colbyjack

Final: Nashville 9, Fresno (Giants) 1 Nashville Box Score Nice day at the plate for most of the Sounds, and hopefully J.J. Hardy's 1-4 performance, including a BB and a 2-run shot will get his swing straightened out sooner rather than later for his return to Milwaukee. Mat Gamel continues to hit the ball better with a 2-4 night, and Chris Narveson Ks 11 in 5.2 IP. Nashville Game Log I'm not sure how Fresno only scored one run in the sixth, but that seemed to wake up the Sounds' bats.

That was a hint, not speculation.

I'm not sure if you're not getting or simply ignoring my point, but making a separate set of exceptions for lefties (incliding those that are not left-handed) is exactly what I hope the Brewers scouting deparent doesn't do. I agree that more pitchers are taller, but again, if you choose to ignore a certain amount of the population due to a pre-determined generalization/preference, you're going to miss out on some pretty talented players. Since the Brewers haven't been good at developing arms, you would think they would stop trying to be cute trying to figure out what type of player physically is the answer to their problems.

If you want to take the pessimistic approach, feel free, but I think the next wave is going to salvage the reputation of the Brewer Scouting department on pitching and bring on big things to our Big League pitching staff in 2011 and 2012. There's too much potential/velocity/stuff from these pitchers that at least some of them will pan out. Even if 50% of our top 10 prospects end up in our rotation at some point, that would be a major success. Can you not see that in this group? I'm not so sure it's a pessimistic approach, and I never said I'm counting on the individual pitching prospects to fail. I did point out much earlier in this thread that being hopeful about the arms in the lower levels is nothing new. I've already dreamed about the likes of Jon Seitz & Ryan Poe, among other more notable prospects that have come and gone. Look no further than the P50 archives to get a reminder of these names. I hope you're right, but even if I am being pessimistic, it's unrealistic to expect half of the guys you listed to contribute at the MLB level, much less two or more becoming legit aces. Noticeably absent from the list is CC Sabathia; others in the top 50 6'4" or taller include Millwood, Jimenez, Lannan, Doug Davis, Burnett, and Weaver. Lincecum and Rodriguez appear to be the exception much more than the rule, and most of the smaller guys (Rodriguez, Lee, Santana, Washburn) are lefties. Missing are also guys like Roy Oswalt, Chad Billingsley & Jake Peavy, not to mention Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson. But I'm not trying to make an argument for or against any "type" of pitcher, as you can find enough exceptions for any generalization. As I believe X already pointed out, Melvin for a while was on a groundball kick. I once sat in a room where Jack Zduriencik praised Mike Jones for his smooth delivery (implying that he was more likely to avoid arm troubles). Remember when we were told that Mark Rogers was so appealing because he pitched in a colder climate & that his arm was relatively fresh (as compared to Homer Bailey)? Instead of falling prey to new generalizations, I would rather just hear that the team is focused on drafting & developing the best pitchers (& players overall) that they can get their hands on.

Don't expect any signings past Davis, Hall & Gennett.

I was really excited about the Gennett pick because he was one of my favorite prep hitters dating back to last summer: http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/Articles/DisplayArticle.aspx?article=422 That said, I never thought they had a chance to sign him where they drafted him other than as a backup plan. He has a great left-handed swing with great bat speed & surprising pop for his size. The reports I heard of him this spring indicated that he wasn't as sharp, & teams walked away unsure that a sub-6' middle infielder, who likely will have to move to 2b, was worth an early pick. But the kid is a gamer, & he certainly didn't forget how to hit.

Thanks for your insight MTBrew. I distinctly remember your comments from a year ago, and as much as I don't want to believe them, it's hard to argue from afar the way the T-rats are under-achieving this year. While the team has loaded up on pitchers in recent drafts, it's hard to identify impact talent in the lower levels right now. At least Nick Bucci has been a bright spot.

Hall should get done. Even if he claimed to be 50/50, the Brewers wouldn't have taken him that high if they any doubt getting that deal done. Same goes for Davis, who is more of a wild card due to the Boras factor. I think that one gets done, but we may not find out about it until late Monday or Tuesday. Not sure about Gennett. I didn't think signing Davis, Hall, Howell & Gennett was possible, but again, you never know. The Brewers aren't going cheap with their picks, that's for sure.

Who is Fielder behind in the power category? Pujols? Did you really need to ask that question? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Everyone is behind Pujols in the NL.

