TheCrew07

Sounds Blank Omaha In 7-0 Victory Nashville's Nelson and Leach Combine for Two-Hit Shutout Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/0/4/72918404/cuts/Nelson_Jimmy_taken_by_Mike_Strasinger_hq3x2nyu_civva1e5.JPG (MIKE STRASINGER ) PAPILLION, Neb. - The Nashville Sounds dominated the Omaha Storm Chasers Monday night at Werner Park, cruising to a 7-0 victory behind 10 hits and nine spotless innings from pitchers Jimmy Nelson (2-1) and Brent Leach. Nelson was sharp out of the gate, retiring his first seven batters in succession and five via strikeout. The Brewers top prospect looked every bit of it, tossing seven scoreless frames for Nashville and limiting Omaha to two hits. The 24-year-old, who led the Brewers farmhands with 163 strikeouts last season, fanned nine Storm Chasers on the day, one shy of his career-best. He walked only one. Reliever Brent Leach stepped in to deliver a pair spotless innings for Nashville to combine with Nelson for the two-hit shutout, the team's first of the season. Leach faced the minimum and fired three strikeouts of his own. Offensively, the Sounds took off with four runs in the third inning as Eugenio Velez, 2-for-4, started the frame with a leadoff single. Outfielder Caleb Gindl reached base on a fielding error by second baseman Christian Colon, who tried tagging Velez on the base path but dropped the ball instead for no outs. Sean Halton drew a walk, which set the table for catcher Robinzon Diaz's bases-clearing three-run double to the left-field corner. Jeremy Hermida, 2-for-4, pushed Diaz to third with an infield single. Diaz scored on the following ball put in play: a groundout from Hector Gomez. Nashville picked up three more runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by Halton's two-run home run over the right-field wall. The jack is Halton's first of the season and scored Gindl, who reached base on a hit-and-run single that plated Velez from second. First baseman Hunter Morris, 0-for-5, faced the bases loaded three times in the contest, but came up empty each time, ending his season-best hit streak at five games. Collectively the Sounds went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base. Omaha starter John Lamb (0-4) was charged with the loss, surrendering four runs, two earned, on six hits and four walks over 4 1/3 innings of work. The Sounds wrap their four-game series against the Storm Chasers (AAA-Royals) Tuesday at 11:05 a.m. The Sounds will send RHP Hiram Burgos (1-2, 5.79) to the hill opposite the Chasers RHP Sugar Ray Marimon (1-0, 1.00). Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5-FM "The GAME" Nashville Boxscore It would be tough to say anymore about Jimmy Nelson than has already been said in the thread. In addition to the batting lines discussed above Taylor Green had a nice day (1-2,2BB). Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Ben lively of the Reds and MH already linked Jed Bradley in the LR for today. Pitchers of the Week For the week ending April 20

Starlin Rodriguez of the Cards. Offensive Players of the Week For the week ending April 20

BA changed their daily prospect format and instead of just highlighting a couple of a guys in a blog post they cover one or more players from each league each day. I've been going back and forth about linking them because with the quick shots there isn't same amount of information as before. I'm not sure I'll do it on a daily basis, but I thought the Oscar Taveras nugget was worth sharing today Minor League Roundup: Betts Keeps Bashing

Not that possible TJ surgery is good news, but it is nice to see the Brewers jump on a MRI as opposed to the usual wait/rest 2 weeks and re-evaluate of the past.

