colbyjack

I just talked to a scout yesterday about Mendonca, who is a conversation piece in the area for his defense alone. As X noted, if you think he has a chance to make good enough contact, his glove and power (as a LH hitter) are going to provide some value at the highest level. His inability to make consistent contact is a problem though. As I talked to the scout about, his Ks are down this year as compared to last (he's around 50 now, he was around 90+ last year), but he really had nowhere to go but down. Dominguez had the same problem last year, and has a similar concern at the next level.

Seid hasn't touted anyone with me personally. While he's a little more personable than Jack Z., he still plays his cards very close to his vest. Most scouting directors don't just come out and tell people who they're looking at, as most of that information comes anonymously. The only thing that I can say for certain is that Stephen Strasburg, unless his arm falls off of his body, will go #1 overall to the Nationals. Big surprise there, right? For a while Mitchell looked as though he wouldn't fall to the Brewers, but he really has been striking out at an eye-popping pace recently. The numbers were still good the last time I looked, but his overall dynamic play hasn't been quite as good, particularly as the SEC conference schedule has continued. He's definitely a high-upside player that has some holes in his game. He's an instinctive player but needs to work on his swing (obviously based on the Ks). One thing that I think Mitchell could struggle with is his identity as a player. He has the power/speed combo similar to Rickie Weeks that could make him somewhat of a 'tweener (if such a 'tweening is possible) between a leadoff hitter and a #3 hitter. When I saw him play earlier this year, he really reminded me of the do-it-all, pre-steroid Ruben Sierra. He could be that good, and not necessarily the Carl Crawford type of player people compared him to coming out of HS. While I just updated the rankings at 5 Tool Talk, I need to do so again. Tanner Scheppers has jumped up draft boards (could go 2nd overall to the Mariners), among a few other players not listed, while Luke Bailey is going to fall off of the top 50 list, as he reportedly is due for TJ surgery.

X so far has predicted Lawrie's career extremely well, but I would be surprised to see him bumped to AA and have him spend next year at AAA. The Brewers have had some pretty prolific hitters go through their system in recent years, and for the most part they have made at least one stop at almost every level. However, Lawrie did already skip rookie ball, but I still believe he spends most of this year with the T-Rats. AAA in 2011 seems more realistic to me, but I hope X keeps on hitting with his Lawrie predictions! Overall, I could see Gindl getting a bump up, and Zach Braddock could also get a one-level jump with a few appearances under his belt. I still think Gamel is up in Milwaukee sometime between now and the All-Star break if he keeps on hitting, and Cody Scarpetta might be pushed more aggressively than he might normally be since he had to be added to the 40-man roster.

Stuff is never a waste of time. Pitchers with a good fastball can stick around the big-leagues just about as long as a left-handed pitcher with a heartbeat. As X as noted, he has pitched much better over the last year and has showed signs of improvement. The fact that he still misses bats at AA is encouraging, and also as noted, he's still plenty young. From the moment the Brewers drafted Jeffress, we all knew he was a work in progress, and it's a little surprising to think that was only three years ago. Having him enjoying some success while also working out the lumps at AA in his third full professional season is going to cause me to keep him high on my P50 contribution. Also, look at his career innings pitched mark. He entered the year a shade over 200. Give him a full year this year at AA and a full year next year at AAA and he still may make his big-league debut at 22 years of age, and he still is likely going to be under 500 innings pitched. The one big-league pitcher that Jeffress reminds me of is Edison Volquez, who had about 550 innings of work in the minors before finally sticking in the big-leagues, and even then he was up and down a few years with the Rangers before being dealt to the Reds.

