colbyjack

As always, I had a great time. I like to tip a few beers back myself on Opening Day, but I didn't think things got too out of hand as I've seen in the past (the bleachers at County Stadium were an absolute mess year-after-year, and I've yet to see anything that comes close to matching that mass-drunkeness). I met some really nice, talkative people in the stadium, including the group that will be sitting right next to me for my 9-game pack for the rest of the season (one of which is a Cubs fan, a knowledgeable Cubs fan that I enjoyed talking about baseball in general with). There was one idiot in the parking lot who tried to drive his car around the port-o-lets after the game and got stuck while also driving over a few of those bean-bag games, only to spew mud everywhere trying to get out of the rut he made. Despite the fact that he wore his pants well below his waist and enjoyed showing his butt-crack to the world, despite our loud urgings not to, Opening Day was another day in which fun was had by all.

Final, Game One, West Virginia 5, Hickory 3 West Virginia Box Score, Game One: Two hits by Lee Haydel, two stolen bases by Brent Brewer and a solo shot by John Alonso are the highlights in this contest offensively for the Power. In a recurring theme of this evening, the Power bullpen shines in relief of Roque Mercedes who was good (6 K in 3.1 IP) but not great (3 ER). http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_05_wvaafx_hicafx_1 West Virginia Game Log, Game One: An unconventional four-run fifth inning propels the Power to this victory. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2008_04_05_wvaafx_hicafx_1 Final, Game Two, West Virginia 2, Hickory 3 West Virginia Box Score, Game Two: Lee Haydel is off to a very good start this year, with another two hits in the second game, and adds a couple of stolen bases. Top pitching prospect Rob Bryson posts two scoreless innings in relief, striking out a pair of batters. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_05_wvaafx_hicafx_2 West Virginia Game Log, Game Two: The Power do a nice job scratching across a run in the top of the seventh to send this game to extra innings, but Hickory comes out on top in the bottom of the eighth. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2008_04_05_wvaafx_hicafx_2

Final, Palm Beach 10, Brevard County 1 Brevard County Box Score: Taylor Green with a pair of walks, an RBI and a stolen base on a hitless day with only one official AB. Overall a mediocre day for the 'Tees. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_05_pbcafa_breafa_1 Brevard County Game Log Back-to-back doubles in the third by the Cardinals affiliate are the biggest back-breaker for Donovan Hand and the Manatees on this day, as the offense once again is pretty quiet. Shawn Ferguson's ninth inning is one he will want to forget quickly. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2008_04_05_pbcafa_breafa_1