I'm sorry I just don't get into the "he started it" finger pointing arguments. Players are going to jaw at each other, it happens in every sport, there's simply no justifying what Gomez did. He didn't have to come off the bag, he didn't need to be restrained, he didn't have to throw the first punch... all of those things are completely on him, and in the end he hurts not only himself, but the team. I've said before when discussing Braun's early career HR antics, Morgan a couple of years ago, and now with Gomez that those things don't appeal to me personally, but they don't bother me either. While I'm not going to go out and buy their jerseys I still want them to be productive and successful members of the team I root for. I'm not going to begrudge them being who they are, it's been made pretty clear over the years that many fans like players with those kind of personalities, I can get behind that idea... whatever gives the game meaning to you or rather personalizes the game for you is a good thing. Nor do I care at all about the "unwritten rules" of any sport, I didn't like it Bill Hall would watch a ball hit the wall and barely make into in 2nd for a double either when he could have possibly been standing on 3rd. I just gravitate towards a more "classy" (maybe a poor choice of words but I'm coming up empty) approach, and not in the fake Cardinal classy way either. I just prefer players who hustle and let their play do the talking because they don't leave anything to chance, and that's how I've always approached whatever game I happened to be playing at the time. However it bothers me when players turn simple things like jawing at each other into a scene like Gomez did with the T-Rats a couple of years ago and did again yesterday, it's just completely unnecessary. You aren't more of a man for what happened, you're a putz who hurt your team. So Cole said something... man up and move on, you're standing on 3rd base. I don't see any healthy true emotion or passion in any of what happened at the completion of the play, it was childish and ultimately costly. The end result isn't justified by the means, there's a bit of Star Wars wisdom..."Who's more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him?". Cole being a baby didn't justify Carlos escalating the situation, it was an extreme overreaction.

IL notes: Polanco still has work to do Despite torrid start, Pirates top prospect working on running game

Matt LaPorta? Cripes that's the most obvious one.

I watched it live, then I watched it again when Team Stream put the video up on my phone. I've also watched Gomez do that same stuff to players and coaches in A ball when he was on a rehab assignment. I was embarrassed at the T-Rat game, yea you're playing 4 levels down and took an A ball pitcher deep, act like you've hit a HR before. That's like a high school senior hitting a HR off some 13 year old in Babe Ruth and doing his bat flip/trot afterwards. I was especially embarrassed for him and the organization after the game when he was still jawing at the opposing coaching staff... Carlos just shut up and go take a shower. I'll be the first to admit that Gomez isn't my kind of player, generally I'm not into the "look at me" guys, I prefer players that just quietly go about their about business. The uber personalities like Gomez and T-Plush don't appeal to me on personal level, not just in baseball, but across sports in general. He's my kind of athlete, I love his athleticism, but I think Carlos has serious ego and anger management issues. Today he does his bat flip and watches, then starts his trot and he wasn't to first base when the ball hits the wall (I want to say he was 2-3 steps away), but then he turns it on and is standing on 3rd at the end of the play. I can understand Cole chirping at Gomez for watching a triple, I can even understand Carlos saying something back. What I don't understand is getting kicked out of game and going ballistic because someone from the other team said something to you. He comes off as incredibly thin skinned and while he has a mountain of positive attributes as a baseball player, I could do without that part of his personality. Dude you're on 3rd base, you hit the ball a ton... you won that battle, who cares what someone says about you or to you? Just keep your wits and play the game, you aren't helping the team from the clubhouse. That's not passion, it's stupidity. He seems like he'd be a very easy guy to play mind games with like a Zambrano if you were an opposing player.

If you're working 90-91, you are exactly average, if you work anything below that then well... Furthermore FB velocity is absolutely relative when discussing pitchers. I don't really want to take the time to rehash the stuff vs results debate, if you can get pitchers with average FBs to out pitch their physical talent that's fantastic. However that doesn't mean we should ever get comfortable with that player. Pitchers that work with below average FBs are almost entirely reliant on their command, as such they aren't pitchers you want to bank on long-term. People will look at the ultimate results from someone like that and get excited and make all kinds of statistical arguments why they are better than they are. The, "Yes he's got an average to below average FB but..." type statements, remember the "Capuano is our true ace" thread? When those guys tank, they tank fast, so again moving Estrada doesn't have as much to do with what he is, but rather what he's not. He's not physically talented relative to his peers, he's never pitched more than 139.2 innings in any season in his career, he's over 30, and the team only controls him through 2015. While he's ultimately been successful at the big league level, those factors are going to work against the Brewers in a trade situation because they are obvious flaws. It doesn't really matter why Marco has never had even a 180 inning season when it comes to defining his trade value, if you're the GM on the other end of the phone that's a serious red flag. Those are actually all the same reasons why the Brewers should view him as expendable, even though he's been a good pitcher when he's been healthy. The Brewers should know it, we should know it, and the other teams certainly are going to know it when it comes to discussing his value. Our best case scenario would be he's the best pitcher available at the trade deadline and someone will overpay for him in a bidding war for a playoff push, then we can talk about getting a prospect in that 30-60 range from the top 100. The problem of course is that the Brewers would actually have to be willing to deal him, which I doubt they will. In which case I'd be looking for someone from A, R+, or R with some upside who the scouts liked over the winter, I don't know that he'd draw top 100 interest. If they'd even move him then... worst case the team rides him to FA and tries to get compensation by offering him a QO or actually trying to resign him to a FA contract. The Mets spent all off-season trying to trade Ike Davis to the Pirates for Nick Kingham who was #64 on the most recent 100. I think Kingham will ultimately be a #3, but there's no way I would have traded Kingham for Davis, nor would I trade a prospect like that for someone like Estrada who's yet to pitch a full season in the majors and I only control for 1 year. We're talking a pretty small number of teams who think they are in a window (I know I don't believe in the window philosophy but others do) to compete and are desperate enough for pitching they would make that kind of move. For what it's worth I don't think Gallardo is going to age all that well either unless he learns to attack more through the strike zone, he's always been a nibbler and at some point it's just not going to work for him anymore.

