colbyjack

My biggest problem from the Brewers first-round pick from 1992 to 1997 is that they drafted for immediate, specific needs. You just can't draft that way in baseball. I clearly remember reading about how the Brewers wanted to draft the best power prospect available, which is why Felder was our pick. He signed for about what everyone else was around him, so I wouldn't necessarily call him a budget pick. In 1992 the team lacked power in a big way, with Greg Vaughn being the only notable power hitter in our lineup. I don't remember any other players being mentioned for our 1st round pick. In '94 we needed a 3B, and didn't have many left-handed hitters. Williamson was immediately pencilled in as our 3B & #3 hitter of the future. Williamson was more of a budget pick, although not as extreme as one as Chad Green 2 years later. I remember Williamson being the favorite for our pick going into the draft as reported by the MJS several days out. The Arizona State 3B connection to Sal Bando was just too obvious (I do remember watching Williamson in the CWS that year and was quite impressed with his hitting ability). And Green was immediately pencilled in as our CF & leadoff hitter of the future. Pat Listach at this point in time proved that he wasn't someone to rely on, and Darryl Hamilton I believe was long gone. The team also lacked speed. Green was a huge budget pick that year, signing for much less than the other picks around him. Like Williamson, I remember reading in the MJS that Green was the favorite to be our first-round pick before the draft took place. Kyle Peterson actually signed for a little more than those taken around him. I remember the MJS mentioning Peterson as one of their pre-draft targets, and he was one of, if not the most polished pitcher available in the '97 draft. I never had a big problem with Peterson other than the fact that he never was able to fix his delivery, which led to arm problems. As he showed in the minors & at the big league level, when he was healthy he pitched quite well. I don't recall any other players being mentioned as possibilities, but I do recall them wanting a pitcher. JM Gold in my mind cannot be included in this group. Prior to 1998 the team drafted rather conservatively, and as noted they always seem to address immediate, specific needs. In '98 that changed, and I remember reading about how they wanted to add as many young, power arms as possible. This meant higher signing bonuses. With their first-round pick the Brewers intended to nab Nick Neugebauer, whom fell to their 2nd round pick. Instead, the top prep arm in the nation, JM Gold, fell to their spot & they didn't hesitate to select him. I remember reading how thrilled they were to get Gold in the 1st & Neugebauer in the 2nd, as they felt (and many agreed) that they got the 2 best power arms on their board. The Brewers continued to spend more money in the draft in 1999 giving Sheets a record bonus $2.5 million. Sheets wasn't expected to fall that far, otherwise the Brewers would have taken prep righty Brett Myers (now with the Phillies). Of course that changed in 2000 when Dean Taylor replaced Sal Bando & brought in Jack Z. as his scouting director. They immediately started to stress tools & overall athleticism, and stated they wanted to get the player with the most raw tools with their first round pick. When Rocco Baldelli was taken in the top 10 by the D-Rays, the Brewers opted for Dave Krynzel. Of course that led to 3 straight prep players being taken with our first-round picks, with several similar players being taken in later rounds. The draft bonuses were never below slot value, and they haven't been cheap with later round picks & DFE signings either. As noted before, the team increased their draft & overall player development budget from $8 million to $20 million, in a huge shift in organizational philosophy. Even before that the team did start to draft more aggressively starting in 1998, and fortunately we still have Ben Hendrickson & Bill Hall to show for those efforts.

Thanks for your thoughts KyleSleeth. I'm pretty happy that we have 2 of Detroit's more prominent young pitchers contributing on this forum http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . Do you think the Padres will want to deal with Boras (Weaver)? I don't. How about the Tigers? No. Mets? Maybe. If not the Mets, then Weaver may drop out of the top ten to maybe the DBacks at 15. It's only an opinion and you know what that's worth. Well, Kevin Towers has openly said that Weaver is #1 on their list, and he hasn't been afraid to let everyone know that. He reportedly is not afraid to deal with Scott Boras clients, as he did in 2000 with 2nd round pick Xavier Nady. At first I too wouldn't have thought that they would take a Boras client, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. If the Padres don't take Weaver for some reason I could see him slide some. Although Detroit's GM, Dombrowski, is another guy that doesn't seem to be afraid to deal with Boras clients. Again, I think the top 2 right now will be Weaver & Verlander. Given some of the comments provided by Mets & Tigers fans, here is my top 5 projection: 1. Padres- Jered Weaver 2. Tigers-Justin Verlander 3. Mets-Jeff Niemann, Nick Adenhart or Homer Bailey 4. D-Rays-Phillip Humber 5. Brewers-Take your pick, Kat, xis & others have banned me from selecting/jinxing picks

