colbyjack

Ok, here's a slump buster. The person that gets all five questions right, all relating to former or current Brewers farmhands, will win a picture of Matt LaPorta taking a home run swing as part of the 2006 Cape Cod League All Star Game. Please do your best not to look up the answers while flexing your knowledge nugget muscle: 1. This current Brewer was named the Midwest League's best defensive shortstop despite commiting 40 errors in 2000 and was also named the California League's most exciting player in 2001 according to Baseball America in an annual survey polling the respective league managers rating the best tools. 2. This former Brewer hit the first home run ever at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. 3. Overshadowed by a team full of current and future stars, this former Brewer, one of the organization's better non-drafted free agents ever, led the 1979 Brewers in OBP and SLG and was one point away from the team's lead in batting average among regulars. 4. Name the three current Brewers farmhands that were named to the Cape Cod League All-League team in 2006. 5. Name the five current Brewers farmhands that were selected to participate in the Aflac All-American Classic, a high school All-Star game of sorts that began in 2003.

Final: Lexington 7, West Virginia 5 West Virginia Site Game Summary LEGENDS SURGE LATE, BEAT POWER The Lexington Legends plated three runs in the ninth inning of Thursday night's game at Appalachian Power Park and rallied from four down to defeat the West Virginia Power 7-5 to take the third game of the series. Taylor Green began the second inning with a double and moved over to third base on a groundball hit by John Alonso before scoring on a passed ball. An RBI single from Greg Buchanan tied the game in the top of the third. Jimmy Mojica's groundout in the bottom of the third plated Charlie Fermaint who tripled to begin the inning. In the fourth inning Andy Bouchie knocked in Alonso with an RBI double and scored on Brent Brewer's inside the park homerun. The Legends began their comeback in the sixth inning when Eric Taylor smacked a two-run double. In the eighth inning Taylor ripped an RBI single and Jhon Florentino reached on a fielder's choice which scored Ronald Ramirez. Lexington was down to their final out in the ninth inning when Nick Moresi tripled down the left field line. On the very next pitch, Ronald Ramirez hit a groundball that went through the legs of Taylor Green which scored Moresi. Greg Buchanan blasted a two-run homer one pitch later to give Lexington the lead. Kyle DeYoung (5-8) tossed a pair of scoreless innings out of the bullpen to get the win and Matt Kretzschmar was tagged with the loss after giving up three unearned runs in the ninth inning. Donovan Hand allowed an unearned run on three hits over five solid innings in his third start with the Power. The Power fell to 79-53 overall and 31-33 in the second half, while the Legends improved to 58-78 overall and 27-39 in the second half. Fermaint, Brewer, Alonso and Mojica all had multi-hit games for the Power. Taylor Green and Matt LaPorta both hit safely and extended their hitting streaks. Green has hit safely in eight games and LaPorta has hit safely in ten straight. The Power but will finish the four game series against the Lexington Legends at Appalachian Power Park on Friday night. The Power will start right hander Alex Periard (7-7, 3.53) and the Legends will start left hander Dave Qualben (10-8, 3.92). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM. West Virginia Box Score: It's hard not to get down on a game that sounds all too familiar: The Power score 5 runs in the first 4 innings, but lose this one late. Mojica, Alonso, Brewer and Fermaint all with 2 hit nights, including Brewer's 11th home run of the year. LaPorta with one base hit, but of course it goes for extra bases (a double). Donovan Hand with a nice night starting this game after coming out of the Power bullpen for a few weeks. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Hand%20&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=518764 West Virginia Game Log: It's not hard envisioning Brewer flying around the basepaths for his inside-the-park home run in the 4th. All of the damage in the 9th comes with 2 outs, with a two-run bomb following Taylor Green's 23rd error of the season. You're better off not looking past the 7th inning in this one. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2007_08_30_lexafx_wvaafx_1

