TheCrew07

Rattlers Slay Dragons 16-5 Wisconsin collects season-high 19 hits for second straight victory By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Devin's Williams' strike out rate is exactly the same as last year, holding steady at 9, and the hit rate has improved. The walks however have been an issue. His rate per 9 was 3.6 last year, and is currently 4.33 after 54 innings which is why he's still giving up more runs than he should. What a hit parade this game was with 7 of 9 Rattlers recording multi hit games. Alan Sharkey who's hit far below his talent level all season now has 2 multi hit efforts in a row. Mitch Ghelfi's offensive output so far this month is bordering on the ridiculous, he's currently hitting .478 in July. Mat Gamel's hit streak wasn't as impressive as this has been. The only thing he doesn't do is hit for enough power to be a prototypical 1B, I just don't see him being even an average MLB catcher. This streak has just been so unexpected and so prolific that I'm completely caught off guard, and if he continues to hit at even a reasonable place like prior, I'm not sure where to slot him long-term. I could see the Brewers trading him like Eric Fryer to capitalize on his season and pickup another piece. Wisconsin Recap If the game story wasn't fun enough for you, there's plenty of action here in the recap that wasn't covered in the story.

Shuckers blanked by Barons, 6-0 on Sunday The loss forces the series' rubber match on Monday night Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/4/6/190237946/cuts/2Q5A2013_59t1ax4u_ulff7qer.JPG Gabriel Noriega collected both of Biloxi's hits on Sunday night at MGM Park. (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore This team is in such an awful funk since the break, and there's not really good enough pitching to put an end to it right now. The pitching gave up 3 less runs than last night but the hitters somehow managed to put just 2 hits on the board. Biloxi Recap

Barons stop winning streak at three with 9-1 setback Saturday Javier Betancourt stretched his hitting streak to nine in the loss Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/0/0/190062800/cuts/2Q5A2044_68u7vsge_vkrvet5m.JPG Javier Betancourt had one of Biloxi's three hits and stretched his hitting streak to nine games. (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore Wei-Chung Wang and Tyler Spurlin struggled here allowing all 9 runs in just 5.1 IP between them. The Shuckers were held to just 3 hits by a relatively unimpressive trio of opposing pitchers, just a disappointing effort all the way around. Biloxi Recap

Rattlers Rally Late to Beat Dragons 5-3 Wisconsin score three runs in the eighth for win at Dayton By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Zack Brown was alright in his Rattler debut, his 3 runs came off of a HR and a 3B. Corbin Burnes gave up 5 hits in his 4 scoreless innings but also had 4 strike outs. Mitch Ghelfi (3-5,3B), Isan Diaz (3-5), Max McDowell (2-3,2B,BB), and Alan Sharkey (2-4) all had multi hit games. I'm out of superlatives when it comes to Ghelfi, I'll just point out that he has multi hit games in 8 of his 10... once again that's multi hit games, not just "a" hit. Wisconsin Recap

Wisconsin Falls 4-3 in 13 Innings on Walkoff Wild Pitch Bowling Green sweeps three-game series from Rattlers By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore A walk off wild pitch... this team has been frustrating of late. Well I'll say this for the organization, they certainly are committed to Jake Drossner as he continues to get starts, many more than I would have given him. His raw stuff is better than his results would suggest so he's likely a reliever down the road if he sticks. I'd like for Miguel Diaz to find his groove again and it was nice to see Scott Grist bounce back from the walk off homer he allowed earlier in the week. Despite playing 13 innings only 3 Rattlers had multi hit games; Troy Stokes (2-5,2B,BB), Mitch Ghelfi (2-6), and Carlos Belonis (2-5,2B). Wisconsin Recap

Shuckers give manager his Mike Guerrero 1,000th win with 3-2 walk-off over Barons Guerrero has a 1,000-869 record over 13 seasons as a manager Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/5/4/189722054/cuts/Mike4_hmq3zmq3_vhs26kku.jpg Mike Guerrero celebrated with his team after the recording his 1,000 managerial win on Thursday. (Brian Pearse) Biloxi Boxscore Angel Ventura gave up too many hits but otherwise pitched pretty well. 3 relievers combined to pitch the final 4 innings allowing 1 run, Junior Rincon finally gave up a run but has been outstanding across his 6 appearances for Biloxi. Chris McFarland has had a really tough year, through 63 games and 191 ABs he's only hitting .180 on the season. The rest of the offense did very well putting up 10 hits and 4 players had multi hit games which will be covered in the game story. Finally, Pokemon Go cannot go away fast enough, even Conan is talking about it as I type this. Biloxi Recap

Hot Rods hold off Rattlers at the Finish Line Bowling Green beats Wisconsin 3-1 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Well Jordan Yamamoto didn't do well, but the bullpen was very good. Mitch "Freaking" Ghelfi (2-4) was 2/3 of the Rattlers hit total in the game, not a very good effort from the offense tonight. Wisconsin Recap

I thought it was genius actually, but military history is one of my hobbies. As to Starcraft, well we're all dating ourselves but before Command and Conquer the Warcraft/Starcraft series were the best RTS games around. Even after C&C you couldn't beat the cut scenes from the Blizzard products... lots of LAN parties with my buddies playing various RTS games and Quake in my early 20s when I was still in MN.

This seems to be common theme among the more high profile arms in the system, off the top of my head Ventura is probably the only guy who'd I'd project to have average MLB control based on what I've seen and read (I've never actually watched Woodruff pitch). It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out over time. It sure would be nice if some of those guys like Hader and Diplan ascended towards above average control over time, but the Brewers seem to have limited success in that regard. Peralta found just enough control to give people hope he could be more than a #3 and then lost it... Jungmann got hitters to chase enough he could work out of the zone for a time there, but hasn't worked this season. I know I've said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but I've gotten to the point where I'd like to sacrifice some FB velocity for control. I don't need a 98-99 MPH FB, I'm happy with 2nd tier guys in that 93-95 range who still have stuff but can hit spots. Give me a rotation of #2s and I'd be thrilled. There are some organizations that have had great success with flame throwing control projects, but the Brewers just haven't gotten there yet. I still believe in building the rotation first because pitching is king, I do realize it's the harder path, and of course the Brewers have been making an effort to stockpile young pitching. I just wish they were stockpiling pitchers in the mold I'm looking for, not just in trades, but through the draft as well.

I have no clue what this even means. I take it it's a good thing. I shudder to think of what's not being taught in history these days... Isoroku Yamamoto was the Japanese naval commander during WWII. The battleship's name was actually the Yamato, it was an awesome specimen for it's era:

I'm with you now. I never got to see Lucroy play for any extended amount of time prior to his call up so I don't have a basis for comparison. Without of the benefit of getting extended looks at a player then the statistics are sometimes all we have to fall back on, as imperfect as it is. It's pretty easy to quickly spot bad catching, all it takes is about 1 series to get a feel for the player's habits, which is why I like Mitch Ghelfi much more as a 1B than I do as a C. For what it's worth here is BA's scouting summary on his defense from this off season and prior to the trade, which seems to jive with what we are seeing statistically:

In a full AA season as 23 year old Lucroy had 7 errors, 12 passed balls. and 40% CS. In 68 games Nottingham has 12 errors, 17 passed balls, and just a 30% CS.

Bowling Green Beats Rattlers with Three-Run Walkoff Homer Cronenworth hits game-winner in ninth inning By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore I wasn't going to say this but screw it, it's the first thing I thought following this game via gameday on my phone while watching little league baseball tonight and it's the truth, this game was a punch in the nuts. Drake Owenby had backwards peripherals but held the Hot Rods scoreless through 5, Chase Williams followed striking out the side in the 6th and keeping his ERA a sparkling 0.00 through a handful of appearances now. Thomas Jankins had baserunners in every inning and didn't make it through the 9th, unfortunately the usually unflappable Scott Grist allowed the HR which ended the game to the only batter he's faced. I've talked more about Griep this season, but Grist has been nearly as good, just unfortunate for all involved. Mitch Ghelfi (3-4,2B) continues his white hot streak, in fact he's approaching Mitch "Freaking" Ghelfi status. He's pushed his AVE all the way to .311 and is hitting well over .450 in his last 10 games. Sthervin Matos (2-3,HR) had the only other multi hit game as the Rattlers collected just 6 hits, he's hitting .286 over his last 10 games, he didn't get over .100 until 5/27 and was hitting .144 as recently as 6/27. Brandon Diaz continues to strike out at an alarming rate since returning from BC, going 0-3 with 3 SOs, he's had an abysmal season at both levels so far. Wisconsin Recap

