colbyjack

As Stevo points out, you can never have too much pitching, but I do lean towards drafting more positional players in the upcoming draft, particularly a SS. I have been campaigning for the Brewers to get back to drafting shortstops, as you point out obobo, it seemed like the Brewers had a constant wave of them back in the 80s, and even the 70s for that matter. I too am concerned about that second wave of prospects, although the original 2nd wave (which at one time included Fielder & Weeks) has caught up to the first wave (Hardy, Hart, Krynzel). That 2nd wave will be helped considerably if a few players in the lower levels step up, and if a couple of key guys like Moss and Palmisano bounce back this season. Iribarren's emergence really helped. So really, we may be technically talking about the 3rd wave of prospects, even though the first wave hasn't even started to produce at the big league level. I wouldn't worry too much about first basemen. Not so much because of Prince Fielder, but because you don't see too many 1B drafted early. Plus, Grant Richardson and Josh Brady may help make up for the loss of Travis Hinton. Power hitting corner OFs definitely interest me as well. Jack Z. and his staff have been enamored with speedy, toolsy CF types, and the system still seems to be stocked from top to bottom with those kind of players, even if there isn't a can't-miss prospect (yet). Hopefully someone out of the Moss, Rasheed, Fermaint group will step up this next season, and I'm pretty sure the team will end up signing one or both of two talented DFEs that fall under the same category in Darren Ford and Lorenzo Cain. Back to the shortstops, again as Stevo points out, there should be several available towards the top of the draft, including Tyler Greene and Troy Tulowitzki. Justin Bristow on the prep side is another solid target for our 1st rounder, even if he does profile to play 3B as a pro. Jeff Clement has to figure prominently for our first rounder as well, as any team will be interested in his services if they feel he can stay behind the dish. I also have suggested that the team take a more college-oriented approach to help solidify the next wave of prospects. Getting that wave to the big leagues within 3-4 years, instead of the 4-5 years high school players seem to take, may be important if the current wave proves to be as good as advertised. And I still think we may see where not having a 2nd round pick could hurt us. I still don't have a problem with the Brewers signing Damian Miller, but I think it's faulty reasoning to just expect the team to select someone that has fallen further than they should have later in the draft. What you're really missing out with no 2nd rounder is missing a player that is a 2nd round talent that intends to go pro. Basically, we could be missing out on a guy like J.J. Hardy. Another avenue that may help is the impending potential trades of Junior Spivey and Lyle Overbay. If Spivey stays healthy, and Overbay matches his production from a year ago, the Brewers may be able to fetch some decent players in return at some point this year. I'm sure Melvin will be looking players that are MLB ready, but it may be a good time to start looking for more promising players lower in a team's system. Related to this is the need to try to acquire the best players available as opposed to the best available players that fill a need. In other words, I don't want someone like Overbay traded for a marginal 3B if a more talented player can be had even if such a player plays a position that doesn't apepar to be a need on paper. Anyway, here's my short list of players I would be interested in adding with the 5th overall pick this June (in no particular order): Luke Hochevar-RHP-Tennessee Justin Bristow-3B-HS (VA) Jeff Clement-C-USC Tyler Greene-SS-Georgia Tech Troy Tulowitzki-SS-Long Beach St. Sean O'Sullivan-RHP/3B-HS (CA) Zach Putnam-RHP/3B-HS (MI)

Unless he turns 21 within 45 days of the draft this June, he likely isn't eligible to be drafted until 2006, so it's kind of hard to even speculate if he'll be the Brewers CF of the future. I haven't seen him, and I've never heard about him before, but I'd love to hear more about the guy. Are you related to Schwebkee?

It's important to remember that this wasn't really a mock draft. Basically they had the draft order in one table and then they provided their top 30 draft prospects in another table. So, it's not like they're predicting that the Brewers will take Tyler Greene with the 5th overall pick, it's just that the Brewers are going to select fifth and Greene happened to be their fifth best draft prospect. Although early speculation has some wondering whom the D-Backs will take #1 overall. Scouting director Mike Rizzo has shown a preference towards college players, which may cause them to go after Alex Gordon. However, that may depend on whether or not they sign Stephen Drew. If they do sign Drew, they may be inclined to take a budget pick with the #1 overall selection. Not a wise year to do so, when there are two guys that could easily be the #1 overall pick, but the D-Backs may have to be fiscal since they also have the #1 pick in the sandwich round and round 2.

Wall certainly turned a lot of heads last weekend in Ft. Myers. However, I can't really tell you anything new if you have already read the story on him over on Perfect Game's website. He bumped his name up on everyone's follow list for the spring, that's for sure. I'm not sure how he will play into my rankings. Part of me wants to wait to make sure this wasn't a fluke performance, but another part of me believes he deserves to be listed among some of the best pitching prospects available. You'll know for sure when I update my rankings http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

BA didn't really have a mock draft, but they did provide a list of their top 30 draft prospects for '05 a couple of months ago. Since it was subscriber content, I'm not going to provide it here. Besides, it's WAY too early to even think about a mock draft.

Zach Putnam was a big oversight on my part. I wasn't impressed with his performance in the AFLAC game, but like many players, I have since seen & heard a lot more about him to sway my opinion. In a few threads you may have read that he is now within my faves for the #5 pick. He will be added to my next update, which likely will occur within 2 weeks. As for my thoughts, you pretty much can see them within the thread of your previous inquiry regarding the top flamethrowers. He has great control, command, and outstanding mechanics. He doesn't have the most projectable of frames, and his sloped shoulders makes him look more like a hitter. He touches 94, but works in the 88-91 range. All of his pitches show great movement, with his curveball, changeup and even fastball showing great, late life. Those attributes are the reason he's rated so high, much like Zach Greinke from a few years ago.

Do you think neighborgall can sneak into the top 10 if he shows even slight improvement in his command? Boras factor not withstanding~ I guess what's your definition of slight improvement? Is that going from where he is now to where someone like your namesake Justin Verlander was last spring? If so, absolutely. Neighborgall's stuff is just as good as Verlander's, if not a hair better. But, Neighborgall's control was much worse. As you note, the Boras factor likely will cause him to fall much further than the top 10, even if his control does improve somewhat. The only way he's a legit top 10 in my mind is if he really puts control issues behind him. He doesn't have to be perfect, but he really needs to cut down on the BBs, HBPs & WPs. BTW, I forgot to mean prep righty Sean O'Sullivan above. He may command his fastball better than any other prep pitcher. He throws consistently in the 88-91 range, and has one of the better true curveballs in the prep class. He also is an extremely talented hitter, so he may not even get the chance to show his stuff on the mound as a pro.

From today's BA chat with Will Kimmey: Q: Eric from Los Angeles of Anaheim asks: I have heard USC catcher Jeff Clement compared to former USC catcher Eric Munson. Does this mean that once drafted Clement will move from behind the plate K too much and be cut loose after a few years in the majors? A: Will Kimmey: That's exactly what it means. For those of you who didn't know, Clement is an exact clone of Munson. And for those of you who don't pick up that sarcasm, please note it. This is probably the top reason I'm not a comparison fan, because everyone is different. Both are college catchers whom scouts had questions about defensively, and I think that comparison could dog Clement a little, in the same way that people were down on Duke basketball players as pros for a little while. Again, comparisons are OK, but not ever to a T. The defense might be a question, but Clement's power is not, even with wood. It will be enough for him to remain behind the plate, and the worst-case scenario has him in a Matt LeCroy type role where he'd catcher a few days a week and also play some at first and DH. But he'd obviously be a better hitter than LeCroy, just to cut that comp off at the pass. Clement's strikeouts total wasn't among the top 50 in the Pac-10 last year, so that might be another indication that he could emerge as a better hitter than Munson long term. I think the question started out more as a joke, although I have compared Clement to Munson. I think what Will Kimmey forgets is that Munson had the same kind of power potential and overall hitting prowess coming out of college. He didn't get drafted 3rd overall in 1998 for nothing, especially since the Tigers moved him immediately to 1B. If they felt he could hit well enough to play 1B, that says a lot about what they felt about his bat. And they weren't alone. I remember the comments around draft day talking about how Munson should be in the Majors within a few years, and would be a fixture at 1B for the Tigers for a long, long time. And I'm, nor the other people that have compared Clement to Muson, are saying Clement is going to end up with the same kind of fate, just comparing what people are talking about now vs. what people talked about Munson then. And LeCroy's bat was pretty highly thought of back then too. I think Mr. Kimmey here is missing the power of retrospect.

From college... Georgia Tech's RHP Jason Neighborgall easily has the best fastball of '05 draft eligible players. He has been discussed quite a bit since he was a junior in HS, and has reached triple digits, including a radar reading of 102 from a few different reports, on several occasions. He also has a very good curveball, but he has a very difficult time locating the strike zone. He walks a ton of batters, hits a lot of batters, and throws a lot of wild pitches. That wildness has prevented him from garnering him much playing time while at GT. Mark McCormick, a RHP at Baylor and another known commodity since HS, has similar stuff to Neighborgall, although not quite as dominant. Both McCormick and Neighborgall are Boras advisees, which is a big reason they attended college given their big bonus aspirations coming out of HS. McCormick also has some character issues. Returning senior Wade Townsend also has one of the better fastballs from the college crop, although he won't pitch for Rice, plus his velocity took a dip last spring. When he's on he can pitch in the mid to high-90s. Craig Hansen as profiled above throws in the mid-90s, but scouts really haven't seen him as a starter, so his work has been in short stints. Mike Pelfrey from Witchita State, Luke Hochevar from Tennessee and Stephen Kahn from Loyola Marymount also have very good fastballs. All 3 of these guys probably top out in the 95 range, and work better in the 90-93 area, but they also are more refined & polished pitchers than the 3 pitchers listed above. From high school... Arizona RHP Brett Jacobson probably has the most consistent low to mid-90s fastball so far of any prep pitcher. He has a great frame at 6'6", 190 or so, so there's plenty of room for him to get better and add more velocity. He was throwing in the 93-95 range all winter at various showcases and tournaments, so we might even see some higher readings as the spring progresses. Josh Wall did himself a favor at a showcase last weekend in Ft. Myers by pitching consistently in the 91-93 range, and touching 95. A converted SS out of LA, you're going to hear a lot more about Wall throughout the spring. Another good-sized, athletic pitcher with a good curveball. Matthew Olson doesn't get mentioned much, but he is another member of the talented prep crop from Virginia. Again, good size, athleticism, etc., and throws regularly in the low-90s. Zach Putnam is a shorter, stockier pitcher from Michigan that has been clocked as high as 94. His fastball has great, late movement on it, so the movement gets bonus points even if he isn't a raw fire-baller. California prep righty Jeff Lyman is similar to Putnam in size & stature. He has a great, old-school roundhouse delivery, and is clocked regularly in the 89-93 range. Like Putnam, he relies more on movement & location than pure velocity. Brandon Erbe is another projectable, athletic pitcher that is consistently clocked in the low-90s. Jeremy Hellickson and Buster Posey are two shorter (6'0" range) and smaller framed pitchers who have whip-like arms. The ball explodes out of both of their right hands, and they both have very good movement and breaking pitches to complement their fastballs. I've compared Hellickson to Roy Oswalt in the past. Bradley Clark, Chris Volstad, Josh Zeid, Eric Massingham & Shane Funk can all throw in the low-90s, and all have very good frames. Clark is the best pitching prospect of this group, as he has an amazing, true curveball that he throws in the low-80s. As I note in his draft profile, not too many pitchers outside of Ben Sheets throw a true curveball in the low-80s. Volstad has good movement, and is towering at 6'7". Massingham & Funk are more on the big & blocky side, so they're not the most projectable of pitchers. Not too much for lefties this year in regards to pure velocity. Next year Andrew Miller from UNC could be in the running for the first overall pick. Cesar Ramos & Ricky Romero highlight the college arms this year, but neither throws higher than the low-90s. Both of them do have very good breaking balls and good control. David Duncan and Travis Wood probably highlight the prep power lefties. Duncan is a giant at 6'7" or so, but doesn't throw harder than the high-80s at this point in time, but obviously there's a lot more room for him to improve. Wood on the other hand is closer to 6', but the fastball explodes out of his hand similar to his right-handed prep counterpart in Jeremy Hellickson.