Does anyone else watch this show besides me? I've found that I generally like most of the BBC imports which become regular shows here in the states, and I thought the original British version of The Office was better than it's remade counterpart here in the states. I found the show completely by accident going through the broadcast On-Demand channel on my cable box looking for something to watch. The name of the show grabbed my attention, as did the plot description of the first episode, and after 10 minutes I was hooked. Season 2 just kicked off last night. The Orphan Black website.

Sounds Wild In 7-6 Extra-Innings Loss Nashville's Jeremy Hermida Forces Extras With Three-Run Homer Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/5/3/4/72802534/cuts/Morris_Hunter_taken_by_Mike_Strasinger_9kmeaeo2_8q6sw771.jpg (MIKE STRASINGER) PAPILLION, Neb. - The Nashville Sounds walked 10 batters, beaned two, and chucked three run-scoring wild pitches in Sunday afternoon's 7-6 extra-innings loss to the Omaha Storm Chasers at Werner Park. Trailing by three with two on and two out in the ninth inning, the Sounds got a lift from outfielder Jeremy Hermida, who drove the team's third home run of the game deep over the right-field wall, leveling the score at six runs apiece. But in extras, it was more of the same from Nashville pitchers, who struggled to locate pitches all day. Reliever Michael Blazek (0-2) allowed two singles to begin the bottom of the 10th inning, which put runners on the corners for Omaha. Blazek followed with a wild pitch that hopped to the backstop and gave the Storm Chasers the walk-off victory. The Sounds' pitching staff entered the game with 45 walks on the season, the third-fewest in the Pacific Coast League. Their 10 walks are the most allowed this season, previously offering six to Omaha on April 11. Nashville took the initial lead in the third inning via the bat of outfielder Kevin Mattison, who belted a home run over the right-center field wall. The solo shot gave the Sounds a one-run advantage and Mattison his second home run in three days. The Storm Chasers tied it up in the home half of the third inning with Christian Colon's bases-loaded sacrifice fly. Nashville's Hunter Morris, two-for-four, broke the tie in the fourth inning by blasting a two-run home run over the right-field wall. The homer, Morris' second of the season, scored outfielder Caleb Gindl, two-for-four, who singled through the hole at shortstop to reach base. The three bombs from Mattison, Morris and Hermida gives Nashville its first multi-homer game of the season. The shots also helped extend each batter's heat streaks: five games for Morris, three for Mattison and two for Hermida. Omaha again battled back to tie the game, scoring a run on Jesus Flores' RBI single in the fourth and Matt Fields' sacrifice-fly in the fifth. Tied 3-3 in the seventh inning, Omaha took their first lead of the game courtesy of reliever Dustin Molleken's bases-loaded wild pitch. The 29-year-old Canadian offered a walk, his third in a row, to load the bases again for the Storm Chasers and end his afternoon. Reliever Kyle Heckathorn stepped in to close out the seventh inning, but not before the Chasers picked up their third sacrifice-fly to make it a 5-3 ballgame. Heckathorn loaded the bases in the following inning and, like Molleken and Blazek, tossed a wild pitch to the backstop to score a run for Omaha. Sounds starting pitcher Johnny Hellweg left the game with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth inning. The 6-foot-9 hurler allowed two runs on four hits, five walks, a fielding error and one hit batsmen. Reliever Brent Leach took over in the fourth, allowing one run on two hits over 1 1/3 innings of work. Mattison, one-for-two, left the game in the fifth inning after crashing into the outfield wall trying to snag a fly ball. The Sounds play game three against the Storm Chasers (AAA-Royals) at 6:35 p.m. on Monday night. The Sounds will send RHP Jimmy Nelson (1-1, 2.50) to the hill opposite the Chasers LHP John Lamb (0-3, 5.63). Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5-FM "The GAME". Nashville Boxscore You don't need further analysis from me after reading the game story... what a putrid pitching day... Every pitcher who pitched today has an ERA >= 4.95 after today's action, not good. Hunter Morris' other hit on the day was a double which should push his season OPS up near .800. Really the only thing that's continually weighed him down has been his selectivity at the plate, 50 more points of OBP and his lines look much different at every level. Even in 2012 with a .303 BA and a .920 OPS his OBP was only .357. Nashville Recap Not too many 1-2-3 innings in here, have at it if you are brave enough. Nashville Gameday