Final: Palm Beach 4, Brevard County 1 Brevard County Box Score: This offense has really gone quiet as of late. Two hits by Mat Gamel (including his 36th double of the year) gets his average back up to .299 after creeping below .300 for the first time in a long, long time. Three bullpen pitches combine for 4 scoreless innnings in relief of David Welch, who just hasn't been as sharp as of late. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&gid=2007_08_30_pbcafa_breafa_1&did=t503&sid=t503 Brevard County Game Log: A 3-run bomb in the first for Palm Beach was enough in this game. Far too many quick innings in this game for the Manatees offense. Tough to see Cole Gillespie, who has gone cool over the last week after being hot for 6+ weeks, strike out in the 6th with the bases loaded, even if there were 2 outs. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&t=g_log&gid=2007_08_30_pbcafa_breafa_1

I'll bring a cooler full of beer and a couple of chairs as well. I'll probably bring one of the salads, the veggies or maybe some cole slaw, or a little of everything. Just a reminder, I work that day until 3pm and haven't decided if I'm running home first to see the family and change or if I'm heading straight to the parking lot to join everyone. I look forward to seeing you all there. It sounds like we're going to be eating a lot of chips.

Most people don't seem to think that Fukudome will have the power of either Abreu (prior to the last couple of years) or Matsui. Again, most do seem to agree that he'll carry a good SLG with plenty of doubles, a handful of triples, and HRs in the 15-18 range to go along with his on-base skills. I know the Giants have been tossed around quite a bit as a destination for him, but I guess I don't see it, unless the Giants don't re-sign Bonds. Winn is signed to a pretty insane contract for what he offers, and they also handed out a fair chunk of change for Roberts last offseason. I'd love to see Crawford in Milwaukee, but it's going to take a lot to get him, and the asking price isn't going to get any lower, quite the opposite it seems, the closer he gets to free agency. When he reaches that point, he's going to land a monster deal, probably a lot more than 5 years $50 million.

Not to toot my own horn, as I know there is one person out there who would disagree with me, but there really isn't a good place to find scouting reports and a lot of other information for free other than right here at Brewerfan.net. For instance, here is the default link to last year's coverage: http://www.brewerfan.net/ViewDraftArchive.do?draftId=5 I haven't entered any scouting reports for next year, as I typically don't start doing that until the fall. If you want to pay for coverage, Baseball America has been around forever and clearly have the edge when it comes to talking about prospects. While they are currently releasing their top prospects from all of the summer leagues, their draft-related info is typically light between now and January when they publish their early draft preview. PGCrosschecker, another site that I work for, has year-round coverage, more scouting reports on more players and deeper top prospect lists at both the college and high school levels. I can't really comment on which is better than the other, because I am clearly biased, but I can tell you that PGCrosschecker's scouting reports are assembled from the scouts that work for Perfect Game USA as opposed to the writers that compile information provided to them at Baseball America (although I do admire Alan Matthews work as both a writer and as a talent evaluator). Personally, I would suggest that you hold off a couple of months. Right now isn't an ideal time for getting 2008 draft info, unless you have a lot more resources at your disposal. If you have questions on any players in particular, I'll do my best to answer them here.

wvpowerblkwel, you don't have anything to worry about, at least through the year 2010, which is how long the Twins Player Development Contract with the Snappers goes through, unless the PDC's can be re-negotiated when there is a change in ownership.

I want Fukudome: http://www.armchairgm.com/index.php?title=Kosuke_Fukudome He's going to be a FA after the Japanese season, meaning no posting fees, and this may be a good year to jump on a Japanese OF bat since there are going to be a bunch of good bats out there in FA (especially if Arod exercises his out clause as reported). He may never hit 20 home runs, but many think he's going to hit a ton of doubles while drawing a ton of walks. He plays great defense in RF and has a very strong arm. Step aside Jenkins...