If you're a BA subscriber, and haven't received the most recent issue, turn away if you don't want this to ruin the surprise. For those that don't, these are the top tools in the minor leagues as voted by the individual league managers. AAA PCL: Hernan Iribarren, best defensive 2B; Alcides Escobar, best defensive SS, strongest IF arm, most exciting player AA SL: None A+ FSL: Eric Farris, best baserunner (over the league's fastest & most exciting player, Ben Revere), best defensive 2B; Amaury Rivas, best changeup A MWL: Cody Scarpetta, best breaking pitch; Jose Duran, best defensive 3B The Brewers with big league tools that made the cut include Fielder (2nd best power), Gallardo (3rd best curve) and Hoffman (2nd best change).

Colby, have you guys (the P50 crew) ever thought about displaying a score for each player showing their production vs. potential? That way we see more of the thinking behind the ranking? We haven't, and I wouldn't really consider it because it would be near impossible to come up with such a score. I'm sure someone has tried, but prospect rankings is 100% subjective, and I actually enjoy the well-supported arguments about who belongs where, even if I don't always agree with them. We decided to push back the new P50 until next week given the August 17th signing deadline for the '09 draftees, and that will also help correspond with the P50 a month after that, which will likely be unveiled at some point in mid-September when the minor league season is finished. Let's all hope the Brewers add a few more promising names between now and Monday (c'mon Kentrail Davis)!

I wondered if Peralta's absence had anything to do with the team laying off of him a little since he more than doubled his innings pitched from last year to this year, still just two years removed from TJ surgery. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a series of 3-4 inning starts to close out the season to try and cap him around 100. Overall an exciting line of pitchers with Odorizzi and Rivas coming off of spectacular starts, even if Odorizzi's last appearance only lasted 2 innings.

If you look at the official draft pick selection/signing thread, you'll see Richardson's name is in bold, meaning he has signed. There is mention of this in the discussion thread for the 1st through 5th rounders, and it is covered in greater detail in the minor league transaction thread on the minor league forum.

Thanks for dropping by Coach, I always enjoy your insight. Your post caused me to take a look at his defensive numbers (available at baseball-reference.com for those that are hooked to MiLB.com's stats) and am happy to see that he has improved this past year. While Salome may not have the same amount of glowing love around these parts, I know quite a few people are still excited about what he can do moving forward. Both he and Lucroy give the Brewers a pair of potential everyday catchers from within, something they haven't been able to develop since Mike Matheny.

My problem in general with the Power 50 is the high ranking of guys' just on where they were drafted and/or how athletic they are. How does Arnett deserve to be as high as he was placed? One has to be more than athletic or more than throw 95 mph to make it to the Bigs. Look at Fredrickson for example. I saw him @USF and he couldn't throw strikes. MLB people think he they can teach a guy to throw strikes. Well, in two years the Brewers have not been sucessful in teaching Evan to throw strikes (yes I know he was never high on the Power 50, but my point is he should not even be on the list). The overall ranking of prospects is what makes it so fun, because everyone has a different opinion of how players should rate vs. one another. It is a balance between one's upside, physical projection and their current abilities and performance. Obviously some people put more value in performance than future projection, which is why you may not consider Frederickson a prospect. A 6'6" lefty that can deal in the low-to-mid-90s is going to be rated very highly on other people's boards even if he does struggle to throw strikes. As for Farris, I still consider him a prospect. He's a utility guy at the highest level, but as noted by a few people here, he shows some pretty good skills that should translate well as he moves up. The lack of walks as X points out is a concern, since he was drafted out of college and you somewhat expect him to be fairly refined in this area relative to the young players he's playing with. I have Farris in a group (from 33 to 41) right around Haydel, Komatsu and Brewer, as they all have their warts. I'm interested in seeing what Farris can do next year at Huntsville, since the FSL can suppress even the mightiest of sluggers' power (not that the SL is all that much better). It would be nice to have a utility middle infielder that can play good defense and swipe a few bags, even if he doesn't project as an everyday player. I'm guessing the Brewers probably would rank Farris a bit higher than where I, and the eventual collective list, have him placed (mid-to-late-20s, early 30s).