Woodruff strikes out 10 in 1-0 win over Wahoos Shuckers head home after win in series finale Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/1/2/189620812/cuts/2Q5A8866_08p2trdz_fksqzgua.JPG Brandon Woodruff matched a season and career-high with 10 strikeouts on Wednesday. (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore So of course I'm excited by such an excellent Brandon Woodruff pitching performance. Check out his player page to see how up and down he's been since coming up to AA, just find some consistency young man! Stephen Kohlscheen found his groove again closing it out and Tristan Archer continues his fine campaign as well. I wasn't into Archer as a starter, but his stats are very impressive as a reliever. Woodruff also had a double, and is batting .400(!) on the season, okay so it's only 10 ABs, but still, he can swing it a little bit. Jacob Nottingham (2-3) might be emerging from his slump with hits in 3 straight games and multi hit efforts in 2 of the 3. As I mentioned earlier this season it's fair to say he's below average defensively, so unless he makes vast improvement behind the plate most of his value is going to come from his bat. Biloxi Recap

No one, I said Joe Fernandez and John Elway did, though there have been many others. Generally I'm in favor of free market economy, but that model doesn't work in professional sports so I have no use for players or agents who try to circumvent the system to get more pay, or choose their draft destination, or whatever other scenario of skirting the rules one can think of. I don't care that he had a predraft deal in place with SD, the whole notion predraft deals is hogwash to start with. He was drafted where he was, his slot is what it is, and I could care less about the team just like I did with the Brady Aiken deal a couple of years ago, it's the principle that bothers me. While you are welcome to your opinion that's far from the truth. I wouldn't do that if I was in his position because I know how the system works and I'm more interested in getting what's fair than the maximum, I'd even consider signing for a couple hundred thousand less for 2 reasons: 1) That extra money could potentially bring a significant contributor to team with me when we hit MLB. 2) Players that don't sign and go back into the draft are hurting themselves long term. Any draft bonus is peanuts compared to a player's first FA contract... if Groome is as good as he thinks he is and is at least a #3 he'll make at least an easy $12-14 million per year in FA, which blows away the extra 800K he's quibbling over now or even best case for him if he was the #1 overall next year (which won't happen) and gets $3 mil more. I have a pretty good idea why long term earning potential is glossed over for short term gratification, but the opportunity cost of not signing easily definable and quantifiable, especially if you get hurt before the next draft like Aiken and Hoffman.

Big innings cost Shuckers in 9-0 loss to Wahoos Tyrone Taylor falls a homer shy of the cycle on Tuesday Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/7/4/189469974/cuts/Taylorthumb4_ieaiewok_9q6cy33m.JPG Tyrone Taylor is batting .338 in the second half after Tuesday's three-hit night at the dish (Mike Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore Positives... Tyrone Taylor stays red hot... and that's it. Biloxi Recap

Buck Rogers, the GM of the Huntsville Stars at the time, dropped an excellent blog post laying it all out there. I'll see if I can dig it up. ***edit*** I didn't find the original blog, but I found my post.

That's a non factor, I could chop 5-7 off of most every MiLB roster, and our AAA team is full of recycled MLB garbage for depth. There is no such thing as having "too much talent"... certainly the Brewers may lose some players to the rule 5 draft not having enough 40 man spots, but I'd much rather have that issue than worry about if we've acquired too much talent. The other side of this is that with the Gilbert Lara signing there will be fewer Latin players jumping up to AZ as signing him kept the Brewers from signing anyone else of note, so the Brewers actually have a need for more players to fill out the state side rosters than they typically would. I don't mean to suggest that signing Lara was a bad thing, but rather that international period was just him and filler, and the filler won't come stateside, so theoretically there will be 2-4 roster slots the next 2 seasons that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

That's all well and good, but the performance has to match in order to have something to be truly exited about. Who's been bagging on Peralta? He's not particularly special in terms of MLB and most everyone is pegging him as a mid to back of the rotation starter, which I believe is fair given his FB/stuff combo.

