TheCrew07

MLB Draft Chat: May 29

MLB Draft Reports: 101-150

MLB Draft Reports: 51-100

Interesting picks for our divisional opponents Editors Make Calls In BA Experts Draft

Cubs' SS Javier Baez gets more love for beating up on BC this weekend. Prospect Notebook: Javier Baez Powers Through FSL

It's been a quiet year for Reds' CF prospect Billy Hamilton headline wise as he hasn't been hitting enough to make an impact, especially in April. He's been ascending for the last month so we'll likely see his name start popping up again. IL notes: Hamilton has plenty on plate

Huh? That's not how Colby reported that draft pick going down, the room was split between Cordier and Gallardo. I've reposted this Colby quote every single time Melvin's name has come up in regards to making draft picks. Melvin doesn't know anything about Rodon because he's barely involved at all. He might go scout a couple of 1st rounders with Seid and have done similar with Jack Z in the past but that's about it.

He was coaching 1st base yesterday, that's all I remember Chris saying.

Pirates' 1B prospect Alex Dickerson profiled here Curve's Dickerson digs in for career day

Prospect junkies? Nice. Mud slinging in the place of intelligent conversation. Right. On. Let me jump for joy at the prospect of making the post season twice in the next 7 years with the current regime in place. Why would I want to be competitive every year when I could have that and a maxed out payroll to look forward to?

Wisconsin cools off Chiefs Rattlers settle in after six-run third for a 7-5 win By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers ended the four-game winning streak of the Peoria Chiefs by topping Peoria 7-5 Sunday at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Chris McFarland drove in three runs and Jorge Lopez pitched six solid innings as Wisconsin erased an early deficit with a six-run third inning. Jordan Walton was at second base with two outs in the top of the second inning for Peoria (29-25). Carson Kelly put the Chiefs in front with a single that drove in Walton. Peoria loaded the bases with another single and a walk. Then, Breyvic Valera singled to drive in two more runs for a 3-0 lead. Wisconsin (24-28) started their comeback with a run in the bottom of the second inning. McFarland singled with two outs to send Adam Giacalone home and cut the Chiefs lead to two runs. Then, the Rattlers went from down two to up four thanks to a six run third inning. The frame started when Tyrone Taylor drew a walk and Michael Reed doubled. Victor Roache scorched a single to center that drove in Taylor. Adam Giacalone grounded into a force play at second base and beat throw to first for an RBI fielder's choice as Reed scored the tying run. Mike Garza kicked the rally into high gear with a double off the wall in center to send Giacalone to third and Chiefs starting pitcher Hector Hernandez to the showers. Parker Berberet welcomed reliever Chris Thomas to the game by smacking a single through the drawn in infield to score Giacalone with the go ahead run. McFarland followed with a triple into the left field corner that plated both Garza and Berberet. Alfredo Rodriguez drove in McFarland with a single and the Rattlers were up 7-3. Lopez, the Timber Rattlers starting pitcher, settled in after the third inning. He tossed six innings and allowed six hits. But only one of those hits came after the third inning. He walked three and struck out two and put the Rattlers in line for the win. Peoria scored a run in the seventh and in the eighth against reliever Ryan Gibbard. An RBI grounder by Valera in the seventh made the score 7-4 before the stretch. The Chiefs loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning and got a run on a sacrifice fly by Kelly to make it 7-5. But, Gibbard worked out of the eighth without further damage and pitched around a two-out single in the ninth to earn his first professional save. The final game of the four game series is set for Monday afternoon. Preston Gainey (1-4, 6.39) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Silfredo Garcia (1-1, 6.62) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 12:05pm. Monday is a Qdoba Q*Monday. Purchase a lunch entrée at either Qdoba location in Appleton (3813 E. Calumet Street or 4343 W. Wisconsin Avenue) on Monday and receive a ticket to any Monday home game during the 2013 regular season. Plus, Timber Rattlers outfielder Michael Reed is featured on the Dunkin Donuts Player Poster Giveaway on Monday. The first 1,000 fans to attend the game will receive this collectible. Miller Summer Kickoff continues on Monday, too. Miller products available for $1 while supplies last. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, tune in on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 11:45am. Monday's game is also available on MiLB.TV. WP: Jorge Lopez (2-4) LP: Hector Hernandez (2-2) SAVE: Ryan Gibbard (1) TIME: 2:39 ATTN: 3,717 Chris goes Sci Fi in today's blog entry. A very satisfying thump – Postgame post for June 2, 2013 Wisconsin Boxscore It's hard to call Jorge Lopez' line encouraging, but hey any outing that lowers his ERA is something to build off of. Tyrone Taylor nearly had a perfect day. His fly out in the 8th was the only blemish... 2 singles, 2 walks, and the FO. Wisconsin's team Batting Average is slowly moving upwards, now .246 which is good for 10th. Mehring covered Chris McFarland in the blog post but Alfredo Rodriguez, Adam Giacalone, and Michael Garza also had multi-hit days. Wisconsin Recap The Wisconsin 3rd in all it's glory. Wisconsin Bottom of the 3rd Tyrone Taylor singles on a line drive to right fielder Nick Martini. Michael Reed doubles (10) on a fly ball to right fielder Nick Martini. Tyrone Taylor to 3rd. Victor Roache singles on a line drive to center fielder Charlie Tilson. Tyrone Taylor scores. Michael Reed to 3rd. Adam Giacalone grounds into a force out, shortstop Ildemaro Vargas to second baseman Breyvic Valera. Michael Reed scores. Victor Roache out at 2nd. Adam Giacalone to 1st. Mike Garza doubles (7) on a fly ball to center fielder Charlie Tilson. Adam Giacalone to 3rd. Pitching Change: Christopher Thomas replaces Hector Hernandez. Parker Berberet singles on a ground ball to shortstop Ildemaro Vargas. Adam Giacalone scores. Mike Garza to 3rd. Parker Berberet to 2nd on the throw. Christopher McFarland triples (3) on a line drive to right fielder Nick Martini. Mike Garza scores. Parker Berberet scores. Alfredo Rodriguez singles on a line drive to left fielder Jordan Walton. Christopher McFarland scores. Orlando Arcia strikes out swinging. Tyrone Taylor walks. Alfredo Rodriguez to 2nd. Michael Reed called out on strikes. Wisconsin Gameday edit. My thoughts on Lopez were not directed at narwhalattack, I didn't see his post until just now. I wanted to call his line encouraging but couldn't bring myself to do so.

Cody has never been much of a strike thrower so I'll be curious how well he does since typically command is the last attribute to come back to a pitcher post TJ.

The ball carries at Reno, it does just about everywhere in the PCL west, and he's 29 years old. Have you looked at his career stats?

Not the night – Postgame Post for June 1, 2013

If Fielder doesn't turn it into a foot race to the bag and just tosses the ball to Gallardo who ended up with no place to go, Yo doesn't get hurt. That play has always been on Fielder. His diving back/foot racing to the bag never made any sense for a player of his size. Just make the fundamentally sound play. Prince certainly played with great effort and passion, but many things he did defensively at 1B left much to be desired.

Welcome to the LR Eye Black and excellent first summary!

Javier Baez starting to heat up finally in A+, hitting .333 over his last 10, at least Tim Wilken was promoted so he's not actively scouting for the Cubs anymore. Baez goes 5-for-6, drives in six runs

Timber Rattlers stopped by Chiefs and themselves Wisconsin commits four errors in 8-1 loss to Peoria By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Peoria Chiefs seemed to take advantage of every Wisconsin Timber Rattlers miscue on Saturday night at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Chiefs also delivered some key hits on their way to an 8-1 victory over the Rattlers. Wisconsin committed four errors that led to four unearned runs for the Chiefs in the game. The Timber Rattlers (23-28) had a chance for a big inning in the bottom of the first. Michael Reed singled and Orlando Arcia followed with a hit-and-run single to put runners on the corners with no outs. But, Wisconsin did not score in the frame. Wisconsin had two outs and none on in the bottom of the third inning. Tyrone Taylor singled to keep the inning alive. Then, Max Walla cracked a double to right to score Taylor for a 1-0 lead. Peoria (29-24) responded - with help from the Rattlers - in the top of the fourth. Ildemaro Vargas singled and Jacob Wilson was hit by a pitch. Jordan Walton bunted up the third base line and Rattlers pitcher Austin Blaski fielded the bunt, but his throw to third sailed down the left field line. By the time the ball was corralled in the corner, two runs had scored and the Chiefs were up 2-1. Blaski had runners at first and third with two outs in the top of the fifth, but struggled to get the third out. Wilson, Walton, and Patrick Wisdom hit consecutive RBI singles with two outs to push Peoria's lead to 5-1. The Chiefs had Adam Ehrlich at first with two outs and Blaski made a pitch to get out of the inning, but an error on the grounder to second kept the inning alive. Blaski made another pitch to get out of the inning, but a popup about 25 feet up the third baseline from home plate was dropped. That allowed Ehrlich to score from second base and make it 6-1 in favor of Peoria. Joe Cuda allowed scattered seven hits over six innings and allowed the one run. He also struck out six while walking just one. Peoria scored a run in the top of the eighth inning on a two-out error and tacked on one more in the ninth on an RBI double by Breyvic Valera. The series continues on Sunday afternoon. Jorge Lopez (1-4, 9.24) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria plans to put Hector Hernandez on the mound. Game time is 1:05pm. The left field berm will be set aside for pets and their owners on Sunday as part of the 5th annual Bark in the Park presented by Invisible Fence by Golrusk, an Invisible Fence Brand authorized dealer, and Golrusk Pet Care Center. Tickets are $5 for owners and free for dogs. Click this link for full details on the event. It's a Brewers Sunday presented by 107.5, The Fan, too. Timber Rattlers players will wear Brewers-themed jerseys during the game. Fans may play catch on-field before the game and get autographs from the players in a post-game autograph session. Time Warner Cable customers receive up to four half-priced reserved bleacher tickets when showing their TWC bill at time of ticket purchase. Plus, Miller Summer Kickoff continues with Miller Beer products available for $1. If you can't make it out to the stadium, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 12:45pm. Sunday's game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV. WP: Joe Cuda (3-3) LP: Austin Blaski (2-2) TIME: 2:41 (1:26 delay) ATTN: 4,867 Wisconsin Boxscore I'm almost positive I heard Chris say that Jorge Lopez is a proud new papa? If so congratulations are in order. Orlando Arcia had a weird play that was scored an error. A ball was hit at him and he looked at 3rd, then 2nd, then finally threw to 1st but the runner beat the throw, it must have been scored a FC. Wisconsin Recap The WI top of the first, would have been nice to jump out early... Wisconsin Bottom of the 1st Michael Reed singles on a ground ball to right fielder Nick Martini. Orlando Arcia singles on a line drive to right fielder Nick Martini. Michael Reed to 3rd. Tyrone Taylor flies out to left fielder Breyvic Valera. Max Walla strikes out swinging. With Victor Roache batting, Orlando Arcia steals (8) 2nd base. Victor Roache grounds out, shortstop Ildemaro Vargas to first baseman Jordan Walton. Wisconsin Gameday

Hopefully he can ascend like Peralta did last year, but then again Tunnell and company came and spent a week in Nashville just to work with Peralta, that's not an option anymore. Well the "and company" is I guess.

Clint is just terrible defensively, he has ton of bad habits that are going to take a very long time to correct because his fundamentals have been so bad for so long. Occasionally he'll just reach for a ball that's clearly going to be 2-3 feet short of him instead of getting down and blocking it. The ball will get through him and you can see he's visibly pissed at himself, he knows better, just in the heat of the moment he does things wrong. Those are typically scored a WPs, that's not even the PBs that he should easily catch and just doesn't for various reasons. Cameron Garfield is still a C, he's in BC, it's not like the system is completely devoid of C. As far as where Coulter would end up, he's athletic enough that he could handle 3B if he has decent fielding instincts, he certainly has the arm for it. I wouldn't be opposed to moving him to 1B either, the OF is too crowed in WI for him to move there now, but maybe the OF would suit him best if he couldn't hack 3B. I don't think his hit tool is a problem today, I just think he's overwhelmed, as he's trying to learn how to hit and catch, having to make huge adjustments to every part of his game. Behind the plate he's just getting beat up, when I've watched him he's taken 3-4 balls in bad spots (biceps, thighs, wrists) every single game. Full season ball is just such a huge jump for a kid like him with a short HS season and limited competition. I think we'll know much more about his bat by the end of the year, in the last couple of weeks he started swinging with authority again which is a good sign, he's slowly coming around at the plate. Yes he really does look that bad behind the plate. I'm not sure teaching defense is the easiest part of baseball, many of these guys have a life time of poor habits ingrained in them, not to mention C is the most demanding defensive position there is. Also it's not like the Brewers have a history of turning out defensively/fundamentally sound players out of the minors. The best fielders were naturals and the rest had to work hard when they got to MLB... Braun, Fielder, and Weeks come immediately to mind in that regard. edit. I should add that the Brewers have also been historically bad at finding a player the proper defensive position early in their MiLB career so I'll be surprised if Coulter moves off C any time soon. One of the many reasons Reid Nichols is not one of my favorite people.

I think you might be confused, coming through the minors Wily had a great slider. Gallardo was known more for his curve ball than his change. Peralta in 2008: Gallardo in 2006:

Blaski isn't working very hard, last FB 88 MPH on the stadium gun per Chris. Just guessing but I'd probably compare him to an Austin Ross type.

Just prior to the game tonight... LHP Michael Strong activated from the WI DL. RHP Rodolfo Fernandez to the WI DL.

I find myself wishing the Brewers would be bad enough for a top 5 pick but there's just too much talent on the MLB roster not to make a run and end up within a handful of games of .500 either way. All it would take is Gallardo and Peralta to step up they will start winning games. I still think the Brewers could have winning season if the young pitching ascends. I don't think the situation is nearly as bleak as it appeared through most of May. I would love a relatively "easy" impact pitching solution though. I just think a trade is still our best bet.

Now 7:45 PM