TheCrew07

This is a common theme on Brewer later round targets, I wonder what their policy/reasoning is behind this? It is a tipping their hand thing?

I don't see how the Brewers can sign Denson, according to BA they are already $234,400 over budget. The slot limit was $100K for that pick, for him to sign it looks like there would need to be motivation beyond financial reward.

Wow I'm not sure what to make of this.

Cubs RHP prospect Kyle Hendricks profiled here. SL notes: Hendricks having his way

A mix of prospects and draft questions... I decided to put this here, that Pittsburgh top 10 is awful impressive... boo. Ask BA: Updating The Pirates Top 10

I'm not one to make excuses/rationalize/justify (however you'd like to phrase it) poor statistical performance from a predictive standpoint simply because every minor league pitcher is working on something all of the time, not just our guys. I talk quite a bit about "wow" factor and what I'm looking for when I'm watching a guy is a pitch or series of pitches that makes me think to myself, "man that was NASTY!". I remember a Peralta vs Vitters (when Vitters was still a hot prospect) match-up when they were both in the MWL and Peralta K'd Vitters in 3 pitches and I was like DAMN! 2 of those pitches were absolutely filthy sliders away. Jungmann just never had that when I watched him, I think is curve is similar to Axford's, it's not going to induce many swings and misses when a hitter is looking for it, it's just not tight enough. I took quite a bit of flak for being vocal about Jungmann's ceiling, but I don't think I've been all that far off the mark. Hellweg's K rate dropped tremendously with the jump to AA, he had become a full time starter about halfway through the season in A+ the year before. If had to guess I would say that he was able to easily blow his FB by A ball hitters, but that hasn't been the case as he moved up. Hitters were able to get a piece of that FB which leads me to my second point, I don't think his secondary stuff is all that far along. He's certainly battling command issues, but we've had plenty of pitchers come through with poor command and big K totals. Bradley doesn't have a FB that's going to scare professional hitters and I think we were bit optimistic on draft day, this was BA's take: "While he's not generally thought of as overpowering, Bradley knows how to miss bats. Scouts love his pitcher's frame, and he has a clean, loose arm. Bradley's fastball sits anywhere from 88-94 mph. In better starts, he's at the higher end of that range, touching 95." Most of us saw that he peaked at 95 and jumped to the conclusion that he would generally work 91-93 all the time, myself included, when that wasn't the case even in college. It's clear he's working at the lower end of where he worked in college FB wise but regardless I wonder why he's not having much SO success because his slider was and still is a plus pitch and his change still gets decent reviews. He should be able to induce plenty of swings and misses in A ball with that repertoire. Mostly I think TLB nailed it, our top pitching prospects aren't the better pitching prospects in the game, as evidenced by hardly anyone having them as top 100 prospects on any lists. I probably over value SOs to a certain extent, but here are the minor league K rates for pitchers everyone will be familiar with: Manny Parra - 9.0 Dave Bush - 7.5 and that's with horrible rates since 2009 Ben Hendrickson - 6.6 Jeff Suppan - 7.6 Yovani Gallardo - 10.4 Dana Eveland - 7.7 Shawn Marcum - 8.9 Randy Wolf - 8.6 Kyle Lohse - 6.9 Doug Davis - 8.5 Ben Sheets - 7.9 Braden Looper - 8.6 Chris Capuano - 8.3 CC Sabathia - 10.4 Zack Greinke - 7.6 Brandon Webb - 8.1 Derek Lowe - 5.5 Roy Halladay - 5.9 Tim Hudson - 8.5 I put Webb, Lowe, Hudson, and Halladay in there because when I think of extreme or heavy ground ball pitchers, that's who immediately comes to mind. I'm not really a ground ball guy, all things being equal I'll probably take a ground ball pitcher over a fly ball pitcher, but things are rarely equal. Given the Brewers reputation of being poor defensively over the years, I'd prefer pitchers with the ability to attack hitters through strike zone and limit the number of balls actually put into play. That being said I think the best we can hope for from Jungmann would be a Derek Lowe type career. The difference is that Lowe's slider was top notch, it was a swing and miss pitch, something Taylor doesn't have. If Taylor can develop a swing and miss pitch maybe he can have that sort career. Of the years Lowe's K rate dropped below 6 in MLB he only had 1 really good year, in 2002 as a 29 year he put up 2.58 ERA with a 5.2 SO/9. He sprinkled in some good years with poorer K rates, but nothing like 2002. The other big difference between all of those extreme ground ball guys and Jungmann, Hellweg, and Bradley is the SO:BB ratios. Very rarely were any of those MLB ground ball pitchers under a 2.0 ratio. For reference here are the 3 I discussed at the top and Brooks Hall plus their career K/9 and K:BB ratios. Remember Hellweg's career K/9 is high because he posted obscene numbers as a reliever and starter through A ball. Taylor Jungmann - 5.6 1.78 Johnny Hellweg - 8.8 1.41 (6.8 and 6.1 SO/9 the last 2 years) Jed Bradley - 5.9 1.43 Brooks Hall - 6.1 1.91 When guys whom I considered to be #3s best case as MLB pitchers (such as Bush, Looper, Suppan, Wolf) all have vastly superior rate stats to our own minor league pitchers, I honestly find it a tad depressing. You have to look pretty hard to find comps from a SO/9 perspective that have had success as starters, but those guys made up the difference by also limiting the walks. I find it much easier to hope that Ariel Pena and his 8.8 K/9 will figure out how to limit the walks and get his BB rate down under 3 than I do to hope that somehow our pitchers with low K rates will ascend into that 7-8 range. It's certainly possible, but also highly unlikely.