Fiers Deals As Sounds Take Opener In Omaha, 5-1 Right-hander Fans Career-High 12 In Third Straight Win Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/2/2/71416022/cuts/Fiers_Mike_taken_by_Mike_Strasinger_9yotegio_vj0c9lq7.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) PAPILLION, Neb. - Mike Fiers fanned a career-high 12 batters during a dominant start to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 5-1 victory over the Omaha Storm Chasers on Saturday evening in the opener of a four-game series at Werner Park. Nashville (8-8) is riding a season-best three-game winning streak and improved to 5-3 against Omaha this year. Six of the Sounds' 10 hits in the contest went for extra bases. Fiers (3-0) retired 14 consecutive batters at one point and allowed one run over eight strong innings to notch his third straight winning start to open the season. He threw 70 of his 104 pitches for strikes and became the first Nashville hurler to fan 12 batters in an outing since Yovani Gallaro struck out 12 Memphis Redbirds on June 21, 2007. The right-hander continued his career dominance over Omaha, improving to 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA (2er/30.0ip) in his five outings against them. The Sounds broke a scoreless deadlock in the top of the fifth inning with a three-run outburst against Omaha starter P.J. Walters. Taylor Green opened the frame with a single and Hector Gomez was hit by a pitch before Kevin Mattison plated the night's first run with a double to right. Red-hot Pete Orr (2-for-5), who is hitting .378 (14-for-37) in his last 10 games, followed with a two-run two-bagger to up the Nashville advantage to 3-0. Omaha finally broke through against Fiers in the bottom of the seventh inning when Paulo Orlando's two-out single brought home Carlos Peguero to make it a 3-1 contest. The run was the first the Storm Chasers scored against the Sounds hurler in his last 20 2/3 innings against them. Nashville closed out its scoring with a pair of ninth-inning runs off Omaha reliever Cory Wade, courtesy of an Irving Falu squeeze bunt and a two-out Sean Halton RBI single. Donovan Hand worked a scoreless ninth for Nashville to wrap up the victory. The teams continue the series with a 2:05 p.m. matinees on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Johnny Hellweg (1-2, 4.96) will make the start for the Sounds to face Omaha right-hander Aaron Brooks (0-0, 5.40). Nashville Boxscore Mike Fiers was brilliant, I know there are people who will disagree but I still think he's an excellent bullpen option for the Brewers long term, I just don't see him as a starting pitcher. Sean Halton (2-5) had the only multi hit game from a prospect, Caleb Gindl (1-4) and Hunter Morris (3-1) had doubles. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Pena delivers big hit to pace Rattlers to win Wisconsin tops Great Lakes 5-2 in series finale By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/8/2/72669882/cuts/Fernandez_April_19_2014_tlukp3u7_hnt3k983.jpg Rodolfo Fernandez pitched two scoreless innings to earn a win in his first Timber Rattlers appearance of 2014 GRAND CHUTE, WI - Jose Pena came through with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and send the Timber Rattlers to a 5-2 victory over the Great Lakes Loons Saturday afternoon. The win allowed the Rattlers to avoid being swept in the three game series at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium The Loons (10-6) scored first on Saturday. Justin Chigbogu singled to left in the second inning and took second when the ball skipped past Omar Garcia for an error. Brandon Trinkwon followed with a double to knock in Chigbogu for a 1-0 lead. That was all the damage allowed by Wisconsin starting pitcher Zach Quintana. The right-hander out of Las Vegas tossed five innings, scattered six hits, walked three, struck out five, and held the Loons to one run. Wisconsin (9-6) struggled early against Great Lakes starter Greg Harris. The Rattlers had one hit and Harris faced just twelve batters through the first four innings. Pena changed that in the fifth. The Wisconsin DH doubled to left to start the inning. David Denson's infield single put runners on the corners. Taylor Brennan was at the plate when Denson broke early for second base on a stolen base attempt. Harris stepped off and had time to throw to second to get Denson, but the throw wound up in centerfield for an error. Pena scored on the bad throw to tie the game. In the sixth, the Rattlers had runners at second and third with two out. Pena came to the plate and smacked a two-run single that gave Wisconsin a 3-1 lead. Denson drew a walk and Brennan followed with a single to drive in Pena for a 4-1 advantage. Pena is getting used to big hits. He drove in a run in the top of the ninth inning at West Michigan on April 10 to break a scoreless tie. Pena also hit a walkoff, three-run home run to beat Lansing on Wednesday night. He ran his RBI total to twelve in his first fourteen games as a Timber Rattler. Ortega gave the Rattlers their final run with a solo homer off Brandon Martinez in the bottom of the seventh. Rodolfo Fernandez made his 2014 debut with the Timber Rattlers with two innings of scoreless relief. Fernandez, who was 4-4- with four saves for Wisconsin in 2013, picked up the victory on Saturday afternoon. Great Lakes did get one more run. A two-out, RBI single by Jacob Scavuzzo in the top of the ninth off Harvey Martin got the Loons to within 5-2. The Rattlers got the final out of the game when Brennan made a diving stop of a grounder at third and threw Kyle Farmer out at first base. The Rattlers ended a pair of streaks with the win. The Loons had their six game winning streak broken by the Rattlers. Wisconsin stopped their own two game losing streak. The Timber Rattlers are off on Easter Sunday. They return to action on Monday night with a game in Burlington, Iowa against the Bees to start a seven-game road trip. Tyler Alexander (1-1, 4.82) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Bees have Elliot Morris (1-1, 6.75) as their scheduled starter. Game time in Burlington is 6:30pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the pregame show at 6:10pm. HOME RUN: WIS: Angel Ortega (1st, 0 on in 7th inning off Brandon Martinez, 0 out) WP: Rodolfo Fernandez (1-0) LP: Greg Harris (1-1) TIME: 2:30 ATTN: 3,541 Chris' postgame contains a pregame interview, additional insights, some nice pictures, and of course the video highlights. Postgame Post – April 19, 2014 Wisconsin Boxscore I'm not sure what to make of Zach Quintana, he's been making steady improvement each season but I have a tough time with his peripheral numbers, like a long list of low strike out pitchers who came before him. Jose Pena (2-3,2B) and Angel Ortega (2-3,HR) had the multi hit games for the T-Rats. Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

Have I mentioned that I really like Tyler Wagner? The two pitchers I was most excited about coming out of WI last year were Wagner and Martin Viramontes.

Batting averages can swing so violently in a week this time of year I'm not concerned, for example Taylor's AVE dropped almost 100 points in a week. If it gets to May and all of these guys are hitting below .250 I'll start to be concerned.

I have my doubts that Freeland makes it to the Brewers pick, he's got 2 plus pitches and maybe the best command of any college pitcher in the draft, he seems like a guy that team will take early if they want a pretty sure thing. I don't mean to suggest he has a low ceiling, I think he's a #2, but I think he definitely has a high floor. I actually think he could move as fast as any of the college pitchers at the top of this draft. edit. I admit I might be a bit biased based on the couple of articles that I read and the fact that he's a lefty and I'm partial to lefties, but obviously based on my long post he's the guy I'd target first.

Interesting that Heyman insists it's a 2013 draft pick, Eye Black might be onto something with his suggestion, Jones is a bit redundant given the athleticism Pittsburgh projects to have in their outfield once they add Polanco. If the Mets still wanted pitching I could see it being Dickson, the Pirates are as short on LHP as we are, so they wouldn't have necessarily wanted to give up one. The Mets would still scout the player whomever it is, amateur and pro player scouting are 2 different departments, teams use pro player scouting to track a player's progress regardless of his amauteur scouting reports..

Draft Tracker: April 18 With the draft less than 50 days away, power arms are moving up draft boards. This week’s installment of Draft Tracker focuses on a pair of tall pitchers and two with ties to Missouri.

Wisconsin lets one slip away against the Loons Great Lakes beats Rattlers 7-6 on five unearned runs in fourth By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/9/8/72604898/cuts/Johnny_Davis_Catch_WEB_lkudhu3v_qicqz78i.jpg Johnny Davis makes a spectacular catch in the third inning of Friday's game against the Great Lakes Loons. (Ann Mollica/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers sent ten men to the plate, collected seven hits, and scored five runs in the first inning on Friday night against the Great Lakes Loons. But, the Rattlers could not hold the lead at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Loons beat the Rattlers 7-6. Great Lakes (10-5) was up 2-0 after the top of the first inning. Malcolm Holland singled and stole second to start the game. Jacob Scavuzzo was next and he doubled to drive in Holland. Later in the inning Brandon Trinkwon drove in Scavuzzo with an RBI grounder. Wisconsin (8-6) responded in a big way in the bottom of the first. Johnny Davis started the inning with an infield single and Omar Garcia followed with a single. Chris McFarland drove in both runners with a double and the game was tied. McFarland took third on a passed ball and scored on an RBI grounder by Clint Coulter. Jose Pena was next and he hit a solo home run to left to make it 4-2 Wisconsin. Wisconsin made it 5-2 when Paul Eshleman scored from second when Trinkwon committed two errors on a grounder to third off the bat of Angel Ortega. Great Lakes rallied to go back in front with help from the Timber Rattlers in the top of the fourth. Webster Rivas reached on an error to start the inning. Jesmuel Valentin followed with a single. One out later Rattlers starter Preston Gainey walked Holland to load the bases. Then, Gainey walked Scavuzzo to force in a run. The Rattlers went to the bullpen and Chris Razo came on for Gainey. Paul Hoenecke lined a pitch right at Paul Eshleman, but the ball deflected off the glove of Wisconsin's first baseman for an error. Two runs scored to tie the game by the time the ball could be recovered. Joey Curletta put the Loons in front with a single. Trinkwon plated the fifth run of the inning on groundout to second. All five runs in the inning were unearned. Coulter drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh inning. He went to second on a wild pitch and took third on a balk. Eshleman drove in Coulter with a two out single and the Rattlers made the score 7-6. In the eighth, Angel Ortega drew a walk and was sacrificed to second base by Johnny Davis. Omar Garcia sent a weak grounder to short and Trinkwon, the third baseman cut the ball off and threw to first for the out. Ortega tried to go to third on the throw, but Hoenecke fired back to third where shortstop Delvis Morales was waiting for the throw to put the tag on Ortega and complete the 5-3-6 double play. The Rattlers had a great opportunity in the ninth inning. McFarland drew a leadoff walk against Jacob Rhame, the fourth Loons pitcher of the night. Rhame threw wildly to first on a pickoff attempt and McFarland raced around to third base with the tying run and no outs. Rhame got Coulter to ground out to third with the infield drawn in on the grass, struck out Pena, and got Taylor Brennan to ground out to end the game. The teams combined to strand twenty (Great Lakes: 11, Wisconsin: 9) runners to go 6-for-35 (GL: 4-for-18, WI: 2-for-17) with runners in scoring position in the game. The Loons have won six straight games. The Rattlers are 1-5 in games decided by one run. The final game of the series with the Loons is Saturday afternoon. Zach Quintana (0-0, 4.00) is scheduled to start for the Rattlers. Great Lakes will counter with Greg Harris (1-0, 4.09). First pitch is scheduled to start at 1:05pm. Saturday is Girl Scout Day. Area Girl Scout troops will be on hand to celebrate the day with a