TheCrew07

Prospect Q&A: Cardinals LHP Marco Gonzales

As I posted in the LR the other day his lack of plate discipline had always been noted but how do they really fault a guy when he puts up a .900+ OPS every where he goes even though you keep noting he needs to make serious improvement? Where is his incentive to change? The only other Cubs' prospect with a similar knock that I remember was Brett Jackson, but it took AAA pitchers longer to expose him. I was really concerned coming out of Spring Training about Baez' potential impact for 2015, but now not so much. Selfishly I would prefer he never adjusts and follows a similar career path to Jackson but from a Cubs' perspective it's not a big deal because you still have Kris Bryant. Alcantara can still play 2B unless they move Castro, Bryant plays 3rd, Rizzo is at 1st, Almora is still looking like a very good CF prospect (he's had a similar season to Taylor so far), and finally Soler still projects nicely for them in RF. Baez hitting would have allowed them to move Bryant to LF and field a pretty awesome homegrown (with the exception of Rizzo) line-up 1-8. I'm not saying he won't ever make the necessary adjustments but it is shocking how bad he's been exposed. Normally hitters catch on fairly quickly to slightly worse stuff but greater pitchability of the guys in AAA vs AA. Bryant could still end up in LF if any one of Baez, Olt, or Villanueva become anything as well. This got me thinking about Soler who still hasn't returned to action from that hamstring strain, he still only has that 1 AB in which he doubled on the season.

Three Strikes: Week 12 May 6, 2014 by Aaron Fitt

Minor League Roundup: Many Happy Returns May 6, 2014 by Josh Norris

College Draft Prospect Stat Roundup Week 12 May 6, 2014 by Clint Longenecker

Taveras plays big role in Memphis onslaught Top Cardinals prospect goes 3-for-6 with two doubles and three RBIs

Indy's Polanco rebounds with four hits Pittsburgh's top prospect shakes 0-for-4 outing with 4-for-5 outburst

I apologize, I wrote my part of the post before the game story was posted as I normally do but I didn't guess well tonight and unfortunately I doubled up some information with Chris. Timber Rattlers drop series opener in Kane County Cougars beat Wisconsin 8-4 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GENEVA, IL - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers grabbed an early lead on Monday night at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. But, it didn't last. The Kane County Cougars banged out 13 hits and worked around four errors to defeat the Rattlers 8-4. Omar Garcia started the game with a single for Wisconsin (13-17). He stole second and went to third on an throwing error. Garcia's stolen base was his sixteenth of the season. Mike Ratterree sent a flyball to shallow center that was dropped for an error. Ortega scored on the play and the Rattlers were up 1-0. Kane County (22-9) recorded five hits and scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning against Wisconsin starter Anthony Banda. David Bote doubled and went to third on Shawon Dunston's bunt single that rolled up the third base line and hit the bag. Jake Hanneman was next and he singled to get Bote home and tie the game. Wisconsin appeared to turn a 4-6-3 double play that would have had Dunston at third with two outs. But, Hannemann was ruled safe at second base and the Cougars had runners at second and third with one out. Ben Carhart cashed in both runners with a double and Kane County was up 3-1. The Cougars added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. They loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and a walk. Banda got the first out. Then, Hannemann singled to drive in a run. Carlos Penalver got the second run of the inning home with a fielder's choice. The Rattlers chipped away with single runs in the fifth and seventh innings and it was Garcia who provided the spark. He walked to start the fifth inning, moved to second on an error, and would eventually score on a groundout by Clint Coulter. In the seventh, Garcia singled as the leadoff hitter again. He stole second and went to third on another throwing error. Jose Pena drove in Garcia with a single and Wisconsn had cut the lead to 5-3. Yasiel Balaguert padded Kane County's lead with a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the seventh. Chris McFarland tripled to start the Wisconsin eighth. Taylor Brennan walked. Rafael Neda grounded into a force out at second to get McFarland home and the Cougars lead was down to two again. Dunston put the game away with a two-run triple to right in the bottom of the eighth inning and Kane County would close out their 8-4 win. Garcia finished the evening 2-for-4 with a walk, two stolen bases, and three runs scored. Wisconsin is 0-4 in Kane County this season. The Cougars have the best record in the Midwest League. Game two of the series is set for Tuesday night. Preston Gainey (1-1, 1.86) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Daury Torrez (3-1, 3.45) is set to start for the Cougars. Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the pregame show at 6:10pm. HOME RUN: Kane County: Yasiel Balaguert (1st, 0 on in 7th inning off Victor Diaz, 2 out) WP: Nathan Dorris (4-1) LP: Anthony Banda (1-4) SAVE: Zach Godley (7) TIME: 2:43 ATTN: 1,873 Wisconsin Boxscore Here's a fun fact which Chris pointed out during the broadcast, Taylor Brennan has the most walks of any T-Rat so far this season, now with 19. There's no reason to be concerned with Johnny Davis' absence the last 3 games, he's just getting break, they are trying keep him fresh for the entire season. With just one season of organized ball under his belt in his entire life, I can go with the idea, it seems prudent actually. Omar Garcia stole his 16th and 17th bases tonight, that's not bad for a guy with just a .308 OBP, he's not been on a ton, but he get's the most out of his time on the bases. He has 6 in the last 3 games, Omar was 2-4 with a walk tonight out of the leadoff spot. Clint Coulter (2-5) has been DHing more than I would like but after thinking about how beat up he got every game last year with his poor habits behind the plate, that's probably not a bad idea either. Get him through the season healthy enough (catchers will always have little dings here and there) to participate all the way through without any DL stints. I'm not sure what to make of Michael Ratterree's season thus far, he gets his 1 hit per game, but hasn't strung together multiple hits since his first game coming back down from AA. That was a 2 hit effort on 4-25, in fact through the first 31 games he only has 2 multi-hit games. Neither pitching line is worth discussing but Anthony Banda did deserve a better fate in the 3rd. Angel Ortega cost him an out when the umpire rule he pulled his foot when turning the double play. Chris was surprised but didn't seem to disagree with the call, a double play there would have saved Banda a run. Wisconsin Recap Not that it mattered, but defensive indifference my arse. Coulter ran on the pitch and the catcher dropped the ball... but what should we expect from the Cubs? Wisconsin Top of the 9th Michael Ratterree strikes out swinging. Jose Pena flies out to right fielder Yasiel Balaguert. Clint Coulter singles on a line drive to center fielder Jacob Hannemann. With David Denson batting, Clint Coulter advances to 2nd on defensive indifference. David Denson walks. Christopher McFarland grounds into a force out, shortstop Carlos Penalver to second baseman Danny Lockhart. David Denson out at 2nd.

Actually no they aren't, the load and motion are the same, the follow through is the only thing that's fundamentally different, and most of that is in the wrist. Pitchers tend to have all kinds of unnecessary movements, like lifting the leg way too high at the start of their motion, torquing the torso at the start, dropping the throwing hand down to 6 o'clock and whipping it back to 9 after they break their hands and before starting to come forward, also unnecessarily kicking their push off leg up and around for some reason as they drive(hopefully) towards the plate. None of that adds velocity or helps with location, nor does it help keep the body in sync, it actually creates arm drag which puts extra stress on the shoulder and elbow in addition to adding complexity to the delivery which makes it more difficult to repeat the same way each time. The leg kick thing was always the first thing I would fix, a QB standing around out there on one leg is a recipe for disaster, he's a target and going to get hurt. These flaws are very easy to pickup with a football because it is so much heavier, I've only had 2 QBs that weren't also pitchers. For those that pitched all spring and summer even coming out of baseball season their arms would instantly be sore even though they were in very good shape, especially "tendonitis" in the elbow because of their throwing motions. It's pretty easy to convince a kid who's hurting that he needs to change, but with a baseball it's much easier to get away with bad habits and many of those issues are hidden. To throw a proper spiral that will nose down the thumb and index finger rotate under the hand, it's basically almost the exact same motion as flicking a booger. In fact many pitchers struggle with that because it's being done with the wrist break, so we taught them to flick a booger to get the idea. The intensity is going vary somewhat with the throw, a flip touch pass to a running back won't have as pronounced a finish as a deep ball down the sideline, but that's just human nature. Many people can throw a spiral with a football, but most do it wrong, they slice under the ball in the follow through to get the spiral (the hand ends up open facing the sky) so the nose points up and away. That's the way most 3/4 arm slot pitchers I've had threw the ball because it worked with their natural, albeit crappy, pitching motion.

MH already noted the Brewer winners in today's LR but here's the full list. Nick Ramirez and Michael Reed were the only divisional winners on the hitting side. Offensive Players of the Week For the week ending May 4 Pitching wise Mike Fiers was the only divisional winner, quite a week for the Brew Crew on the farm. Pitchers of the Week For the week ending May 4

BA subscriber piece, extremely interesting article. Rubber Meets The Road: Two Feet Is Plenty Of Room For Debate This part really gets in my craw though: I've stolen many great ideas regarding throwing from baseball such as long toss, but this is where I part company with coaching in baseball. How many dads know proper throwing mechanics? How many little league, babe ruth, or HS coaches? So then by the time a player gets to college or the pros coaches are afraid to mess with a pitcher's delivery because it worked for him in the past? Even though they know it makes it harder for the pitcher to locate and sucks velocity? That's just garbage... So there's no consensus on anything in baseball when it comes throwing, unlike in football, fine. But how does that lack of consistency justify doing basically nothing to correct a young man when his career is essentially at stake? I don't understand with the significant financial investment required in baseball players and pitchers in general how any coach, manager, or organization could feel good about letting guys do whatever they want. They are less effective as pitchers and I have a hard time believing from my personal experience that they aren't more at risk for injury. Ultimately every pitcher's career depends on health and the ability to throw strikes but for no reason other than fear of being blamed for causing an injury they won't change mechanics? I can appreciate the different nuances of the angles from either side of the rubber and all that goes with it. However I take this extremely personally, I was one of those kids... my arm hurt from the first day of baseball until the season was over, whether I pitched or not, and I threw harder as sophomore than I did as senior. My dad was a college baseball player, but a 3B, he like many people in baseball didn't know any better and while he taught my brother and I how to a hold ball to throw a certain kind of pitch, he couldn't teach us how to throw. My brother actually needed shoulder surgery after his sophomore baseball season but tried to gut through and didn't have surgery until months later, and he never pitched again. It wasn't until I started studying proper football mechanics and changed my own throwing motion that my problems went away. I firmly believe there is a proper way to throw a ball, I fixed myself and I have worked with and got positive results out of too many athletes to believe otherwise. Maybe that's why they are so few shoulder problems in football that aren't impact related and no TJ surgeries even though QBs throw a much heavier ball up to 70 times per day every day. Not to mention a football follow through is essentially throwing a screw ball which baseball people believes ruins arms.

Sounds Fall Flat In Finale, 12-3 Nashville's Sean Halton Goes 2-for-3 With 2 RBIs Nashville Sounds ASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds were unable to complete a four-game sweep of the Iowa Cubs in Monday afternoon's finale, losing to the visiting I-Cubs by a 12-3 final. Trailing all game, the Sounds battled back to within two runs of Iowa in the eighth inning, but a seven-run outpouring from Cubs' hitters in the ninth sealed Nashville's fate. Sounds right-handed pitcher Mike Fiers (5-1) entered the game on a streak of five consecutive quality-start victories, but had an uncharacteristic outing, allowing the I-Cubs five runs on six hits over five innings of work. Shortstop Chris Valaika touched Fiers for a wind-aided home run in the first inning to score three for Iowa, while outfielder Josh Vitters followed in the third inning with a two-run homer. Fiers, the Pacific Coast League's strikeout leader, fanned four Cubs in the contest and walked two. He was charged the loss, his first, while Iowa's Dallas Beeler (1-0) recorded the win, holding Nashville batters to one run on six hits over six innings. Outfielder Sean Halton, 2-for-3, drove in two of Nashville's three runs with an infield single in the fourth and sacrifice-fly in the eighth. Over the last two games, Halton is hitting .714 (5-for-7) with four RBIs. Jeremy Hermida's RBI-double scored Hunter Morris, who finished with a pair of doubles, and made it a 5-3 ballgame before the big ninth inning, which saw the I-Cubs bat around for seven runs on seven hits. Reliever Kyle Heckathorn, who had worked an effective 1-2-3 eighth inning, allowed six consecutive hits to begin the frame and was charged with six runs. Dustin Molleken took over to finish the inning, but not before allowing a run of his own. Brett Jackson recorded Iowa's sixth run of the ballgame leading off the ninth inning with a solo home run and returned to the plate later in the frame to drive in the team's final run on a groundout. Iowa's 12 runs are the most allowed in a single game by Sounds pitchers this season and the seven runs in the ninth are the most allowed in a single inning. Today's outing marks only the second time this season that Sounds pitchers have allowed multiple home runs. Reliever Jeremy Jeffress logged two scoreless innings for Nashville. The Sounds begin their third road trip of the season on Tuesday as the team heads to Colorado Springs for a four-game set with the Sky Sox (AAA-Rockies). Right-handed pitcher Alfredo Figaro (0-0, 3.21) will make the start for Nashville, opposite Colorado Springs' lefty Yohan Flande (0-5, 5.73). Broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore Mike Fiers came back to earth, at least for a day. Jeremy Jeffress made quick work of the I-Cubs in the 7th, Jeff didn't even have time to finish his story. Kyle Heckathorn... well ya, it was awful, his ERA is now over 10. Somehow his 2.38 WHIP isn't the worst on the team, that distinction belongs to Michael Blazek and his 2.41. Yes both guys have WHIPs that look more like a decent K/BB ratio. Hunter Morris hasn't taken a walk in 8 games. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

This will be an interesting summer from an international standpoint, do the Brewers land a premier player for the first time? How do last year's 2 big signings perform in the DSL? I don't have any issues with what was written or the ultimate result of the list, many of us around the minor league side of the Brewers have been saying the same things for a long time.

Minor League Roundup: Victor Victorious

Fixing mechanics doesn't have anything to do with velocity loss, proper mechanics leads to picking up gains in velocity or better location on pitches. I've never seen a QB or pitcher actually throw harder by doing things wrong, it's not physically possible, as in physics meaning the application of force. The Brewers have had some pitchers whom they had dial back their velocity in an attempt to throw more strikes, but that's not a mechanical change. The Brewers simply aren't adept at identifying pitchers who truly have fastball projection left. They've also drafted arms with plenty of mileage already on them who tend to break down. One problem we have is that we really don't how these guys were handled through high school, we can look at their college innings, but nothing prior. Some guys like Arnett were abused as soon as they caught fire going 130 pitches in big games, it might have have been too much too soon for guys like that. If you take a pitcher like Jungmann who relied mostly on his 4 seam FB in college and now is a 2 seam guy, his velocity would have appeared to drop, when he's actually throwing a different pitch. His 2 seamer sat 88-92 when I saw him in college and he didn't locate the pitch well, it still sits 88-92 and his location can be suspect at times... he's made improvement, but it is essentially the same pitch. However people read his pre-draft scouting report saying he's hit 97 in the past and wonder where the velocity went. There was a fluff piece about him from fangraphs a couple of weeks ago and the author didn't even note he was actually throwing a different pitch. Gallardo had some insane pitch counts in high school which were covered by BA at the time and made his draft scouting report, he still picked up a little bit of velocity as a professional eventually topping out at 95, but his arm was quickly fading there for a while. Gallardo is more the outlier in the Brewer organization, a young pitcher who actually picked up velocity, but other organizations seem to do pretty well identifying projectable talent. The Giants in particular are very good at identifying and developing HS kids which add velocity. I just don't think the Brewers are good identifying pitchers to start with, they haven't had much success regardless if they are targeting college or HS players.

Have you even watched Banda pitch? Having seen him pitch on multiple occasions he's nothing special, the only velocity from Mehring was 90 mph during the broadcast of his last game which matches his scouting report: Hear is Johnson's scouting report prior to last year's draft: As to Suter, MH added his audio interviews to a LR late last month. By Suter's own admission via the audio his FB sits in the mid to upper 80s. None of those guys have the ceiling of Wang, none. They have may have higher floors but that doesn't make them better prospects nor should their status impact any other left handed pitcher. It's nice for guys who don't have knock out stuff to be successful in the low minors, at least in Suter's and Johnson's case, but the sheer number of those players who have flamed out makes it hard to predict that any pitcher with below average FB velocity is going to be the next guy to buck the odds and make an impact. Wang may have already accrued more service time than those 3 pitchers combined, however this thread shouldn't even be about Wang except for the fact that you won't let it go for whatever reason. To answer the original question Suter projects as bullpen arm, he hasn't made the Brewers' top 30 prospects since he's been in the system. Yesterday's Link Report had 491 views, most of the conversation on the minor league forum takes place in the designated threads and the majority happens in the LR posts for each day. There is plenty of activity on the MiLB forum.

Cubs' Pena nearly flawless in walk-off win Right-hander allows one hit over six scoreless innings for Daytona

Cardinals' Gonzales tearing through FSL Left-hander utilizes ground game in eight-inning gem for Palm Beach

Sounds Extend Win Streak To Six On Sunday Afternoon Falu, Green Homer For First-Place Nashville In 5-1 Victory Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/7/6/74322376/cuts/halton_MPS4299_4pbi9w1j_lkc9p6yu.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Sean Halton went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Taylor Green and Irving Falu each homered to lead the Nashville Sounds to their sixth straight win, a 5-1 victory over the Iowa Cubs on Sunday afternoon at Greer Stadium. The first-place Sounds (18-12) have won nine of their last 10 games and improved to 10-4 in home contests this season with the triumph. Ariel Pena (1-2) picked up his first Triple-A victory with his first quality start of the year. The Nashville right-hander held the I-Cubs to one run on four hits in his season-high six innings of work, striking out six batters with no walks during his 98-pitch effort. Pena's outing continued the recent string of outstanding efforts by Nashville starting pitchers. In the past six games, Sounds starters have allowed only three earned runs in 34 innings, a 0.79 ERA. The Sounds got out to an early 1-0 with a first-inning score against Iowa starter Eric Jokisch. Pete Orr led off the frame with a single to left, stole second, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on Sean Halton's two-out RBI knock to center. Pena opened the game with four innings of scoreless, one-hit ball before Josh Vitters knotted the contest at 1-1 with a leadoff solo homer in the fifth, the outfielder's third big fly of the year. Green quickly propelled the Sounds back in front, belting an opposite-field solo homer to left off Jokisch to lead off the home half of the fifth. The longball, his third of the year, spotted Nashville a 2-1 advantage and ended a 56-inning home run drought for Sounds batters. The Sounds extended the lead to 4-1 later in the frame when Elian Herrera (2-for-4) and Eugenio Velez, who had both singled, scored when Halton reached on an infield single to third and Christian Villanueva misfired to first on the play. Jokisch (2-2) took the loss despite authoring a quality start of his own for Iowa. He gave up three earned runs on nine hits over his six frames of action. Falu, who replaced Green as part of a double-switch, extended the Sounds' lead to 5-1 in the seventh when he led off a solo homer to left off Jeff Antigua, the infielder's first roundtripper of the season. Falu has reached base safely in each of his last 15 contests, batting .353 (18-for-51) over that stretch. The Nashville bullpen did its job in closing out the victory. Eric Marzec and Kyle Heckathorn each followed Pena with a scoreless inning of relief work before Michael Blazek blanked Iowa in the ninth. The Sounds will look to complete their first series sweep of the year on Monday afternoon when the teams wrap up the series with a 12:05 p.m. finale at Greer. Red -hot right-hander Mike Fiers (5-0, 0.80) will make the start for the Sounds to face an unannounced Iowa hurler. Nashville Boxscore Eric Marzec's 2014 AAA debut was successful allowing 1 hit and 1 walk against 1 strike out in his scoreless inning. I really like today's version of Ariel Pena, he threw 64 of those 98 pitches for strikes. Taylor Green was removed again today, this time it was double switch. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Rattlers jump to big lead, cruise to 10-3 win over Clinton Denson collects three hits, drives in three to lead the offense By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have been looking for fast starts to games for the last few weeks. They found one on Sunday and defeated the Clinton LumberKings 10-3 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. David Denson paced Wisconsin's 12-hit attack with three hits and three RBI. The Timber Rattlers did something on Sunday that they did not do in the first six games of their homestand. They scored first...and on Sunday, the Rattlers scored often. Wisconsin scored six times in the bottom of the first inning to take the early lead. Michael Ratterree started the rally with a one out single. Jose Pena doubled to left to get Ratterree home. Taylor Brennan drew a walk and David Denson singled to center to score Pena. Chris McFarland was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Clinton starter Rigoberto Garcia got the second out of the inning on a force play at the plate, but he would not get the third out. Francisco Castillo singled to drive two runs across the plate and drive Garcia out of the game with Wisconsin leading 4-0. Angel Ortega greeted reliever Aaron Brooks to the game with another two-run single and the Rattlers were up 6-0. Denson delivered a two-out RBI single to drive in Ratterree in the bottom of the second inning to push the Rattlers advantage. Clinton chipped away with single runs in the third and fourth innings off Rattlers starting pitcher Tristan Archer. Joe DeCarlo drew a bases loaded walk with two outs in the third. Ian Miller drove in Zach Shank with a groundout in the fourth. Brennan gave the Rattlers another run with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. The LumberKings got to Archer one last time. In the fifth, Burt Reynolds doubled with one out and scored on a single by DeCarlo. Archer tossed five innings and turned the lead over to Trevor Seidenberger. On Saturday, Wisconsin could not maintain a 12-4 lead and lost 16-13 to the LumberKings. There would be no issues on Sunday. Seidenberger worked three scoreless and struck out three. Denson added to his RBI total in the bottom of the sixth. Brennan drew a walk to start the inning. Then, Denson smacked a line drive off the 405' sign in deep right-center field for an RBI triple. McFarland drove in Denson with a sacrifice fly to put the Rattlers up 10-3. Chris Razo recorded the final three outs to close out the game. Wisconsin wrapped up their seven-game homestand with a 3-4 record. The Timber Rattlers begin a brief three-game road trip on Monday in Kane County. Anthony Banda (1-3, 3.13) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Tyler Skiluna (1-0, 3.81) is set to start for the Cougars. Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the pregame show at 6:10pm. The Rattlers return home on Thursday, May 8 to host the Cedar Rapids Kernels. WP: Tristan Archer (1-1) LP: Rigoberto Garcia (0-1) Post game interviews with Denson and Erickson, some pretty sweet pictures of Neda's bat shattering, and of course the video highlights. Postgame Post – May 4, 2014 TIME: 3:04 ATTN: 3,691 Wisconsin Boxscore So I had this great idea while listening to the broadcast of detailing David Denson's first month, actually it was after he extended his hit streak to 5 games with the single in the first. However everyone beat me to it before I could get back home to my laptop and type up this post so I'll abbreviate it some. Denson was sitting below .111, I want to say he bottomed at .106, but he has climbed all the way back up to .235. He's had a good approach all year, he looked like he belonged from the start, it was only a matter of time. He has hits in 8 of his last 10 games. Michael Ratterree also has a modest 5 game hit streak, collecting single tallies in each of the last 5 games and not to be outdone Jose Pena has also been very hot over the last 5 games collecting 8 hits in that span. Trevor Seidenberger only has 6 appearances on the season but he's been better in the longer outings than he has in the short and was excellent today. Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

Baseball America Prospect Report (May 4) May 4, 2014 by Staff Report

All-Prospect Team: April Edition May 4, 2014 by Matt Eddy

Red-hot Bryant does it again for Smokies Cubs' No. 2 prospect slugs sixth homer in first career four-hit game

Sounds Defeat I-Cubs For Fifth Straight Win Nashville Takes Sole Possession Of First Place For First Time Since April 2011 Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/5/6/74238756/cuts/Lowe_50314_32dbuiaw_lvme4fv6.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The red-hot Nashville Sounds sent a season-high crowd of 8,011 fans home happy on Saturday evening at Greer Stadium by recording their fifth straight victory, a 3-1 triumph over the Iowa Cubs. The win combined with a Round Rock loss to New Orleans gave Nashville (17-12) sole possession of first place in its division for the first time since April 17, 2011. The Sounds have won eight of their last nine games. Nashville starter Johnnie Lowe turned in a solid start for the Sounds, continuing the club's recent outstanding work in that department. The right-hander held Iowa to one hit over four scoreless innings of work and struck out six batters during his 63-pitch outing. Sounds starting pitchers have posted a collective 0.64 ERA (2er/28.0ip) in the last six games, blanking the opposition in five of those six contests. The Sounds took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Elian Herrera legged out an infield single and later scored on a wild pitch uncorked by Iowa starter Kyle Hendricks (3-2), who took the loss. Nashville extended its lead to 3-0 in the sixth on an RBI single from Hunter Morris followed by Jeremy Hermida's run-scoring double off the left-center wall. Brent Leach (2-0) followed Lowe with three scoreless innings of relief to pick up the victory. The southpaw allowed one hit and struck out four batters. Iowa got on the board in the top of the eighth against Jeremy Jeffress, pulling within 3-1 and leaving a pair of runners in scoring position in the frame. The Nashville right-hander issued consecutive one-out walks before Lars Anderson delivered an RBI single to left to break up the Sounds' shutout bid. After a wild pitch put runners on second and third with one out, Jeffress escaped the jam by striking out Logan Watkins before inducing an inning-ending groundout from Arismendy Alcantara. Dustin Molleken retired the Cubs in order in the ninth to close out the victory and notch his first save of the year. The teams continue the series with a 2:05 p.m. matinee on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Ariel Pena (0-2, 5.29) will man the bump for the Sounds to face Iowa left-hander Eric Jokisch (2-1, 3.48) Nashville Boxscore With Gindl, Schafer, and Wooten up with the big club and Burgos on the DL it's thin pickens from a prospect perspective around this team right now. Nashville managed just 6 hits and Hermida's double was the only extra base hit. I hadn't really followed Jeremy Jeffress' post Brewer career all that much, just peaking in on his peripherals from time to time, he had actually gotten his BB rate down under 4 for a couple of years but right now he's up over 10, it will be interesting to see if that quickly normalizes to where he sat the last couple of years or it will be a problem like it was tonight. Cubs uber prospect Javier Baez has always been knocked for his plate discipline and holes in his swing, and it took until AAA for him to get really get exposed, but the pitchers with greater pitchability at this level are humbling him mightily. He was 0-4 tonight with 3 SOs and his AVE is sitting at a measly .154 with a .573 OPS. To add insult to injury his defense at SS isn't progressing and it's still looking like he'll ultimately end up at 3B. He had a dugout incident with a teammate earlier in the season and coupled with his offensive and defensive struggles it's been a miserable campaign for him. In fact Arismendy Alcantara who I think is the Cubs next SS has a .780 OPS, he's playing 2B only because Baez bumped him off SS as he was flying through the system. Baez had out OPS'd Alcantara by at least 100 points at every level thus far, it wouldn't shock me to see Baez get demoted if he doesn't turn things around by the end of May. The Cubs have time, they aren't playing for anything this year so they don't really have any reason to be aggressive if he's not being successful. Nashville Recap Taylor Green exited the game in the 6th, he had struck out in the 5th but didn't hadn't made a defensive play since Vitter's ground out to end the 4th. Sean Halton obviously wasn't go to play 3rd but Zac Rosscup is a lefty so maybe it was just a platoon advantage situation? Nashville Bottom of the 6th Pete Orr singles on a ground ball to center fielder Logan Watkins. Elian Herrera grounds into a force out, first baseman Chris Valaika to shortstop Javier Baez. Pete Orr out at 2nd. Elian Herrera to 1st. With Eugenio Velez batting, Elian Herrera steals (3) 2nd base. Eugenio Velez walks. Hunter Morris singles on a line drive to right fielder Brett Jackson. Elian Herrera scores. Eugenio Velez to 3rd. Pitching Change: Zac Rosscup replaces Kyle Hendricks, batting 9th. Jeremy Hermida doubles (4) on a line drive to left fielder Josh Vitters. Eugenio Velez scores. Hunter Morris to 3rd. Robinzon Diaz flies out to right fielder Brett Jackson. Zac Rosscup intentionally walks Irving Falu. Offensive Substitution: Pinch-hitter Sean Halton replaces Taylor Green. Sean Halton strikes out swinging. Iowa Top of the 7th Defensive switch from shortstop to third base for Irving Falu. Defensive Substitution: Hector Gomez replaces Sean Halton, batting 8th, playing shortstop. Javier Baez strikes out swinging. Chris Valaika grounds out, third baseman Irving Falu to first baseman Hunter Morris. Josh Vitters pops out to first baseman Hunter Morris in foul territory. Nashville Gameday

LumberKings outslug Rattlers 16-13 Clinton scores five in ninth inning to rally from 12-4 deficit for the win By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had a 12-4 lead over the Clinton LumberKings after scoring seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on Saturday at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Clinton closed the gap with a run in the sixth and six in the seventh and finished off the Rattlers with five runs in the ninth inning. Austin Wilson drove in six runs for the LumberKings in their 16-13 win. Clinton (14-13) scored twice on three hits in the first inning. Ian Miller started the game with a single and stole second. Zach Shank, he second batter of the inning, singled to put runners on the corners. Jack Reinheimer followed with a single to drive in Miller and send Shank around to third base. Reinheimer stole second with Wilson at the plate. Then, Wilson knocked in Shank with a grounder to short. Wisconsin's opponents have scored first in the first six games of this seven game homestand. The Rattlers (12-16) answered in the bottom of the first by scoring a run without a hit. Clinton starting pitcher Edwin Diaz walked the first two batters of the inning. Omar Garcia started the inning and drew the first walk. He stole second and third. Michael Ratterree drew a walk and stole second. The throw to get Ratterree sailed into center and Garcia scored. Clinton added to their lead in the top of the second inning on an RBI single by Lonnie Kauppila. Wisconsin staged a two out rally in the bottom of the third inning. Garcia walked to lead off the inning, stole second, and stole third. He was still there with two outs. Taylor Brennan singled to drive him in and the Rattlers were down 3-2. David Denson would single and Chris McFarland came to the plate. McFarland launched a home run, his fourth of the season, to left. The three-run blast gave the Rattlers a 5-3 lead. Wilson cut into Wisconsin's lead in the top of the fifth with a sacrifice fly against Wisconsin starting pitcher Barrett Astin. Leoncio Munoz, Clinton's second pitcher, walked the first two Timber Rattlers batters he faced in the bottom of the fifth. Both Ratterree and Clint Coulter took their walks, but were still at first and second with two outs. The Rattler bats woke up to plate seven runs in the inning. McFarland singled to drive in Ratterree. Jose Pena doubled and that got Coulter and McFarland across the pay station. Steve Halcomb kept the inning going with a walk. Angel Ortega singled and that got Pena home. Garcia doubled to score Halcomb and knock Munoz out of the game with the Rattlers up 10-4. Ratterree, in his second plate appearance of the inning, greeted reliever Blake Holovach with a two-run double off the wall in right field. That capped the scoring in the inning and the Rattlers were up 12-4. Tyler Linehan entered the game in the top of the sixth inning and gave up a leadoff triple to Burt Reynolds. Christian Carmichael drove in Reynolds with a grounder to short. The Rattlers still led 12-5 after the sixth inning. The LumberKings sent eleven men to the plate in the top of the seventh inning to make the score 12-11. Shank walked to start the comeback. Reinheimer singled. Wilson doubled to drive in both runners. Tyler O'Neill singled and Wilson scored. Later in the inning, O'Neill scored on a grounder to third. The Rattlers lead was just 12-8, but the LumberKings had two outs and none on after O'Neill scored. But, Carmichael singled, Kauppila walked, and Miller singled to drive in Carmichael. That hit drove Linehan out of the game and the Rattlers lead was down to 12-9. Harvey Martin took over for Linehan, but gave up an RBI single to Shank that scored Kauppila. Martin got the final out of the frame to keep the Rattlers up by a run. Wisconsin added