Estrada has one more year of arby left, so unless the team non-tenders him, which I wouldn't expect, I'm sure he'll be back for next year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him have a big season in his walk year. I would like to see Miller re-signed. I also would not let Capuano go. I also wouldn't count on him for '08, but I don't think you could get much for him in return this offseason. And I agree with JohnBriggs in that I don't think it is a lock that Geoff Jenkins moves on. He's not worth the money of his option ($9 M), but again, I wouldn't be surprised to see the team exercise that option. I would prefer to see the organization pursue a better on-base option for the OF, such as Abreu as RyDogg suggested. Plus, we don't know if the team will pursue one of either Cordero or Linebrink. Which of course means next year's team will resemble this year's team quite a bit, and that is somewhat expected since this team is being built for much more than this year and next.

Baseball America has unveiled their top 30 prospects for the Cape Cod League this past summer (for subscribers only): http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/college/features/264762.html Just a minor comment based on Jim Callis' write-ups, it is mentioned that Dennis Raben hit a 3-run shot off of Christian Friedrich, who is the 4th best prospect according to BA's rankings. Having watched the game, I know that this was a solo shot (not that it matters), but this stood out to me because it should have been a 3-run shot. Yonder Alonso scored on a Gordon Beckham double courtesy of a poor throw from the leftfielder, which also allowed Beckham to advance to third, only to score on a wild pitch just before Raben hit his shot. PG Crosschecker has been unveiling their summer league top prospects over the last week+. The content is also for subscribers, but you can view the league's top prospects via this page: http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/summer/2007/summer_league_prospects/top_prospects.aspx While BA goes 30 deep in the Cape, PGCC goes 100 deep, and also goes deeper with some of the better summer leagues (I went 25 deep with the Northwoods League, which I compiled the info for despite the story saying it was compiled by Allan Simpson). PGCC hasn't unveiled the top Cape prospects yet, but likely will do so in the next few days. I don't think I provided this link in this thread yet, but a few weeks ago my weekly column focused on some of the better players on the Cape based on their performances (although the better performances do reflect the better prospects): http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/crackthebat/patrick%5Febert/07%5F08%5F09%5Fcream%5Fofthe%5Fcape/ Not much news on Team USA. I noted a few of my observations above, but overall the team was rather disappointing this year.

Yup, Bob Brower is the former Ranger. Boras only hires former players to serve as his agents/representatives. That is one of their selling points, being able to relate to the players they represent a lot better than other agents/firms out there. Calvin Murray is another Boras agent that I crossed paths with this past year, a player whose career just ended a few short years ago. This interview in particular took a long time to get approved. I talked to Matt while he was in Arizona, and within a few days he was sent to Helena and then to West Virginia a week or two after that. In other words, he's been busy.

I agree that the placement doesn't make much sense given how close Delavan is too Beloit, but Beloit does pretty lousy job at drawing crowds, and maybe this new team can draw more fans from the growing communities SW of Milwaukee (Muskego, Mukwanago, East Troy, etc.). And who knows, maybe this group is looking to buy the Snappers, wait out their agreement with the Twins and try to re-up with the Brewers in three years. It's going to take a year or two or more for a stadium to be built anyway.

anybody else think Matt LaPorta will never see Brevard County next year? I've been thinking the same thing too recently Jim. I'm sure someone will pop in and say he better based on his age and the fact that the Brewers drafted him 7th overall, blah blah blah, but it's hard not to be impressed with his season so far. I think how he does in the AFL against more advanced pitchers will have a determining factor on where he's placed to open 2008. And yes, I'm cranky too http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

This conversation reminded me of a great website that I used to use as a resource when the Snappers were still affiliated with the Brewers, MWLguide.com. Their history and attendance pages have some info that may help make the speculation a little easier. Here's a link to their history page for this decade: http://www.mwlguide.com/history/overview2000s.html With this note: The decade began with the long-anticipated shift of the Rockford franchise to Dayton, and 2007 has seen the transfer of the troubled Battle Creek (Michigan, Southwest Michigan) franchise to Midland (Great Lakes). Except for those blemishes, the decade's story's about new and renovated ballparks: Cedar Rapids, Dayton, Great Lakes, Peoria, and Quad Cities all have new facilities, while Burlington, Clinton, Lansing, and West Michigan have substantially upgraded their yards. Kane County has a major upgrade in queue, while Fort Wayne's seriously considering building a downtown park. Beloit, too, is pursuing a new stadium, though a recent setback seems to have put the franchise in jeopardy. The Midwest League is thriving. One success indicator is the price of a franchise: When the Waterloo team was sold in the early 1990s, the reported $2 million sale price was widely considered to be outrageous. By the late '90s, the Fort Wayne team was reportedly purchased for a then-record $4.75 million. The current asking price appears to be $7 million.... It sounds as though Fort Wayne may be up for sale, but that doesn't mean that they will be moving necessarily, as the above comment also notes that they are seriously considering a downtown stadium. EDIT: I just re-read the comments I added, and that doesn't necessarily mean that Fort Wayne is up for sale, just throwing out what the asking price may be for any of the MWL ballclubs.

I should have made it more clear, but he was drafted in the 14th round in both 2003 by the Cubs and 2006 by the Red Sox.

Here are the attendance figures in the MWL this year. I agree with JohnBriggs, I don't see Kane County going anywhere. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_att&lid=118&sid=l118 I know the Twins just re-upped with Beloit, despite the continual rumblings that Beloit wants to somehow build a new stadium (Delavan isn't that far from Beloit FWIW). One of the Iowa teams, Quad Cities, Clinton and particularly Burlington makes a lot of sense if it were to happen. Burlington is also the furthest South of the Iowa teams, which would help centralize the league a little better, despite Peoria still being in the middle of IL.

Thanks for the heads up foamboy. I could see the Brewers being interested if there are cross promotions involved and things of the like, but as others have mentioned, there was more to the Brewers move to the Sally League than just Beloit's stadium, and of course there isn't a fit at the high-A level. In addition, would this new location replace one of the current Midwest League teams? Since the need for teams is determined by how many big-league clubs there are out there, some team out there would have to close shop for this to happen, and the Midwest League is really the only league that this would work for, unless they're talking about a level higher than A, and I don't see a fit in a community as small as the Delavan area (meaning no AAA, which would really be the only other league that would work from what I can tell). I'm curious, has there been any talk about possibly using this stadium for both a minor league affiliate and for a possible Northwoods League team? I know there has been some talk about the NWL expanding to somewhere in SE Wisconsin (the Waukesha/Delafield area was once tossed around, but there really aren't any good stadium options in that area), and if a new stadium is built in the Delavan area, it sounds like a perfect fit. If I had a couple of extra million to spend, I know where I would build a stadium in hopes of trying to lure a club, but I can't share that info until I manage to find a couple of extra million to spend http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

Final: Helena 2, Billings 4 Helena Box Score: LHP Dan Merklinger with his best outing as a pro to date, doing a fine job shutting down the Mustangs offense over 4 innings hoping the H-Crew could bounce back from an early 4-2 deficit. Starter Chad Robinson now 0-5 while giving up a pair of home runs (he's now given up 5 in 21 IP), as he opposed a former Brewers draftee, Drew Bowman. Not to much to report on the offense outside of a 2-hit night for Lee Haydel. Caleb Gindl did show off his arm in RF by gunning down a runner at home. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_08_27_helrok_bilrok_1 Helena Game Log: The way things started in the first it seemed as though the H-Crew were in for a big night offensively. The game moved extremely quick after the third, basically when Dan Merklinger entered the ballgame. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2007_08_27_helrok_bilrok_1

Final: West Tenn 5, Huntsville 3 Huntsville Site Game Summary; Link, Text follows: http://www.huntsvillestars.com/news/news.asp?newsId=1335 Stars' Struggles Continue Mike Wilson hit a home run and made a game-saving catch in West Tenn's 5-3 win over Huntsville Monday night in the middle game of a five-game set at Joe Davis Stadium. The Diamond Jaxx improved to 28-35 in the second half and squared the season series at 11 games apiece, while the Stars dipped to 35-28 in the second half and saw their lead in the North Division over Tennessee trimmed to two games after the Smokies' win over Chattanooga. The Stars have dropped six out of eight on the current home stand and have scored more than three runs in two of the contests. Mumba Rivera opened the ninth on the hill for West Tenn and issued one out walks to Mel Stocker and Steve Sollmann before the runners advanced on a Hernan Iribarren ground out. The West Tenn outfielders were then brought in a few steps with the potential tying run at second and the move paid off when Wilson came in to make a diving grab of Adam Heether's sinking fly ball in right field to end the game. Rivera converted his fourth straight save chance but only his sixth in 15 tries all season. Matt Tuiasosopo's first inning sacrifice fly, a run-scoring single by Erick Monzon and Wilson's 10th home run since he joined the Jaxx staked the visitors to a 3-0 lead after five frames. Stars' starter Lindsay Gulin was lifted after five innings after allowing three runs on four hits and four walks, while fanning five. He suffered the loss to fall to 11-6 and was stalled for a fourth straight start in an attempt to win his 12th game of the year. West Tenn starter Doug Fister blanked the Stars through 6 2/3 innings before Steve Moss blasted a home run to right field, his career-high 11th, that cut the lead to 3-1. Bo Hall retired the first seven hitters he faced after taking over for Gulin until walking the bases loaded in the eighth and being replaced by Robert Hinton, who uncorked a wild pitch on his first offering that scored Marshall Hubbard to make it 4-1. Monzon then singled in another run to push the visitors' lead to 5-1. A fielding error by shortstop Jesus Merchan allowed Heether to reach with two outs in the eighth and score when Michael Brantley followed with a double. Lou Palmisano walked and David Asher was replaced by Juan Sandoval, who gave up a single to Alcides Escobar that scored Brantley to trim the lead to 5-3. Moss then fanned to end the frame. The series continues Tuesday night with left-hander Steve Hammond taking the hill for Huntsville against West Tenn southpaw Justin Thomas. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com. Huntsville Box Score: Michael Brantley goes 2-3 with a walk, both of his being doubles. Steve Moss hits his 11th dinger of the year. Hernan Iribarren now has been caught more times trying to steal a base (16) than he has been successful (15). Robert Hinton with his third consecutive scoreless appearance, but it is going to take him a long time to drop his ERA after a painful May, June and July. The Stars unable to make the most of 6 bases on balls. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_08_27_wtdaax_hunaax_1 Huntsville Game Log: The Stars unable to take advantage of a couple of 1-out doubles early in the game. Their 2-run rally in the bottom of the 8th started with Heether reaching on an error with 2 outs. The had 2 on in the bottom of the 9th with one out thanks to a pair of walks, but again are unable to cash in as much as they could have. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2007_08_27_wtdaax_hunaax_1

Final: Jupiter 3, Brevard County 9 Brevard County Box Score: Ben Stanczyk with the start in tonight's game, his 4th start of the year, and while he didn't pitch horribly, 4 pitchers from the 'pen combine for 4.1 scoreless frames. Lorenzo Cain on base 4 times (2 hits, 2 walks) and hits his 21st double of the season. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&gid=2007_08_27_jupafa_breafa_1&did=t503&sid=t503 Brevard County Game Log: The Manatees break open a 3-3 game with a 6-run bottom of the 8th amidst three hit batters, a passed ball, an intentional walk and one ejected pitcher. Lorenzo Cain with the biggest blow, a 2-run single. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&t=g_log&gid=2007_08_27_jupafa_breafa_1

Final: West Virginia 6, Lexington 3 West Virginia Site Game Summary: LAPORTA AND GREEN GO DEEP IN POWER VICTORY Matt LaPorta snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth inning of Monday night's game at Applebee's Park with a three-run homer, and Taylor Green followed with a solo shot as West Virginia went on to defeat the Lexington Legends 6-3 to take the first game of the series. Bud Norris and Alex Periard sizzled through five innings of the game but Norris ran out of gas in the sixth. He struck out ten Power batters through five innings but he allowed a double to Chuckie Caufield and walked Andrew Lefave before serving up the three run shot to LaPorta, his sixth of the year. Bryan Hallberg came out of the bullpen to relieve Norris and gave up a solo-shot to Taylor Green, his 14th. Periard ran out of gas one inning later. The Legends had the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh when Ronald Ramirez dropped a single down the right field line to plate a pair of runs and cut the lead in half. The Power called on D.J. Lidyard to relieve Periard with the tying runs in scoring position and two out. Lidyard delivered as he struck out Eric Taylor on three pitches to end the inning. John Alonso singled in a pair of insurance runs in the top of the eighth inning and Koby Clemens scored the final run of the game as he smashed a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth. Periard (7-7) allowed two runs on ten hits through six and two thirds to get the win, Matt Kretzschmar (2) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to get the save and Bud Norris (2-8) was tagged with the loss after giving up three runs on five hits over five and a third. Periard has now won two in a row after losing six straight. The Power improved to 78-52 overall and 30-32 in the second half, while the Legends fell to 57-76 overall and 26-38 in the second half. West Virginia has homered in three of the four games on the trip and they've hit 12 homeruns in their last six games. Three Power players had multi-hit games including John Alonso and Andrew Lefave who both hit safely three times. The Power will continue the four game series against the Lexington Legends at Applebee's Park on Tuesday night. The Power will start right hander Jeremy Jeffress (8-5, 3.32) and the Legends will start right hander Leandro Cespedes (0-0, 0.00) The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM. West Virginia Box Score: Matt LaPorta with one big hit, a 3-run bomb in the 6th to put the Power on the board with a big exlammation point. Taylor Green followed LaPorta in the 6th with his 14th HR (86 RBI) while also hitting his 27th double of the year for what has been a pretty impressive season for the young infielder. The first base/DH tandem of John Alonso and Andrew Lefave goes 6-8. Not a good day for Brent Brewer, who goes 0-4 with 4 Ks and his 46th error of the season. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_08_27_wvaafx_lexafx_1 West Virginia Game Log: Both teams get their leadoff batters on base to begin the game, only to have them wiped out on pickoff plays; 4 Legends baserunners erased by being caught stealing or pickoffs. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2007_08_27_wvaafx_lexafx_1

Final: Omaha 4, Nashville 11 Nashville Site Game Summary; Link, Text Follows: http://www.nashvillesounds.com/news/news.asp?newsId=2534 Sounds Offense Comes Up Big In 11-4 Win NASHVILLE - Nashville hitters combined for 11 runs on 12 hits in the Sounds' 11-4 victory on Monday evening during the opener of a four-game series against the Omaha Royals at Greer Stadium. Drew Anderson went 2-for-4 on the evening, scoring three runs and knocking in another two as the PCL American Northern Division champions improved their record to 31 games above .500, their highest standing all season. Shortstop Ozzie Chavez also had a good night, going 2-for-3 and reaching base four times by drawing two walks. Chavez has now hit safely in a season-high seven consecutive games and is batting .388 in those games. Omaha (69-68) took an early lead in the top of the first inning after Mitch Maier drew a leadoff walk before Craig Brazell's 32 home run of the season made it a 2-0 game. Nashville (84-53) was quick to take advantage of Omaha's sloppy defense in the bottom half of the first by scoring five runs on three hits and three errors. Callix Crabbe drew a walk to lead off the inning and was moved over after a Vinny Rottino single to left. Omaha third baseman Derek Wathan then misplayed a grounder from Anderson that scored Crabbe and moved Rottino to second. One play later, second baseman Fernando Cortez's errant flip to second on a Brad Nelson grounder loaded the bases for Laynce Nix, who sent them all home with a double to the wall in right field. Nix now leads the team with 69 RBIs on the season. Nix would come in to score the fifth and final run of the inning thanks to Cortez's second throwing error of the inning, giving the Sounds a three run advantage. The Sounds added more to their lead in the bottom of the second inning. Rottino led off with his second single of the game, a line drive up the middle before Anderson knocked him home with a double to left-center. Anderson came around to score three batters later thanks to another Cortez throwing error, this time on a lazy grounder from Nix, to give the Sounds a 7-2 lead. The Royals came back to score single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Justin Huber hit his 16th homer of the season, a solo shot, in the fourth inning and Cortez knocked in Wathan with a sacrifice fly in the fifth to bring the score to 7-4 in favor of Nashville. Nashville added two more runs in the sixth, one run in the seventh, and one run in the eighth thanks to Andy Abad's 12th home run of the year. Nashville starter R.A. Dickey (12-6) earned the win for the Sounds to pull into a tie for the PCL victories lead. The knuckleballer allowed four runs on six hits while striking out three in seven innings. [/b]Marino Salas[/b] finished out the game by throwing two perfect innings of relief and striking out two. Royals starter Matt Wright (9-5) took the loss after giving up seven runs (two earned) on six hits and striking out three in three innings. Anthony Bradley came in for relief in his Triple-A debut and gave up two runs in three innings while striking out one. The Sounds continue their final regular season series at Greer Stadium in 2007 on Tuesday night when they take on the Omaha Royals for the second game of a four-game set. Sounds right-hander Carlos Villanueva (0-0, 0.00) will take the mound against Omaha left-hander Nate Hoelscher (5-2, 5.05). Audio: Nix bases-loaded double: http://www.nashvillesounds.com/audio/2007/Highlight%208-27.mp3 Nashville Box Score: 11 runs on 12 base hits, although the Sounds take advantage of 4 Omaha errors. Nix with the biggest hit on the night, a bases-clearing double as the Sounds pile on early with 5 runs in the bottom of the first. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_08_27_omaaaa_nasaaa_1 Nashville Game Log: An ugly first inning for Omaha; The Sounds get out to a big lead, and put it away in the late innings as the bats go temporarily silent in the middle of the game. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_log&gid=2007_08_27_omaaaa_nasaaa_1

