colbyjack

Thanks Brian, and clancy...you obviously missed my joke. Just shows how funny of a guy I am.

Just about all of those guys saw significant time in the bigs and quite a few were very good ballplayers. Kip Bouknight really sticks out, though... and not in a good way. Hey batman, read from above: Others, such as Kip Bouknight, never were expected to be much of a pro prospect. Even when Bouknight was in college scouts knew that he wouldn't be much of a pro prospect. Good command, but threw in the low 80s with marginal secondary pitches. Similar to LHP Justin Simmons at Texas the past couple of years. Pro hitters typically tear pitchers like that apart.

Is that Dave Krynzel?

Here's BA's blurb: www.baseballamerica.com/t...eksgs.html As igor can quickly see, several players haven't come close to living up to their lofty billing. Others, such as Kip Bouknight, never were expected to be much of a pro prospect. And even others, such as Mr. Brooks Kieschnick, never even won the award http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

Do sac flies count as an AB? If not, he caused 2 outs. Plus he committed an error. What a bum.

This is the big college award, and Weeks basically walked away with every major award out there. And we thought the negotiations were already taking too long. espn.go.com/ncaa/news/200...81093.html

Why is Belcher batting 7th for HD? No kidding. Belcher has been HIgh Desert's best hitter. He really needs to be hitting within the top 3 of that lineup each & every day. I was impressed to see him leading off for a little while there.

Unless they really want to keep Palmisano down at Helena for the rest of the summer, he seems to be owning Pioneer League pitching similar to how Prince was last year. Even if Vanden Berg doesn't get bumped up to High Desert I would still bring Lou up. Even he stated that he thought he would be heading straight to Beloit after signing. For generic comparisons sake, Palmisano has been compared to Angels' touted catching prospect Jeff Mathis, the 2nd best catching prospect in all of minor league baseball, who has been compared to Mike Liberthal. While he's only in rookie ball, I do believe we have a legitimate catching prospect. Palmisano & Gwynn so far have me very very excited about the '03 draft. Sorry colbyjack, but your namesake (no relation) Derrin Ebert was released by Arizona's AAA team in Tuscon. How do you know there's no relation? That's awfully presumptuous of you http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . I'm sure the Brewers regret letting this fine young man go, so here's their chance to bring him back. High Desert could use him!

Peavey, MattFlair & NastyTwig all hit on good points. Taller pitchers are expected to be able to throw harder & be more durable in the process because their stature & limbs are longer, typically have more space for muscle mass & longer ligaments & tendons to take on the stress. The release point is also a big key. A 6'6" guy is going to be releasing the ball closer to home plate than a 6'0" or shorter. As we all know, that matter of inches could be a huge advantage for a pitcher. Plus, a shorter pitcher is also going to be throwing from a flatter plane. This is where you hear about really tall pitchers throwing from a natural downward plane, because all of their pitches appear as though they're sinking hard. Of course, this isn't always the case, and in fact, far from it. Jimmy Haynes has the perfect pitcher's build & throws one of the straightest fastballs I've ever seen, regardless if it sits in the low 90s. Then you have Roy Oswalt, who reportedly is 6'0" on a good day yet has some of the nastiest stuff you've ever seen. A's heralded RHP prospect Rich Harden also is only 6'1", and I've heard that is a generous measurement, yet he can touch 98 with good movement & also throws a nasty breaking pitch. And tall guys are naturally what scouts call more projectable, in that they have more room to grow. A stocky 6'0" guy has less room to grow, and therefore has likely maxed out on his potential to add more velocity. Of course, if the guy is already throwing 94 with a good curveball & changeup, they already have pretty good stuff, while mechanics can always be tinkered with. All of this is thrown out the window with lefties. Obviously, you would prefer to have a 6'6" lefty over a 6'0" lefty, but if you find a southpaw that can throw in the mid-90s, such as Scott Kazmir, teams could care less how tall he is. So, if all things are even, teams more often than not are going to take the guy with the height advantage.

Parra, Ford, and Martinez sure make for a happy Brewer fan. Bill, are you a fellow lefty? We lefties always seem to look after our own.