BA's John Manuel offers more on Austin Adams: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=755#more-755 Edit -- activate link

Stop it Jim. tyguy's reference was good enough http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

Rattlers rained out in Iowa By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers DAVENPORT, IA - Sunday's scheduled Midwest League game between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the Quad Cities River Bandits was rained out. The teams will make up the postponement as part of a doubleheader on Monday morning at Modern Woodmen Park. The first seven-inning game begins at 11:00am. Game two will follow. Wisconsin has Trey Watten (1-1, 2.45) and Cody Scarpetta (0-0, 1.54) as the scheduled starting pitchers. Quad Cities was planning on Arquimedes Nieto (0-1, 2.70) and Hector Cardenas (2-0, 1.29) as their starters in the twinbill.

Final: Brevard County 8, Dunedin 3 Dunedin Site Game Summary Jays lose 8-3 as Manatees complete sweep Jays fall to 5-11 overall and have lost all six games vs. Brevard By Tim Livingston / Dunedin Blue Jays At the end of the first inning, it looked as if the Dunedin Blue Jays were on their way to figuring out the Brevard County Manatees, having lost their first five games against the FSL North Division leaders so far this season. But at the end of the ninth inning, the picture became clearer, and unfortunately for the Blue Jays, nothing really changed. The top of the Manatee order came through in big situations to lead Brevard County to an 8-3 lead and a second consecutive sweep of the Blue Jays. The Manatees got started on right fielder Caleb Gindl's third homer of the season and his second of the series in the first inning, getting Brevard County out to a 2-0 lead. Dunedin would rally for two of their own in the bottom half of the first, both on infield ground balls. Center fielder Chris Emanuele came in on left fielder Eric Thames' RBI groundout, and then second baseman John Tolisando scored on a fielder's choice by first baseman Jesus Gonzalez to make it 2-2. The Manatees would get two more in the third thanks to a two-run single from shortstop Brent Brewer to make it 4-2 and give Brevard County a lead they would not relinquish. Darin Mastroianni would come in as a replacement for Thames and lace a single in the fifth inning for an RBI single to make it 4-3, but even after Dunedin loaded the bases with two outs, third baseman Kevin Ahrens' bloop shot over second base was caught on a brilliant defensive play from Manatees second baseman Eric Farris to end the inning. That would be the last time Dunedin found themselves in an opportunity to take the lead during the game. Manatees first baseman Sergio Miranda would score in the sixth thanks to two throwing errors on two consecutive plays from Blue Jays pitcher Tim Collins and catcher Luis Hurtado, whose throwing error on a stolen base attempt by catcher Anderson De La Rosa allowed Miranda to score from third after a strikeout from center fielder Logan Schafer. This made it 5-3. The Manatees would score three more times in the ninth to put the game out of reach, with two of them coming on a double from Brewer, who had four RBIs on the day. The Jays now find themselves in the cellar of the FSL North Division at 5-11 and have lost five of their last six overall, all at home, where they are now 1-7 on the season. Starter Alan Farina (0-3) went 2+ innings for Dunedin and left the game after a visit from Blue Jays pitching coach Darold Knowles. In the ninth, reliever Chad Beck came up lame after a pitch and was taken out of the game as well. The statuses for both pitchers are unknown. Collins had an interesting line, with three innings of no-hit ball, but allowing the one unearned run. He struck out six, but walked three and allowed four stolen bases. He now has 26 strikeouts in only 14 innings pitched. Josh Butler (3-0) got the win for Brevard, going five innings and giving up six hits with three earned runs while striking out six and walking three. The Jays will stay in the Tampa Bay area for the next seven days, as they play a four-game home-and-home series with Clearwater starting Monday, April 27 with the first pitch set for 7 p.m. in Clearwater. The Blue Jays will then head into Tampa for their first look at the Yankees beginning on Friday, May 1. Brevard County Box Score The one-through-seven hitters lead to eight runs scored today for the 'Tees. You can look at the results for yourself, but Gindl hits his third homer, Brewer drives in four, while Wheeler walks four time and Miranda draws three free passes. The runs helped starter Josh Butler remain perfect at 3-0 despite giving up three runs over five innings. Brevard County Game Log Josh Butler, Roque Mercedes, Rigoberto Almonte and Brandon Rapoza do a nice job shutting down a prospect-laden lineup.

Final: Huntsville 3, Chattanooga 1 Huntsville Site Game Summary Sterling Sunday Pitching Peformance by Stars MiLB.com Chris Cody spun six solid innings and Derrick Ellison worked three shutout innings in relief to close out Huntsville's 3-1 win over Chattanooga Sunday afternoon in the second of a five-game set at AT&T Field. The Stars won their fourth in a row to improve to 10-7 and remain in first place in the North Division, while the Lookouts lost an eighth straight to fall to 3-14 and seven games behind. The Stars have won nine times by either a run or two and 15 of their 17 games have been decided by three runs or less. Cody tripled with one out in the third and scored when Adam Stern followed with a single to give the Stars a 1-0 lead and extend his hitting streak to eight games. The three-base hit by Cody was the first hit for the Stars' pitching staff this season. The Lookouts tied the game in the fourth when Justin Sellers was hit by a pitch, moved to third base on a double by Andrew Lambo and scored on a Josh Bell ground out. Drew Anderson walked with two outs in the sixth before Vinny Rottino kept the inning going with a looping infield single behind first base. Johnny Raburn then walked to load the bases before Chuck Caufield delivered a line drive single to left field to deliver Anderson and Rottino with the decisive runs and knock Mudcats' starter Tim Corcoran out of the contest. The veteran right-hander took the loss after allowing three runs on six hits, while walking five and striking out three. Matt Sartor and Paul Koss tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings and combined to set down the final nine Huntsville hitters. Cody retired the last nine batters he faced to close his performance. The southpaw wound up yielding just two hits, did not walk a batter and fanned five to grab the win for a second straight start. Ellison retired the side in order in the seventh, struck out Sellers with two runners on to end the eighth and retired Russ Mitchell on a fly ball to end the game with a runner on board. The southpaw has thrown 6 1/3 scoreless innings in three outings on the road trip to earn his first double-A win and first save at the double-A level. The series continues Monday night with southpaw Bobby Bramhall taking the hill against Lookouts' right-hander Josh Lindblom. Coverage of the game begins at 6:00 pm central time and can be heard through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com. Huntsville Box Score As already noted by others above, Chris Cody is really off to a fine start, following up a very strong season a year ago with Brevard County and then in the HWB. He helps his own cause today with a triple and a run scored in the third inning, the first run scored in the game. Huntsville Game Log The Stars had a few other really good chances to score runs in both the second and fourth innings, and fortunately they didn't need any more runs in this low scoring affair. As noted in the game summary above, the Stars have been playing close games all season long.

