TheCrew07

Reds’ Daniel Corcino Throws Eight Innings Of Double-A No-Hitter

Pitchers of the Week For the week ending June 17 International League Justin Wilson, Indianapolis (1-0, 0.69 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 13 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 3 BB, 11 K) Part of Indianapolis' no-hitter against Durham on April 29, Wilson suffered a groin injury in mid-May. Though he missed no starts, he didn't pitch effectively, allowing 15 runs on 23 hits and 13 walks in 18 2/3 innings over his next four games. The Pirates' No. 9 prospect was back on form this week, however, holding Rochester to four hits -- without walking a batter -- over seven scoreless frames Monday before kicking off the Indians' one-hit win at Charlotte on Sunday afternoon. Southern League Daniel Corcino, Pensacola (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 8 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 3 BB, 9 K) Corcino, who jumped straight to Double-A this season after fanning 156 batters in 139 1/3 Midwest League innings last season, put it all together against Mobile on Saturday night. MLB.com's No. 98 prospect held the first-half South Division champion BayBears hitless while striking out nine over eight frames. Wilkin De La Rosa struck out the side in the ninth to complete the Blue Wahoos' first no-hitter. Corcino tossed a season-high 110 pitches to notch his first victory since May 3 -- as well as singling in the third for his second career hit.

IL notes: Soto hoping to heat up Reds prospect has a history of getting off to slow starts By John Wagner / Special to MLB.com http://www.milb.com/images/2012/06/17/QkUQE3mc.jpg Neftali Soto leads Louisville with eight homers, 31 RBIs and 25 runs scored. (Kevin Hill/MiLB.com) Louisville manager David Bell has seen Neftali Soto get hot before. Last season, as a matter of fact. "He was hurt for about a month in April and May," said Bell, Soto's manager at Double-A Carolina in 2011. "But when he came back, it didn't take long until he got really hot." Soto played in only 20 games the first two months of last year due to a broken bone in his wrist. He was hitting .243 in mid-June before a spurt of five homers in six games jump-started his season. After hitting three homers the first two months of 2011, Soto belted seven in June, then had 10 in both July and August to tie for the Southern League lead with 30 while adding 76 RBIs in 102 games. So it's understandable that Reds officials aren't overly concerned about the start of this season, Soto's first with Louisville. The 23-year-old has batted .238 in his first 62 games, although he leads the Bats with eight homers and 31 RBIs. While Soto may not be worried, he is far from satisfied with his first full season at the Triple-A level. "It's been tough," he told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "This is not what I was expecting. I thought it would be better. "I feel like guys in Double-A are nasty, throwing harder. But here, they work more around you. They know how to pitch here." That experience shows in the 65 times Soto has struck out to go with only 17 walks that contribute to a .289 on-base percentage. "He's getting at-bats and, at this point in his career, that's the key," Bell said. "He's making adjustments day-to-day, and that's something that will happen for the rest of his career." It helps that the Reds seem to have settled on first base as Soto's position. Originally drafted as a shortstop, the native of Puerto Rico moved to third base, then spent part of 2010 as a catcher before switching to first base full-time last year. Bell said Soto seems to be following a track similar to the one he experienced last season in Carolina. "He's a young player and young players just play better as they gain experience," Bell said. "Once he got some at-bats last year, he gained experience and played better. The more you play, the better you get." Bell added that Soto, who has missed time recently due to mild back spasms, added to his value because of his fast finish in 2011. "Players who are good over the second half of the season are more valuable," Bell said. "If a guy plays well down the stretch, when his team is fighting for a pennant, people tend to notice that." In brief Night and day: It has been an up-and-down season for Gwinnett RHP Jair Jurrjens. He was 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA after his first three starts but has gone 1-4 with a 7.34 ERA since. Things have gone especially bad in night games: In six starts under the lights, Jurrjens is 1-4 with a 8.10 ERA, while his three starts in matinees have produced a 2-0 record and 1.17 ERA. For the season, he's 3-4 with a 5.27 ERA. Pitching in: Indianapolis has ridden the best pitching staff in the IL to first place in the West Division. The Indians were 19-11 in May, thanks in large part to a 2.52 team ERA for the month. The Tribe has only one pitcher among the IL leaders in ERA -- LHP Rudy Owens, who's second with a 2.34 mark -- but leads the league with nine shutouts. For the season, Indianapolis has a 3.02 ERA. He said it: "You just never know what's going to happen. When you think you're in, you're out; when you think you're out, you're in. Baseball has a way to work itself out eventually." -- Columbus OF Trevor Crowe to the Columbus Dispatch. Crowe, who missed more than a month with a strained right oblique, is batting .307 in 21 games. He said, Part II: "I've been struggling at the plate a little bit. So I was just trying to make good contact and got a fastball up and hit it out." -- Syracuse RHP Mitch Atkins to the Syracuse Post-Standard on June 10. In a win over Louisville, he hit the first homer by a Chiefs pitcher since Ed Ricks on June 15, 1975 at Pawtucket.

This team already has too many situational pitchers the way it is, we need pitchers that are capable getting hitters out from either side of the plate and that can pitch more than 1 inning if necessary. The problem with the bullpen is a complete lack of flexibility... adding another situational pitcher only ties RR's hands further.

I'm not sure people understand what's being suggested here? First, isn't every team perpetually rebuilding because players age? It's not like we can just build up a team and keep that team forever. How does selling a completely redundant piece in Morgan equal constant rebuilding? How does not being able to resign Greinke equal constant rebuilding? The point many are trying to make is that if we're going to lose the players to FA agency anyway, what's the best possible return? Personally I'll always take top prospects over draft picks because a draft pick's value is nearly impossible to define and they are closer to contributing to MLB. I'd much rather acquire a player who is 1 or 2 years away than a player who is 4 years away. Last year there was much discussion that Jungmann would be able to help the rotation if he signed right away, mostly because that's exactly what Melvin said during an interview. That's proven to be completely untrue, he's doing fine in A+ but he's not laying waste to the league. He may get a promotion to AA here at some point but I'm guessing he won't be ready for MLB until sometime in 2013 or 2014 and he was the 12th overall pick in the draft. I would much rather take a prospect like Danny Hultzen today than wait and try to draft him in 2013 and have him ready by 2015, that's a college type arm, high school players are much farther away... I don't mean to suggest that Hultzen would actually be available for trade I'm saying that he's your best case college arm in a typical draft, but the problem is that we have to be able to draft in the top 5 or maybe at worst the top 10 to get that kind of talent anyway. We won't draft that high playing .500 baseball, so that type of talent won't be available to us in the draft if we hang around trying to make a run. High School kids are typically going to be 4-5 years away so any HS pitcher we'd draft in 2013 wouldn't be available until 2018 and while you certainly can acquire better talent that you let you go in that scenario, there is also no immediate help to solve the team's pitching issues for 2013. I understand that many people would like to watch the best possible baseball throughout the entire season or for as long as possible, but again the new CBA has completely changed the rental player market. To maximize the return and do what's best for the organization sometimes it will require us to punt early on a season to be better in the following years. That's the idea that's being pushed here, and there's simply no way that draft picks are as valuable as prospects when the discussion is how to cheaply replace talent lost for 2013 and 2014. So if you're bound to lose a player regardless at the end season the question becomes can you get back more in a trade than the value of those draft picks? The answer depends entirely on the market for a particular player there is no right and wrong for discussion sake, because we don't know what teams would be willing to offer. Unfortunately Melvin isn't the guy who I'd want to be making decisions about what to acquire for Greinke or any MLB player on the roster so the idea worries me a little bit as I'm afraid he'd be looking to get players that are already in MLB and I don't see many teams being willing to trade young pitching anymore. However the theory of looking to acquire more value than would be available through the draft is sound.

Nine after 9 for June 17, 2012 Daily blog readers should key on the end of the post.

Final: Huntsville 3, Montgomery 2 Huntsville Box Score I'm struggling to find the correct adjective to describe Hiram Burgos' start today... maybe "uneven" would be the proper word? The ultimate result was very good, 6IP, 1R, and 0ER. However he walked 5 batters which is entirely too many... games swing on about 5-10 total pitches, it's interesting to think how much different his line would look without all those "ball fours"... just 5 pitches. On the flip side he struck out 7 and only allowed 3 hits, that's some pretty awesome work. Darren Byrd did a fine job backing up Burgos allowing just 1 hit against 1 strike out in his 2 innings. Jesus Sanchez put forth his customary effort on the bump and wrapped up the game for 7th save, he made it interesting allowing 2 hits, but no runner advanced past 2nd. I'd like to see Jesus bumped up as well. Tommy Manzalla, Domnit Bolivar, and Lee Haydel each had 2 hits a piece, Manzella and singles hitter Scooter Genett each added a double. Josh freaking Prince homered for the 5th time, I have no idea what's gotten into him but I like it. The Stars didn't have a very good day on the bases as Manzella was CS, Bolivar was picked off, and both Biscuit base stealers were successful including the pesky Lee swiping another bag. Haydel did swipe a bag of a his own which was the lone success of the day. In addition to the stolen bases against, Anderson De La Rosa also had a PB(8) and a throwing error(5), he doesn't appear to be very strong defensively. Huntsville Play By Play All of the scoring happened in the first 2 innings... Montgomery Top of the 1st Hak-Ju Lee singles on a line drive to right fielder Kentrail Davis. With Ty Morrison batting, Hak-Ju Lee steals (22) 2nd base. Ty Morrison grounds out, pitcher Hiram Burgos to first baseman Hunter Morris. With Ryan Garko batting, passed ball by Anderson De La Rosa, Hak-Ju Lee to 3rd. Ryan Garko walks. Kyeong Kang strikes out swinging. Tyler Bortnick singles on a line drive to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Hak-Ju Lee scores. Ryan Garko to 3rd. Michael Sheridan grounds into a force out, fielded by shortstop Tommy Manzella. Tyler Bortnick out at 2nd. Huntsville Bottom of the 1st Josh Prince homers (5) on a fly ball to left field. Tommy Manzella strikes out swinging. Scooter Gennett doubles (19) on a ground ball to right fielder Kyeong Kang. Hunter Morris strikes out on foul tip. Anderson De La Rosa walks. Kentrail Davis strikes out swinging. Huntsville Bottom of the 2nd Domnit Bolivar singles on a line drive to left fielder Brad Coon. Lee Haydel singles on a ground ball to right fielder Kyeong Kang. Domnit Bolivar to 3rd. With Matt Cline batting, Lee Haydel steals (4) 2nd base. Matt Cline strikes out swinging. Josh Prince strikes out on foul tip. Tommy Manzella singles on a ground ball to left fielder Brad Coon. Domnit Bolivar scores. Lee Haydel scores. With Scooter Gennett batting, Tommy Manzella caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Mark Thomas to second baseman Tyler Bortnick.

Final: Quad Cities 4, Wisconsin 2 Quad Cities cracks walkoff homer to beat Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers DAVENPORT, IA - Virgil Hill beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers with his feet on in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night. The Quad Cities River Bandits outfielder beat the Rattlers with his bat on Sunday. Hill hit a two-run 'walkoff' home run in the bottom of the ninth at Modern Woodmen Park for a 4-2 win over Wisconsin. Quad Cities (35-34) took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI single by Luis Mateo. The inning started with a four pitch walk to Anthony Garcia. David Medina's double put runners on second and third with no outs. Mateo followed with a single to score Garcia, but Rattlers starting pitcher David Goforth got out of the inning without allowing another run. An unlikely Rattler tied the game with a home run. John Dishon launched an 0-2 pitch with two outs in the top of the fifth inning to the grass seating beyond the wall in left-center. The homer was the first of the season for Dishon. The Bandits went back in front in the bottom of the fifth inning. Colin Walsh knocked in his 56th run of the season with a two-out single. Jason Rogers, Wisconsin's team leader in RBI, evened the game again with a double into the corner in left. Brandon Macias scored all the way from first on the play to give Rogers his 43rd RBI of the season. In the ninth, Mateo started the game winning rally with a leadoff single against reliever Chad Pierce. Hill, who scored the winning run from first base on a throwing error in the ninth inning of the River Bandits' walkoff win on Friday night, was up to bunt Mateo into scoring position. However, Hill fouled the first two bunt attempts. Then, he swung and fouled the next two pitches from Pierce off to stay alive in his at bat. Hill cracked the next pitch to the base of the a pillar that holds up the scoreboard at the top of the grass seating area in left-center for the game winning homer. Wisconsin finishes the first half with a record of 44-25. That is the second best record for a half in franchise history. The Rattlers are also playoff bound for the first time since 2005 after they claimed a spot before eventually winning the first half Western Division last week. The Timber Rattlers are off until Midwest League play resumes on Friday, June 22. Wisconsin will face the Burlington Bees at Community Field in Burlington, Iowa to start a three game series on Friday night at 6:30pm. Wisconsin's next home game is Monday, June 25 when they host the Quad Cities River Bandits at 7:05pm. HOME RUNS: WIS: John Dishon (1st, 0 on in 5th inning off Kyle Hald, 2 out) QC: Virgil Hill (4th, 1 on in 9th inning off Chad Pierce, 0 out) WP: Ethan Cole (2-0) LP: Chad Pierce (1-1) TIME: 2:28 ATTN: 6,937 Wisconsin Box Score I'm not sure what to say about the way the half wrapped up other than, "At least it wasn't a walk off bunt?". Man I hate Quad Cities.... There will be lots of changes here in the 2nd half, new link reporters, I'll be doing different teams, new players at each level of the organization, but regardless the T-Rats had one heck of a first half, won the title, and made my job on this forum very enjoyable. Thanks to all the players, the staff, and especially Chris Mehring for such a wonderful half, now finish the job! David Goforth had one of his better starts, I don't see things turning around significantly for him until he overhauls his delivery, he just had too many parts going in too many directions right now. Great athletes can make that work but I'm personally much more of a "KISS" principle type of guy, it's just easier to throw strikes if everything is moving in 1 direction. Right now he falls hard towards the 1B dugout and sometimes pitches from a very low 3/4 arm slot and in the interest of keeping this short that's why I believe he struggles to throw strikes. I don't want to break his mechanics down in great detail here in a LR, but I do believe he has all the tools to be a very successful pitcher down the road if he's willing to change. David went 5 innings this afternoon allowing 6H, 2ER, 2BB, and 1WP against 4SO lowering his first half ERA to 5.56. Chad Pierce cruised through his first 3 innings, but that 9th inning will linger with him for awhile since it happened right before the break. Still his season to this point is everything the locals could have hoped for and he only allowed the 3 hits, walked none, and struck out 4 in his 3+ it's just one hit was that game winning HR. Jason Rogers led the way for the offensive side putting up a 2-4 effort with 2 doubles, I sincerely hope he's bumped to A+ after the all-star game, he's earned it. Yadiel Rivera had the other multi-hit game going 2-4, he's hit in 7 of his last 10 and put up a .279 BA over that span. I'd like to see him sustain that pace as he solves breaking pitches and if so then look out Central Division foes, cause we have 2 bona fide SS prospects. Max Walla didn't play much over the last week, hopefully there's nothing physically wrong and he hits like he has the potential too in the 2nd half. Wisconsin Play By Play Chris covered it all.

Maybe, the umpiring also gets much better as the pitchers move up, there are some pretty generous zones in A ball.

Awesome, thanks for stepping up, if you have any questions about post formatting please feel to PM any of us who regularly do the postings.

Any one willing to take the AZ squad? PrinceFielderx1?

avid readers will remember Reds LHP Tony Cingrani making multiple appearances in the Link Report so far this season, here's the Reds top pitching prospect coming into the season 1 upping Cingrani's hot sheet ranking yesterday. I would link BA's report for Corcino but there is a decent scouting report in the story. Wahoo! Corcino leads combined no-no Reds prospect fans nine over eight, De La Rosa completes it By Andrew Pentis / Special to MLB.com http://www.milb.com/images/2012/06/16/zkYlofLX.jpg Daniel Corcino signed with the Reds out of the Dominican Republic in January 2008. (Chris Nelson) There was Daniel Corcino, a walking, talking -- and pitching -- oxymoron: Dirt stains stretching from his uniform pant leg up to his chest and sweat dripping from his brow. He was finishing the cleanest outing of his pro career on an 84-degree Saturday night in Pensacola, yet he was very, very dirty. That was because Corcino accomplished something earlier in the evening that his opposition failed to: He got a hit. The Reds' top pitching prospect held down the visiting Mobile BayBears for eight innings and lefty reliever Wilkin De La Rosa worked the ninth to seal the 68-game-old franchise's first no-hitter. Oh, and a 6-0 victory. The Corcino-De La Rosa effort marked the eighth no-hitter -- each the work of a tag team -- in the Minors this season. One other fact: The last Southern League no-hitter occurred exactly one year ago when the BayBears were quieted by then-Montgomery ace Matt Moore. After his second hit of the season, a leadoff single in third, Corcino advanced to second and slid into third -- two more small successes that the BayBears didn't sniff. On the mound, Corcino issued two-out walks to Yazy Arbelo and Ed Easley in the second and fifth frames, respectively, but was otherwise perfect. The 21-year-old right-hander had thrown 78 pitches through six frames and required 20 more to pitch around a leadoff walk to Matt Davidson and strike out the side in the seventh. In the eighth, he threw 12 more pitches, bringing his total to 110. The 24th out was pinch-hitter Wladimir Sutil, who worked the count to 3-0 before becoming Corcino's ninth victim on strikes, matching a season high. He also recorded nine outs on the ground and five in the air. Corcino was at his best, and he knew it. He wanted to finish what he started. "It's incredible," Corcino told pnj.com. "It's my first time to throw eight innings, but I know I can keep going and maybe next time, you know, I can finish." That's why he was standing atop the dugout steps -- helmet on -- when his spot in the batting order neared in the bottom of the eighth. When manager Jim Riggleman followed organizational protocol and inserted Josh Fellhauer in Corcino's slot, the vociferous few among the 5,038 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium started to boo. "No, not really, it wasn't hard at all. It's the guidelines," Riggleman told the website, noting Corcino is slated to pitch in next week's Southern League All-Star Game. "Maybe if anything, I should have taken him out after seven. But we were not going to let him go past 110 (pitches)." Fellhauer singled and scored during the ensuing three-run rally. For his part, De La Rosa elicited cheers. He required 26 pitches and issued a fourth Blue Wahoos walk but also struck out the side in the ninth. After striking out Marc Krauss to end the game, De La Rosa threw his glove into the air, then hugged his fellow Dominican Republic native who started the run at history. Corcino came out of the pile of players with the baseball in hand. In his first Double-A season, Corcino (3-4) was 0-3 with a 4.94 ERA in his previous six starts. And in a dozen prior appearances this year, he had not advanced into the seventh inning. He ended up eclipsing his single-game career high in innings after going seven three times with Class A Dayton last season. Still, Corcino features a mid-90s fastball to go with his slider and changeup. And this is the same pitcher who, before his recent slide, went 2-0 while allowing only six hits over 11 1/3 scoreless frames against Jacksonville on April 27 and Jackson on May 3. A non-drafted free agent who signed with Cincinnati in January 2008, Corcino lowered his ERA to 3.34 and has a 69-to-31 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 70 innings with the Blue Wahoos. De La Rosa, too, was right for the assignment. Pitching in his sixth season after five as an outfielder, the 27-year-old entered with a 1.31 ERA in 19 games since an April 23 promotion from Class A Advanced Bakersfield. This is his first year in the Reds organization. The Blue Wahoos scored their lone run off BayBears starter David Holmberg in the fifth when No. 4 Reds prospect Didi Gregorious tripled and came home two batters latter on Joel Guzman's two-out single. David Vidal also plated Gregorious with a two-run homer in the seventh off reliever Bryan Henry. Holmberg, the D-backs' No. 7 prospect, yielded six hits and a walk while striking out six over five innings. After two Double-A starts, he's 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA.

Final: Montgomery 7, Huntsville 2 Huntsville Box Score I know the Rays system just about as well as I know the Brewers system and this Montgomery team isn't exactly prospect laden or performing at high level, it's very similarly constructed team to the Stars so it's disappointing this series has gone the way it has with the Stars losing 3 of 4 thus far. Kyle Heckathorn just didn't throw enough strikes tonight as he threw 101 pitches and only 60 for strikes walking 4 and hitting a batter. The rest of his line was okay, 3 runs, 2 earned, 4 strike outs, posting an 8:2 ratio... he is pitching better than last year but his K rate is in a slow but steady decline as the season progresses and the results in terms of runs allowed haven't been awe inspiring either. He does many things well, his GO:AO ratio and his BB rate in particular are pretty good, but he's giving up more than a hit per inning. He's just kind of a tough prospect to get a good read on considering his not throwing as hard as he did in college and has never really missed enough bats or limited the hits to the point where I would feel comfortable projecting him. Daniel Meadows and Brandon Kintzler both gave up 2 runs a piece in relief and Kintzler's last 4.1 innings have been brutal as he's given up nine runs and his ERA ballooned to an even 6. Is this an after-effect of the forearm surgery or has he just gone ice cold? Josh Prince went 0-2 but did walk twice, he'd by my surprise player for this level so far. He also stole his 23rd base and was caught stealing for the 9th time. No Stars had a multi-hit game though Matt Cline did double in the contest and Tommy Manzella stole his 2nd base of the season while Lee Haydel was caught stealing for the 3rd time and committed his first error (fielding). Opposing baserunners Hak-Ju Lee and Omar Luna victimized Huntsville for 4 stolen bases, 3 by Lee who's the best prospect on this Montgomery team. Hexathorn did PO a base runner at 1st. Huntsville Play By Play The teams traded runs in the first but it was all Montgomery after that. Montgomery Top of the 1st Hak-Ju Lee walks. With Ty Morrison batting, Hak-Ju Lee steals (19) 2nd base. Ty Morrison strikes out swinging. With Omar Luna batting, Hak-Ju Lee steals (20) 3rd base. Omar Luna singles on a ground ball to center fielder Josh Prince. Hak-Ju Lee scores. Ryan Garko doubles (6) on a line drive to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Omar Luna scores. Kyeong Kang grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. Ryan Garko to 3rd. Greg Sexton called out on strikes. Huntsville Bottom of the 1st Josh Prince walks. Tommy Manzella singles on a line drive to right fielder Brett Nommensen. Josh Prince to 2nd. With Scooter Gennett batting, Josh Prince steals (23) 3rd base. Tommy Manzella steals (2) 2nd base. Scooter Gennett strikes out swinging. Hunter Morris singles on a ground ball to center fielder Ty Morrison. Josh Prince scores. Tommy Manzella scores. Scott Krieger strikes out swinging. Kentrail Davis flies out to right fielder Brett Nommensen. Montgomery Top of the 8th Omar Luna singles on a line drive to second baseman Scooter Gennett, deflected by pitcher Daniel Meadows. With Ryan Garko batting, wild pitch by Daniel Meadows, Omar Luna to 2nd. Ryan Garko strikes out swinging. With Kyeong Kang batting, Omar Luna steals (17) 3rd base. Kyeong Kang doubles (13) on a fly ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Omar Luna scores. Greg Sexton singles on a line drive to left fielder Lee Haydel. Kyeong Kang scores. Brett Nommensen grounds into double play, second baseman Scooter Gennett to shortstop Tommy Manzella to first baseman Hunter Morris. Greg Sexton out at 2nd. Montgomery Top of the 9th Pitcher Change: Brandon Kintzler replaces Daniel Meadows. Brad Coon doubles (6) on a fly ball to left fielder Lee Haydel. Mayo Acosta doubles (2) on a ground ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Brad Coon scores. Hak-Ju Lee grounds out, shortstop Tommy Manzella to first baseman Hunter Morris. Mayo Acosta to 3rd. Ty Morrison singles on a line drive to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Mayo Acosta scores. Omar Luna grounds into double play, shortstop Tommy Manzella to first baseman Hunter Morris. Ty Morrison out at 2nd.

Sounds like a plan.

How about I take Nashville and you take the T-Rats since you cover them anyway? The media coverage would make it relatively easy to cover you when you're unavailable. Unless you'd like to work with a different team? What do you think?

I would be great if we could have someone step up and take the Arizona Brewers and/or Nashville. DHonks would you be interested? You read the LR everyday, contribute regularly, and are in that time zone so covering the AZ Brewers would be easier for you than those in the East and Central time zones. You wouldn't have to take Nashville, we could work on finding another contributor.

Final: Quad Cities 3, Wisconsin 2 Win streak ends as Bandits beat Rattlers By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers DAVENPORT, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers scored two early runs, but could not muster anything else against the Quad Cities River Bandits Friday night at Modern Woodmen Park. It cost them. Quad Cities tied the game in the fourth and scored the winning run on an error in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Rattlers 3-2. The loss ended Wisconsin's seven game winning streak. The Rattlers (44-24) took the early lead with a pair of runs in the second inning. Cameron Garfield singled to start the inning. Chadwin Stang dropped a bunt to sacrifice to move Garfield to second and the Rattlers got a bonus when the throw to first was wild. Garfield wound up on third base and Stang was aboard at first. Rafael Neda, who had three hits on the night, grounded the next pitch into center field to score Garfield. John Dishon drew a walk to load the bases and Carlos George scored Stang with a line drive single to center for a 2-0 lead. The bases were still loaded with no outs, but the Rattlers couldn't add to their lead. River Bandits starting pitcher Hector Hernandez struck out the next two batters and ended the inning with a grounder to third. That kept the Rattlers lead at 2-0. Quad Cities (34-34) tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Anthony Garcia line a 1-2 pitch from Chad Thompson to left for a two-run home run with two outs. The homer by Garcia, his seventh of the season, made the score 2-2. Wisconsin had opportunities to retake the lead. They had at least one runner on base from the fifth inning through the ninth, but could not get the run across the plate to go back in front of the River Bandits. David Medina started the game winning rally with a bunt single on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth. Virgil Hill replaced Median as a pinch runner. Roberto De La Cruz was next and he bunted the next pitch up the third base line. The throw to first was wild and wound up in the Rattlers bullpen down the right field line. Hill raced home with the winning run and beat an off target throw with plenty of room to spare. Game two of the series in Quad Cities is Saturday night. David Goforth (5-4, 5.71) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Willy Paulino (2-4, 5.50) is making his first start of the season for the River Bandits after 20 relief appearances. 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. WP: Travis Miller (2-0) LP: Mark Williams (4-5) TIME: 2:34 Wisconsin Box Score I have no idea what is about lame Quad Cities beating the Rattlers on horribly played walk off bunts but this was the second time the T-Rats botched a sacrifice bunt and let the winning run score against them this year. Chad Thompson was solid, the HR was contested as McMahan was claiming a fan reached over and pulled the ball into the stands. Chad went 5 innings allowing 3 hits, 3 walks, the home run, a wild pitch, and the 2 earned runs against 4 strike outs. Mark Williams pitched the rest of the game allowing 2 hits and a walk against 3 strike outs. Rafeal Neda paced the Rattlers with a 3-4 effort and Carlos George posted the other multi-hit game with a 2-4 night of his own. No T-Rat hitter had an XBH or a SB though George did get caught stealing. Brandon Macias had the throwing error which allowed the winning run to score. Wisconsin Play By Play After the T-Rats squandered a great opportunity to tack on more in the 2nd they did the same in the 5th. Wisconsin Top of the 5th Brandon Macias grounds out, shortstop Matt Williams to first baseman Roberto De La Cruz. Yadiel Rivera singles on a ground ball to left fielder Anthony Garcia. Jason Rogers singles on a line drive to center fielder Nick Martini. Yadiel Rivera to 3rd. Jason Rogers advances to 2nd, on throwing error by center fielder Nick Martini. Ben McMahan called out on strikes. Cameron Garfield pops out to second baseman Luis Mateo. Can I even call this a game winning rally? A bunt single against the shift and a throw into RF? Quad Cities Bottom of the 9th Defensive Substitution: Tyler Roberts replaces Max Walla, batting 7th, playing catcher. David Medina singles on a bunt ground ball to third baseman Brandon Macias. Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Virgil Hill replaces David Medina. Roberto De La Cruz hits a sacrifice bunt. Throwing error by third baseman Brandon Macias. Virgil Hill scores. Roberto De La Cruz to 1st.

Final: Huntsville 6, Montgomery 4 Huntsville Box Score Mercifully the Stars comeback and finally secure a victory ending the long losing streak. I'm sure this wasn't the start Jimmy Nelson was looking for in his debut, it was reminiscent of his early starts in WI where he didn't command the zone, hopefully he settles in quickly and gets back to pounding the strike zone. Jimmy went 5IP allowing 5 hits, 5 walks, a wild pitch, 1 home run, and 3 earned runs against just 2 strike outs throwing just 51 of 96 pitches for strikes and posting a 6:1 ratio but did pick up a W. Mitch Stetter pitched a clean inning extending his scoreless appearance streak to 10. Santo Manzanillo gave up a 1 run and struck out 3 over his 2 innings of work, actually lowering his ERA to 5.11. Jesus Sanchez closed it out picking up his 6th save. Hunter Morris posted the only multi-hit for the Stars with a 2-3 effort, though Josh Prince and Scooter Gennett both added doubles. Matt Cline didn't have a good night on the bases getting picked off of first and gunned at 2nd. Huntsville Play By Play The Biscuits 2nd, all 3 runs Nelson allowed. Montgomery Top of the 2nd Ryan Garko homers (3) on a fly ball to right center field. Kyeong Kang singles on a line drive to left fielder Scott Krieger. With Tyler Bortnick batting, wild pitch by Jimmy Nelson, Kyeong Kang to 2nd. Tyler Bortnick walks. Michael Sheridan walks. Kyeong Kang to 3rd. Tyler Bortnick to 2nd. Brad Coon grounds into double play, first baseman Hunter Morris to catcher Adam Weisenburger to third baseman Matt Cline to catcher Adam Weisenburger. Kyeong Kang out at home. Tyler Bortnick out at home. Michael Sheridan to 3rd. Brad Coon to 1st. Mark Thomas doubles (5) on a pop up to shortstop Tommy Manzella. Michael Sheridan scores. Brad Coon scores. Hak-Ju Lee grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. Huntsville scored single runs in the 1st and 2nd but put up crooked numbers in the 5th and 6th to take the lead. Huntsville Bottom of the 5th Josh Prince doubles (9) on a line drive to left fielder Brad Coon. Tommy Manzella walks. Scooter Gennett out on a sacrifice bunt, third baseman Omar Luna to second baseman Tyler Bortnick. Josh Prince to 3rd. Tommy Manzella to 2nd. Hunter Morris singles on a ground ball to right fielder Kyeong Kang. Josh Prince scores. Tommy Manzella scores. Hunter Morris to 2nd on the throw. Scott Krieger grounds out, shortstop Hak-Ju Lee to first baseman Michael Sheridan. Hunter Morris to 3rd. Domnit Bolivar strikes out swinging. Huntsville Bottom of the 6th Pitcher Change: Alex Koronis replaces Kyle Lobstein. Kentrail Davis walks. Adam Weisenburger singles on a ground ball to left fielder Brad Coon. Kentrail Davis to 3rd. Matt Cline walks. Adam Weisenburger to 2nd. Josh Prince flies into sacrifice double play, center fielder Ty Morrison to second baseman Tyler Bortnick to first baseman Michael Sheridan. Kentrail Davis scores. Adam Weisenburger to 3rd. Matt Cline out at 2nd. Tommy Manzella walks. Scooter Gennett doubles (18) on a fly ball to left fielder Brad Coon. Adam Weisenburger scores. Tommy Manzella to 3rd. Alex Koronis intentionally walks Hunter Morris. Scott Krieger pops out to shortstop Hak-Ju Lee.

Except that Mench didn't start. Yes he did. In fact Hart sat on the bench behind him much more than he should have in 2006, I wanted Hart to be starting over Jenkins and after the trade he definitely should have been an everyday player. Hart was needlessly sent to AAA for a 3rd season in 2006 (after needlessly repeating in 2005), played only 26 games down there, but only got 453.1 innings in MLB in 51 starts all year with 2 coming in CF. Mench didn't join the Brewers until July 29th and still managed to get 27 starts and 277 innings out of last 58 games even though he didn't produce. Hart was outproducing him as Hart had a season long .796 OPS and Mench put up a .566 with the Brewers and .733 overall. In fact I was livid that Gross was getting as much playing time as Hart but that's a discussion for a different thread. Trading Cruz wasn't a problem, trading Cruz and Lee for a worthless OF in Kevin Mench, worthless MiLB RP in Julio Cordero, Laynce Nix, and Francisco Cordero was the problem. Trading position players for relief pitchers is horrible value, so it was a terrible trade, and in no way strengthened the franchise on the whole. It's not revisionist history, it's simply the truth. We ended up trading 2 every day players for 2 backups and a relief pitcher.

Haniger heading to WI would seem to suggest that Reed is either ticketed to remain at BC or head to Helena. Even if McMahan would get promoted you still have Dishon, Stang, Walla, and Haniger in WI and personally I'm not ready to give up on any of those guys yet, how would they find ABs for a 5th OF? Edit. Though I guess if Rogers and Hopkins get promoted that opens up the DH slot and Walla did play a little 1B a couple of games ago so it could be done. This Reed situation is intriguing.

Prospect Hot Sheet Chat With Matt Eddy

BA Hot Sheet No. 5 ANTHONY RIZZO, 1B CUBS Team: Triple-A Iowa (Pacific Coast) Age: 22 Why He's Here: .400/.423/1.040 (10-for-25), 5 HR, 6 R, 9 RBIs, 0 BB, 6 SO The Scoop: Rizzo continues to make it harder and harder for the Cubs to keep him in the minor leagues. On Sunday and Monday Rizzo had back-to-back multi-home run games, bringing his season total to 22. He leads all PCL hitters in home runs and OPS (1.173) and is second in RBIs (57). Cubs fans held their breath on Tuesday after Rizzo hurt his knee attempting to make a sliding catch in foul territory. He has been out of the lineup since Tuesday, but the Cubs say it's only a bruise and Rizzo is day-to-day. No. 9 TONY CINGRANI, LHP REDS Team: Double-A Pensacola (Southern) Age: 22 Why He's Here: 1-0, 0.00, 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 SO The Scoop: Cingrani's career numbers are flat out silly. Through 25 starts and 120 2/3 innings, he has a 1.42 ERA, 165 strikeouts and just 23 walks. Cingrani spent the first two months of the season dissecting hitters in the high Class A California League, and he hasn't faced much difficulty in his first two Double-A starts either. Billy Hamilton may be the talk of the Reds farm system, but what Cingrani's doing this year hasn't gone unnoticed. Not So Hot: • Jameson Taillon, rhp, Pirates: The high Class A Florida State League typically isn't kind to hitters, and neither is Taillon's electric arsenal of pitches. That's why it's been so surprising that Taillon's results have been so pedestrian. The 20-year-old got bombed for eight runs in 4 2/3 innings in his last start and has given up 15 runs in 15 2/3 innings this month. Taillon still has a plus-plus fastball and a wicked curveball, but with a 4.52 ERA, the results just aren't what scouts have expected from a pitcher many of them think has ace potential. MAN AMONG BOYS • Tyler Rahmatulla, 3b, Cardinals: Rahmatulla showed promise during his college career at UCLA but struggled to stay on the field between injuries and academic problems that cut his junior year short, and he dropped to the 34th round of last year's draft. The 22-year-old has torn up the low Class A Midwest League, though, leading the circuit in hitting with a .324 average in 179 at-bats and ranking second in slugging percentage at .553. A consistent line-drive hitter, Rahmatulla tied a Midwest League record for hits in a game when he went 6-for-6 in an 11-inning game last Sunday against Burlington, collecting two homers, two doubles and seven RBIs. He didn't stop there, hitting .419/.471/.935 (13-for-31) with three homers, three doubles, two triples, 14 RBIs and eight runs scored for the week.

Cole finds consistency with Marauders No. 2 Pirates prospect fans seven over five innings in shutout By Jonathan Raymond / Special to MLB.com http://www.milb.com/images/2012/06/15/GRbqFz4i.jpg Gerrit Cole is fifth in the Florida State League with a 2.55 ERA. (Mark Lomoglio/MiLB.com) Gerrit Cole likes to talk about being consistent when he takes the hill. His actions, in this case, line up quite nicely with his words. Cole (5-1) scattered three hits and two walks while striking out a season-high-tying seven over five frames as Class A Advanced Bradenton blanked Fort Myers, 6-0, on Thursday. In each of the 11 starts since April 20 for the No. 2 Pirates prospect's, Cole has gone either five or six innings. He's never allowed more than three earned runs and he's struck out between five and seven batters in nine of his 13 totals starts this year. "I'm just focused on being consistent every time out, on putting up good outings and staying within myself," he said. "You always feel good [after a start like that]." Thursday's effort was the third scoreless start of at least five innings this season by MLB.com's No. 8 overall prospect, and it was the third time he'd struck out seven. It was also Cole's first scoreless outing since May 23 and probably his strongest statistical performance since striking out six over six shutout innings in an April 30 win over Jupiter. The right-hander said his secondary offerings mostly worked as out pitches Thursday. "I had a good slider, a good changeup and a good fastball, and just used them accordingly," said the 21-year-old. "I'd say the slider was really good." The Florida State League All-Star selection brought his season ERA down to 2.55, good for fourth in the league. The first overall pick in last year's Draft is also averaging slightly better than a strikeout per inning, with 69 in 67 innings and only 21 walks. Cole is sixth in the FSL in strikeouts and third in WHIP at 1.10. In his first professional season, Cole hasn't had seemingly any problems justifying the hype that comes along with being the first overall Draft pick. He said part of his smooth transition to pro ball was due to the fact that he tried not to lend any added significance to pitching at that level. "I've just been getting acclimated to the whole thing really," he said. "You can't prepare for it, you just dive in. There was a little bit of an adjusting time there at the beginning, but I've kind of gotten into a groove a little bit, stayed consistent, stayed within myself." In fact, the California native has thrown even better against pro hitters than he did against Pac-12 bats in his senior season at UCLA. He went 6-8 with a 3.31 ERA in 16 starts as a junior for the Bruins. On Thursday, Andy Vazquez tripled and drove in two runs while No. 14 Pirates prospect Alex Dickerson went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored to lead the offense. Daniel McCutchen followed Cole with two one-hit innings of relief, and Doug Salinas and Quinton Miller worked a scoreless frame apiece to lock down the shutout for the Marauders.

Not surprising, have to figure Bucci will be the next one.

I'm in no position to judge him for following his heart. It's too bad, he was progressing well. Best of luck D'Vo!