I wanted to let everyone know that I am officially working for Perfect Game now as a contracted/freelance writer. My first story has been posted on their homepage, an interview with Atlanta Braves scouting director Roy Clark: www.perfectgame.org/ I will be writing for them from September through May every year (since my real or "day" job gets really busy in June-early September), so check back to their website weekly for more features, and a weekly editorial column that I will be submitting entitled "Crack of the Bat." I'm extremely excited for this experience, as it puts me closer to having many of my personal & professional dreams come true. Perfect Game is the standard in high school scouting, tournaments and showcase events, as they're the people that give Baseball America most of their information on amateur prospects and the draft. I hope this is yet another positive step in the right direction for me, and as always I have to offer my eternal and most heart-felt thanks to Brian for creating and maintaining Brewerfan.net. Without this site, I never would have had the springboard for this venture to become a reality. I hope you enjoy the features & editorials. As always, please feel free to email me with your comments, suggestions and anything else. Patrick

Everybody else in the equation is different, but Drew and Weaver I bet go the Northern League route and declare free agency. I'm not sure what you mean by "declare free agency," but as long as players like Drew and Weaver are the property of some other team, meaning they got drafted (and as long as they are resident of the United States, Canada or Puerto Rico, they are eligible for the draft), they cannot declare free agency, at least not in the terms we're used to. If they don't sign with the D-Backs and Angels a week prior to this June's draft, they will be amateur free agents (even though they will be considered professional baseball players if they play for some independent league), and therefore are subject to the draft. If players could become true free agents a year after being drafted, you would probably see more players doing this, as being able to negotiate with any team obviously gives players more negotiating power. And that negotiating power means a lot. In the roundtable stats vs. scouting discussion on BA, Eddie Bane (Angels) mentioned that in his current negotiations with Weaver, his agent (Boras) was trying to get Mark Prior money, and pointed out that only Mark Prior is worth Mark Prior money. I doubt either one of those guys will end up making any more money than likely what is currently on the table. Although that could have a big effect on whom the D-Backs draft with the #1 overall pick come June assuming Drew does indeed sign, especially given some of their other offseason spendings.

You might want to familiarize yourselves with Craig Hansen, a RHP from St. John's, now. He has the perfect pitcher's build at 6'5", 190, throws in the mid-90s with a mid-80s slider, and was named the #3 prospect on the Cape last summer after striking out 44 batters in 22.1 IP while allowing only 2 BB & 9 H and he didn't give up a single ER. He has been used predominantly as a closer, but he has been working on a 3rd pitch, a changeup, to round out his repertoire to possibly be considered a starter. With his size & stuff he seems to be a lock to be a first rounder, and could vault up to the top 5-10 picks if he does indeed develop his changeup. He is featured by BA today in their regional previews: www.baseballamerica.com/t...ansen.html

I doubt anyone would draft Greene and immediately move him to 3B to address a need. He has the skills to stay at SS for a while, basically until he proves that he can't play there, which may not happen until a few years into his MLB career, if he makes it that far of course. While we have an obvious need for a 3B from top to bottom in our system, when a player is a few years away from making it to the big leagues I don't see any point moving him away from a more demanding defensive position assuming he has the skills to stay there. The idea upon selecting him may be that he is indeed our 3B of the future, but since so many things can and will happen, there is no reason to move a player like that so soon. And Gordon will be picked before the Brewers make their selection. Bank on it. I think the guys profiled by BA before Gordon (Hochevar, Clement & Greene) all make a heck of a lot of sense for the Brewers.

As I pointed out in the draft compensation thread, I agree that the free agent draft compensation system is flawed. Teams can sign 4 high profile free agents and lose two and still double the amount of picks they would have had. I really feel that MLB needs to constitute some kind of program that factors in free agents lost vs. free agents signed, at least when it comes to supplemental picks. Basically, if the Red Sox sign Renteria, Wells & Clement, yet they lose Martinez, Cabrera & Lowe, I personally think they shouldn't be awarded any sandwich picks. Plus, teams don't even offer a lot of free agents arbitration anymore in fear that one, they'll accept it, and two, they know other teams won't sign these free agents for what they're looking for so teams can't even get comp picks for them. It's one thing for a team like the A's, Twins or Astros to get comp picks after losing players without really signing anyone else. In the past, I have proposed that supplemental picks, should they continue to be awarded, should be based on whether or not the team finishes within the best or worst 15 teams. Looking at the comp list, there could be as many as 21 sandwich picks between the first and second rounds. That's a lot of picks for teams that pick early in the 2nd round have to wait for until they have their next chance to draft a talented amateur free agent. I would propose any team being awarded a comp pick that finished with one of the best 15 records the year before receives those comp picks after the 2nd round instead of the first. Teams that are among the worst 15 teams still receive their sandwich picks after round 1. I also have a problem with the elias rankings. How Damian Miller and Jose Hernandez can be ranked as type A free agents is beyond me. Wasn't Royce Clayton a type B FA this offseason? Every year you look at some of the rankings and you scratch your head. Of course, Clayton wasn't offered arby, so compensation wasn't even an issue, but again, that whole system needs to be fixed IMO. I wouldn't even get into trading picks. I think it's a lot more complicated in baseball. Too many teams just don't care as much about the draft as they do in other sports. I know some people have argued in the past that that is their problem, but I wouldn't allow teams to trade draft picks until their is some kind of bonus structure implemented with draft pick slots, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. If teams aren't happy about the money needed to sign a projected player in their slot, they reach for a more signable player, and in my mind, that adds to the dynamics. The biggest problem with the draft is not enough people care about it. During the negotiations for the most recent CBA there were supposed to be a few radical changes to the draft structure. Those changes never happened, and in fact the commitee that was appointed to address such problem rarely met, and took over a year to determine a few other minor rule changes, such as teams drafting in reverse order of standings only and not alternating between leagues. And Brian's right, Oakland is one team that uses the draft/free agent compensation process perfectly. You don't see them going out & signing a bunch of FAs after they lost 2-3 of their own. The smaller teams like the D-Rays, Royals, Brewers etc., again as noted, would much rather trade their free agents to be for prospects that are a little more proven. If the Brewers wouldn't have been so determined to get close to big-league prospects for Richie Sexson, we may be the ones looking at having the first pick in the sandwich round and the 3rd pick in the 2nd round. What would you rather have, Spivey, Overbay, Capuano & de la Rosa, or two high picks in next June's draft? It's a no-brainer to me, I'd rather have the players, as exciting as extra draft picks are.

A nice feature on everyone's favorite '05 prospect, Alex Gordon: www.baseballamerica.com/t...ordon.html http://ftp.baseballamerica.com/images2004/agordon425325-1.jpg From yesterday, BA's feature of Georgia Tech SS Tyler Greene: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/050112greene.html

Phillip Humber has finally signed with the New York Mets: mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/ml...&fext=.jsp Deal contigent on a physical of course, I'm sure we'll hear the financial details soon. This may cause Jeff Niemann to sign relatively soon, with the 2 remaining Boras boys, Weaver & Drew, still unsigned. I still think all of these guys will end up signing eventually. BA now has the signing up, along with the financial details and other minor news regarding the other unsigned picks: www.baseballamerica.com/t...umber.html