Final: Iowa 3, Nashville 0 Nashville Site Game Summary Sounds Blanked By I-Cubs, 3-0 Date Posted: 4/26/2009 NASHVILLE - Iowa starter Esmailin Caridad worked seven scoreless innings and combined with a pair of relievers on a three-hit, 3-0 shutout of the Nashville Sounds on Sunday afternoon at Greer Stadium. Caridad (3-1) picked up his third win in four outings this season for the I-Cubs with his solid effort, his first quality start of the year. He allowed three hits, walked two batters, and struck out five. Kevin Hart and Chad Fox followed with a scoreless inning each to close out the shutout, with Fox picking up his second save by retiring the Sounds in order in the ninth. It was a pitcher's duel for much of the early afternoon as Caridad and Nashville starter Chase Wright kept the opposition, allowing only three hits apiece through the game's first six innings. Iowa broke the scoreless deadlock in the top of the seventh when catcher Chris Robinson (2-for-4) belted his first home run of the season, a three-run shot to left off Wright. Jake Fox (walk) and Brad Snyder (double) also scored on the blast, which gave the visitors a 3-0 advantage. Nashville third baseman Mat Gamel produced two of the club's three hits on the day, including his team-leading seventh double of the year. Joe Koshansky doubled to account for Nashville's other knock. Wright (1-2) took the loss for the Sounds despite working a quality start for the second straight outing. He allowed three runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings of work. Reliever Juan Sandoval made his Sounds debut in the contest and worked 1 2/3 scoreless frames, striking out a pair of batters. Nashville centerfielder Tony Gwynn had his PCL-best 15-game hitting streak come to a close with an 0-for-4 afternoon. The teams continue the series with a 6 p.m. contest on Monday night at Greer. Right-hander Nick Green (1-1, 4.24) will man the bump for Nashville to face Iowa right-hander Randy Wells (2-0, 2.65). AUDIO: Brendan Katin's diving catch Nashville Box Score As noted in the game recap, Gamel had two of the three hits for the Sounds, including his seventh double of the year. With only nine hits and three walks combined between the two teams, it's easy to understand why this game was over in two hours and 14 minutes. Nashville Game Log The Sounds ruin a good opportunity to score in the second inning. I'm not sure why Iribarren would bunt, or be asked to bunt, with really only one chance to score runs with the pitchers' spot coming up after Gillespie. After that, the team only musters a single by Gamel and a walk by Iribarren.

I didn't mean to say that Schuster's and Kazmir's deliveries were similar, just that neither one's was considered ideal. I have never professed to be a pitching coach, but if the scouts are talking about him as a potential sandwich pick (keep in mind that Sinha is a former scout with both the Padres and Cardinals, and is tune with the FL scouting community more than anyone I know), that tells me that either the concerns about his delivery or minimal, or that they believe they can be corrected. This line from my interview with Bruce Seid really says it all IMO: You want to see athleticism, you want to see how the arm works and you want to see the delivery. If there is something in the delivery or arm action that we think we can change, and we know he has the athleticism, the arm strength and he shows the ability to spin a breaking ball or have a feel for that pitch, now he has the opportunity to get better as he gets older in a system that can properly make the most of his potential. Inman is a good call, and like Inman, Schuster is enjoying success for his ability to pitch as much for his stuff. That's why I'm not going to assume he's compiling ugly pitch counts, because he could be cruising through lineups the way he commands the strike zone at such a young age. Plus, 88-92 with a good curveball is still pretty good for a LHP.

I think its time I start taking Cody seriously. Uh-oh. Don't let clancy read that... Nice to see the Sounds rough up one of the Cardinals better prospects.

All sorts of people talk to scouts including Goldstein and Law, but what does that mean? Did the scouts that Law talks to make him believe that Pedroia isn't special or that McLouth is a 4th outfielder? Is it a couple scouts, some on every team or what? What it means is that everyone that takes the time to report on Mat Gamel offers a very similar scouting report. Maybe these guys are just reading each other's work, or maybe there is one scout out there that just likes talking to as many journalists as he can, but the point remains that there are a lot of questions about Gamel's defense, with a lot of people questioning that he'll be able to stay there.

I'm not sure I would write this guy off just because he has tossed some long games and because he has an unorthodox delivery. I'm fine with unorthodox deliveries as long as there is no unecessary stress on one's pitching arm. Remember the Mets dealt Scott Kazmir to the Rays for Victor Zambrano because there were some rumblings that the Mets weren't keen about Kazmir's delivery? BaseballWebTV, another division of Perfect Game, has a nice little video synopsis up of Schuster showing video of his performance at last summer's National Showcase: http://www.baseballwebtv.com/Video.aspx?videoID=26945 He actually throws the ball in a similar fashion to Texas LHP Matthew Purke, who I currently have as one of the top 3-5 overall prospects in the nation. Purke's delivery has drawn a few concerns of his own, but I've talked to a few people that don't think Purke's delivery is bad at all (conversely, remember when Mark Prior was universally praised not only for his stuff, but for his mechanics, with many speculating that he would never breakdown?). And I would be concerned if he's throwing 120+ pitches/game, but given his reported polish, for all we know he's throwing right around 100 pitches in these no-hit efforts. Plus, some high school games, like in the minor leagues, are 7 inning contests.

My associate at Perfect Game, Anup Sinha, was at the game, and offered his thoughts in a blog at PG Crosschecker: http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/articles/DisplayArticle.aspx?article=791 A nice overall scouting report, and as Sinha notes, he could be pushing himself into early round (2nd/3rd, with the sandwich round being a possibility) consideration.

Yes, I think Gamel will be called up sooner than people think, and no, I don't think he needs to necessarily show a dramatic improvement defensively for his to get the call. Here's my response to the subject on page two: Why does Gamel have to move to another position to get called up, and what has changed from two years ago to lead anyone to believe that the Brewers would keep Gamel down if he keeps swinging the bat the way he has? That didn't effect their decision with Braun, and the thought of having Gamel bat sixth behind Hardy in the current lineup, adding another potential lethal all-around bat and balance, is incredibly appealing to a team with hopes of playing in the postseason. At this point in time instead of guessing where he should be moved, I say it's time to place your bets on the over/under of him being called up by Memorial Day. It's an interesting overall thought, but I think Gamel breaks in at third sooner rather than later. I've added more thoughts since then, and want to add that I don't necessarily agree with it, but I guess I don't see the Brewers holding Gamel back because of his glove when his bat could really help the lineup. I'm not really arguing against anyone's thoughts, because it would be nice to see the Brewers keep a player down in the minors to work on their glove for a change. However, the Brewers have a history of drafting, developing and promoting bat-first players (the lineup is full of them), and I don't see indications that that has changed.

I'm not so sure I would say the Brewers clearly have Gamel at AAA to work on his defense. He didn't get the ABs they hoped he would in the AFL, and then he arrived to camp with a few more surprises. I think he's getting his final tuneup at AAA just like the team likes to see all of their hitters get before getting the final bump to the big-leagues. I know his defense needs work, but I don't think the Brewers have necessarily learned their lesson (if there is a lesson to be learned) from the defensive growing pains of players such as Braun and Weeks like so many seem to think they have (or at least should have). And in the defense of people like Law, Goldstein and Haudricourt, these guys at least do talk to scouts from time to time to help formulate their own opinions. It's not like we have heard, seen or read any scouting reports (outside of those from the Brewers) that go out of their way to defend Gamel's eventual transition to third base defensively. To us, it sounds a lot like what we heard with Braun and Weeks about their potential to get better at their respective positions.

At this point in time I do not plan on incorporating a forum. I would prefer more of a response section to the individual stories, such as something you would find with a blog, but I don't know how to code that, and I want to avoid having the site become a blog. As noted above, Brian has been kind enough to offer some of his services, so a blog-type response to the individual features may be something he can help me with. Thanks X. As of right now, Mitchell may not last to the Brewers pick. I've seen him a few times this spring and there is no more dynamic player in the game. Some are a little concerned about how much he'll hit, so that could cause him to be there in the late 1st. I don't think Locker is considering baseball, but I still have to rank him because he could be a premium pick if he did make himself available. The Dandy Dozen does have an archive on the lower right-hand side on any and all of the Dandy Dozen related pages, as I'm pretty sure there are three entires available. I plan to keep that more periodical than what it has been moving forward once I am able to iron out some of the behind-the-scenes problems.

I invite everyone to check out my new venture, a site dedicated to the MLB draft, 5 Tool Talk. http://www.5tooltalk.com/ This is a venture I have been thinking about for quite some time, since most of the things I report on are not specifically related to the Milwaukee Brewers. It will help market some of the bigger stories I'm working on front and center on the homepage, while also having handy resources such as the draft order, rankings and other features. The site will improve moving forward (I realize some of the items at the top of the page don't look they are suppposed to if you use Internet Explorer, but they should look fine in Firefox, Safari and Opera), and I also intend to get Brian more involved to make the site more dynamic with the rankings features. I do not have a message board integrated, but if you read the about page I do plan to have a mailbag feature if I receive enough inquiries. Also, this is my first stab at HTML/CSS after taking a class this winter/spring, so it showcases those skills as well. I welcome your comments. I may not have as much time to devote to the site in the coming weeks since my wife and I are expecting our second child, but I do intend to update it as much as I can (and if you dig a little you will see there are quite a few notes features, that I used to share here, already in place). Also, special thanks to Brewerfan user wvpowerblkwl who has always been open to us using some of his pictures taken from following the Brewers minor leaguers. If there is anyone out there that goes out and follows college and high school prospects that is willing to share photographs in exchange for name recognition, please feel free to reach out to me.

I'd just like to weigh in with the opinion that to call up Gamel only to platoon him would do his development a major disservice. The fact that he's hit lefties pretty well in the minors augurs well for his success at the big-league level, but he'll still need plenty of practice, especially given the prevalence of LOOGYs. Like all left-handed hitters, maybe sit him against the toughest of lefty starters, but other than that he needs the exposure. Again, it's about winning. The Brewers are coming off of a postseason season, and if Gamel's bat can help them get to another one, they should figure out a way to add them to their team. He'll get plenty of ABs as-is, even if he isn't facing many LHPs to begin his hopefully long career.

The Braun comparison is good if Gamel gets called up, because it will indicate that the team is willing to deal with his defensive deficiencies to find a way to get his bat into the lineup. Time will tell, but I don't think we'll be following Gamel at the AAA level once summer officially hits.

So? Almost all of that is against lefties. He's 2-12 with 6 K's against righties. Nothing has changed. That's exactly my point about balance. Having Gamel platoon with Hall would be an excellent way to add balance to the lineup (given how RH heavy the lineup is) while also easing Gamel into the big-leagues. He will still get plenty of ABs, since he would face plenty of RHPs (although I would add that the past few years Gamel has hit LHPs pretty well, including his efforts last night), but he also would get a day or two off a week. And I would aruge that this team is in need of another bat. The stronger the lineup can be the more runs this team will score, and that could be very important if the pitching staff, which was expected to be the weakness coming into the season, continues to give up a lot of runs. I'm not trying to compare Gamel to Braun as a hitter, but Gamel has hit at each and every single level he has played. If he has nothing left to prove in AAA offensively it may be time to challenge him in the big-leagues, even if his defense continues to be troublesome. Mass also brought up a good point above about easing rookie hitters in at different points of the year. I don't think that plays as big of a part with this decision, but I'm sure it has been talked about. The team did talk about the possibility of Gamel starting the year with the big-league club, and he very well may have had he spent more time in the AFL.

Why does Gamel have to move to another position to get called up, and what has changed from two years ago to lead anyone to believe that the Brewers would keep Gamel down if he keeps swinging the bat the way he has? That didn't effect their decision with Braun, and the thought of having Gamel bat sixth behind Hardy in the current lineup, adding another potential lethal all-around bat and balance, is incredibly appealing to a team with hopes of playing in the postseason. At this point in time instead of guessing where he should be moved, I say it's time to place your bets on the over/under of him being called up by Memorial Day. It's an interesting overall thought, but I think Gamel breaks in at third sooner rather than later.

Nice to see Gamel with a bomb against such a promising arm, and a lefty to boot. In a similar light, Peralta faced a lineup heavy with some pretty polished and potent college-drafted bats. I don't think anyone can mention enough how fun the T-Rats should be to follow this summer.

Yeah, both Scarpetta and Nieves looked sharp last night. Like we've heard before, Nieves' changeup is a really nice pitch, his curve is good for a lefty, and Scarpetta is a true power pitcher. The T-Rats are going to be a lot of fun to follow this season.