special ticket discount. If you can't make it out to the game, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the pregame show at 12:45pm. Saturday's game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV. HOME RUN: Jose Pena (2nd, 0 on in 1st inning off Luis Chirinos, 1 out) WP: Luis Chirinos (2-1) LP: Preston Gainey (1-1) SAVE: Jacob Rhame (1) TIME: 3:20 ATTN: 735 Wisconsin Boxscore Apparently the gun was only working sporadically during the game, the broadcast crew repeatedly mentioned they were interested in what Preston Gainey was throwing but nothing was showing up on the board. That being said Gainey wasn't sharp at all, he was up in the zone, in trouble all game, and hitting his spots maybe a 3rd of the time at most, many times he was missing by 18 inches or more. Chris Razo also struggled out of the gate, he was up in the zone as well for his 2.2 innings. Between Gainey and Razo struggling and the horrible defense that was played in the 4th, the Rattlers dug a hole they couldn't dig out of. Tyler Spurlin has really good movement on his FB, unfortunately he was also up in the zone quite a bit, but it didn't hurt him tonight during his 3 innings to wrap up the game. Johnny Davis made another great diving catch in the left center pictured above, had another nice running catch on a ball he misjudged and recovered on, and had an OF assist but the MyNew32 camera angles were so poor I couldn't tell what kind of arm he has. That's an awesome picture, great job Ann! The pitch Jose Pena turned on was a thigh high FB just about right down the middle, it was a first pitch and it was just crushed, the OFs only made a courtesy head turn to watch it go. Wisconsin Recap Jumping out in the 1st, I love it! Wisconsin Bottom of the 1st Johnny Davis singles on a ground ball to shortstop Delvis Morales. Omar Garcia singles on a line drive to center fielder Malcolm Holland. Johnny Davis to 2nd. Christopher McFarland doubles (4) on a line drive to left fielder Alex Santana. Johnny Davis scores. Omar Garcia scores. With Clint Coulter batting, passed ball by Webster Rivas, Christopher McFarland to 3rd. Clint Coulter grounds out, shortstop Delvis Morales to first baseman Paul Hoenecke. Christopher McFarland scores. Jose Pena homers (2) on a fly ball to left field. Taylor Smith-Brennan singles on a line drive to left fielder Alex Santana. With Paul Eshleman batting, Taylor Smith-Brennan caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Webster Rivas to second baseman Jesmuel Valentin. Paul Eshleman singles on a line drive to center fielder Malcolm Holland. Rafael Neda singles on a line drive to center fielder Malcolm Holland. Paul Eshleman to 2nd. Angel Ortega reaches on a fielding error by third baseman Brandon Trinkwon. Paul Eshleman scores. Rafael Neda to 3rd. Throwing error by third baseman Brandon Trinkwon. Johnny Davis strikes out swinging. I did not love this. Great Lakes Top of the 4th Webster Rivas reaches on a fielding error by second baseman Christopher McFarland. Jesmuel Valentin singles on a line drive to right fielder Jose Pena. Webster Rivas to 2nd. Delvis Morales flies out to center fielder Johnny Davis. Malcolm Holland walks. Webster Rivas to 3rd. Jesmuel Valentin to 2nd. Jacob Scavuzzo walks. Webster Rivas scores. Jesmuel Valentin to 3rd. Malcolm Holland to 2nd. Pitching Change: Chris Razo replaces Preston Gainey. Paul Hoenecke reaches on a fielding error by first baseman Paul Eshleman. Jesmuel Valentin scores. Malcolm Holland scores. Jacob Scavuzzo to 3rd. Joey Curletta singles on a ground ball to center fielder Johnny Davis. Jacob Scavuzzo scores. Paul Hoenecke to 3rd. Brandon Trinkwon grounds out, second baseman Christopher McFarland to first baseman Paul Eshleman. Paul Hoenecke scores. Joey Curletta to 2nd. Alex Santana pops out to second baseman Christopher McFarland. Wisconsin Gameday