Today BA's college coverage moves to the West, with a feature on Jeff Clement: www.baseballamerica.com/t...ement.html If his defense legitimately has improved (I'm not taking his coaches' word on that), he's a legitimate candidate for the Brewers first-round pick. Some comments from the college coverage regarding past Brewer draft picks: Stephen Kahn (Loyola Marymount) was voted the preseason pitcher of the year in the West Coast Conference and #1 draft prospect. He also was given the nod for the best fastball in the conference. Even though he wasn't drafted by the Brewers, Waukesha native Tyler Beranek (UNLV) was rated the top newcomer in the Mountain West Conference. Ronnie Prettyman (Cal State Fullterton) was named the Big West all-conference preseason 3B, the conference's best defensive 3B and #7 draft prospect. Brian Hernandez (Vanderbilt) was named the SEC's #5 newcomer (transferred from Duke). Sean Morgan (Tulane) was named the preseason freshman of the year and #4 newcomer in Conference USA. Taylor Meier (Central Florida) was one of three pitchers named to the Atlantic Sun all-conference team, and was also named the #4 '06 draft prospect. Like Beranek, Minnesota RHP Dusty Brabender wasn't drafted by the Brewers, but as a native of Oregon, WI, he was named the #3 newcomer in the Big Ten. Ryan Zink was named the Horizon League's preseason all-conference team and overall conference player of the year. Here's what BA had to say about him: The Flames are favored to win again as they return sophomore RHP Ryan Zink (9-3, 2.07) and all-league 2B Bryan Russo (.330-5-26). Zink, who walked 15 and struck out 92 in 96 innings with a fastball that touches 93 mph, is the conference's best prospect but won't be eligible for the draft until 2006. Comments on others: [i[Former USC closer Jack Krawczyk, who holds the NCAA single season (23, in 1998) and career saves (49, from 1995-98) records, has become an assistant at Arizona State. He?s a Tempe native.[/i] UCLA is counting on a big season from OF Jarrad Page, an honorable mention all-Pac-10 strong safety in the fall. Page, a fifth-round pick by the Brewers in the 2002 draft, hit .233-3-19 with six stolen bases for the Bruins last spring. Mississippi State welcomes back senior OF Jon Mungle (.333-0-2), who missed all but six games of the 2004 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Mungle, who was drafted by the Brewers in the 44th round, joins a talent-laden outfield that includes Corley (.380-19-55), an All-America candidate, and Joseph Hunter (.311-3-39). And a little bit on Cap'n Lou's "little" brother: Stetson returns every significant player except C/DH Chris Westervelt (.385-11-56) and 1B Bryan Zenchyk (.368-7-47), both four-year starters. The Hatters are counting on freshman David Golliner and sophomore DH Jon Still (.343-2-38) to step in for Westervelt, the conference player of the year, and Nick Palmisano, a transfer from Broward CC and a 33rd-round pick of the Pirates in last year's draft, to replace Zenchyk. Palmisano's brother Lou is a top catching prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers system. 'lil Palmso was also rated the #2 newcomer in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Johnny Logan may be a part-time scout in the area, but Harvey Kuenn Jr. is the main area scout around here. I think having Logan on board is more about keeping him with the team than actually leaning on him to accurately scout the area. I may be wrong, but that's my impression.

A nice feature on Hochevar over at BA: www.baseballamerica.com/t...hevar.html

Just so everyone knows, BA's college preview is heating up. Today they had a chat with Will Kimmey: www.baseballamerica.com/t...106wk.html And here's the pre-season All-American list that molitor fan brought up: www.baseballamerica.com/t...preaa.html As for Owings, there have been quite a few comments about him over the last few years. He was a well-known prospect coming out of high school, as the Rockies drafted him in the 2nd round. He was draft eligible this past year as a sophomore, and has transferred to Tulane for his junior season. Owings is somewhat disappointing. Coming out of HS I saw one person compare him to Austin Kearns for his 2-way ability. He is a true power/power prospect, with outstanding power potential at the plate and a very good arm on the mound. However, he isn't really refined either way, as he has struck out a ton as a hitter, despite putting up good power numbers, and has been knocked around as a pitcher. Georgia Tech has been disappointing all around the past couple of seasons, so transferring to Tulane might be a fresh breath of air for Owings. I've liked him better as a hitter all along given his power potential, but he really needs to cut down on the strikeouts. He is a very good athlete, with a very good frame at 6'5" at 220 or so. He likely would end up in RF if drafted as a positional prospect. On the mound he is a sinker/slider type, again, with a good frame. This year is huge for Owings, who turned down a 7-figure bonus from the Rockies a few years ago. The past couple of years he has been living more off of his reputation than his actual production. It's hard to project where he will fall, but at this point in time I have him rated within my top 30, although he likely will be bumped out of the top 30 by some players I have rising. Tulane is possibly my favorite team to follow, so I will be watching Owings closely this spring. Tyler Greene is another one of my faves for next June. Again, if you dig a little bit down within the draft forum you'll probably find some of my comments on him. He, like Owings, was drafted in the 2nd round coming out of HS (Braves). He turned down a very generous high 6-figure offer to attend Georgia Tech. Coming out of HS his bat wasn't nearly as polished as his other tools, but scouts raved about his overall athleticism, speed and defensive ability. Since he's been at college he's bulked up and has shown that his bat is legit. He hit well with Team USA after his freshman year and on the Cape last summer, so hitting with a wood bat shouldn't be an issue. What I really like about him is that he seems to be a pretty conservative pick, not that his ceiling is low. He can hit, hit for some power, run, play defense, has a good arm, and is praised for his makeup. If he continues to hit, he's a top 10 pick, and is on my short-list for the Brewers first-round pick with Hochevar, Justin Bristow and Zach Putnam (Upton, Maybin & Gordon will all be off the board). Greene also wears #5, which is the same number Nomar Garciappara wore (and still wears) at GT, and Greene may project to be a similar type of player.

I saw my first Northwoods game late last summer, the last regular season game of the year actually for the Madison Mallards. I do follow some of the players, but not religiously. Ryan Zink & Daryl Maday I did follow since they're local guys and Brewer draftees. Zink had a great summer, following a great freshman season at UIC. He was greeting people as they came into the stadium at that game I attended. I believe BA rated him the 3rd best prospect in the league. I do hope to get to more games next year. The next Eau Claire team is a great addition, since my in-laws live in Chippwa Falls. I checked out part of a Cavaliers game last summer, and how can you not love Carson Park given the history? When I'm up there next summer you can be sure to find me in the stands somewhere if the Express are in town. Beranek won't be draft eligible until 2007, after his junior year. Zink & Maday will be eligible in 2006. I wouldn't be surprised to see Zink on the Cape next summer, as he likely will be starting for UIC since I believe 2-3 of their starters from last year were drafted (I know Dave Haehnel was). All of these guys, especially Zink, have a great chance to move up in the draft. Zink shouldn't have fallen as far as he did, but as my scouting WI story points out, if (northern) players fall past the 5th round, more often than not these players might as well not be drafted at all since it's almost guaranteed they will attend school. I know scouts already love and are well aware of Zink's abilities.

Welcome aboard wibball. The pitcher and catcher you are thinking of are Erik Cordier from Southern Door, now with the Royals, and Jason Jaramillo of Ok. St., I believe with the Phillies. I wrote a story last winter focusing on the talented group of draft-eligible players: www.brewerfan.net/ViewArt...icleId=168 We were definitely spoiled by the quality and quantity of draft-eligible prospects that were available in 2004. An update on some of the other players covered in that story: Tyler Beranek is now at UNLV. Dusty Brabender is at Minnesota. Brandon Hall is at Lake City CC, the same school as DFE Stephen Barnes. Ryan Schweikert is at Spartanburg Methodist College, the same school as DFE Jimmy Coker. Grant Berkovitz I believe is at UW-Milwaukee. Here are the top HS WI prospects for '05 according to Prospects Plus: Nolan Crawley,&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp C, Greenfield, WI Nicholas Grunenwald,&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp SS, Merrill, WI Tim Patzman, OF, Waukesha, WI