I really liked Groome the pitcher, but I've grown incredibly weary of players trying to cherry pick their destination, it's one of the reasons I'm not a Jose Fernandez fan... "I'll go to school if I'm not drafted by a FL team". Another example from the NFL would be John Elway who I never liked despite his immense talent. It's too bad that so many great talents are such douches. I still would rather have Groome than Ray, but part of me is also glad that he's not around. For the most part the Brewers have done a wonderful job bringing quality kids/young men into the organization of late. Our LaPorta types have been few and far between, even players like Lawrie who rubbed many here the wrong way on the social media side were very cordial to the fans in person. Granted I see most of them when they are first starting out in WI, but for the most part the players are good people, which makes it much easier to root for them.

Betancourt, Wang help Shuckers to 3-1 win, ending losing streak Wei-Chung Wang tossed his fourth straight quality start on Monday Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/7/0/189338070/cuts/26943600276_b4316b041d_o_hu3bwqzp_pqgcsqit.jpg Javier Betancourt delivered a two-run double in the seventh inning for the Shuckers, providing a 3-1 lead. (Jason Clark) Biloxi Boxscore The Shuckers were outhit managing just 6 hits, didn't play good defense as they committed 2 errors, but they out-pitched Pensacola for the win. Wei-Chung Wang pitched 6 statistically unimpressive yet effective innings, while Brooks Hall, Stephen Peterson, and Tayler Scott combined to pitch 3 scoreless innings including a very eventful 9th. Jacob Nottingham had been hitting .148 over his last 10 games so hopefully his 2-4 effort kick starts his July. Angel Ortega hasn't hit better than .242 in any season, and better than .231 for any full season team, so i'm completely unsure what to make of his 2016 campaign (currently hitting .282 for Biloxi). I'm going to wait and see what he does next year before jumping to the other side of the fence on him. When he was in WI Chris Mehring repeatedly pointed out during game broadcasts that many in the organization thought he was the best defensive SS in the organization. Yes that was former Brewer farmhand Barrett Astin pitching in relief and giving up the game winning hit. Of his 26 appearances this season almost all have been in relief, he does have 5 starts under his belt this season though. Biloxi Recap

Stokes Leads The Way in Wisconsin Win Rattlers beat Peoria 5-3 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/2/6/189281026/cuts/7_11_PlayerOfTheGame_TroyStokes_IMAGE_vs6vt4ua_cskkd0zj.jpg Troy Stokes, Jr. went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBI for the Rattlers on Monday afternoon. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) Wisconsin Boxscore I snuck home for lunch hoping to get a chance to get a good look at Trey Supak but instead saw Wisconsin's bottom of the 3rd. Supak threw 68 pitches but only 39 for strikes which is why he reached his pitch count after 4. He was followed by Devin Williams who isn't throwing enough strikes either, taking 89 pitches to get through his 4 innings himself. I don't believe I've mentioned it but I really like that Time Warner cable is piping in Chris' broadcast with their video, I much prefer Mehring to Bob Brainerd. Once again Troy Stokes (2-3,HR,BB) and Mitch Ghelfi (3-4) led the way offensively, I've been posting essentially the same thing every other day in a different way for a while now. Mitch has multi hit games in 5 of his last 10 games and Stokes in 4 of his last 10. Wisconsin Recap ****** Postgame Post – July 11, 2016 5 interviews for your listening pleasure! ******

I just don't like the hypocrisy inherent in these debates. If it's a business for a player, then it should be a business for the team as well. This isn't on the same level as Melvin screwing JJ Hardy by sending him down to the minors simply to steal another year of service time. The team was playing by the rules, it doesn't effect Davie's service time, and if 24K is that big of a deal it's been pointed out the team can make that up. Was it a necessary move? No I don't think the Brewers are in a position for "every potential win matters", but I do find it interesting that such a sort term event gets 5 pages worth of discussion. As for Boras, he can suck it. I find it irritating that someone with such limited perspective is so good at what they do.

Rattlers Crack Five Homers to Pound Peoria 16-6 Denson has four hits, including two homers, for Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/8/8/189142888/cuts/7_10_PlayerOfTheGame_DavidDenson_IMAGE_rjqmzdph_8giwzzma.jpg David Denson went 4-for-5 with a double, two homers, and three RBI for the Timber Rattlers on Sunday. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) Wisconsin Boxscore If you like offense this was the game for you today! The pitching wasn't great, but it was good enough to get the job done this afternoon. The flaky Miguel Diaz showed up today, he'll just lose it for an inning for whatever reason. Sometimes he gets angry and pitches his way out of adversity, sometimes it snow balls on him. David Denson needed this day in a big way, he's been struggling since teams started playing the exaggerated shift against him, and the opposition won't change until he learns to hit balls where they are pitched. Most teams are pitching him away and he's still roping line drives and ground balls to the pull side for outs. He occasionally will beat the shift with a hard hit ball, but with 3 IFs on that side of the infield it doesn't happen much. Mitch Ghelfi (4-5,2 2B) continues to rake, I've been updating his last 10 games daily for a while now, it's getting ridiculous. Jake Gatewood (2-5,HR), Luis Aviles (2-4,2B,HR), and Sthervin Matos (2-5,HR) added multi hit games of their own. Wisconsin Recap This was fun. Wisconsin Bottom of the 7th Mitch Ghelfi doubles (10) on a ground ball to right fielder Bladimil Franco. Isan Diaz grounds out, second baseman Eliezer Alvarez to first baseman R. J. Dennard. Mitch Ghelfi to 3rd. Jake Gatewood singles on a ground ball to left fielder Carlos Torres. Mitch Ghelfi scores. David Denson homers (8) on a fly ball to left field. Jake Gatewood scores. Luis Aviles walks. Juan Ortiz pops out to third baseman Dylan Becker in foul territory. Alan Sharkey hit by pitch. Luis Aviles to 2nd. Sthervin Matos singles on a line drive to left fielder Carlos Torres. Luis Aviles scores. Alan Sharkey to 2nd. Troy Stokes Jr. singles on a line drive to right fielder Bladimil Franco. Alan Sharkey scores. Sthervin Matos to 3rd. Pitching Change: Steven Gallardo replaces Gerwuins Velazco. Mitch Ghelfi doubles (11) on a line drive to right fielder Bladimil Franco. Sthervin Matos scores. Troy Stokes Jr. to 3rd. Isan Diaz triples (2) on a line drive to center fielder Magneuris Sierra. Troy Stokes Jr. scores. Mitch Ghelfi scores. With Jake Gatewood batting, wild pitch by Steven Gallardo, Isan Diaz scores. Jake Gatewood strikes out swinging. ****** Postgame Post – July 10, 2016 4 interviews, all position player related. ******

Shuckers rally late, but fall in 4-3 walk-off to Wahoos Biloxi pitching sets club-record with 18 strikeouts on Sunday Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/0/6/189177306/cuts/DSC_1110_zupxg83m_j6i6hz5r.jpg Taylor Jungmann set a club record with 12 strikeouts on Sunday afternoon. (Mark P Driscoll) Biloxi Boxscore I'd say good for Taylor Jungmann, but somehow he managed to pitch just 4.2 innings and gave up 3 runs while setting the club strike out record... one of those things isn't like the rest. The reality is that XBHs are killers, no matter how many strike outs you record in a game. He did throw 98 pitches in less than 5 innings, 65 were ultimately strikes. I wonder if his performance will be an MiLB feature because of the strikes outs, I guess we'll find out. This is losing is getting old, it's been a tough week, even today when the bats come alive a bit Stephen Kohlscheen who's been outstanding gives it up, very little has been going right for this squad. Biloxi Recap