Sounds Slam 'Birds In Series Finale Mattison Blasts 4th Pinch-Hit Grand Slam In Sounds' History Nashville Sounds NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tied 1-1 in the seventh inning, pinch hitter Kevin Mattison helped the Nashville Sounds take down the visiting Memphis Redbirds Friday night at Greer Stadium with his grand slam over the right-field wall, which proved to be the difference in the team's 5-1 victory. Mattison entered the game 2-for-25 on the year and 0-for-3 in pinch-hit situations for the Sounds before making history in Nashville. He becomes the fourth player in the team's 37-year history to hit a pinch-hit grand slam, joining T.J. Staton from 1998, Chance Sanford from 1998 and Brent Brede from 2000. Brede's pinch-hit slammer also came against Memphis at Greer Stadium. Hunter Morris, 2-for-4, singled down the right field line and moved to third on a pair of walks drawn by Irving Falu and Matt Pagnozzi to set the table for Mattison's game-winning homer off reliever Jose Alamarante. Memphis took the initial 1-0 lead over the Sounds with Greg Garcia's home run over the right-centerfield wall, but the Sounds answered with Falu's RBI single in the fifth inning. The hit scored Morris, who rapped his fifth double of the season to lead-off the frame. Pitcher Brad Mills made a spot start for the Sounds, limiting the Redbirds to one run on four hits over 4 2/3 innings of work. He struck out six batters and walked two before reliever Kyle Heckathorn (1-1) took over in the fifth. Heckathorn picked up the win, his first of the year, by holding Memphis to one hit in 2 1/3 innings. Sounds relievers Alfredo Figaro and Michael Blazek followed with one scoreless inning apiece. Memphis reliever Nick Greenwood (0-2) was charged with the losing run and took the loss for the Redbirds. Sounds outfielder Eugenio Velez picked up a single in the seventh inning to extend his hit streak to six. The 31-year-old has hit safely in each of his 11 starts this season. The win in the homestand finale ties Nashville's series with the Redbirds and gives the Sounds the 4-3 homestand victory. The Sounds hit the road Saturday to begin an nine day road trip, beginning with four against the Omaha Storm Chasers (AAA-Royals) before heading to Oklahoma City to take on the RedHawks (AAA-Astros). The Sounds will send RHP Mike Fiers (2-0, 0.71) on Saturday to face the Chasers RHP P.J. Walters (0-1, 5.68). Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5-FM "The GAME". Nashville Boxscore Nashville Recap Figaro gave up 3 consecutive singles in the 8th but it didn't cost the Sounds a run. Memphis Top of the 8th Defensive switch from center field to right field for Caleb Gindl. Pitching Change: Alfredo Figaro replaces Kyle Heckathorn, batting 4th, replacing right fielder Sean Halton. Kevin Mattison remains in the game as the center fielder. Xavier Scruggs grounds out to first baseman Hunter Morris. Pete Kozma grounds out, shortstop Irving Falu to first baseman Hunter Morris. Oscar Taveras singles on a ground ball to second baseman Pete Orr. Audry Perez singles on a ground ball to left fielder Eugenio Velez. Oscar Taveras to 2nd. Jermaine Curtis singles on a ground ball to left fielder Eugenio Velez. Oscar Taveras to 3rd. Audry Perez to 2nd. Greg Garcia lines out to left fielder Eugenio Velez. Nashville Gameday

Usually a PTBNL is one of 2-4 options, which gives the trade partner time to scout and choose the player who best fits their needs, not the previous year's first round pick who can't yet be traded. I can't recall a 1st round draft pick ever being traded the next season, let alone as a PTBNL, would you give up Devin Williams who was a 2nd round pick for Ike Davis? I wouldn't and Williams isn't on the same level yet as any of the players in the Pirate's top 10.

A player cannot be traded until a year after he was drafted, I highly doubt it's one of their 1st round draft picks from last year. If it's a pitcher I'd think it would someone like Adrian Sampson Pittsburgh's #27 prospect or an up-and-comer like Orlando Castro. I'd be shocked if the Pirates moved any prospect in their top 10 like Kingham, Glasnow, or Heredia for Ike Davis. I suppose it's possible they would overreact early and move Heredia, he did come in fat and out of shape for 2013 which I'm sure upset the organization plenty. It could be any number of position players, they are pretty deep as an organization that way too... Hanson, Bell, Allie, Osuna, Garcia... Ike Davis is about league average but he's also starting to get expensive, I'm not sure a league average 1B is worth a top 10 prospect from one of the better farm systems in baseball.

Prospect Hot Sheet Chat With Ben Badler (April 18)

3 Rattler games on TV, 3 games that Rafael Neda has caught, *sigh*.