colbyjack

You don't have to be a professional scout to offer a scouting report. Just tell it like you see it. As I often point out, I'm far from being a scout, as much as I would love to be one. And for all to enjoy, here's Team USA's website: www.usabaseball.com/ Not only can you find the rosters for the prepsters, but you can also follow the stats for the college guys. And speaking of college guys, I wanted to point out that when top prospects for the 2005 draft are brought up, Nebraska 3B Alex Gordon is often missed. I know Kat had a chance to see him play at the Metrodome this year, and I think he's going to hit his way into being a top 10 pick, and possibly the highest drafted 3B since Troy Glaus. He had another amazing year for Nebraska this year, and was among the POY candidates in all of college baseball.

Glancing over the names you provided, some of these guys are high school seniors, such as Erik Davis & Preston Clark. Both were drafted much later than where their talent normally would have dictated, but Davis has a strong commitment to Stanford & Clark is likely headed to Texas. Both were top prospects coming into the year, and from what I've seen & heard both had disappointing springs, at least in regards to what was expected of them entering the season. No top prospect list at this point in time. Another game to watch for is the AFLAC All-American game later this summer. Mark Rogers was one of many early draft picks that played in it's inaugural event last summer. Top 10 HS prospects according to Jim Callis & Ask BA last week: 1. Justin Upton, ss, Great Bridge HS, Chesapeake, Va. 2. Iain Sebastian, rhp/1b, Columbus HS, Columbus, Ga. 3. Miers Quigley, lhp, Roswell HS, Roswell, Ga. 4. Austin Jackson, of, Denton Ryan HS, Denton, Texas 5. Justin Bristow, ss/rhp, Mills Godwin HS, Richmond 6. Andrew McCutchen, of, Fort Meade HS, Fort Meade, Fla. 7. Eric Massingham, rhp, De La Salle HS, Benicia, Calif. 8. Bradley Clark, rhp, Sickles HS, Tampa 9. Jeremy Hellickson, rhp, Hoover HS, Des Moines 10. Zach Putnam, rhp/3b, Pioneer HS, Ann Arbor, Mich. Justin Upton really is a no-brainer. Just like his big brother, Delmon Young & Lastings Milledge, these are the can't-miss prospects that are well known about since their early years in high school. And I've heard that Quigley is one heck of a lefty & Austin Jackson is an incredible hitter. Scanning the Tournament of the Stars rosters, a few names popped out to me: HS seniors: Josh Fields Kenn Kasparek Drew Bowman Yup, that's our Drew Bowman. Iain Sebastian & Justin Bristow were listed along with Upton. And I also saw an interesting name: Luke Greinke, likely Zack Greinke's little brother. nikip, are you thinking about checking it out? I'd love to hear your first-hand reports!

I agree Toby. He has a defensive swing, but seems to hit for really good contact. His swing & frame actually reminded me a lot of Craig Counsell's, and that's probably his upside. I agree, he'll have to play somewhere other than 3B to have any value at the big league level, or even the upper levels of the organization.

Man, I remember that well pogo. Not so much during, but afterwards, when Dean Taylor & Wendy kept pointing to their 4 consecutive winning months which dated back to 2000 when they acquired Richie Sexson. Before the season I stated I would be happy if the Brewers matched their win totals of 2003 as long as they showed improvements in other areas & played hard. So far so good. With every passing week I'm impressed that the Brewers are still hovering around .500, much less 5 games over. While we have been pointing to important future series recently, I have a feeling the Brewers true test for the year won't happen until we finally play the Cubs, which doesn't happen until after the All-Star break.

5 games over .500 in mid-June is absolutely fantastic. What a great game again tonight. The Brewers continue to play extremely well at home, taking the first 2 games of yet another series. Let's see if we can get over the sweep slump tomorrow, and even if they can't, 2 out of 3 is still great. How would you like to be Terry Mullholland tonight?

Why oh why are the Stars struggling to score runs? Anyone want to bet that Parra will be with the Stars within the next 2-3 days? I'm going to go out on a short limb & say that Parra's next start will be at AA. It's great to see him back & pitching well. Some really nice K numbers from the Helena pitchers. Wahpepah with 4, Barnes with 5 and Marion with 4. Barnes and his curveball might find himself in Beloit before the season is over. And while Heether has had some big hits with Beloit this year, his .261 batting average shouldn't put him on the 3B prospect map quite yet. Madbad or anyone else that keeps a close eye & ear on the Snappers...there has to be a reason Lou Palmisano hasn't been a constant in the Beloit lineup in the past 1-2 weeks. Any injury concerns?

Wow. This team just doesn't give up.

