B, C or pitcher. However, many have also stated that we should not reach for a position of need, and the scouting dep't. should continue to select the best player available. Really, outside of 2B & 1B, and I wouldn't even limit myself there, the Brewers could take anyone and address a need. really think they need to find another Sheets esque type of player that has that much potential and that could reach the majors by '06 and for good be in the majors bye '07. Way easier said than done. Of course it would be great to find another Sheets-esque type of player, but you just can't count on that. While high school players take longer to develop, college players often take 3-4 years to make it to the big leagues. Plus, if we draft a college pitcher, there's a good chance that pitcher won't toss a single inning this summer since he would already have 130 or so innings under his belt. Another matter to deal with is the Scott Boras factor. Boras represents 3 of the top 4 college pitchers overall. Look no further than Jered Weaver and Stephen Drew, who aren't even signed yet. Are you prepared to be sitting here exactly one year from now with our first rounder unsigned?

I'll check tonight MB, I have all of the DFE schools saved in my favorites at home. I checked them last weekend, and IIRC, Lake City is one of the very few, if not the only ones, that posts statistics. Sometimes you can get them from the NJCAA site, but even those aren't really reliable. Chandler-Gilbert used to update them, but they haven't added the ones from this spring yet. While most to all of their seasons have started, it doesn't seem like it. I know college stats are hard to come by on the NCAA site until the college basketball season is over, so hopefully we'll see more stat updates within the month. Oh yeah, Cowley County usually was pretty good about updating stats last year, but they haven't posted their's yet either. Jon Mungle and Dustin Timm should be easy to track once Mississippi State's & Nebraska's seasons start.

Good call on the cutter. You definitely hear about more lefties throwing a cutter than righties, such as Davis and Andy Pettite, and Dana Eveland throws one as well. Mariano Rivera is the most notable righty I can think of that throws one, and he throws that pitch almost exclusively.

Is the Palm ball just a type of Change up? (like a circle change.) Or is it a different pitch? The palm ball is a different pitch, but pitcher's that throw a palmball often use this pitch as their changeup, if that makes sense. Basically it's an offspeed offering (not to be confused with a breaking ball) that is thrown like a changeup to give hitter's a pitch thrown with a similar arm action to a fastball but that comes in 10 mph slower. Uecker often refers to changeups as slowballs, which would be the classification a palmball would fall under. I haven't heard about a pitcher throwing a palmball in quite some time (not since Jose Mieses). A 2-seamer is a sinking fastball, which does indeed make it a sinker, although there are variations between the two. In essence they're virtually the same pitch, because both pitches are thrown effectively like a fastball is. A forkball is a variation of a split-fingered fastball. The splitter and forkball get their names because of the grip, which is the same split fingered grip. An extreme sinker often acts like a split-fingered fastball in that it completely falls off the map and often ends up in the dirt at the plate, but they are thrown differently. Bob Wickman had a true sinker, while Hideo Nomo threw a true splitter. Young pitchers are encouraged not to throw splitters because of the stress it puts on their arm/elbow. I would avoid differentiating between a slurve, curve and a slider. I would just use curve and slider as classifications. A pitcher typically doesn't try to throw a slurve, rather, the pitch just doesn't have natural curveball or slider break. The grip is usually one of the other, and from what I've heard, a pitcher that has a slurvy break to his breaking ball usually is using a curveball grip. It's not easy throwing a true 12 to 6 breaker, while a true slider tends to place a lot more stress on a pitcher's elbow. The screwball is one pitch you don't hear about much anymore. I believe Armando Reynoso (I think that's his name, pitched with the D-Backs a few years back) was the last notable screwball artist. The screwball acts like an opposite curve or breaking ball, in that is appears to be breaking away from a batter (of the same "handedness, such as a right-handed hitter facing a right-handed batter), until it breaks in, or straight down. IIRC, the screwball places more stress on a pitcher's arm and elbow than a slider and splitter does. And every pitch has variations of course. For every true curveball there are pitchers that throw a knuckle or even a spike curveball. There is a straight changeup vs. the circle change, sinker vs. 2-seamer, splitter vs. forkball, etc.

Updates for games for the week of 2/14/05 - 2/20/05 Luke Hochevar-RHP-Tennessee A good showing against Bethune-Cookman on Friday night: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 9 K, 0 BB Mike Pelfrey-RHP-Wichita State Against Southern Utah: 7 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 5 K, 1 BB Ryan Mullins-LHP-Vanderbilt Against VMI: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 9 K, 1 BB Jason Neighborgall-RHP-Georgia Tech Versus Iona: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 8 K, 2 BB Mark McCormick-RHP-Baylor A tough outing against Oral Roberts: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 K , 4 BB Ryan Braun-3B/IF-Miami Braun is all about the offense, the 6 sacrifice flies so early in the season are just another indicator of his run producing ability. The 4 errors are obviously a negative indicator of his defensive prowess: .471, 34 AB, 2 2B, 4 HR, 4 BB, 5 K, 2 HBP, 6 SF, 6 for 8 in SBA, 4 E's Taylor Teagarden-C-Texas His numbers on the year: .361/.458/.583 in 36 ABs Both Tyler Greene and Troy Tulowitzki are still out with minor injuries. Not much to report on Jeff Clement, although he did throw out two batters in today's game and had a towering sac fly in the first inning in today's rained out contest vs. Cal State Fullerton. That series was almost completely rained out, as Friday and Saturday night's contest called for a DH on Sunday, although they could only get 8 innings in game 1. Ian Kennedy out-dueled Ricky Romero in a game that will be completed at a later date. Romero pitched well despite a few innings in which he gave up a couple of huge doubles. Otherwise, he was hitting his spots with both his fastball and curveball, registering 92-93 on the gun with his heater according to the announcers. Texas swept Stanford over the weekend, with a dramatic victory on Sunday. With the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 9th inning, Drew Stubbs hit a in-the-park HR on the first pitch he saw to win the game for the Longhorns & secure the sweep. While this doesn't necessarily pertain to the 2005 draft, Stubbs is one of, if not the biggest name to remember for 2006. Jed Lowrie, the 2B of Stanford, continued his hot hitting by slugging his 7th HR of the season today. Overall, both he and Stanford 1B John Mayberry Jr. are hitting .354, while Mayberry has added 3 HRs of his own. Lowrie could be the 2005 version of Marshall MacDougal given his college power despite the questions that loom about his ability to hit with wood.

Trading prospects that you have for prospects of need is always hard to do. Sometimes you may be able to trade a big-league player away to address some immediate needs, such as the Royals did trading Beltran for Buck & Teahen, but as we even saw with the Sexson deal you can't always trade a proven MLB commodity for a position of need. You just don't see many prospect for prospect trades, and I think the main reason is because it's harder to quantify their value. Plus, not too many teams have a surplus of catching or 3B prospects. The teams that do usually try to hold onto them. The Rockies are probably the one team that has some 3B depth with Atkins, Baker and Stewart, but unfortunately they're probably not the best trade partners since the Brewers and Rockies are really in the same boat. Who knows though, maybe they would bite on a Nelson, Hart or Cruz for Baker deal (Stewart isn't going anywhere).

The rain continues on the West Coast, raining out both Friday's & Saturday's USC vs. Cal State Fullerton contests. They will play a DH today, starting at 3pm CST. Kennedy & Romero should face off in the first game, follow the link provided above to Cal State Fullerton's audio broadcast.

I'd rather go with a third basemen or catcher considering we have plenty of outfielders and prospects for the outfield. I too would rather take a 3B or a C, but I don't know if I would say we have "plenty" of outfielders. While I may not want to take some speed merchant that profiles as a leadoff hitter, similar to Dave Krynzel, I wouldn't pass on a potential big bat. I'd like to see them take the best college player available, unless there's a REAL special HS player at their slot. This year I too would like to see a college player selected, but Maybin could very well be the example of a real special HS player. He's that good. And don't rule out a pitcher. While I lean towards a positional prospect, if needs are involved, our system definitely is deeper with hitters than it is with pitchers.