I'm not sure you fully understand what I was getting at. I was under the impression that regardless of what happens we only had control of a drafted player for 6 years in the minors. Actually TheCrew07, your comments weren't the ones I was referring to. However, given your comments about that and about future innings pitched, I'm not a big fan of that approach. It's really hard to mold someone to do something in the future, as you really have to take their development one step at a time. If the team deems that Rogers can only pitch 60-70 innings per appearance (or whatever the number is), and that means he only pitches 60-65 innings this year (which he is projected to do, minus any other duty after the season), then so be it. I'm with you that I prefer to see him only increase his innings total by 25-35 per year, but as others have already pointed out, that would have capped him at 25-35 innings this year since he didn't pitch at all last year, much less the year before. You just don't know what is going to happen in between that projected time to try and control the overall outcome that much. I had this conversation offline with someone else earlier today, and one point we agreed upon was that if this next pitching wave doesn't pan out, and we're going to have to wait quite a few years to find that out since there's really nothing above Brevard County right now, the organization really is going to have to take a good look at themselves because clearly there would be something wrong that they are or aren't doing. Unfortunately I already feel that is the case. One point I didn't like in the story above was the point about the team drafting bigger pitchers because they supposedly hold up better. Pitchers comes in all shapes and sizes, and some just happen to be more brittle than others, regardless if they're 6'6" or 6'0".

That's a nice story by Dennis Punzel, and a few times it was emphasized the importance of being patient with young arms, contrary to a few people suggesting the Brewers needed to be more aggressive with the way some of the current prospects were being handled. It's also nice to see Nick Bucci on that final list, as that once again confirms that the organization believe he truly is a legit prospect.

We are currently working to put this together. Gamel is still eligible, since we go by MLB ABs, with 130 being the cut-off, not PAs.

I really think Davis needs to sign for this to be an excellent draft, or even a good one. I really like a lot of players they took, but Davis may have the greatest chance to reach his potential as a dynamic, impact player.

Given Mass' connectivity issues, I decided to go ahead and get today's link report off and running. I copied and paste a previous link report, so the standings as shown above are from Thursday if someone wants to take a shot at updating it. Also, the individual game links may not be correct, as I didn't see them up as of 9:30 this morning. I'll try to check back in around lunch time to see if the correct links are posted on MiLB.com and share those here. Nice to see Odorizzi scheduled to go tonight for the first time in several weeks, and while both Mark Rogers and R.J. Seidel continue to try and re-establish themselves as legitimate prospects. As noted in yesterday's link report (thanks to TheCrew07 for his continued efforts!!!), RHPs Damon Krestalude and Adrian Rosario are expected to relieve Lamontagne and Odorizzi respectively.

Most to all of the preferences for every Mac-based program is under a similar tab.

Under the Firefox tab at the top (next to the apple icon) there is a preferences selection in the drop-down menu. Select the main tab from the upper left-hand corner and you will have the chance to change your homepage.

I thought Lucroy would put up huge numbers at Huntsville this year, so it's interesting to see the drastic split in his home/away numbers. I know we're all very happy to see his bat starting to come around, as if he keeps up his recent pace he's going to finish the season with some very good numbers. The cumulative slugging percentage is the only number right now that doesn't look all that impressive, but I know I'm not the only one that has brought up the fact that Corey Hart won the MVP in this league with a sub-.800 OPS a few years back. I agree that he doesn't need to repeat AA next year, and I'm sure the Brewers also recognize just how well he's hitting this year even if his numbers haven't been particularly gaudy.

Nice to see both Meadows and Fiers pitch for the T-Rats tonight on TV. Meadows looks pretty good. He can be hittable at times because his stuff is good, not great, and he's always around the zone, but I could see him going pretty far with his body type, easy delivery, command and solid FB/SL combo. Fiers has a nice looking FB/Slurve combo, but his arm really slows down when he throws his breaking ball. It's easy to see him enjoying success as he moves up, but it also looks as though his ceiling is somewhat evident.

I'm happy to see Prince doing as well as he has been. He's no stranger to playing in this neck of the woods, having played for the Green Bay Bullfrogs in the Northwoods League last summer. I couldn't gush about him enough after seeing him crush a two-run home run in the league's all-star game, and he also impressed scouts during the event's scouting combine. I know Prince was talked about some in the transaction thread, and having seen him in person allow me to add that he is a good, but not great overall athlete. As noted in my story, he has 6.60 speed and scouts told me his arm was a solid 45-50 on the 20-80 scouting scale. I haven't seen him this year obviously, but I really liked the way he moved and set himself up at the shortstop position, and I do believe there is more power in his bat than what his production this summer and in college may indicate. The best part I like about him is that he's alway been a well-known prospect, but he keeps getting better, and continues to play well upon entering pro ball. And I know a few people have criticized the Brewers for not challenging their prospects, particularly the supposedly more refined college guys. Prince and Fiers should help quiet that sentiment a little bit. BTW, thanks for the pics juancastillo3.