Final, Game One, Mississippi 1, Huntsville 6 Final, Game Two, Mississippi 3, Huntsville 4 Huntsville site game(s) summary: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080405&content_id=381011&vkey=news_t559&fext=.jsp&sid=t559 Stars Double Up Braves The Stars have taken the first three games of the season-opening five-game set by outscoring the Braves 18-6. Nelson Payano took over on the hill for the Braves in the fifth inning and walked Matt LaPorta and Chris Errecart to load the bases with one out. Gillespie then lined the first pitch he saw deep enough into center field to plate Guilder Rodriguez with the go-ahead run. Gillespie has two sacrifice flies in the first three games after collecting only three all of last season. Todd Redmond went four innings in his first start since being acquired by the Braves from the Pirates during the last week of spring training and yielded three runs, though only one was earned. A Diory Hernandez fielding error allowed the first Stars run to score and a Van Pope throwing error allowed the next two runs by the home team to cross the plate in the third inning. Patrick Ryan opened the sixth inning on the hill for the Stars and worked a scoreless frame and gave way to Joe Bateman, who retired the side in order to record his first save of the season. David Welch earned the win in his first double-A start, going five frames and allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits. He also collected his first professional hit with a bunt single in the fourth inning. Alcides Escobar delivered a two-out, run-scoring single in the third inning of game one to give the Stars a 1-0 lead against James Parr. Huntsville starter Derek Miller spun five shutout frames, allowing two hits, walking one and fanning six before David Johnson took over in the sixth to protect the one-run lead. Carl Loadenthal led off with a single, advanced on two wild pitches and scored to tie the game on a two-out single by Kala Ka'aihue, who drove in his first run of the season. Mat Gamel walked to start the sixth inning against Michael Nix, advanced to second base on a passed ball and scored the go-ahead run on a single by Chris Errecart, who then moved to second on the throw back to the infield. Gillespie followed with a single to right to plate Errecart to make it 3-1 before two fielders' choice grounders and another run-scoring hit by Escobar capped a five-run rally that pushed the lead to 6-1. Bateman recorded three ground ball outs in the seventh to end the game. The series continues Sunday afternoon with left-hander Brae Wright taking the hill for Huntsville against Braves right-hander Jairo Cuevas. Coverage of the game begins at 1:50 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com. Huntsville Box Score, Game One: Huntsville explodes in the 7th to win this one. Derek Miller with 5 shutout innings, while reliever David Johnson blows the save, but goes on to record the win. Only one extra base hit in this contest, a double by Corporan, while Alcides Escobar has a pair of hits and RBI. Brantley continues to be an on-base machine. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_05_msbaax_hunaax_1 Huntsville Game Log, Game One: Three of the five innings Miller tossed were 1-2-3 innings. The Stars bats around in the bottom of the six, picking their way for those five runs to cross the plate. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2008_04_05_msbaax_hunaax_1 Huntsville Box Score, Game Two: LaPorta hitless, but draws two walks. The Stars bullpen comes through again to preserve a win for David Welch, who pitched well enough to earn the victory. Another game lacking in extra-base hits. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_05_msbaax_hunaax_2 Huntsville Game Log, Game Two: How did Mat Gamel score on a single in the 3rd, even with a throwing error? This loaded team had even more opportunities to score, and likely will as the season warms up. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2008_04_05_msbaax_hunaax_2

Final: Nashville 0, New Orleans 2 Nashville Site Game Summary: http://www.nashvillesounds.com/news/news.asp?newsId=2625 Sounds Blanked By Zephyrs, 2-0 METAIRIE, La. - Three New Orleans hurlers combined on a five-hit shutout in the Zephyrs' 2-0 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Saturday evening at Zephyr Field. New Orleans starter Ruddy Lugo held the Sounds hitless over the first 3 2/3 frames and struck out nine batters over his six scoreless innings to earn the victory. Tim McNab worked two scoreless frames before Nate Field finished things off to earn his first save. The Zephyrs scored the contest's only runs in the bottom of the sixth inning when a pair of walks came back to haunt Sounds starter Chris Narveson. Argenis Reyes and Michel Abreu drew consecutive free passes from the left-hander to open the frame and later scored on a Caleb Stewart RBI double and Gustavo Molina sacrifice fly. The Sounds never got a runner past second all evening and each of the club's five hits were singles. Russell Branyan and Hernan Iribarren had two of those knocks and became the lone Nashville players to hit safely in each of the first three games this season. Narveson (0-1) took the loss after giving up two runs on four hits over five innings. He walked three batters and struck out four. Nashville relievers Ben Howard, Erasmo Ramirez, and Luis Pena each worked a scoreless frame to finish off the contest in each hurler's first action of the season. Nashville will look to avoid the sweep when the Sounds and Zephyrs wrap up the series with a 2 p.m. finale on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Nic Ungs will make his Nashville debut when he takes the hill to face New Orleans right-hander Jose Diaz. Nashville Box Score: Former Brewers farmhand Ruddy Lugo shuts down the Sounds over six innings. Chris Narveson pitches well, and the bullpen adds three scoreless innings, but otherwise there's not much to report from this contest. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_05_nasaaa_nozaaa_1 Nashville Game Log: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2008_04_05_nasaaa_nozaaa_1

As others have said, this is one of my most favorite days of the year. Thanks again and as always Jim, and be sure to send thanks to your family as well for giving you the freedom to pursue your labor of love.

I'm getting the feeling that I don't need to worry about covering what young 'prospects' might be coming to Portland for the opening series this weekend... it looks like San Fran. really doesn't have any. I'm not sure what names you're looking for on Fresno's roster, but you may want to re-do your homework. The Giants may not have the best system in baseball, but their #4 (Nate Schierholtz), #9 (John Bowker) and #10 (Emmanuel Burriss) prospects are on the roster as linked. Throw in a few pitchers with big-league experience (Jesse Foppert, Pat Misch, Billy Sadler), and a former Brewers catching prospect (Eliezer Alfonzo) and you have a team that has a half dozen players worth watching, which is more than enough reason to go out and see a team. I hope you realize that Portland is expected to be loaded with talent.

