TheCrew07

Interesting between games interview from Chris and Matt Erickson today. Erickson said that Damien Magnifico's 2 seamer might actually be his best pitch, but they aren't letting him throw it much, they've been looking for Damien to utilize the big velocity (which I've noted has fallen off a tad quickly) to locate in the down in the zone early in the count and then elevate for strike outs after he's ahead. Apparently Austin Blaski doesn't work near 90 MPH (Chris' phrase), but Matt says he's probably the best competitor of the pitchers and has the best pitchability. He talked about Austin's cutter being one of his better pitches. They also discussed Jorge Lopez' struggles with his delivery early this season and they mentioned that opposing managers have been impressed with Lopez' stuff at times. Matt thinks if the team quits giving away so many bases with walks, wild pitches, passed balls, and errors the T-Rats would be a very competitive club, and that they continue to work on those issues on a daily basis. Which got me thinking about BA's post from earlier in the day which BA briefly covered Clint Coulter. I think there was a typo in that they meant to say Coulter's offense was supposedly ahead of his defense but they posted it backwards saying it the other way. Finally they talked about Michael Reed, Tyrone Taylor, and Victor Roache (why no Orlando Arcia Chris?, don't hate on my boy! ) Matt said that in the past Reed took too many pitches and they've been working him to be more aggressive, he's moved up in the order because he carries the teams best OBP. Matt was very complimentary of Taylor's pitch selection and tools, he said Taylor has naturally had that pitch selection since day 1. When discussing Roache, Erickson said that all young players will go through these adjustment periods and that Victor has been very receptive to coaching in the cage and is working hard to improve his offense. Matt also discussed Victor's power saying that you just don't find that special kind of power and sound off the bat in many players. *Note that Roache went 0-3 in Game 1 with 2 more SOs. His AVE is down to .171 and he's struck out 14 times in his last 10 games.

Nada for the division today. Prospect Notebook: Joey Gallo’s Power Binge Continues

I hadn't known about the additional scouting hires in Latin America, that's good news.

Yea, I listened to that last night. I'm not buying what they are selling regarding the lack of strike outs from Hellweg and Jungmann, but who knows, they might be right.

Red Sox and Phillies linked to these 2, subscriber piece. Rafael Devers Vs. Luis Encarnacion: Scouts Weigh In On Top July 2 Bats

Draft And Prospects Chat With Jim Callis

Reviewing Each Team’s Top Pick From The 2012 Draft

I have a feeling we'll be reading as much about Almora as we have about Allie. MWL notes: Healthy Almora on tear

A handy little tool that MiLB.com has put out in the past. Track the top 2013 MLB Draft picks

Interesting pitching match-up in the first game tomorrow. Wednesday Rattlers game in Beloit postponed Doubleheader set for Thursday with Hiram Burgos scheduled to pitch in rehab assignment By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BELOIT, WI - Wednesday's game between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the Beloit Snappers at Pohlman Field was postponed due to approaching severe weather. The game was scheduled to start at 7:00pm, but the Snappers called the game before 4:45pm. This was the eleventh Timber Rattlers game of the 2013 season to have been either postponed or canceled due to the weather. The teams will play a pair of seven inning games on Thursday at Pohlman Field. Game one will start at 4:30pm. Game two will start approximately thirty minutes after the conclusion of game one. Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Hiram Burgos will start one of the games for the Timber Rattlers as part of a major league rehabilitation assignment. Austin Blaski (2-2, 2.03) will start the other game. Beloit is scheduled to counter with Michael Ynoa (1-1, 2.43) and Seth Streich (6-3, 5.69). Tune in for both games on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 4:10pm.

A little Hunter Morris love on a Wed afternoon Morris helped by big league lulls

They definitely have high ceilings... we're due for a young pitcher to be dominant out of the gate... here's hoping.

Ask BA: Which Draft Picks Will Become No. 1 Prospects?

Stetson Allie is the only divisional prospect, though 2012 draft day favorite of some Joey Gallo is featured prominently. Prospect Notebook: Joey Gallo Goes Deep Thrice For Hickory

This subscriber article covers the different rules in play between signing young players in Latin America and Asia Taiwan’s Jen-Ho Tseng Proves Tough To Peg

The Cards have 6 prospects in this All-Star game. Texas League reveals All-Star rosters

Stetson Allie again... Allie plates six runs in twinbill

Whether you get up – Postgame post for June 11, 2013

Isn't this the draft and follow rule that got eliminated a few years ago? Kind of, but if I recall correctly the drafting team only retained the rights until the next draft.

Rattlers fall in Beloit Wisconsin outhits Snappers 14-6, but lose 5-4 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BELOIT, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers cracked 14 hits - all singles - on Tuesday night at Pohlman Field. Wisconsin put together a spirited comeback against the Beloit Snappers with four runs in the top of the seventh inning to rally from a 3-0 deficit. But, Beloit broke the Rattlers hearts with two runs in the bottom of the seventh and held on to defeat Wisconsin 5-4. The Timber Rattlers (26-34) had a great scoring opportunity in the top of the second inning. Mike Garza reached on an infield single with one out. Alfredo Rodriguez and Parker Berberet followed with singles to load the bases with one out against Raul Alcantara. But, Alcantara got a strikeout for the second out. Then, Berberet strayed too far from first on a 1-2 pitch to Michael Reed and got picked off first base by catcher Nick Rickles. The Snappers (40-25) struck in the bottom of the second inning. They had two on with none out, but Damien Magnifico retired the next two batters. But, Bostick singled to drive in the first run of the game. Bostick delivered another two out hit in the fourth inning. This one extended the Beloit lead to 3-0. Ryan Delgado walked on four pitches to start the inning. Magnifico got the next two hitters and was ahead of Bostick 0-2 in the count. The 0-2 pitch just missed the strike zone. Bostick lined the next pitch over the wall in left-center for a two-run homer. That was the seventh home run of the season for Bostick and his third off the year against Wisconsin pitchers. Wisconsin collected nine singles in six innings against Alcantara, but could not push anyone across the plate against the Beloit right-hander. Alcantara struck out five through six innings before turning the game over to the Snappers bullpen. That's when the game turned around for Wisconsin. Berberet greeted Brent Powers to the game with a single. Adrian Williams followed with a walk. Reed blooped in a single to left-center to load the bases. Powers uncorked a wild pitch to let Berberet score. Then, he walked Orlando Arcia to reload the bases. Tyrone Taylor lined out to left to drive in Williams for a sacrifice fly to cut Beloit's lead to 3-2. Reed and Arcia pulled a double steal with Victor Roache at the plate and Wisconsin had the tying and lead runs in scoring position. Roache struck out and that set up left-hand hitting Adam Giacalone to face the lefty Powers. Giacalone won the battle of the lefties by grounding a single back through the middle on a 2-0 pitch to drive in Reed and Arcia and give Wisconsin a 4-3 lead. But, the game turned back around to the home team after the stretch as Beloit rallied in the bottom of the seventh to retake the lead. Nick Rickles singled to start the inning and Brett Vertigan doubled with one out to put runners on the corners. Daniel Robertson tied the game with a grounder to short that scored Rickles and moved Vertigan to third base. The Snappers took the lead when Alfredo Rodriguez couldn't handle a grounder off the bat of John Wooten. That error let Vertigan score the go-ahead run. The Rattlers got something going with one out in the top of the eighth inning. Berberet collected his fourth hit of the night and Adrian Williams drew a walk to put the tying and lead runs on base. Reed popped out for the second out of the inning and Arcia stepped into the box with a chance to at least tie the game. But, he never got a chance to take the bat off his shoulder. The first pitch was low and away and Rickles saw that Williams had strayed too far from first. The Snappers catcher fired to first and picked Williams off to end the inning. Ryan Dull worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth inning for his twelfth save of the season. The Timber Rattlers fell to 1-6 against the Snappers this season with the loss on Tuesday night. Game two of the series is Wednesday night at Pohlman Field. Austin Blaski (2-2, 2.03) is the scheduled starter for the Timber Rattlers. Michael Ynoa (1-1, 2.43) is set to start for the Snappers. Game time is 7:00pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. HOME RUN: BEL: Christopher Bostick (7th, 1 on in 5th inning off Damien Magnifico, 2 out) WP: Stu Pudenz (3-1) LP: Leonard Lorenzo (1-3) SAVE: Ryan Dull (12) TIME: 2:49 ATTN: 572 Wisconsin Boxscore So stop me if you heard this before... bad defense and untimely hitting led to another loss. Worst of all was 2 baserunners getting picked off 1st base to end rallies in the 2nd and 8th innings. Matt Erickson told he Chris he thought yesterday's effort was the T-Rats best effort of the season... but they weren't able to string 2 quality efforts together in a row. The only way this team has been consistent is with the preventable errors that keep themselves from winning. Unfortunately with all those hits, none were for XBH, and the only inning the Rattlers went down in order was the 9th, which was disappointing after the budding rally in the 8th. Parker Berberet and Adam Giacalone had quite the days at the plate, Parker was 4-4 and Adam 3-4, not too shabby at all. Unfortunately Victor Roache is mired in a horrible slump, only hitting .189 over his last 10 games and his AVE is back down to .211. Damien Magnifico wasn't all that sharp but limited the damage enough, Damien is either really good from a BB standpoint or really bad, he has no middle. Going back to April 15th he's either walked 0 or 1 when he's good and 4 or 5 when he's off, there's literally been nothing in between. Wisconsin Recap This was the same story as the game last week against Raul Alcantara as thevT-Rats tuned him up with hits but couldn't push any runs across. In his 13 innings against the Rattlers in the last week the T-Rats have scattered 17 hits and 1 walk but have nothing to show for it.

DHonks I don't know why you keep ignoring the single most important factor here, Jungmann doesn't have a great secondary pitch. He didn't in college and he doesn't now. College hitters had no problem tracking his curve, the only way he struck out hitters with the curve was when they were looking for something else. It just wasn't a swing and miss pitch. If the curve didn't stand out in college, it's certainly not going to stand out in professional ball. Yes he's working to tighten it up and I hope he's making progress, but comparing Jungmann in any way to Sheets, or any of our young pitchers to Sheets, is an incredible disservice to Ben. Sheet's hammer curve was his best pitch, that's the gold standard for curves in this organization, and that's why he was successful. He located the FB okay, but when he left the ball up he tended to give up HRs. I'm also not sure why Chad Moeller has gotten hated on so much around brewerfan, yes his offense was awful, but he called a great game, and it was Chad that got Ben to throw those high FBs up and out of the zone that hitters routinely swung through for strike outs. Chad understood attacking hitters through the strike zone, something that our current staff doesn't seam to embrace. There's way too much nibbling on the corners, especially ahead in the count, or wasting pitches trying to get hitters to chase. If our pitchers won't attack hitters around the zone then they are just never going to be efficient enough to go 7-8 innings, regardless of being ground ball pitchers or not. And for the record Sheets only spent one full season in the minors, when he was 21. In 153.2 innings between AA-AAA that year he pitched to a 2.40 ERA with 56 BBs and 119 SOs. That's a 3.3 BB/9 and a 7.0 SO/9. His K:BB was 2.13 Jungmann is 23 and currently carries a 4.0 BB/9 and 5.4 K/9, and his K:BB ratio is only 1.33. In no way are Sheets and Jungmann comparable, the only + or = in Jungmann's column is that he is the better athlete. I get the emphasis on keeping the ball down, I get the ground ball ratio philosophy, but that's why elevating FBs can be so successful, and why I keep harping on it. Since you dropped this after my original response was ready to be posted I'll tackle this as well. Sheets was 2 years younger and there are tons of pitchers who posted similar WHIPs but got different results. WHIP is a useful quick comparison stat, but it doesn't stand by itself, it's just part of a much larger picture. edit. To illustrate the WHIP point. Jungmann's current whip is 1.155 and he has a 3.78 ERA. The guy immediately above him on the SL leaderboard has a 1.154 WHIP and a 4.15 ERA, but the guy below him has a 1.158 WHIP and only a 2.51. Gus Schlosser is the pitcher below Jungmann, and the big difference between him and the 2 guys in front of him are the BB and K rates, and the K:BB ratio. Jungmann and Merill Kelly have very similar ratios where has Schlosser has a 2.8 BB/9 and 7.0 SO/9, so he's gotten better results.

I don't care where Peralta pitches or getting back into the race anymore, I care about where Peralta will get the best coaching, that's what matters to me.

BA is listing the bonus at 771,000 for pool purposes. I would very much like to see the college compensation issue become a MLB administered benefit. If you are a HS kid taken in the first 20 rounds you get X number of dollars towards college per year based on your years of service or some other such measure. There would certainly have to be accountability clauses as a player shouldn't get the benefit for getting a lifetime ban for drug use or running afoul of the law. Also, say a pitcher blows out his arm after 1 season, he should still be entitled to some form of benefit given that baseball caused his injury. I'd just like to see MLB emphasize education with a built in scholarship program, give the HS kids the opportunity to fall back on something even if they aren't a top pick in the first 3 rounds of the draft.

I've been thinking about this situation quite a bit since Sunday and I honestly believe the only way the current situation will improve is if players have to opt into the draft. If you are a HS kid and you don't get drafted then you are free to go to school. However, if you are drafted you are bound to your team and slot value per the "opt in" contract you signed to be part of the draft. Same if you are a college junior, if you opt in and get drafted that's it, there's no going back to college for you. I don't understand why MLB allows amateur players so much leverage? The only amateur players who really benefit in the system are the top 5% or so, those in the first 2-3 rounds, all of the rest not so much. With the theme (and rightly so) that teams are trying to get the most monetary value of out of each pick, we'll continue to see picks flip flipped around like with KC this year as they really liked a guy but just couldn't pull the trigger on him at a certain slot given his performance and injury history, so they made him their 2nd pick in the 1st. We'll continue to see senior college talent taken way before it should be in order to free up money to go after 1 or 2 guys who have fallen because no one can take the risk of a player not signing because of the way the pool money works. Colby's idea about combining the international and domestic pools makes a great deal of sense to me, teams would have more flexibility to go in whichever direction they think has the greatest value for them. However the idea of draft picks holding teams hostage drives me nuts and has to stop. Make players declare for the draft and end this nonsense.

Alex Dickerson, a Pirates RF prospect profiled here. EL notes: Dickerson on learning Curve