Thanks for the update on Elbert nikip. If you get a chance you should take the chance to go see him pitch, as Elbert is one of the top pitchers available for this June's draft. At this point in time he probably won't be around for our 2nd round pick. I believe he's from the other side of the state (Sikeston, about as far SE as you can get in the state), but Missouri's Blake DeWitt is one of my favorite prospects. Not sure if you get news on kids from that part of Missouri, but if you do, any information would be greatly appreciated. BA posted their HS player of the year update today: www.baseballamerica.com/t...04poy.html While you can pretty much throw HS stats out the window, I do like to look for dominance. Right now no one is dominating more than RHP Homer Bailey: 0.00 ERA, 27 IP, 5 H, 67 K, 1 BB Chris Nelson is also rising back up the charts with his offensive performance so far this spring despite having TJ surgery last fall. He'll be moving up on the HS list in my next top 10 update (which will probably happen on Monday or Tuesday of next week).

Ric Wilson has indeed moved on, he is now the National Crosschecker for the Anaheim Angels. There was a mistake in the media guide. Tom Allison should be listed as the West Coast Crosschecker while Jeff Cornell is now the Midwest guy. I will be sure to make that change to the scouting map.

With Jered Weaver & several other college prospects getting all of the love, it was nice of BA to drop in & tell us about Nick Adenhart's first start of the season: www.baseballamerica.com/t...nhart.html On the same day that the top college prospect in the 2004 draft?Jered Weaver of Long Beach State?set a career high with 16 strikeouts in six innings opposite Wichita State, the No. 1 high school prospect was dealing a gem of his own. Righthander Nick Adenhart spun a seven-inning perfect game in his 2004 debut as Williamsport (Md.) High defeated Allegany High of Cumberland, Md., 9-0. Adenhart (1-0), the top high school prospect in the upcoming draft, racked up 15 strikeouts on 83 pitches, 60 of which were strikes. Adenhart, 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, has a picture-perfect delivery and plus command of a low-90s fastball and a two-plane curveball. The win was especially sweet for Adenhart, who suffered his lone loss in 2003 as a junior to Allegany High, despite a no-hit effort in that game. What a way to start the season. While I'm wary of taking a prep arm with the 5th overall pick, I have said before that I may just make an exception for Adenhart. I could really see this guy making a rapid climb similar to another polished prep prospect drafted a couple of years ago, Zack Greinke.

Cornell was the Brewers roving area scout last year, so he got bumped up to a crosschecker. I'm not sure what players he might have been responsible for. No idea what happened to Wilson, but I doubt it was a typo.

That's the first name I noticed missing too cress.

www.brewerfan.net/scouting.jsp The scouting map/scout list has been updated, and this year I decided to add the list of the Brewers professional scouts. The pro scouting dep't. went through quite the overall. The amateur side didn't have as many changes. Former Central Florida Area Scout Fernando Arango is now the Latin American scouting coordinator with 2 scouts assigned to him: One to cover the Dominican Republic, and the other to cover Venezuela. There is also a new Area Scout in the GA, SC & NC area. The biggest change is in Canada, where the Brewers now have 6 scouts. One is a coordinator, and aside from the 2 scouts in Ontarrio, which I believe is the Canadian province with the highest population, all of the other scouts come from different provinces. I'm guessing these guys are all part-timers, probably coaches for college or HS scout and/or legion teams. I'm sure this will draw some scrutiny from skeptical doubters given the Canadian connection with Melvin & Ash, but I'm guessing this is a relatively cheap expense while covering a huge country. Promising canucks drafted early the past couple of years include Justin Morneau, Adam Loewen & Jeff Francis. I'm sure we'll see more Canadian draftees & undrafted free agents in the coming year(s).