Rangers Sign Dominican Lefty Francis Cespedes For $750,000

Since I have 3 "off days" in a row I thought I'd do some stats work to keep myself busy, keep in the mind the MWL has 16 teams. MWL Team Batting Leaders AVE 1. Cedar Rapids (Twins) - .271 (68 Games) 2. Kane County (Cubs) - .268 (66 Games) ... 9. Wisconsin - .254 (65 Games) OBP 1. Cedar Rapids (Twins) - .356 (68 Games) 2. Kane County (Cubs) - .343 (66 Games) ... 9. Wisconsin - .331 (65 Games) SLG 1. Cedar Rapids (Twins) - .433 (68 Games) 2. Beloit (A's) - .412 (70 Games) --- 10. Wisconsin - .365 (65 Games) OPS 1. Cedar Rapids (Twins) - .789 (68 Games) 2. Beloit (A's) - .748 (70 Games) ... 9. Wisconsin - .696 (65 Games) RUNS 1. Cedar Rapids (Twins) - 403 (68 Games) 2. Fort Wayne (Padres) - 347 (69 Games) ... 12. Wisconsin - 293 (65 Games) The Rattlers have been stunningly average in every way at the plate and obviously being 12th in RUNS they've been slightly below average with runners in scoring position (even having played fewer games). MWL Team Pitching Leaders ERA 1. Bowling Green (Rays) - 3.22 (68 Games) 2. Fort Wayne (Padres) - 3.42 (69 Games) ... 12. Wisconsin - 4.20 (65 Games) RUNS 1. Bowling Green (Rays) - 252 (68 Games) 2. South Bend (D-Backs) - 274 (69 Games) ... 11. Wisconsin - 327 (65 Games) SO 1. Dayton (Reds) - 572 (69 Games) 2. Great Lakes (Dodgers) - 557 (70 Games) ... 14. Wisconsin - 447 (65 Games) BB 1. Bowling Green (Rays) - 186 (68 Games) 2. Quad Cities (Astros) - 201 (69 Games) ... 15. Wisconsin - 270 (65 Games) WHIP 1. Bowling Green (Rays) - 1.19 (68 Games) 2. Burlington (Angels) - 1.30 (65 Games) ... 16. Wisconsin - 1.48 (65 Games) Pitching wise the T-Rats have been solidly in the bottom 3rd for the season, yet all of their All-Stars were pitchers, go figure. MWL Team Defense ERRORS 1. Dayton (Reds) - 72 (69 Games) 2. Peoria (Cards) - 72 (68 Games) ... 11. Kane County (Cubs) - 85 (66 Games) 12. Wisconsin - 85 (65 Games) FLD % 1. Peoria (Cards) - .973 (68 Games) 2. Dayton (Reds) - .972 (69 Games) ... 14. Wisconsin - .965 (65 Games) PB 1. Cedar Rapids (Twins) - 2 (68 Games) 2. Quad Cities (Astros) - 5 (69 Games) ... 16. Wisconsin - 26 (65 Games) CS% 1. Quad Cities (Astros) - 46% (69 Games) 2. Bowling Green (Rays) - 46% (68 Games) ... 4. Wisconsin - 36% (65 Games) If you're an avid Link Report reader none of the defensive numbers should come as a surprise with the exception of maybe the CS%. For all of the issues the T-Rats catchers have had, throwing out base runners has not been one. Objectively being an average hitting team with below average pitching and defense it would appear that the T-Rats are rather fortunate to be 29-36 on the season. In the first half the Rattlers finished 7th out of 8 teams in the MWL Western Division.

Chris covers double D's charity softball game. While the Rattlers are away….

Then they weren't taught to throw properly, falling away to either base makes it exponentially harder to be accurate with your pitches. I don't want to get into the whole discussion of muscles of having to adjust for arms, shoulder, and body all working in different planes of motion but throwing that way is also the most inefficient from a movement standpoint. In baseball there's way too much, "if it's not broke don't fix it" mentality.

Only the best for Brewer farmhands!

Nada... Pitchers of the Week

Cubs' Javier Baez takes the FSL award. Offensive Players of the Week

Melvin is that you? Once again that's not really what I said, I'm talking about making the MLB team as a whole better. We have plenty of OF depth, it's not creating hole anymore than trading Hart would have created a hole. A "hole" is our pitching staff, not a place where we have depth. So then you really don't have a solution other than the status quo?

He's hitting .290/.364/.477 which is an .841 OPS as 21 year old in AAA, perhaps you should look him up before posting something like that?

Well when thinking of the Tigers I instantly covet Castellanos given our 3B situation as an organization, but he's not a realistic target for a relief pitcher. I suppose if a bidding war ensued the Tigers could be desperate enough to put Nick out there, but seems highly unlikely. The only other player that really interests me out of last year's top 10 is Jake Thompson. I'd take a kid who profiles as a #3 for a reliever any day, who knows he could develop into a #2. He's actually pitching in the Midwest league, recently called up and made his first start on May 31.

Subscriber content, "The Cubs, who have the second-biggest bonus pool of the signing period, have been in heavy pursuit." Eloy Jimenez Stands Out Among International Prospects

Billy Hamilton mentioned today. Prospect Notebook: Mike Olt Homers Twice In Ninth Inning

Kolten Wong... err Chris Carpenter is that you? PCL notes: Wong, Redbirds soaring

I think defensively he doesn't belong in A ball. He caught 33 of the team's first 47 games, which is a little more than 2/3 of the games while getting beat up in every single game I watched on TV or in person.

Over the years this has always the argument against trading a productive hitter... "You can't trade him because he's productive and who will replace him?" To me that's very linear thinking, it's playing checkers. We need to play chess. The answer to that question is that in the immediate future it only matters if the replacement position can be league average if the pitcher is *that* much better than the scrub he is replacing the team will be stronger and will more win games with less offense from one position. The problem is this, if you won't trade a productive hitter like Gomez or Aoki, then I would like someone to explain how exactly we will ever get the impact pitching to match-up with post season rivals? We have to give value to value, the Brewers aren't able to afford impact pitching in Free Agency, and we haven't been developing pitchers... I've put a ton of thought into organization building over the years, which has very little to do with assembling the best possible MLB roster in a calendar year, and I don't see how it can be done without trading productive MLB pieces. I've been repeating the same mantra for a very long time now: without young impact pitching none of the rest matters. I firmly believe that pitching has to come first for Milwaukee and the Brewer's pitching problems under Melvin but going back much longer have been very well chronicled. I would very much like someone to explain to me where our impact pitching will come from if not via trade and without trading a productive MLB hitter.

I've seen docking stations that will allow for multiple monitors but I haven't witnessed anyone using dual monitors with a laptop in which the laptop LCD screen wasn't one of the monitors which is the way I have it setup in my office. Until you asked it had never even occurred to me to try. Here's a from a quick google search "laptop dual external monitors".

When Scooter was 20 I was pretty sure he'd hit double digit HRs. However as he's advanced neither the power or patience has advanced with him. I'm not going to say he won't have any kind of MLB career, but unless he starts becoming a more well rounded player at the plate he simply provides very little upside. Could he become better? Sure. Even little dudes can get in the weight room and become more well rounded players, the problem is that baseball has been very slow to push athletic development. Most guys are just making due with their naturally given gifts. Pedroia is one of those little guys whom people point to as someone whom players of similar build should aspire to be. However what's often overlooked is that he's worked his butt off to get to where he is. The Brewers have been very slow to adopt an athletic development program, historically they've pushed winter ball and other meaningless pursuits which don't help our prospects become better athletes and more productive players. The bench press is pretty meaningless from a sport standpoint, and yes I say that even as a former football coach. The point here is that while not every healthy male has the potential to bench 500lbs, every healthy male can bench press 300lbs if they are willing to work at it. Likewise not every baseball player is going to hit 50 HRs, but everyone could hit 15 if they worked on developing their power. Athletic weightlifting is not anything like power lifting or body building, it doesn't make the body tight and limit athleticism. Athletic lifting is about range of motion, core strength, and training the body to be more explosive. Athletes will become more flexible, faster, jump higher, throw harder, hit baseballs farther, and so on. Yes they will add muscle but they will do it in such way that enhances their athleticism rather than limiting it and they will also generally be more resistant to muscle injuries such as strains/pulls. So does Gennett have a chance to ascend? Sure, but he's going to have to change to make that happen. He's young enough the door isn't closed, but there's more to offense than being a .280-.300 hitter, and he doesn't enhance his value at all with average defense.

Again, Hellweg's K rate continues to fall and his BB rate remains too high. There's no doubt he has a huge arm but I do have my concerns about his ability to last as a starter. I have my concerns about Thornburg as well, in fact there isn't 1 pitcher whom I'm truly confident in at this time.

I only link this because it appears Olt's eye injury which caused his early season issues is a result of a concussion he got in winter league baseball. Man do I hate the winter leagues, I still maintain the weight room would be much more valuable for baseball prospects. Olt slugs two homers in one inning