And the high school All-American teams: www.baseballamerica.com/t...8hsaa.html No surprise, Mark Rogers is on the first-team after his amazing season.

Jim Powell just noted that the Brewers have also signed 15th rounder David Johnson, a RHP from UCLA. After teasing us with no signings the first couple of days following the draft, the Brewers have done a great job getting several if not most of their key draftees signed, and in a timely fashion.

For as much credit as Billy Beane receives for the way he has built a consistent, competetive ballclub, Twins' GM Terry Ryan doesn't receive nearly as much credit, probably because he's not one to draw attention towards himself. Being a UW grad doesn't hurt. While endaround pointed out the number of injuries the Twins have suffered, they have still played extremely well, probably a tribute to the depth they have built, largely through their own, homegrown talent. All of their players seem to be well-rounded, with good offensive & defensive skills. Jim Powell noted in yesterday's broadcast that the rivalry between the Brewers & Twins has been a lot more friendly, especially compared to the rivalry between the Cubs now & the White Sox when we were in the AL. That said, this series & next weekend's series in Minneapolis are huge, as is every series for the Brewers these days.

Haven't the Twins had really good defense the past couple of years? I know I have been impressed watching them when I have a chance in the past, including the playoffs. They don't seem to beat themselves very often.

Great news! Keep adding those outfielders to the system! If we keep stockpiling OFs, maybe one of these years we can draft & sign a bunch of 3B http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

The Brewers seem to be swinging early in the count so far in this game. While Radke hardly walks anyone, I certainly hope that doesn't change their approach.

One thing's for sure, whatever Beane does is going to have to be cheap. He reportedly has little to no wiggle room with his budget, as always, and will have to be creative with whomever he adds. Dan Kolb or Luis Vizcaino may make a lot of sense for the A's just because both are relatively cheap. I'm sure someone could be added from the A's side to help balance some of that salary, and in that case, it may make a better case for the Brewers to get a legitimate prospect. Robert has suggested Mark Teahen on the trade rumors forum, which I think is a great idea. Beane has never been shy about dealing prospects for proven talent, which, IMO, has always been one of his greatest strengths.

I disagree. I have been (and am) just as critical of the A's bullpen as anyone else... this is ridiculous. I never said you weren't critical of the A's bullpen. No one did. And the fact that people are jumping all over me for doing so is just further proof that folks don't like Billy Beane and look for every opportunity to bash him. C'mon Bill, no one is jumping all over you. Just because someone slings a comment towards Beane doesn't mean that it was a personal assault. It's like heckling, and Beane and the whole Moneyball phenomena has a lot of controversey surrounding it. You just seemed to go way out of your way to defend what Beane is doing in Oakland. Normally I'd just back down & leave this be, but don't lump us in a pre-conceived group of Beane-bashers just because someone made a facetious comment.

That's some serious & unecessary Beane-defending there batman. I think everyone would recognize the job he has done in Oakland. I do think his legacy is overblown, but I don't think anyone came close to making the Billy is an idiot, Tracy Ringolsby told me" leap. And I don't care what the A's bullpen's ARP, ERA or whatever stat you want to throw out there, the blown saves are enough to tell you that they need help. I don't have a doubt that Beane will do something, but for the sake of his ballclub, sooner would be better than later.

I just thought that I would point out that Cal State Fullerton will be playing South Carolina on ESPN at 1pm today CST if you're interested in watching 28th rounder Ronnie Prettyman.

Well stated Toby. I think it's fine time for an emotional plea to the organization. I do hope that the people that count are reading, and I can only hope something is done about it. I wouldn't blame just Reid either. Doug Melvin is the man that actually has to go out & acquire the players necessary to bolster some of the weaknesses at different levels. While I know Melvin doesn't micro-manage all that much, he has to recognize some of these situations. The frustration with the minor leagues are pretty evident. It certainly doesn't help that guys like Weeks aren't hitting like they're capable of, plus losing others like Krynzel & Hardy to long-term injuries & guys like Ford, Jones & de la Rosa to short-term ones doesn't help. While I don't have as big of a problem with the Belcher/Childers trade, just because I don't think either has nearly as much value as most seemed to place on them, taking Belcher's bat away from Huntsville has hurt that team. How easy is it to acquire a bat for High Desert & Huntsville off of the scrap heap? Someone like Peter Zoccolillo would definitely help at this point in time, and we may see someone like that acquired at the trading deadline, but by then it may be too late. Another thing I'm not pleased with is baseball tactics by the individual coaches. As madbad has stated a few times, Don Money likes to bunt way too much, and the AA team should be scoring more than a couple of runs a game. Are all of our affiliates playing small ball too much? With no affiliate contending for a first half title, the lack of movement of players between affiliates is even more irksome. It's not like you need to keep a roster together for a playoff push. I'm not really bothered by the lack of promotions because I'm not sure who should be promoted. Are there any obvious ones that I'm missing? I know several people have suggested bumping Palmisano up, but first of all, is he really ready? While he has been consistently hitting & getting on base all year, he isn't exactly lighting up the Midwest League. And with that, you're not really going to be improving the catcher spot at High Desert since Vanden Berg has been hitting so well there. Of course bumping him up to Huntsville would give them another bat, possibly the bat they need, since Kade Johnson hasn't really showed that he should go anywhere higher than AA at this point in time. ***To answer my own question, Vinnie Rottino probably would be worthy of a bump up to High Desert, and that certainly would or at least should stop them from using pitchers as DH's. I am happy to see Helena playing, with Arizona due to start next week. We have more & more players at Arizona this year that will be fun to follow. In past years that just seemed to be filled with a bunch of no-name Latin American players sprinkled in with a few marginal low-level prospects. And If Hasan Rasheed picks up close to where he left off at Lake City CC, he is going to have a monster year in the Pioneer League.

Congrats to the Brewers & young Mr. Rogers for getting that done so quickly. Looking forward to watching his name in the box scores.

The Indians drafted Roehl in the 10th round of last year's draft. I believe he's pitching at A-ball for the Indians this year, and pitched well last year in a few starts. Both Roehl & Maday were former Brewer draft picks. Roehl in 2000 & Maday last year.l

No big news, but a nice sprinkling of players with ties to Wisconsin & the Brewers. 19th rounder Josh Brady made the 2nd All-American team as a 1B: www.baseballamerica.com/t...ateam.html UW Whitewater's Brady Endl made the small school AA team as a utility player: www.baseballamerica.com/t...ateam.html And UWM's Ben Stanczyk gets a very nice mention from BA's John Manuel (subscribers only): www.baseballamerica.com/o...anuel.html

I don't think I would worry about the Brewers signing Bowman because it probably won't happen. If it does, adding a player like that to our system is pure gravy. The only reason he fell was because of reported bonus aspirations to lure him away from ASU as you guessed.

The quotes from Gallardo right after the draft indicated that he had a tough decision on his hands. He has a commitment to TCU and is apparently going to seriously consider fulfilling it, but like "hscoach" said, it would be hard for him to turn down the kind of money he'll be offered as a second round (and early second round at that) selection. When I profiled Gallardo earlier this spring, I noted that his commitment to TCU should not be that great of a challenge. Pretty much all players say something to the affect that they have to consider their college commitment. Why wouldn't they? It's all about bargaining power. The Brewers wouldn't have taken Gallardo if they didn't think they could sign him. It will be done in 2 weeks. The D in Rogers really has nothing to do about grammar in my mind, it's just about common courtesy & respect of spelling someone's name right. I know there is & was no disrespect intended by posters that mispells a player's name, I just wanted to point it out. We might as well get used to doing so now, hoping we can talk about that player for a long, long time.

Wooley & Fermaint are probably the 2 biggest players to watch. Tommy Hawk would be the 3rd if he joins them. Recently signed college/JC pitchers in Baker, Theodorakos & Wahpepah could enjoy immediate success at the rookie level, and they're all capable of putting up impressive lines, although I would expect all of them will be kept to a strict pitch count. Ryan Marion, Robert Hinton & Edwin Walker all have impressive size + stuff combos, while Hasan Rasheed could be a very dangerous leadoff hitter. Grant Richardson, Steve Sollmann, Tony Festa & Clay Blevins could all put up big numbers at the plate similar to their college/JC pitching counterparts. All of these guys in a way are almost expected to enjoy success at this level, as the true test for them likely won't come in a couple of years when they start to play at the high-A or AA levels. It would be nice to see Adam Mannon have a productive year. He was signed out of Chandler-Gilbert CC last year more as a project, but he's extremely athletic with intriguing power potential. And don't forget about the conversion of Justin Barnes, who got moved to the mound this year. While he signed him last year as a DFE as a 3B, he has always had a good fastball and a very good curveball. We actually originally drafted him as a RHP from Manatee CC after the Mets did the same out of HS.

Plus Joel Needham appears to be absent from that list. Wasn't signed last week and reporte by MLB.com to be assigned to Helena? As MB mentioned, Sports Network's reports shouldn't be relied on 100%. I too would expect Needham in Helena, possibly as their closer. There's no reason to send a guy like that to Arizona. I'm looking forward to following that pitching staff, although I would be mildly surprised to see Justin Wilson start his pro career there. While he's a JC signee, he hasn't pitched much since HS. He's definitely a player that could be considered about just as advanced as any other recent prep draftee.