a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Halcomb was on third and Garcia was on first with one out. Ratterree drove a foul popup down the right field line. Shank, the second baseman, made the catch with his back to the plate. Halcomb tagged and scored for a 13-11 edge. Martin tossed a 1-2-3 top of the eighth and retired the first two batters he faced in the top of the ninth. Kauppila, the #9 hitter in the Clinton lineup, started another two out rally when he singled up the middle on a 2-2 pitch. Miller also singled. Shank, who is 6-for-8 and has been on base nine times in the first two games of this series, drove in Kauppila with a single. That cut Wisconsin's lead to one run with runners on the corners and two outs. Reinheimer hit a slicing fly ball down the right field line and it stayed fair. The ball bounced off the wall in the corner for a two-run triple and the LumberKings led 14-13. Reinheimer is 7-for-11 in the first two games of the series. Wilson put an exclamation point on the inning by lining a home run down the line in left. His two-run shot made the score 16-14. Rafael Pineda, Clinton's fourth pitcher of the afternoon, worked a scoreless eighth. He allowed a leadoff single to Pena in the bottom of the ninth, but Wisconsin could not rally. Pineda was the only pitcher for either team to not allow a run on Saturday afternoon. The teams combined for 34 hits in the game. Clinton collected 21 while the Rattlers had 13. McFarland led the way for the Rattlers as he was 3-for-5 with four RBI and a couple of runs scored. The final game of series - and Wisconsin's homestand - is Sunday afternoon. The Timber Rattlers send Tristan Archer (0-1, 1.93) to the mound as their starting pitcher. The LumberKings have named Rigoberto Garcia as their starting pitcher. Garcia will be making his 2014 debut tomorrow. Game time is 1:05pm. Fans may play catch on the field from noon to 12:30pm on Sunday courtesy of Rasmussen College. It's Brewers Sunday from the Rattlers and 107.5, The Fan. Wisconsin players and coaches will wear their Brewer-themed Sunday jerseys and Milwaukee legend Gorman Thomas will make a personal appearance at the ballpark. There are a limited number of VIP Packages (box seat ticket, a pregame meet & greet with Thomas, and one guaranteed autograph) for $35 from the Timber Rattlers. Thomas will also throw out a ceremonial first pitch and sign for fans on the third base concourse near the Festival Grill until the fifth inning. Please see this link to read the autograph guidelines for the Gorman Thomas appearance. All Timber Rattlers players will be available for a postgame autograph session on this busy Sunday afternoon. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, the radio broadcast can be heard on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the pregame show at 12:45pm. Sunday's game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV. HOME RUNS: CLN: Austin Wilson (3rd, 1 on in 9th inning off Harvey Martin, 2 out) WIS: Chris McFarland (4th, 2 on in 3rd inning off Edwin Diaz, 2 out) WP: Rafael Pineda (2-2) LP: Harvey Martin (2-2) TIME: 3:22 ATTN: 3,249 Chris' postgame includes some nuggets he talked about during the broadcast and tweeted, postgame interviews with McFarland, Garcia, and Erickson, photos, and what should have been an excellent highlight package. Postgame Post – May 3, 2014 Wisconsin Boxscore The pitching was awful, that's about it. I'm not sure what it is about these Saturday games but that's 2 in a row now that the Rattlers should have won but lost late. Omar Garcia (2-3,2B,2 BB), Chris McFarland (3-5,HR), Jose Pena (2-5,2B), and Steven Halcomb (2-4,BB) had the multi-hit games for the T-Rats. Wisconsin Recap With the extremely poor pitching on both sides there are very few 1-2-3 half innings. Wisconsin Gameday