Check out the transaction thread in this forum, as Mass noted earlier this evening that Moss has been released. Oh yeah, and I wouldn't say that I "expected" Moss to be on BC's roster, just that we would have to wait and see if he was on it to try and determine what happened to him. It's too bad, as plenty of people were excited about what he could do when we drafted him several years ago now, none more than Katuluu, but as Mass noted he's still young and likely will still be given opportunities with his skill set.

Thanks Mass. I was excited for a few hours there http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

No Steve Moss at either Nashville or Huntsville? I don't remember hearing anything about an injury or him getting released, so I guess we'll just have to wait for the BC roster to be unveiled. Without trying to project that BC roster, once again Nashville, Hunstville and WV should all be loaded with very strong, overall teams. It's fun looking at these rosters as there is talent and depth from top to bottom. The high-level impact talent in the system may be missing (which I don't even entirely agree with), but the depth is alive and well. Just to expand on that thought, BC's lineup should be fairly solid with Ford, Farris and Cain at the top of the order, Green and Chapman in the middle with Yohannis Perez and Andy Bouchie also in the mix. Some kind of combo of Chuckie Caufield, Steve Moss and Charlie Fermaint will likely round out the outfield, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Chapman continue to play 1B since Alonso stayed at WV and Errecart is at AA.

It looks as though Eric Farris is getting the bump to BC, unless he's injured. That makes sense, as he's more than polished enough to handle the jump. Our friend agent39 has hinted before that Brewer could repeat low-A. Hopefully he starts strong and gets bumped up at midseason like Ford a year ago. Keep an eye on Pedro Lambertus, who got a late and brief bump to Helena to end the 2007 season after spending most of the season with the Arizona Baby Brewers. I think it's clear the Brewers like this young man's arm even if he did have a problem walking batters last year.

Nope. Tim Beckham: http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/images/players/highschool/thumbnails/07nat12.jpg Gordon Beckham: http://www.capecodbaseball.org/Weekly/Week2007/Photos/WK2_GordonBeckham.jpg

The draft is pretty deep, especially at the college level, where there's a nice blend of bats and arms. The prep class is pretty strong as well, although probably not as strong as it was a year ago. However, there are two premium prep bats at the top of this year's draft class (Tim Beckham and Eric Hosmer) as well as a premium prep catcher (Kyle Skipworth). It's definitely a good year to have extra, early picks.

The Brewerfan.net staff has come up with their predictions for the 2008 season. I'm including this thread in this forum as well as the Major League forum since there are a few mentions of minor league players, and we invite you to discuss your thoughts on the predictions focusing on the minor leaguers here. Please discuss your thoughts on this story concerning the big-league ballclub in the thread on the Major League forum. http://www.brewerfan.net/ViewArticle.do?articleId=280

The Brewerfan.net staff has taken their stab at projecting the 2008 season, handing out some preseason hardware while tackling what we believe will be the key issues for the Brewers to enjoy success this year. Enjoy. http://www.brewerfan.net/ViewArticle.do?articleId=280

Heading into the weekend, Jemile Weeks is hitting .425/.482/.849 in 73 AB. He's leading an incredibly potent Hurricanes team in batting, slugging, runs (27), hits (31), doubles (7), triples (3), homers (6), RBI (26) and total bases (62), and his 7 stolen bases (in 8 tries) are second on the team to Blake Tekotte. As a team the Hurricanes are hitting .341/.443/.580, leading Miami to a 19-2 record. Yonder Alonso has heated up in recent weeks, and Dennis Raben has recently returned to the field after an injury, so Weeks may not be the team leader in so many key offensive categories for long, but he certainly is showing once again what he is capable of when healthy (that sounds familiar). He remains one of the most dynamic players available for the 2008 draft.