Yeah, I'm sure height played a part in him "falling" until the 6th round. He may not even be 6' tall, but plenty of pitchers these days are proving you don't have to be 6'5" to pitch effectively. However, going in the 6th round isn't that bad of a thing, as picks in the top 10 rounds are generally pretty well thought of. If he did indeed fall, he probably didn't fall that much further than expected. Plus, I remember reading that he was considered signable, and therefore teams might have let him slide figuring they could always sign him if they took him later. He was committed to the University of Cincinnati, and while Cincinnati I'm sure is a fine school, it doesn't have the calling of a North Carolina, Rice, Duke or Stanford. Of course, being considered signable can work 2 ways. A signable player might also be taken earlier than expected because they're viewed as cheap. This seems to be similar to how Tom Wilhelmsen was handled last year, who also figured to go earlier than the 7th round. As Tom himself told me, teams seem to think that he too was pro-bound almost regardless of where he was taken, and therefore they let him slide down the charts a little bit to see if they could get him later. Obviously, there were no concerns about Wilhelmsen's stature, which is why I'm still surprised why no one took him earlier. I have heard that some scouts had concerns with Wilhelmsen's delivery & overall mechanics, and there may have been similar issues with Wooley. When & if the bonus figure is released, we'll probably see that number be slightly more than slot value.

Great news. Thanks as always for your tireless web searching & sharing Jim. Signing our first 12 picks is pretty impressive, as I think everyone is pretty confident that Weeks will eventually sign, even if it's taking a while. We have now signed 24 of our 50 draftees. Some of the remaining are bound to get away (Zink, Ayers, Maday, probably Meier), as many as 18 by my count are DFE candidates, and I'm guessing the Brewers will still sign 2-3 more guys. Garrett Bussiere remains at the top of my wish list (past Weeks of course). At this point in time a successful '03 draft for the Brewers.

Brad Nelson later followed with a two-run shot, for his first homer of the season. A big silver lining of the day. After leading all of minor league baseball last year in doubles, hopefully Nelson will start to find his power stroke. I know wrist/hand injuries sap a lot of power from a player until it's had the time to properly heal, but who would have thought that Nelson's first HR would come in mid-July?

Stietz throws hard, and many of his problems (16 balks this year) reeks of concentration issues. But he wasn't improving. Plus, we have heard that he wasn't throwing nearly as hard as he once did. The 90-94s that he was throwing with the nasty slider turned into 82-85 with a rather flat breaking pitch. Somewhere along the line he just lost it, probably a combination of control, confidence & concentration issues. Since he passed on the Brewers' instructional league the fall after we drafted him to go back to Yale & finish up his degree, I'm guessing baseball isn't his #1 priority. As pogo noted, maybe he asked to be released to pursue his own ventures. There's always another story & usually a good reason why these things happen.

Well, I guess I have questioned Prince's defense at 1B all winter long... Remember this guy...? www.baseballamerica.com/c...e,%20scott Next year's obsession: Jeremy Sowers. Be ready. And David, what if I changed this: Hey now, I stopped criticizing Fielder well over a year ago now to this: Hey now, I stopped criticizing Fielder, well, over a year ago now Good http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ?

Yes, apparently Prince read the criticism from colbyjack when he was surfing over to read his brewerfan interview. Hey now, I stopped criticizing Fielder well over a year ago now http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

I'm going to say that Rickie Weeks will be signed by the end of the month. I have NO inside information or anything, this is just a guess. So, he'll probably get 100-150 ABs during the month of August with the Snappers, and possibly will get bumped up AA to join the Stars in the playoffs.

Colbyjack, what's up with the Reds having their 2003 first round pick Ryan Wagner in AAA already? Yeah, that is pretty crazy. He has electric stuff, and the Reds claimed that they were going to rush him once they got him in their system. I don't think anyone thought they meant to move him this quickly. Wagner likely will be on the Reds big league club probably within the next month, unless he really hits the wall. I'm not so sure that's a wise idea, as Wagner was used pretty extensively at Houston, even if he was their closer.