Updates on some of our DFEs: Luke Cannon: hitting .351 with a .470 OBP. Has 5 HRs, 6 2Bs & 1 3B, but has had 5 HRs & 4 2Bs since the first week or two of the season, so I think it's obvious teams are pitching around him. Jared Theodorakos: has gotten into 2 ballgames, both starts. Won both of those games: 8 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 4 BB. Chad Miller: has rebounded after a slow start: .271/.323/.364, 1 HR, 8 2B. Only play on his team to play in each of the team's 30 games. Justin Wilson: still hasn't appeared yet this season. Clay Blevins: hitting .354/.466/.521, 5 2B, 1 HR. Justin Sarka: 4.20 ERA in 7 games, 2 starts. 15 IP, 13 H, 12 K, 3 BB

Ray Liotta isn't one of our DFEs, but his performance so far has got to be noted. I've emailed a few people about what he's done so far, and I seem to be the only person that has taken notice. His last outing: 7 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 10 K, 1 BB I'll try to update some of the stats for our actual DFEs this week when (& if) the stats become available.

Josh Fields may be on the rise, but I'm not so sure that he has elevated his position into the first round, much less the top 10 picks. And you're right, signability should not be an issue with Bush. And as of right now, no bat is worthy of a top 5 pick. Unless signability comes into play, I don't see a team reaching for a bat just because they feel comfortable with the pitching depth. If anything I think you might see a prep arm such as Adenhart and/or Homer Bailey sneak into the top 5.

Since I previously brought up former Brewers draftee I thought I would point out his most recent start: 9 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 13 K, 2 BB Again, he plays on the same team as DFE Justin Sarka, although I'm sure plenty of people including the Brewers know about him. His season stats: 5-0, 44 IP, 1.23 ERA, .155 BAA, 24 H, 69 K, 13 BB, 4 CG, 2 SHO The way he's pitching he could be a first-rounder given his size & stuff. Oh yeah, and he's a lefty http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

High school information & updated statistics are hard to come by. Plus, it's really hard to determine whether or not HS stats have any value. BA has started their player of the year watch, with RHP Homer Bailey getting the first nod. www.baseballamerica.com/t...04poy.html I know there are several people that consider Bailey to be the best prep pitching prospect, even ahead of Nick Adenhart. While no one has Adenhart's polish, Bailey has great stuff, and I've heard a couple of people use his name when talking about a great line of pitchers that originated from Texas: Clemens, Pettite, Wood & Beckett. I'm not sure I would touch any high school player with our first round pick, but with a few of the college players struggling, I could easily see guys like Bailey jumping up in the top 5-10 picks. He might have been there all along.

Do you mean the players that signed or the ones that didn't? From our 2001 draft the Brewers ended up signing 2 players as DFEs, Manny Parra & Stephen Hunt. Parra was a 26th rounder in 2001 and vaulted up the charts the following spring when he was clocked as high as 97 mph. Previously he threw in the mid-80s, so that was quite the spike. Hunt was a 35th rounder in '01 and had a good '02 spring for Chandler-Gilbert CC, hitting over .300 with decent gap power. I believe he retired at some point last year. The Brewers did re-draft two of their DFEs from that year. In the 2002 draft they took Tim Dillard in the 34th round after he missed most of the 2002 season due to injury. The Brewers ended up signing Dillard as a DFE last spring. Last June they took LHP Justin Wilson in the 37th round after selecting him in the 17th round in '01. His career has been riddled with injuries. Josh Smith was supposed to be a promising DFE candidate, but he attended Arizona State at the last minute I believe. I think he was drafted last year out of Central Arizona JC. As for the DFE candidates from the '01 draft that didn't sign, you would have to do some piece by piece homework to find out what happened to any of those guys. And prior to the 2001 draft, I don't recall the Brewers having many, if any DFE signees worth mentioning.

I agree with all of pogo's points. I do think we focus too much on the minors & the draft sometimes, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we're really searching for hope for this franchise (at least IMO). There have been several instances in which we have reported a big signing such as Rickie Weeks last summer, but I can't say I remember the Richie Sexson trade being reported as front page news. We had a graphic announcing Bob Uecker's induction to the HOF, but nothing for Paul Molitor. This is Brewerfan.net, and in this day & age of information that is news we should be covering, even if we're not the first to announce it. And MassBrew, is it really that surprising that I don't visit the MJS every day? Their info may be great to you living out East, but I rarely if ever see anything there that I didn't already know from reading the forums here. This time of year is different, since they do offer first-hand information that we simply cannot access. However, as we've seen with Toby's reports in the past, when we have our OWN first-hand reports the ones by Olson & Haudricourt pale in comparison. If nothing else I take it as a compliment. People don't want to go elsewhere because they know they get the best information here. Why not get the best info on each & every story out there? I don't think that's going to stop people from visiting other new sources. I also like the scoreboard idea & I know Brian likes it too (although we've talked about it more for just the Brewers & their affiliates, not for every team at every level). That is more of an issue with complicated programming from what I understand, unless we manually plug that info in each & every time, otherwise it would already be a reality. Getting up to date news on the homepage really is up to us (me, Jim, Toby, Michael, the DB guys). And with no disrespect intended towards the Daily Brew contributors, that was & still is part of the point of it, to be daily. In their defense that is a tough job to fill, because it is a huge daily repsonsibility. When Brian first offered that "job" I passed because I simply cannot offer my services on a consistent basis, especially over the summer, and I remember most everyone else saying the same thing. Hopefully Bill & Jason together can make that feature as cool as it could be, and has been at times, for the entire season.

Thanks for providing that Bill, that's very good to know. While it confirms the Padres interest in Weaver, it also confirms that Weaver is associated with Boras. I do know that teams aren't entirely opposed to lengthy holdouts with college pitchers since the good & healthy ones log 120-140 innings over the course of the spring.

I have mixed feelings about the #1 pick, because I could see San Diego going a few different directions. A college pitcher will no doubt be the pick, but GM Kevin Towers did claim late last season that he didn't even want the #1 overall pick given the amount of money that it would take to sign that player. While he did give up his 2nd rounder when he sign David Wells, which I'm sure was part of the plan, things may be more complicated with Jered Weaver if he is advised by Scott Boras, who without a doubt will look to break the bank. I could easily see Towers going with a safer budget pick similar to how the Pirates took Bryan Bullington a few years ago. I've heard the Mets are interested in Stephen Drew at #3. There was a story in BA a couple of months ago that talked about how the D-Rays wanted to re-direct their draft focus & start loading up on pitchers, particularly college arms. Plus their last first-rounder pitcher was a college righty, Dewon Brazelton, so I don't think they're a lock for a high schooler (plus, they've had a few prep arms crash & burn on them). I think Cleveland is just as likey to take a high school player as anyone in the top 10. Cincinnati has been extremely cheap in their draft spending in recent years, so I'm not so sure they mess with Larish, a Boras advisee. And while you do draft best player available, that team needs some pitching badly. Grady Fuson has shown that while he prefers college players he puts more emphasis on production at both levels, which is why he chose prep LHP John Danks from a year ago. Danks showed an advanced knowledge of pitching, great command & the ability to throw 3 advanced pitches for strikes. Owings is somewhat of a boom or bust pick, even if he is from the college level. Just some thoughts. I give you & anyone credit for tackling a mock draft this early. I guess more than anything I would be somewhat surprised if only 1 high school player is taken in the first 10 picks. There are more & more high school players making a name for themselves, and I'm especially impressed with the depth of promising 2-way prospects such as Matt Bush, Chris Nelson, Chuck Lofgren, Steve Marquardt, Trevor Plouffe & Josh Copeland. If the draft falls as many are expecting it to now, we could see several promising prep players falling to the 2nd round & beyond.

Thanks for the suggestion MB. I'll try to remember to add that info next time.

A late update from Lake City HC Tom Clark: Tim Grubbs has been strong of late, overall 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA, 24 K & 8 BB in 40 IP. Hit 89 on first pitch yesterday. Has been very stable on an otherwise young team. His comments on Rasheed: Rasheed has turned into one of the most exciting players in the state. Has hit safely in all 19 games. Has cut way down on his strikeouts and has learned to hit the ball with authority to the opposite field. Current stats: .428, 22 Sb's, 4 2b, 3 3b, 1 hr. Nice to know that Rasheed is improving in some of the areas he needed to.

Interesting that despite your positivity a couple of the players already are showing signs they might not be ready for prime time. I think the 2 CGCC guys, Chad Miller & Justin Wilson, need to turn things around quickly if they want to be signed. Wilson obviously just needs to get himself healthy & on the field. Miller needs to hit better than what he has, although the Brewers did still like Adam Mannon despite hitting somewhere around the mid-.200s last year. However, I do know the Brewers really liked Mannon's overall athleticism, as Miller isn't quite the 5-tool talent. If you haven't noticed from some of my other posts, while I always root for the little guys I'm not so sure the organization needs to add wee little speed merchants like Hasan Rasheed to the system. Between Kennard Bibbs & Dallas Bates I think we have that position covered. Given the organization's interest in these kinds of players Rasheed could be a lock. Still nothing like seeing a lot of pitchers with good frames in that DFE list! Not only the pitchers, but the 2 outfielders other than Rasheed, Rivera & Thompson have great size & physical tools. Anybody know when BA is going start talking about potential DFE guys? I believe the top JC & DFE prospects are brought up in BA's issue with their midseason college draft report, which I believe comes out in early to mid-April. This is the issue that got us excited about Parra 2 years back. And I would agree that Cannon is easily the top prospect of all of our candidates, and really that's not a surprise since he was drafted the highest of all of these guys.

The DFE story has now been posted on the homepage.

If draft eligible sophomores return to school you lose the controlling rights (so, if we draft Glen Perkins, we have to sign him this summer http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ). The only players on 4-year programs that are handled like DFEs are 5th-year seniors, like Jared Theodorakos.

A few more notes of interest during my searches for info on our DFE candidates... I came across a box score of a game between Lake City CC & Chipola JC. Between those 2 teams the Brewers have 4 DFE prospects (Rasheed & Grubbs at Lake City, Catchot & Encarnacion at Chipola). Grubbs started the game & pitched quite well: 8 IP, 7 H, 9 K, 3BB, 0 R Chipola came back in the 9th to win the game (once Grubbs was removed). Encarnacion played at 3B and went 2 for 4. Catchot played RF and was 0-4. Leading off for Lake City, Rasheed went 2 for 5. Box scores & stats on most of these sites are extremely slow, late, or it's just not an option. Fortunately many of the CCs are finally updating their sites, as I've seen a big change from the info that was provided last year vs. what I've found this year. Making it somewhat easier is above instances like the Lake City/Chipola game since 8 of our DFE candidates are playing for 6 different CCs in Florida, often playing one another. I also discovered that LHP Ray Liotta plays for the same team as Justin Sarka, our 49th round pick from a year ago. Liotta was a 12th rounder from our 2001 draft that went unsigned & headed for Tulane, but has since transferred to Gulf Coast CC. He's a tall & strong lefty with good stuff, and I don't remember the exact reason as to why he transferred (he's listed as a sophomore, so I'm not sure if he missed a year to injury). Anyway, he has pitched extremely well so far this spring: 4-0 w/ a 1.54 ERA in 5 games, all starts; 35 IP, 23 H, 56 K, 11 BB, 6 ER, .180 BAA. 3 of his 5 games have been complete games with 1 shutout. With his size & stuff he's going to garner a lot of interest posting those kind of numbers.

Why is it that as soon as you have a problem you jump to an extremely paranoid & hasty conclusion? I enjoy your contributions here when you're not feeling sorry for yourself. And that is pretty sad that you have to spread spiteful words on a different message board just because your account seems to have a glitch. As Kat said, Brian doesn't have much control over the entire message board system. If you have a problem with it I've always thought it has been wise to first question ezboard. When in doubt, locate another forum that uses the ezboard format & see if your problems continue.

I thought I would bump this up, since we're getting amazingly close to not only the start of the season, but to FanFest 2004. Come one, come all!