Thanks DHonks, and you're absolutely right. 6'7", 280 and not an ounce of fat. That's probably how big a guy like Tony Boselli was when he was entering his senior year in high school. I'm still surprised that he is committed to baseball. I wonder if his dad took a few too many hits in his time and made sure to tell his son about them.

The thread linked just below, the '07 summer talent thread, talks quite a bit about some of the top players at both the high school and college levels: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=3338 Tim Melville, Alex Meyer, Michael Palazzone, Sonny Gray and Gerrit Cole are among the top prep RHPs. Throw in Aaron Hicks if you prefer his arm over his bat. Brett DeVall is a LHP that has been up to 94, and Austin Wright is a big, big lefty that sits in the low-90s. LHP Walker Kelly is known for carving up hitters than blowing them away, and Scott Silverstein has a good frame, solid repertoire and improving stuff. One really exciting prospect is Kyle Long, son of NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long. Kyle is a physical specimen that you just don't see playing baseball very often. He is a chilseled 6'7", 280 pound LHP/1B that has been up to 96 on the mound and hits tape measure shots. While he does play football as well, he seems to be more serious about his baseball career, although scouts will have to wait to get another good look at him in the spring since I believe he intends to focus on football this fall, as opposed to trying to attend some of the more notable tournament events (such as the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, FL).

The past five years they have alternated between college bats and prep arms (Weeks, Rogers, Braun, Jeffress, LaPorta), so next year we're due for a prep arm. I say that mostly in jest, but really the organization is thin on pitching, at least when looking at the team's top prospects. In both 2005 and this past year they went after bats pretty heavy early, as they did after taking Jeffress in the first round last year, and trading Inman, Thatcher and Garrison for Linebrink has also thinned out the pitching. I would take a bat in the first round every year, but I see the organization addressing pitching early and often next year. Since they haven't taken a college arm in the top two rounds with Jack Z. as the scouting director, I think the way early odds favor a prep pitcher. Since the top of next year's draft as of right now favors college hitters, I think there could be some very good high school pitchers that fall to the Brewers spot, which hopefully will be later in the first round than what we've been accustomed to (outside of 2006). And if the Brewers have extra picks due to free agent compensation, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go after a college closer.