...while we wait for production and health from 2002's 2nd through 4th round picks (Josh Murray, Eric Thomas, and Nic Carter), 2003's picks in the same slots (Tony Gwynn, Lou Palmisano, and Fermaint) restore our faith in Jack Z.... Restore our faith in Jack Z.? What did he do to lose us? I have to give you a little trouble after questioning Brian's comment on David Manning. After all, he did pitch well enough to win the game http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . And if I may steal a line from Toby, Louis Palmisano is a golden god. I can't wait to see him & Tony Gwynn Jr. live & in person. How long before Louis gets bumped up to Beloit?

Thanks for sharing your observations from Beloit Peavey! And doesn't Tony Jr. look a lot more like Tony Sr. without the mustache? And he sounds exactly like him too. I've never seen nor heard a son that looks & sounds so much like their father. Hopefully he's just as good at the plate for just as long! Aren't we past the point of worry that Brad Nelson now has 97 AB's and exactly five extra base hits, and zero HR's? In Cal League ballparks? Brad Nelson needs to get hot. His batting average looks good, and while he could handle to draw a few more walks, the guy really needs to find his power stroke, especially at High Desert. That .371 SLG is looking pretty weak. You have to wonder if his hand/wrist is still giving him a little bit of trouble. As for the rest of the High Desert team, there does have to be some disappointment in the players beyond Nelson, especially in the pitching staff. Look at the 4 guys that were pleasant surprises in Beloit last year: Dan Hall, Dan Kolb, Chris Saenz & Tony Stavros. All 4 of them have seen their ERAs jump dramatically this year: Hall, 2.93 last year to 6.50 this year, Kolb 4.01 to .6.03, Saenz 3.52 to 7.19, Stavros 1.69 to 5.23. I refuse to believe the park affects are that wild. How highly is pitching coach John Curtis thought of? I do have to wonder if there are some mechanical issues with these players, and I'm sure their confidence has been battered. So, while I do believe the Brewers need to do something to address that club, the Mavericks are suffering from some pretty sub-standard performances from their players.

Thanks Jim & Michael. As much as I'd like to see Sarfate again, if you didn't tell me it was a day game I'd probably pull a Brian & show up at 7:00 http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

And Colby, Mike Adams is going tonight, as the Huntsville site recap you read earlier in this Link Report told you, right? Sorry MB, my time has been limited the past couple of weeks, so I've been skimming if anything. I promise to be back to my more thorough reading schedule within another couple of weeks http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . But since I have your attention, do you want to take a stab at whom might be pitching tomorrow (Friday) night in Beloit (if you haven't already posted this of course)? I might try to sneak away for an evening...

I would guess that it's only a matter of weeks if not days before Parra gets bumped up. If he were a high school guy, I'd let him spend the entire year at Beloit, but being a draftee out of JC, I think he could handle it. Give High Desert some love. I'm not so sure anyone else has proved their worthy (Sarfate has come back down to earth after a couple of dominating starts). From the story in the MJS, it sounds as though the Brewers thought about promoting Lee all the way up to Milwaukee. So, why not? When that next rotation spot opens up, and I'm sure one will, why not give him a chance & reward his patience? I think they want to leave him in Huntsville as the leader of the crown jewel of the organization. Also as talked about in the MJS, it's exciting to think that the team wants to try Mike Adams in the starting rotation. I know MB reported that he was scheduled to start if it wasn't for bad weather, so I'm guessing/hoping he'll be in the rotation soon. Eveland continues to dominate, 4 K's in 2 IP. As for him closing as opposed to starting, the organization is going easy on him this summer given how many innings he has already pitched this spring. And how about Louis Palmisano? Finally, thanks for the report doc.

Isn't it worth a bit of cash to get him playing and progressing through the system ASAP? The Brewers most certainly are using this as part of their pitch. They said that right from the beginning, and Weeks definitely know this. However, they may be more than $200,000 off, and it's also important to remember that this may be the only contract Weeks ever signs. You hate to think about the #2 overall pick flaming out, but it's happened far too many times before for this young man not to try & get everything he can now. For all we know Weeks is asking for $4.5 million while the Brewers are offering $3.5.

Bill Hall in CF is very interesting. I guess the organization is wisely trying to maximize his value as a super-utility player. 2 CGs for Beloit in the DH, very nice. That Beloit staff sure is impressive. Looking forward to seeing Gwynn's name in the box score tomorrow!