I gotta say, the more I watch Miami IF Ryan Braun at the plate, the more I like him. I remember being impressed with him during his freshman year. A few weeks ago, I popped in a tape of Miami vs. Long Beach State to check out Braun and Troy Tulowitzki, a game in which Braun crushed a double to the LCF gap off of Jered Weaver. After the first two games of the UM/UF series, I'm convinced this guy is going to hit at the pro level. The visual comparisons to Nomar Garciaparra are obvious, and it's clear Braun has adopted some of his traits (he takes a foot out of the batter's box and adjusts the velcro on his wristbands-just once though-after each and every pitch). If he keeps hitting this year, he's going to be a legitimate candidate to be taken in the top 5-10 picks, and since he's playing 3B this season (more because of Miami's roster than his inability to play SS from what I can tell), he could be a candidate for the Brewers' pick.

By reading some of his comments it was clear that he was drawing some of his observations and comments from the scouting reports provided here at Brewerfan.net. For that I admire his insight http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . And if Maybin falls he definitely is going to be in the Brewers sights. They like high schoolers when it comes to the draft and they also like players with a lot of potential and exciting overall tools. Maybin fits that description more than any other player not named Upton, and there are some scouts out there that prefer Maybin's toolset to Upton's.

Just a reminder for those of you with cable to check out Florida vs. Miami today at 5:30 pm. The game will be aired on FSN Atlantic, channel 108 for those of you with the extended sports package with Time Warner Cable in Milwaukee. Alan Horne should get the nod against Cesar Carillo. Here's BA's weekend preview: www.baseballamerica.com/t...eview.html One of the more intriguing matchups is Cal State Fullerton vs. USC, with LHP Ricky Romero, who flirted with a no-no last weekend, vs. RHP Ian Kennedy tonight at 8:00 pm CST. Check out the web-cast via Cal State Fullerton's athletics page: www.titansports.org/audio/ontheair.html As Anders mentioned on a different thread last weekend, Stanford will be facing Texas this weekend.

I too have never heard a bad thing about Rohlinger. In fact, the people I have talked to about him can't stop raving about his character. I know Blazer always had the nicest things to say about him, as do the folks at Perfect Game.

Interesting blurb from BA's college weekend recap: California's Garrett Bussiere popped a two-run homer off Loyola Marymount junior righthander Stephen Kahn over the weekend. It's an impressive feat given that Kahn went 7-3, 3.61 with 80 strikeouts in 87 innings in 2004, and earned a spot on the preseason All-America team thanks to his flashing a mid-90s fastball with Team USA last summer. But it's more impressive considering Kahn didn't yield a home run in 2004. Kahn allowed six runs--two earned-- on five hits in 4 2/3 innings and didn't figure in the decision in a 9-8 LMU win.

No problem Tommy. BTW, BA is expanding it's draft coverage, adding a draft notebook while including top 10 draft eligible prospects. They kick off this new feature with a look at the top 10 catchers (as part of the notebook covering the Weaver/Drew/Boras situation): www.baseballamerica.com/t...ebook.html Tommy, they've got Illinois' Chris Robinson as a projected 3rd rounder, and their 9th best draft eligible catcher. Good eye http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

Weaver still isnt signed and I believe he has another week or so to get that contract ironed out before he will also be back in the draft. Again - A Boras Client, but is teh talent worth the risk? Unsigned non-draft & follow eligilble players have until a week before this June's draft to sign with the team that owns their signing rights, as long as they don't go back to school, and I don't think that's an issue with Weaver or Drew. Is the talent worth the risk? No. I had Weaver #1 of all draft prospects all along last spring, but he's not worth what he's looking for (Prior money). There's a good story by John Manuel covering what's up with both Weaver & Drew: www.baseballamerica.com/t...ebook.html

Yeah, thanks a lot Anders. I always enjoy the first-hand accounts. Looking forward to your Stanford observations. If Teagarden keeps hitting, he is going to soar up the draft charts. Now there's a profound statement http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

Updates for games for the week of 2/7/05 - 2/13/05 Luke Hochevar-RHP-Tennessee Hochevar faced Texas A&M Friday night, and his defense behind him certainly didn't help him, as the Volunteers committed 6 errors, leading to 4 unearned runs while Hochevar was on the mound, picking up the loss. Here's his line: 5 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 6 K, 2 BB Mike Pelfrey-RHP-Wichita State Pelfrey kicked his season off against Northwestern State: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 7 K, 1 BB Mark McCormick-RHP-Baylor Baylor downed Houston, although McCormick didn't pitch very well: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 5 K, 4 BB Cesar Ramos Ramos faced Jeff Clement and USC. While he shut down Clement, USC sophomore RHP Ian Kennedy pitched better: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 K, 2 BB I don't mean to jinx it, but Cal State Fullerton LHP Ricky Romero has a no-hitter through 6 IP. Check out the broadcast here if you're interested: www.titansports.org/audio/ontheair.html I don't believe in jinxes, but Romero's no-hitter was broken up after 7 solid innings of work. His own teammates didn't help him after long offensive innings during both the 6th and 7th innings that certainly didn't allow Romero to step back in quickly and pick up where he left off. He still allowed only 1 hit, although he did walk a few, and left with his shutout intact. Former Brewer draftee Ronnie Prettyman has 3 hits in tonight's game, including a 3-run HR. Ricky Romero Here's Romero's final line from Saturday night (several games on the west coast were rained out Friday evening, pusing back the Friday night starters to Saturday): 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 7 K, 4 BB The hitters will be updated on Sunday evening/Monday morning.

I did state that Rogers could be there, which means that is still TBD, although I think he will be even if I too would rather see the Brewers take a more patient approach with him. With Iraberren likely ticketed for West Viriginia, I'm guessing Sollmann gets the bump up to Brevard County. And a lot of players other than Richadson weren't mentioned. Yo! Gallardo, Josh Baker, Josh Wahpepah and Robbie Wooley being the ones that jump out the most to me. Keep in mind that Josh Brady was also used in the instructional league at 3B, so he may get some playing time there. He also could get used as a versatile utility player similar to Rottino at Beloit last year. Plus, there is the DH, so even if guys like Richardson, Brady and Festa are all on the same team, there will be plenty of playing time for all three.

BA's weekend preview: www.baseballamerica.com/t...eview.html Some good games to listen to tonight & this entire weekend. The Minute Maid Classic in Houston highlights this weekend's action. Here are some recomended listening suggestions with the audio links: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M: Tennessee RHP Luke Hochevar takes the mound on Friday night at 7:00 pm CST against Cliff Pennington and the Texas A&M Aggies. Click on the link below for Texas A&M's audio feed. The Aggies face Rice on Saturday and Houston on Sunday. wtaw.com/ Baylor vs. Houston: Baylor RHP Mark McCormick takes the mound on Friday afternoon at 3:30 CST against Houston. Click on the link below for Baylor's audio feed. Baylor plays Tennessee on Saturday and Rice on Sunday. baylorbears.collegesports...media.html USC vs. Long Beach State: A really good pitching matchup on Friday night, with USC sophomore RHP Ian Kennedy facing the Dirtbags' LHP Cesar Ramos at 8:00 pm CST. SS Troy Tulowitzki is out a few weeks, but USC's Jeff Clement should be behind the plate. www.longbeachstate.com/gen/thisweek.html Wichita State vs. Northwestern State: Not the greatest of matchups, but RHP Mike Pelfrey takes the mound for the Shockers this evening. www.goshockers.com/liveradio.aspx

Nice post Tommy. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I agree with you that Carillo is extremely underrated. I look forward to watching him pitch a week from tomorrow on Fox Sports Net vs. Florida (it's a Friday game, so I'm assuming it's Carillo vs. Horne, another member on this list). Speaking of Horne, I'm pretty sure he medical red-shirted one of his years at Mississippi, which makes him a junior at UF as far as athletic eligibility is concerned. He would have been draft-eligible last summer as a red-shirt sophomore even if he wouldn't have played at a JC/CC.

CC Badger, I can tell you that the Brewers scouting department is well aware of their need for a 3B, but like you pointed out, they are not going to reach for one while passing on a better player. This may be a good year for those stars to align between need and best player available given the players you listed. Catcher is another position they will pounce on if an impact guy is there, which makes Clement a very realistic possibility. I wouldn't factor Zimmerman into the 5th overall pick, unless the Brewers are looking for a budget pick for some reason. He just doesn't have the power to be a top 10 guy. If he enjoys a dramatic increase in power I suppose he could be there, but I don't see him doing that over the course of one spring. What if the player was a 1B? Do you spend a draft pick there? That's a tough question. If the 1B available was without a doubt the absolute best player available at our pick, yes, I would take him. At this point in time I don't think we have to worry about that. There are two 1B that could go in the first round, Stephen Head and John Mayberry Jr. Head is very steady, but I don't see him being head & shoulders better than anyone else at the 5th slot. Mayberry Jr. has a tremendous amount of potential, and if he really produces this spring he could be a legitimate pick at #5. However, he's athletic enough to handle a move to a corner OF spot similar to Corey Hart. The strength at the top of this year's draft includes a few SS/3B prospects, one or two prep OFs, depending on if you view Upton as a CF or a SS, a power hitting catcher and several intriguing arms. You could take a player from any one of those areas and easily claim you filled a need. And good to see you re-emerge cress.

I'm glad you tuned in Michael. FYI for local cable subscribers: A week from this Friday, February 18th, Fox Sports Atlantic will have Miami vs. Florida on at 5:30 CST. Check out 3B Ryan Braun and RHP Cesar Carillo take on RHP Alan Horne & SS Justin Tordi while getting your baseball fix. Hopefully this will be the start of many, many more televised college baseball games this spring. ***BTW, a booming RBI double to left-center for Clement in the bottom of the 7th, and ended up scoring on a single later in the inning. As madbad noted, he was HBP in his first AB, in which he eventually scored, and had a productive out in the 3rd grounding out to the 2B moving his teammate on 2B over to 3B with one out (who eventually scored on a balk). Clement flied out to LF in the 5th. So, he's 1 for 3 with a double, a HBP, two runs and an RBI.

Updates for games 2/4/05-2/6/05 I'm only going to profile 2 pitchers for last weekend's action. Troy Tulowitzki is going to miss a few weeks with an injured wrist, and otherwise it's a little early to update the hitters week after week. The pitcher are another story, although there are only 2 notable pitching performances from the weekend when it comes to potential first-rounders. Ricky Romero-LHP-Cal State Fullerton Cal State Fullerton started it's season against the mighty Stanford Cardinal, a lineup packed with sluggers such as Jed Lowrie (who is off to a very strong start) and John Mayberry Jr. Romero pitched well against the high-powered Cardinal lineup in his season debut: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 7 K, 3 BB Cesar Ramos-LHP-Long Beach State I brought up Ramos last weekend vs. ASU. Last weekend the Dirtbags faced St. Mary's, with Ramos taking the ball on Friday night: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 K, 1 BB More and more teams seasons are starting their seasons, with USC playing tonight (Tuesday), while Luke Hochevar & the Tennessee Volunteers kick off their season in the Minute Maid College Classic this weekend, playing Texas A&M on Friday, Baylor on Saturday and Okalahoma State on Sunday.