From BA's Winter League notebook: Hermosillo lefthander Jorge de la Rosa (Brewers) left his best start of the Mexican Pacific League season with a minor leg injury after giving up only one run (a monstrous homerun by Mexicali first baseman Bubba Smith that left the stadium) in six strong innings. De la Rosa threw mostly fastballs in the 94-95 mph range mixed with a plus curveball in the mid-70s and a changeup in the mid-80s. He showed good command in the 12-2 victory, walking only one batter. Wow. Always fun to hear about what our pitchers are throwing. A mid-90s lefty with a solid 3-pitch repertoire? Here's to Jorge being more consistent in 2005.

Last year definitely was a banner year for WI prospects. Right now, there doesn't seem to be any HS players that will be drafted in the top 10 rounds, and possibly the top 20. College middle IF Ryan Rohlinger without a doubt is the cream of the crop, but even he will be hard-pressed to be drafted in the top 5-10 rounds. I was going to post some comments on the top prep players courtesy of Blazer25 from another forum, but I just found out those comments have been edited (deleted). Since Blazer25 has found his way to Brewerfan.net in recent weeks, hopefully he can fill us in on some of the top prep WI players.

I've been warned by several not to tip my hand as to who my favorite for next June is, and while Hochevar isn't my favorite-favorite (that honor goes to Gordon, whom I think is everyone's favorite), I wanted to share some of his numbers & scouting report while tossing his name out as a possibility for our 1st round pick next June. Hochevar is a 6'5", 205 pound righty. He has drawn comparisons to Wake Forest's, and current Detroit Tiger farmhand, Kyle Sleeth for his size, stuff and Colorado connection (Colorado prep pitchers always seem to float under the radar out of HS, which many has attributed to the fact that CO has no major D1 baseball program). He throws in the low-90s, can touch the mid-90s, and has a pretty good slider/slurve. He also throws a good changeup. I had the chance to watch him pitch a few times last year and I was very impressed with his command, control, ability to hit his spots, change speeds and his overall poise on the mound. He not only was a talented pitcher coming out of high school, but he was also a star hitter, and a star basketball player that average 20+ points/game and 10+ rebounds/game that was also adept at blocking shots. I think all of this points to his overall athleticism. On top of his baseball and overall athletic prowess, Hochevar receives high marks for his character and volunteer community work. Now onto the stats... Freshman season, 2003: 4.64 ERA, 21 appearances, 5 starts, 1 CG, 77.2 IP, 87 H, 73 K, 24 BB, .281 BAA, 9 HR Summer of '03, Cape Cod League: 1.10 ERA, 11 G, 16.1 IP, 16 H, 21 K, 3 BB Sophomore season, 2004: 2.86 ERA, 11 appearances, 9 starts, 2 CG, 1 SHO, 63 IP, 52 H, 60 K, 23 BB, .227 BAA, 7 HR Summer of '04, Team USA: 2.73 ERA, 7 appearances, 4 starts, 33 IP, 29 H, 38 K, 11 BB, .228 BAA, 0 HR Hochevar was used predominantly as a reliever during his freshman season, both with the Volunteers and on the Cape. He pitched well as a freshman before entering conference play, when SEC hitters knocked him around a little bit. He dominated in half a season on the Cape as a closer, and was named the #20 prospect in the league by Baseball America, high praise for a freshman. He started his sophomore season off with a bang, with a CG shutout in which he struck out 10 batters and allowed only 1 hit and one walk. He was hit in the leg by a line drive early in the season that caused him to miss time with a deep bone bruise. He later was hit in the face by a line drive in BP that caused him to miss more time. Hochevar then pitched extremely well for Team USA, winning the Gold medal as Team USA's starting pitcher and leading the team in innings pitched. His name hasn't been tossed around much around these parts, and while he's not the next Mark Prior (no one is), look for him to have a very good junior season. More and more college games are being aired on TV in the past couple of years, so try to catch Hochevar and the Vols' next spring.