Thanks for providing the story Mass, good stuff, as the writer did his homework and clearly got some pretty good face time with Mr. Z (although if you click on the link above the photo provided is not very flattering). A few comments draw my interest: I always like hearing this, even if the Brewers have somewhat of a track record taking the more sexy, high school pitchers in the first round that have eye-popping stuff but not nearly as much pitching moxie. I'll take one's ability to pitch over one's ability to throw hard any day of the week, as long as we're not talking about a ridiculous difference in velocity. It's impossible to try and guess who Jack Z. was looking at in Georgia or Florida with the amount of talent that is always to be had in those two states, and we do know that he typically only makes the trip when there is early round talent to be seen. So that makes the Tennessee inclusion particularly interesting. The bulk of the draft-eligible talent from Tennessee that will be considered for the early rounds includes the players at Vanderbilt (RHP Brett Jacobson, SS Ryan Flaherty, and Vandy hosted South Carolina the weekend of 3/14-3/16 which includes players such as 1B Justin Smoak, 3B James Darnell and SS Reese Havens), the players at Walters State (which includes '07 draftees Cody Hawn and Chad Bell) and prep RHP Sonny Gray. His travels may not mean a dang thing, but I do take great interest in where he's been and the specific players he's looking at. I do know from my own sources that he has spent a lot of time in Southern California early this spring (before the big prep tournament which is talked about above), at the beginning of the scouting season taking interest in players such as prep LHP John Lally and LBSU RHP Andrew Liebel and the LBSU/Rice series.

I remember reading scouting reports about Yost when he was still in college and when he played in the Northwoods League one summer about how he didn't really have the talent to succeed at the pro level, but was very much a coaching prospect much like his father. And from the story as it reads above, it doesn't sound as though the Brewers are handing him a coaching job, but they're holding him in extended spring training to groom him as a potential minor league coach/instructor. And what's the harm starting at the rookie level? He's an easy target because he's the Manager's son, but really, how do we know that he's not worthy of such a job? And as TC noted, every coach has to start somewhere.

It's not a rumor. Vargas was released today. Sorry I don't have a link since it was something that was brought to my attention from a friend of a friend, but look for more details later today from the Brewers.

I know of Jorge, but I don't know anything about the young man, and he's not ranked nationally by PGCC. Sure he could end up in the Brewers system, they've shown interest in brothers of organizational players in the past (Kyle Eveland, Jemile Weeks).

I realize Beckham isn't that tall, my point is that you don't have to be 6' to play shortstop. It's an even greater stigma than the one against short RHPs.

This biggest knock on Beckham seems to be his size (listed 6', but most seem to agree that he's a few inches shy of that mark), almost as though people don't want to believe that he might just be for real. I've seen that he may have to move to 2B and to 3B, but it seems to be, as with Jonathan Mayo in this instance, he's doing so because that is what other people are saying and not because of anything he has seen for himself or truly believes. It's not like I've seen a ton of Beckham, but I've seen him a few times over the last 2+ years, and I haven't seen anything really that suggests he should move off of shortstop. If a player can make all of the spectacular plays but for some reason frequently botches easy ones (which so far isn't the case this year), I would give that player every chance in the world to see if they become more consistent with tons and tons of ground balls in pro ball. And for me it's the bat speed. He gets his bat through the zone so fast that it allows him to allow the ball to travel deeper into the strike zone as well as adjusting more quickly to balls that he's late to recognize. Last night I looked at BA's top 100 prospects and Beckham (actually both Beckham's) could easily be the top two prospects at the position right now.

MiLB.com has a nice story focusing on the Brewers minor leaguers making impressions in the Brewers spring training camp and other notes, including comments on Jeremy Jeffress, Mark Rogers, Chris Narveson, Hernan Iribarren, Matt LaPorta and Mat Gamel: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080311&content_id=356798&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp Hernan Iribarren http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2008/03/11/J8Mx2bUM.jpg

Shawn Zarraga will be an interesting catching prospect to follow, a guy that has considerable power potential and was given early round money as a 44th rounder a year ago. He may be at Arizona this year, possibly Helena, so it may take a while to get a feel for what kind of pro potential he has.

More reports and videos up at MiLB.com: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080311&content_id=356818&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp