TheCrew07

Late rallies fall short in Quad Cities Wisconsin drops 4-3 decision to the River Bandits By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Conor Harber got the start and pitched extremely well but unfortunately poor defense contributed to Drake Owenby's 3 run slippage in the 7th which ended up being the difference in the game. Mitch Ghelfi (2-5). Luis Aviles (2-4,2B,BB), Max McDowell (2-5), and Troy Stokes (2-5) posted multi hit games for the Rattlers. Ghelfi had been on a horrible cold stretch so hopefully this jump starts him a little bit. Stokes has been floating below .200 for most of the season but today's effort bumped him over that mark for the first time since May 5th. Wisconsin Recap The Rattlers pulled it out in the 8th last night, tonight they left more runs out there... Wisconsin Top of the 8th Mitch Ghelfi singles on a line drive to center fielder Osvaldo Duarte. Luis Aviles walks. Mitch Ghelfi to 2nd. Max McDowell reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Kristian Trompiz. Mitch Ghelfi to 3rd. Luis Aviles to 2nd. Carlos Belonis walks. Mitch Ghelfi scores. Luis Aviles to 3rd. Max McDowell to 2nd. Pitching Change: David Schmidt replaces Juan Santos. Troy Stokes Jr. singles on a ground ball to right fielder Hector Roa. Luis Aviles scores. Max McDowell to 3rd. Carlos Belonis to 2nd. Isan Diaz singles on a line drive to center fielder Osvaldo Duarte. Max McDowell scores. Carlos Belonis out at home on the throw, center fielder Osvaldo Duarte to catcher Anthony Hermelyn. Troy Stokes Jr. to 3rd on the throw. Blake Allemand walks. Isan Diaz to 2nd. David Denson called out on strikes. Monte Harrison grounds into a force out, shortstop Kristian Trompiz to second baseman Keach Ballard II. Blake Allemand out at 2nd.

Phillips' three-run blast not enough in loss to Suns in opener Shuckers stay in first place tie atop South Division standings Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/5/4/2/184319542/cuts/26702733350_33ccd14353_o_rly48m1z_lygxvsbp.jpg Brett Phillips blasted his team-leading ninth home run on Wednesday night (Jason Clark) Biloxi Boxscore Well Brandon Woodruff didn't get out of the 1st, which pretty much set the tone in this one. The top 4 hitters in the order provided 6 of the 8 Shucker hits. Despite and a batting line that isn't all that impressive Brett Phillips has an .806 OPS after today's action on the strength of 22 XBHs. Biloxi Recap

Shuckers hold off Barons, move back to top of division Biloxi takes four of five from Barons Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/6/2/184141162/cuts/garcia_od1moxli_k8v01lur.jpg Rene Garcia had two doubles and two RBI in the Shuckers win on Tuesday night (Michael Krebs Biloxi Boxscore Wei-Chung Wang was back in the middle ground today, it's been middle ground or worse in his starts for some time, but it was enough. Jaye Chapman was awesome for Biloxi earlier in the season and Daniel Tillman has been filling the closer role admirably for the Shuckers of late. Johnny Davis (2-4) is hitting .333 at AA, but way too many of his hits are of the IF variety, and he's striking out quite a bit early in his tenure. I'll be looking for better contact and improved rate stats as he progresses. Garrett Cooper is hitting .316 after 57 games, the sample size continues to grow and the production remains steady. Biloxi Recap

Rattlers rally for 3-2 win over River Bandits By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Marcos Diplan continues to put up impressive K numbers, if he can reign in his control I'd get pretty excited. i don't mean control in terms of walks, I mean control as in keeping the ball down and occasionally hitting a spot. He's the best example of effectively wild to come through WI since the Rattlers have been a Brewer's affiliate. I talk about being unconvinced when it comes to pitchers with big arms who aren't able to locate on the draft forum, and because of that Diplan gives me pause at this time, but he's been impressive none the less. Trent Clark (2-4,3B) had the only multi hit game, he's been more aggressive since he's come back but he's still trying to find the right balance of patience of aggressiveness. I posted earlier in the season that when he makes contact good things tend to happen, he does hit the ball hard. Wisconsin Recap As much as I like Erickson sometimes his small ball drives me nuts. The Rattlers were down 0-2 in the 8th, with runners on 1st & 2nd, and he had Stokes try to sacrifice them over. I do understand moving both runners over, I see managers and coaches do it all the time, but I'm not down with giving away an out when the pitcher is on the ropes. The only out Nelson recorded was the free out the Rattlers gave him. Chris and I disagree on this, and always have, likely always will, and of course there's also the angle that players need to learn how to play small ball and bunt because it can be a situationally important skill. So there's the development angle, the being down in the 8th angle, and the fact the Rattlers had struggled to score runs for 3 straight days, but I thought it was a big inning in the making and was unhappy with the decision. I guess it's kind of like the contact play that's used up and down the organization and drives me batty because there's no way the Rattlers have broken even on the play when I've been watching in person or TV. Wisconsin Top of the 8th Pitching Change: Makay Nelson replaces Jose Hernandez. David Denson walks. Max McDowell singles on a line drive to right fielder Hector Roa. David Denson to 2nd. Troy Stokes Jr. bunt pops out to pitcher Makay Nelson. Luis Aviles walks. David Denson to 3rd. Max McDowell to 2nd. Trent Clark singles on a line drive to right fielder Hector Roa. David Denson scores. Max McDowell scores. Luis Aviles to 2nd. Trent Clark out at 2nd, right fielder Hector Roa to first baseman Connor Goedert. Monte Harrison hit by pitch. Pitching Change: Ralph Garza Jr. replaces Makay Nelson. Isan Diaz singles on a ground ball to right fielder Hector Roa. Luis Aviles scores. Monte Harrison to 3rd. With Blake Allemand batting, Isan Diaz steals (5) 2nd base. Blake Allemand grounds out, second baseman Arturo Michelena to first baseman Connor Goedert.

I've always preferred BA's draft database as it's not a list and is filterable by criteria. 2016 Draft Database

Nate and I discussed that a couple of years ago... if pitchers were falling and it made sense to draft a bunch and give in to their demands to blow the cap away. The idea was is Carlos Rodon was sliding do you pick him up after the 1st round and sign him for the top of the draft money? I've always been skeptical that Rodon was going to hold up so I wasn't in favor of the concept in that specific instance, but I can see where if the team was positive about a player who was sliding and the next draft was going to be so/so... like this last one, that blowing away the pool would make sense. I would actually target a couple of players with strong college commitments and go after them as well with 1st round money to make the biggest splash possible. That being said this is the same team that went signability all on the way in the draft until the pool was put in place and didn't spend in the international market until the international pool was implemented so there's not a history of aggressiveness, more conservativeness. It would appear that they tried to get creative in the Medieros draft by taking Kodi then going after Gatewood and Harrison, but I've always maintained that Kodi wasn't player to go under slot with. I would have preferred trying that with Sean Newcomb or Grant Holmes, both of whom are working on control issues as well but I was more enamored with the overall package. With an entirely new regime in place I'm not sure how it will play out in the future but this year's international market is shaping up to be a disappointment and I wasn't thrilled with the top of the draft of this year either, there just wasn't enough upside from my perspective. Bottom line is that I think that idea has merit in specific instances but I'm unsure that the Brewers would ever be that aggressive.

Miscues cost Shuckers in 9-2 loss to Barons Loss ends Biloxi's three-game winning streak and drops them out of first place Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/6/6/183916466/cuts/2Q5A2122_dqqde4ny_ye101l55.JPG Brett Phillips went 2-for-5 on Monday and has reached in 16 of his last 17 games. (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore As MH pointed out this was double suck for me tonight. While I put no stock in W/L record I was shocked to notice that Jorge Ortega is 0-6 now on the season, he's struggled for the most part since his start on 5-5 ballooning his ERA to 4.38. Somehow Biloxi hitters pounded out double digit hits and yet only scored 2 runs, the only time the Shuckers went 1-2-3 was the first inning. Biloxi Recap

Quad Cities shuts out Rattlers 12-0 Wisconsin held scoreless for second game in a row By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore As my niece says, "You guys are driving me crazy!"... she picked that one up from my sister in law and hasn't let it go yet, it applies perfectly here. Thankfully games with little to talk about have been few and far between this season, but this was an obvious stinker. Wisconsin Recap

Club-record four long balls help Shuckers complete comeback win over Barons The Shuckers are back in a first place tie with Pensacola after the win Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/9/4/183741794/cuts/2Q5A2227_i7efqv1z_mzwefd1w.JPG Garrett Cooper shakes the hand of Mike Guerrero after his first home run of 2016 in the fourth inning (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore Biloxi used 5 pitchers to nail this one down, Javier Salas started and struggled again, his style just hasn't been working for him for much of the year. He's put up the occasional gem, but they've been too few and far between. He has nearly as many as walks as strike outs on the season which is never a good sign for a pitcher. Give Jacob Nottingham another month and he could be floating around a very respectable .275. Biloxi Recap

Kane County edges Rattlers 1-0 Wisconsin can't close out sweep By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore 1 unearned run... sigh, though I wonder why Miguel Diaz only went 54 pitches Luis Aviles (2-3,2B) had the only multi hit game. Wisconsin Recap

Houser, Noriega lead Shuckers to second-straight win over Barons Adrian Houser tossed seven quality innings and Gabriel homered a drove in three in Biloxi debut Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/2/1/0/183560210/cuts/Houser_e5gw5inh_eqb5xtzl.jpg Adrian Houser tossed a season-high seven innings and struck out eight on Saturday (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore After a rough start and bit of a roller coaster in May Adrian Houser has been excellent his last two times out and though his ERA is still well over 5, it's heading in the right direction. Biloxi was out hit 9-5 but managed 4 runs on those 5 hits because of the 2 HRs. Biloxi Recap

Wisconsin wins 5-4 in Kane County Harrison homers again for the Rattlers By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore The pitching was good in this one, though Freddy Peralta was just so/so by the earlier standard he set, his ERA still recovering from that 6 run out burst he allowed on 5/28. I don't want to say Monte Harrison (2-4,HR) has turned a corner because we've seen these 5 game streaks from him before, but it's awesome to see him contributing nightly as of late. He's hit in 5 of his last 6 with 4 multi hit games, has pushed his AVE to .210, and is now hitting .318 over his last 10 games. Speaking of young hitters climbing the ladder Isan Diaz (2-3,BB) has been hitting well in this recent stretch of games as well, batting .323 over his last 10, and still is leading the Rattlers in the walk department (27) over David Denson (2-4,2B) who has 26. Max McDowell was perfect at the plate (2-2,2B,2 BB) and continues his fine season to date. Wisconsin Recap

Shuckers rally late to beat Barons 2-1 Brandon Woodruff tossed 6.2 innings of one-run ball Friday Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/8/8/183379388/cuts/2Q5A1001_8r1zunt7_tv5h9jty.JPG Johnny Davis went 1-for-3 with a stolen base in his Double-A debut on Friday night (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore Brandon Woodruff was fantastic, he's been on the uphill swing since his initial AA struggles. In the fact the pitching as a whole was spectacular in a nice bounce back effort for this team. Johnny Davis notched a hit in his first AA game, though it was of the infield variety, what a weapon he could be with a line drive swing. Biloxi Recap

Wisconsin powers past Kane County 18-9 Rattlers hit five homers: Harrison (Twice), Diaz, Ghelfi, and Aviles By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Hooray for extremely entertaining games on a Friday, what a nice way to go into the weekend. The pitching was spotty early but Drake Owenby was fantastic to close out the game, pitching 5 innings while allowing just 3 hits, 3 walks (too many), and 0 earned runs while striking out 11! The offensive boxscore is as full as it's been all season with Trent Clark (2-5,BB), Blake Allemand (2-6,2B), Jake Gatewood (2-5,2B), Monte Harrison (3-5,2 HR), Max McDowell (2-4,2B), and Luis Aviles (3-5,2B) all posting multi hit games. Wisconsin Recap Fun, fun, fun!

I didn't dismiss Villar, I addressed him directly on a variety of levels. If you're contention is that anything can happen because 1 year someone came out of no where to accomplish something significant that's fine, but to me that's an outlier and not statistically relevant. I view Villar's 2016 as more a combination of circumstance than anything else, I think opposing teams have underestimated him as much as I wasn't taking him seriously prior to the season. I sincerely hope Villar proves me wrong, but I don't see him sustaining his success on the base paths as teams will adjust. Carlos Gomez is perhaps the best athlete the Brewers have ever had and he only stole exactly 40 bases once in his entire career. There were 143 position players with more than 500 PAs last season, of that # exactly 3 players stole 40 bases as I pointed out previously. That's .0209 of eligible players or 2.1%. I do not believe Ray to be in the top 2.1% of anything of in MLB, even as a best case, which is why I'm not giving him any realistic chance today of stealing 40 bases. Could he do it in the sense that anything can happen? Sure, but that wasn't the contention of either post I was addressing at the time. If an argument about prospects requires the use of players in the top 10% of MLB, top 2% in a specific category, or top 1% of players all time in support of the conclusion, then it's an argument without foundation and shouldn't have been posited in the first place. Finally, people are certainly free to post whatever they would like within the guidelines of the forum, that's not what I'm challenging now or have been challenging for a while, nor was that the spirit of my post. I'm challenging the "Randy Johnson did this so prospect X could do that", or Clayton Kershaw, or Ryan Braun, or Justin Verlander, or whatever excellent MLB player a poster would choose to use in support of an argument about a prospect. Those arguments are not realistic and lack merit, they are extremist for the sake of being contrary. Those arguments aren't grounded in objectivity, they are simply arguments driven by personal agenda. In terms of Corey Ray I have more respect for posters that previously laid out their objection to a pick than people who will post over the top responses in favor of a pick, or criticize that objection when for the most part they didn't take the time to contribute prior to the selection. There is plenty to like about Corey Ray but there's also plenty to be underwhelmed by depending on your point of view.

In my original "who I would take post" I said I liked Corey Ray, though I'm not enamored with the pick because I wanted pitching, but I always want pitching. However, I'm not poo pooing the pick, there's quite a bit to like about Ray as a baseball player. He's not going to steal 40 bases and if he makes MLB the line-up will be completely dissimilar to what Braun had. I really wish posters would quit comparing prospects to the best players in the game, past and present, it's happening all over the message board these days. I've said many times that I don't deal in best case scenarios for players, I'm going to project a middle ground for any particular player until they prove to be elite, like a Gallardo or Braun. I remember similar arguments being made about Eric Farris... he was going to steal 40 bases because he was so smart and Milwaukee didn't have a long term 2B. I made the same arguments about him as I'm making now, it's way too early to predict an absolute best case before a player is even in AA. As to Villar, he's the SS version of Carlos Gomez, I find his continual mental mistakes infuriating, I don't think Ray is that kind of player and while I get what you are saying, I would have looked for a player with a similar all around skill set to make the argument with. I understand Villar is currently leading the league, but I don't find Ray and Villar similar from a make up perspective at all. Instead of wild speculation the conversation should be; how many players in the modern game are stealing 40 bases per year and how does Ray's skill set compare? The answer to that question was there were 3 last year. Is Corey Ray in the same class as Dee Gordon or Billy Hamilton? I could see a Charlie Blackmon argument, but then the next 2 questions become what kind of offensive team will he be playing for and how often will he be on base? I don't think any of us realistically know the answers to either right now. My gut feeling is that if Ray works out to be about average in MLB he'll steal 20-30 bases a year, probably eclipsing 30 in his peak seasons, but he doesn't strike me as special in any particular way other than his all around athleticism. I use "special" somewhat generously because he's not on the same level athletically as Brewer prospect Monte Harrison. Nor do I think he's a sure thing to be an every day MLB player, I always worry if players are going to hit enough.

Shuckers head home after 17-2 loss to Biscuits in series finale Jacob Nottingham extended hitting streak to eight games and on-base streak to 18 Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/4/6/183191346/cuts/27123295325_3ebeae05da_o_6ntm9tzi_u8qzrc70.jpg Jacob Nottingham went 1-for-4 extending his hitting streak to eight games and on-base streak to 18 games. Biloxi Boxscore Well this was just sad. Wei-Chung Wang, Hobbs Johnson, and Brett Lee were brutal... At least Jacob Nottingham had a nice game at the plate. Biloxi Recap

Clinton clips Wisconsin 3-1 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/2/4/183181424/cuts/6_9_PlayerOfTheGame_TroyStokesJr_ybkm7960_k39dcezz.png Troy Stokes went 1-for-3 with an RBI for the Timber Rattlers on Thursday night against Clinton. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) Wisconsin Boxscore Well Matt Garza pretty much had the same MO again today, the ball was up early, which led to hits sailing to the gaps. A tough day offensively, Blake Allemand had the teams' only XBH, a double. Carlos Belonis had the only the walk from the Rattlers. Opposing pitcher Pablo Lopez isn't in Seattle's top 30, but has been pretty consistent over his career. Wisconsin Recap ***** Postgame Post: June 9, 2016 *****

Did I miss something with Preston Gainey? Was he released? He's still listed on Helena's roster and I found his velocity bumps intriguing from a reliever standpoint.

He isn't really a tweener. Most think he can hit 15-20 homers a year on average. And honestly when he is hitting .280/.360 with 40+ stolen bases he will be good to play anywhere. He's not going to steal 40 bases in MLB, there's a difference between being an elite athlete and having elite reflexes and speed... in some players they go together but I've seen more than my fair share of "athletes" that could only move quickly in a straight line. As in receivers and running backs that were great in track (even all state worthy) but couldn't make a cut on a football field and were essentially useless except on slants and go routes.

Well...bye... Some of these guys act like they're the second coming of Theo Epstein... Trust the executives and let the kid play before making rash judgements. ....isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?

So the best we can hope for is less than 6 months of legitimate pitching at a time?

No, just like the criticism of Melvin, and the Brewers in general for not being able to draft and develop pitching will never stop until they churn out a couple of top of rotation arms in the same rotation. As good as Jack Z was he wasn't immune to criticism... Right now we basically have to trade for impact pitching, the problem is that by the time that pitching hits AA it's incredibly expensive because now they are proven prospects and rated highly on every prospect list. This is not Stearns' draft, this isn't football, it's Montgomery's draft, he's making the picks.

No I haven't put the gun on him, but I haven't been to a Rattler game in person, I was down there for the D3 world series but it hasn't worked out to this point. He looks to be low 90s, definitely throws an averagish off speed, but the break isn't consistent so I'm not sure if there are 1 pitch or 2... From the TV angle it's always hard to distinguish curve/change, unless the pitcher has a really good change that noticeably dives arm side. For what it's worth here's what BA had as the draft scouting report, I don't recall seeing a slider out of him: