TheCrew07

Shaw's 10th inning walk-off single lifts Shuckers! Josh Hader struck out six BayBears over 5.1 innings on Saturday Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/2/7/6/180858276/cuts/Shaw_cut_1ymrsrl6_vsqih6yy.jpg Nick Shaw provided the walk-off single scoring Tyrone Taylor in the bottom of the 10th inning (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore So Josh Hader was right on track through 4 throwing 64 pitches to get to that point, but then had a bit of blow up inning and only gets through 5.1 on his pitch count while doing his typical stellar work, and he even collected a hit tonight to boot. The thing is, he doesn't consistently get easy innings from a pitch count perspective, innings of less than 10 pitches are few and far between for him at this time, so one bad inning from a pitch count perspective and he won't make 6. The bullpen was awesome though Daniel Tillman made it a bit interesting but came through in the end. Biloxi has quite a few interesting monthly splits... guys like Javier Betancourt and Victor Roache started hot and had rough going in May, while Jacob Nottingham was the reverse with a terrible April and fantastic May, then you have Brett Phillips who has flashed brilliance in spots but has made incremental improvement from April to May (DL stint aside). May's player of the month will be interesting as there are quite a few legit choices... Cooper, Gatewood, and Nottingham all immediately jump to mind, though my money is on Gatewood with his HR barrage. Biloxi Recap

Wisconsin takes it to 11 in 2-1 win Timber Rattlers beat Cedar Rapids in 11 innings By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore I was watching the D3 World Series and following this game on my phone, switching constantly between the Rattlers and Shuckers on gameday because both games were fantastic. Jordan Yamamoto has been strong most of the season, he's had some blips, but for the most part he's been steady. Devin Williams was much better tonight, but still isn't throwing enough strikes, he threw 79 pitches to get through 4.1 innings. Blake Allemand (2-4) had the only multi hit game for the Rattlers who collected just 6 hits and struck out 17(!) times. Wisconsin Recap

Ninth inning homer downs Shuckers on Friday Jorge Ortega tosses his fourth quality start in the no decision Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/8/2/180656682/cuts/2Q5A6188_srn5chmm_0i75etg0.JPG Jorge Ortega matched a season-high with 6.1 innings and set a season-high with six strikeouts on Friday nigh (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore Jorge Ortega had a huge strike out day for him which was good to see... 6.1 IP, 5H, 0BB, 6SO, and 0R. Bilxoi managed just 5 hits, but Jacob Nottingham had 2 of them and has pushed his AVE up to .245. After hitting .159 in April he's hit .310 in May, check out his splits on his player page. Biloxi Recap

Deep Six: Rattlers' Six-Run Fourth Paves Way to Victory Wisconsin wins 8-3 at Cedar Rapids By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore David Burkhalter keeps on keeping on, all 3 Rattler pitchers gave up a single tally, 1 of which was unearned. The T-Rat hitters managed 8 runs on 9 hits, very efficient especially when the majority came in the 4th, with Blake Allemand (2-5) and Luis Aviles (2-5,2B) having the multi hit games for Wisconsin. Wisconsin Recap

Rattlers rally, but fall 7-6 in eleven innings By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Freddy Peralta was victimized by a Carlos Belonis misplay that was ruled a double even though he got his glove on it, Chris initially thought he caught it about knee high but somehow it got him through him, and that sent Freddy on the downward spiral. Marcos Diplan did what he's done all year, get himself into and out of trouble with 4 clean innings, in fact the bullpen as a whole was fantastic. The hitters battled all the way back with Blake Allemand, Isan Diaz, David Denson, and Monte Harrison who was finally dropped to the bottom of the order had multi hit games for the Rattlers. Wisconsin Recap

Shuckers head home after doubleheader split on Thursday Biloxi wraps up 13-game road trip with a 6-0 shutout in the nightcap Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/2/4/180482124/cuts/2Q5A5244_vgu65gdm_hh96v02g.JPG Javi Salas tossed 5.2 innings and earned the win on Thursday night (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Game 1 Boxscore Game 1 didn't go so well as Adrian Houser struggled again giving up 10 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings. Stephen Peterson had a rare off day as well giving up 2 runs in 1 inning. Javier Betancourt (2-3,HR) had the only multi hit game for the Shuckers and drove in both runs with his HR. Biloxi Game 1 Recap ***** Biloxi Game 2 Boxscore Game 2 was much better with Biloxi all over opposing pitcher Billy Buckner. Javier Salas had his best outing in some time allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, and no runs against 4 strike outs in his 5.2 innings while throwing 52 of 96 pitches for strikes. I'm not sure if the game story will mention it but the Suckers pounded out 13 hits in just 7 innings in Game 2. Biloxi Game 2 Recap

Shuckers drop opener to BayBears, 9-1 Biloxi falls from first place for the first time since April 28 Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/9/4/180298994/cuts/27055002631_6306253ef6_o_5mknywxc_ucwlnjdh.jpg Javier Betancourt was 3-for-4 in Wednesday night's loss at Mobile (Jason Clark) Biloxi Boxscore Obviously the pitching wasn't awesome here. Last week I said Jacob Nottingham (2-4) and Javier Betancourt (3-4) would soon meet batting average wise and it happened today, both finished with a .236 AVE after their excellent performances at the plate. Nottingham has hits in 8 of his last 10 games. Biloxi Recap

Rattlers Build Big Lead and Hold On for Win Rattlers led 9-0, Beat Clinton 9-8 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore This one got way too close for comfort after the pitching staff was staked to a 9-0 lead. Every pitcher gave up runs except for Nate Griep who lowered his ERA to an even 2.00 ERA. Jake Drossner wasn't helped by an error but at some point you need to pitch yourself out of trouble. On the offensive Luis Aviles (2-5,2B), Max McDowell (2-4), Isan Diaz (2-4), and Carlos Belonis (2-4,2B,3B) had multi hit games for the T-Rats. This team has it ups and down defensively, lately it's been most downs, but at least they held on for the win. Wisconsin Recap

First game of road trip is a 5-3 loss at Clinton By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore David Denson (2-4,2B,BB), Jake Gatewood (2-5,2B), and Blake Allemand (2-4) carried the WI offense again. Monte Harrison got the night off and MH already covered Diaz who has dropped below .200 on the season. As noted earlier in the threadMiguel Diaz can bring it, but he was off tonight, 2 of out his last 3 outings have been this type. Drake Owenby had a nice night in relief with 3 scoreless. It's tough when you give up 5 runs on just 6 hits but wild pitches and balks will do that to you, free bases are the devil. Wisconsin Recap

I find it highly unlikely that Jimmy Nelson develops enough to be a solid #2 year in and year out, much less an Ace. He's already come so far, truth is he was a pick I hated on draft day, he was just big bodied guy with averagish stuff drawing comparisons to Suppan in his prime. I was completely underwhelmed at the time and he's progressed so much that I'm not sure how much farther he can really go. If a pitcher is a perennial #3 then he shouldn't be part of the "core" of the team, the object should be to make that kind of pitcher replaceable in the organization. To often a true #3 is either our #2 or #1 on the Brewers... the issue here has rarely been the offense, it's almost always been the pitching. In the same way if a position player is worth less than 3 WAR (to put a soft number on it) on a yearly basis that player should not be extended and made part of the core either. If a player isn't truly special then he's replaceable, Melvin held onto homegrown Brewers from the first too long, extending Weeks and Hart when he shouldn't have given their age, health, and production. Many of us are older and grew up in an era of "team for life" but that's not the reality of modern sports, very few players are going to spend their career with one team, and the ones that do are going to be vastly overpaid as they decline, something the Brewers can ill afford. Milwaukee has to get more wins per dollar than the competition, we're the smallest market in baseball and the Brewers simply aren't able to afford wasting double digit millions on unproductive players every year for the sake of marketing. At least not if winning a championship is the ultimate goal... if selling tickets and being "competitive" and popular is the goal then they can operate as they have, but that's not good enough for me personally. I'm not exactly sure where the Brewers come out on the championship vs competitive thing, we've discussed that subject a great deal over the years and I've never been sold that my goals aligned with the Brewers true goal for any particular season. On this Brewer's roster no player is untouchable, going back to 2008 I would have said maybe 2 or 3 were untouchable (Braun and Gallardo for sure), but I would have traded Fielder or Hart for young impact pitching in a heartbeat (yes I know I've been beating the same drum for almost a decade now and I'm sorry, but that's how I see it). It's not that Fielder didn't deserve to be a core player, it's that he wasn't willing to be a core player for Milwaukee and was always going to take the money... letting him walk for a comp pick didn't seem like very good value to me.

Final: Tennessee 3, Biloxi 2 (12 Innings) Biloxi Boxscore Lame Cubs. Wei-Chung Wang gave up a boatload of hits in his 5.1 innings again, but interestingly enough gave up 1 of his 2 runs on a balk, and limited the damage fairly well. The bullpen pitched fairly well allowing just 1 run in over 6 innings, though walk, single, walk, single with 2 outs in the 12th was less than inspiring. Kyle Wren (3-6,HR) led the way offensively while Tyrone Taylor (2-4,BB), Nick Shaw (2-5), and Brandon Macias (2-4,BB) all had multi hit games. Biloxi Recap Tennessee Bottom of the 12th Biloxi Shuckers right fielder Garrett Cooper ejected by 1B umpire Matt Winter. Defensive Substitution: Rene Garcia replaces right fielder Garrett Cooper, batting 3rd, playing right field. Chesny Young flies out to right fielder Rene Garcia. Jacob Hannemann walks. Jeimer Candelario singles on a ground ball to right fielder Rene Garcia. Jacob Hannemann to 3rd. Brett Lee intentionally walks Victor Caratini. Jeimer Candelario to 2nd. Billy McKinney singles on a fly ball to center fielder Tyrone Taylor. Jacob Hannemann scores. Jeimer Candelario to 3rd. Victor Caratini to 2nd.

Rattlers drop homestand finale to Kane County Cougars beat Wisconsin 7-1 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/2/9/4/179790294/cuts/5_23_PlayerOfTheGame_BlakeAllemand_kp3biquf_1hdatrvk.png Blake Allemand went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored for the Timber Rattlers on Monday afternoon. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) Wisconsin Boxscore I find the start of Devin Williams' 2016 campaign frustrating (maybe disheartening is a better word), I was hoping he'd take a step forward and instead his control has been worse than last year in 2 of his 3 outings. Most everything is being left up, and it shows in the results. At least Jordan Yamamoto keeps getting better incrementally as he moves up. The T-Rats were dominated by Cody Reed who was the Arizona 2nd round pick in 2014 out of an Alabama HS, he's been stellar at every step along the way. Rattler hitters Mitch Ghelfi (2-3), Blake Allemand (2-4,2B), and Sthervin Matos (2-4) had the multi hit games for Wisconsin. As noted earlier in the thread Monte Harrison has batted at the top of the line-up all season, manager Matt Erickson has been extremely patient and has gone of out of way to show confidence in Monte. In year's past he would have been batting out of the 9 spot by the 2nd week of April, Erickson has never been shy about shuffling the batting order in terms of who's hot or not. Jake Gatewood committed his 15th error already, Allemand added his 7th, 6 of which have come in WI. Wisconsin Recap ***** Postgame Post – May 23, 2016 *****

For every LHP that blooms late there is a statistically appropriate # of RHP like Jake Arrieta, or a failed starter converted to reliever, then back to starter again like Adam Wainwright, someone like Chris Carpenter, even guys like Doug Davis, Kyle Lohse, etc. Handedness has nothing do with athleticism or any of the other factors that determine when a player finally "gets it"... some players just have much farther to go than others.

Didn't you once say the same the thing of Peralta?

Is that some Melvinism like "speed takes longer to develop"? There are fewer LH pitchers, so they are fewer in the big leagues, but they hardly take longer to develop. And no, when he was going 4 innings on 85 pitches he wouldn't have got through 6 or 7. Going 6 innings is a very recent trend. He doesn't have good control or command at this point, at least in my opinion for his level. If you aren't able to ever hit a spot then prospect watchers are going to look at a guy like him and see that he fits nicely into the backend of a bullpen. K-Rod never hit a spot either, that's why he ended up as a reliever where he could make it work in short outings. I'm a firm believer in developing every pitcher as a starter for as long as possible but I also don't think it's very hard to see why Hader gets #3/bullpen type labels. Personally I don't hold Bernie Pleskoff in very high regard, everything he writes tends to read like what the parents or his HS coach would say about the player. I don't want to be sold on a player, I want an accurate assessment of strengths and weaknesses, which is why I read as many sources as possible to form my own opinion. MLB and by extension MiLB have a vested interest in fans being excited about their prospects, so I would caution restraint when using their opinions as source material. I do have great respect for Callis, I think snagging him was a savvy move and instantly gave MLB more credibility, but I'm still extremely skeptical of the of the source. Much like I am with anything coming out of the Brewers about their own prospects, it's hardly unbiased, I'd rather get the opinion of the scouts from the other teams in our division.

How can you not see that you are using the extreme best case scenario? For every Bumgarner there's 2 or 3 Mark Priors... pitchers with exceptional talent who flamed out because of injury. I wholeheartedly agree that pitch counts and innings limits should be done on a case by case basis, where the actual drop off in velocity and effectiveness is charted for each pitcher, instead of the arbitrary pitch count methods that are used through out baseball. However, to continually use Hall of Fame or near Hall of Fame players as proof of a concept is disingenuous at best. Furthermore any business which would operate on the absolute best case scenario isn't going to be in business very long because sooner or later that kind of exposure comes back to hurt you. The simple truth here is that people are going to see what they want to see because of their own personal agenda. It's laughable to compare Hader to any top MLB pitcher today, he's barely getting through 6 innings on his pitch count. Yes he's filthy, but there's more to pitching than having nasty stuff, though as I've stated many times that's my starting point. I care more about stuff than about velocity. Developing pitching is mostly about patience because so few athletes have gotten any kind of decent coaching along the way. I've told every QB and pitcher I've ever coached that becoming better is a process because in most cases they have to be completely torn down and built back up to break their bad habits. I must text "trust the process" once a week to college pitcher I've been working with the last 2 years, it takes years and thousands of repetitions to fix one self and learn how to throw with accuracy. There's no magic button, no instant fix, it's just hard work and time... a ball, a glove, and a target twice a week in season (on a 7 day schedule) and 3 times a week out of season. I have never understood the fascination with trying to push pitchers around our MiLB forum and still don't, we simply haven't had that kind of talent, and we still don't. HS pitchers like Urias and Fernandez are a handful per generation, as close as we've gotten was Gallardo, and I believe he was handled perfectly as he progressed. You can push them, but then you end up with injuries, which in the past were career killers, and now cost a season or 2. Our college pitchers whom have succeeded haven't been that kind of talent either, they've been projects of varying degrees or pitchers without great stuff who were statistically dominant. Mastering a level of minor league baseball has less to do with the statistical results than it does mastering the skills necessary to compete and have success at the next level. I spent all of last year trying to point that out with Medeiros, I questioned numerous times whether his game would play at higher levels, and it hasn't to this point. Let Hader ride out AA to the break, then promote him to AAA and see how he does against much better hitting competition. Having watched Josh pitch I've already offered my opinion that he's about a 5 inning guy in MLB right now. I could absolutely be wrong, but that's my gut feeling, and there are very few effectively wild starting pitchers in MLB. Edwin Jackson is the most successful recent example, but his career has been a bit of a roller coaster, nor would I use him as any kind of benchmark for starting pitching. I say that as someone who likes Jackson and always have, I wanted to trade to for him or Niemann when he was with the Rays and they had surplus pitching, but that was more about his talent, my soft spot for him, and pitchers like Dave Bush being in the rotation rather than admiring how he pitched.

Shuckers sweep doubleheader from Smokies Biloxi extends first place lead to 1.5 games after sweep on Sunday Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/2/0/8/179674208/cuts/27054992261_ff1081fe70_o_rx5x2hfo_rm75g4sz.jpg Garrett Cooper drives in five runs in Sunday's doubleheader sweep at Tennessee (Jason Clark) Biloxi Game 1 Boxscore It's very late because I fell asleep so I'm going to let the game story do all the talking here. Biloxi Game 2 Recap ***** Biloxi Game 2 Boxscore Biloxi Game 2 Recap

Aviles Hits Late Homer; Leads Rattlers Past Kane County 88Wisconsin wins 7-6 for second straight victory By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/3/6/179631936/cuts/5_22_PlayerOftheGame_LuisAviles_5ikybcmi_36c02ixp.jpg Luis Aviles went 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs scored, and three RBI for the Rattlers on Sunday. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) Wisconsin Boxscore David Burkhalter pitched pretty well but as the game story laid out the defense behind him was awful. I'm not sure what else i can say about Luis Aviles, he's a competent defender every he's played, and I believe that's every position but pitcher and catcher so far this year. David Denson's (2-3,2B,BB) day pushed his AVE to .308 and Carlos Belonis (2-4) was productive today as well. Wisconsin Recap ***** Postgame Post – May 22, 2016 *****

If Taylor Brennan had less holes in his swing he'd be one of my favorite prospects, though I guess you can say that for a ton of players who can do everything but hit for AVE. He's the type of guy who I latch onto and silently root for.

Bullpen falters in 10-9 loss to Smokies Adrian Houser tosses his second quality start in last three outings Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/5/2/179522952/cuts/Houser_SH_angw5hij_pxxvo5sd.jpg Adrian Houser worked six innings of quality baseball on Saturday night in a no decision (Sun Herald) Biloxi Boxscore I don't hate many things, but I do hate the "quality start" nonsense, it's the epitome of celebrating mediocrity. I realize they are looking to spin Adrian Houser's recent work in the most positive light, but I really wish the quality thing would just go away. Houser was much better today allowing just the 1 run, the walks and hits were down but so were the SOs. Unfortunately the bullpen was awful. The hitters did more than enough collecting 11 hits and 9 runs, they got to Duane Underwood who's a pretty decent Cubs' pitching prospect (ranked #4 by BA) for 3 runs in 5 innings, but it didn't hold up. Biloxi Recap

Fast Start Leads to Rattlers Win Denson Homers; Diplan & Peralta combine for 15 Ks in 7-3 victory By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/5/3/2/179529532/cuts/5_21_PlayerOfTheGame_sbcgpiet_9ztclrlw.png Marcos Diplan struck out seven and allowed two unearned runs over five innings and earned his fifth win of the season on Saturday night. Wisconsin Boxscore Marcos Diplan throws from a high 3/4 arm slot with the typical fall off towards 1B. I don't recall the TV crew giving a velo reading on him tonight but he was able to get FBs past hitters. He works mostly up and his control needs work, but he continues to be effective doing it his way. Freddy Peralta comes from a bit lower than 3/4, but not a low 3/4 slot, he's inbetween for the most part. He's generally around the plate, he does a great job running the FB up under hitters hands. I believe the TV crew said he hit 94 on the stadium gun. All in all it was an excellent pitching performance allowing just 5 hits with 15 strike outs, though of course 1 of those hits was a HR. Luis Aviles (3-4,3B) is hitting everything very hard right now, as in line drives all over the place. He's hitting .378 over his 10 games and has pushed his AVE back up to .303. Outside of David Denson I'd be hard pressed to name a player who's progressed farther between seasons, but unlike Denson he's caught me completely by surprise. I guess I could put Mitch Ghelfi in that category as well, with Alan Sharkey (2-4) faltering early he took over the 1B job (DH today) and is hitting .333 in 84 ABs and has played strong defense in his own right. Max McDowell (2-3,BB) rounded out the multi hit performances and is threatening the .300 mark again. This team continues to float around .500, but I think they are better than that, I think they could compete for a 2nd half title pending promotions to BC. Regarding the Trent Clark injury it didn't look like anything live, or on the replay, it was weak slide into 3rd and he got up normally and walked to the dugout afterwards, but there's an update in the Rattler Radio postgame regarding the nature of the injury. Wisconsin Recap ****** Postgame Post – May 21, 2016 ******

Trent Clark left the game after the 1st inning and Isan Diaz just made a play where he ended up on the other side of 2nd base on a grounder to get the runner. I'm not sure it was actually an out, but damn it was a nice play and I hope it makes the highlights. If the TV crew passes along anything on the nature of Clark's issue I'll update.

Kane County holds off Wisconsin 3-1 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattler http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/7/8/179320778/cuts/5_20_PlayerOftheGame_CarlosBelonis_74dzjzuo_t2doxzr2.jpg Carlos Belonis went 1-for-3 with an RBI for the Rattlers on Friday night. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) Wisconsin Boxscore David Lucroy throws from a low 3/4 arm slot, he's kind of all over the place with his FB, his CB is actually pretty decent. Jake Drossner actually looks better than his stats would suggest, but he leaves the ball up way too much. It looks like he's got a slider and cb based on the break of each, but without velocity I wasn't able to tell if he changing the shape of his CB or throwing 2 different pitches. Just 5 hits, none for extra bases, for the Rattlers whom ran into Justin Donatella, he was the AZ pitcher of the month for April. Wisconsin Recap ***** Rattler Radio Postgame ****

Rain postpones Friday's game two between Shuckers and Smokies The rain out will be made up on Sunday as part of a 1:05 pm CT doubleheader Biloxi Shuckers

It's been my experience that many people will over react positively and negatively to players in very small samples. Much like McGehee before him Jungmann was never going to sustain his success, there was nothing in his MiLB career to suggest a sustained high level of MLB success for him. His mechanics are horrible, his breaking stuff average, and even last year he wasn't throwing strikes, hitters were chasing his CB out of the zone for strike outs. He wasn't even a top of the rotation guy on draft day, he was an "innings eater" even then. On the flip side there were posters who thought Peralta was a budding ace even though he's never located all that well but has a decent slider, all based on one pretty stellar season. I understand it can be hard to be objective, but i guess I would hope that's everybody's goal... to see the situation for what it is instead of what we want it to be.