TheCrew07

It looks like the young pitchers in Helena are going to be up and down this season, a very tough 2nd for Krestalude. Billings Top 2nd * Sean Conner singles on a line drive to center fielder Michael Roberts. * Humberto Sosa singles on a line drive to center fielder Michael Roberts. Sean Conner to 3rd. * Shane Carlson walks. Humberto Sosa to 2nd. * Mauricio Pimentel singles on a line drive to right fielder Scott Krieger. Sean Conner scores. Humberto Sosa scores. Shane Carlson to 3rd. Mauricio Pimentel to 2nd on the throw. * Alexis Oliveras walks. * Tyler Stovall grounds into a force out, second baseman Cutter Dykstra to shortstop Joshua Prince. Shane Carlson scores. Mauricio Pimentel to 3rd. Alexis Oliveras out at 2nd. Tyler Stovall to 1st. * Yen-Wen Kuo out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Michael Roberts. Mauricio Pimentel scores. * Christopher Richburg doubles (2) on a fly ball to right fielder Scott Krieger. Tyler Stovall scores

Huntsville loses 7-2, nothing noteworthy. A 2 base error on the Clinton 3B in WI, Kemp scores and Delaney goes all the way to 3rd, WI ties the game. Chris just said that was Clinton's 113th error on the season, and BK Ks again..

No idea on Lucroy, I remember his CS, but I'm not sure of the percentage this season. Lawrie makes a very nice unassisted double play to end the top of the 5th. Cody gives up another HR, then a 2B who comes around to score, Nashville down 4 to 1 going to the bottom of 5. Huntsville still down 6-2 to the bottom of the 8th. If some one would have told me Perez would have a better BA than Lucroy on July 1, I would have told them they were crazy. Krestalude gives up 2 2Bs in the first, Helena down 1-0 to the bottom of the first, though it's looking like the H-Crew is having a good inning, box hasn't updated in a while. edit. Grammar.

I forget to mention Lawrie got nabbed trying to steal, apparently the Clinton C has a very nice arm. Chris said Lawrie is now 12 for 20 on the season.. I didn't realize he was doing that poorly.

Adams gives back a run after a lead off 3B, WI tied 1-1 after 3. A WP moves a runner to 3B in the 4th, Adams in danger of giving up the lead, and he's nearing his pitch count of 75. As I was typing Fatse makes an excellent diving catch but the runner scores, WI now down 2-1 and Adams leaves after 73 pitches. Huntsville gives back the lead... Lucroy guns a runner trying to steal during the half inning. Tennessee Bottom 6th Marquez Smith homers (6) on a fly ball to left center field. Doug Deeds doubles (6) on a line drive to right fielder Vinny Rottino. Ty Wright grounds out, shortstop Yohannis Perez to first baseman J. R. Hopf. James Adduci singles on a line drive to right fielder Vinny Rottino. Doug Deeds scores. James Adduci to 2nd on the throw. Coaching visit to mound. Pitcher Change: Juan Sandoval replaces Bobby Bramhall, batting 9th. With Russ Canzler batting, wild pitch by Juan Sandoval, James Adduci to 3rd. Russ Canzler walks. With Welington Castillo batting, Russ Canzler caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Jonathan Lucroy to second baseman John Raburn. Welington Castillo singles on a line drive to left fielder Chuck Caufield. James Adduci scores. Offensive Substitution: Pinch hitter Blake Lalli replaces Hung-Wen Chen. Blake Lalli reaches on fielding error by second baseman John Raburn. Welington Castillo to 3rd. Jonathan Mota singles on a line drive to center fielder Adam Stern. Welington Castillo scores. Blake Lalli to 3rd. Coaching visit to mound. Tony Thomas grounds into a force out, third baseman Kevin Melillo to second baseman John Raburn. Jonathan Mota out at 2nd. Cody gives a single immediately followed by a HR, Nashville now down 2-1 going to the bottom of the 4th.

Huntsville tied the scored 2-2, Raburn with 2 hits including a HR and Caufield both have 2 hits thus far, Lucroy 0 for 2. Melillo singled in the tying run in the top of the 6th. Gillespie with a HR and Nashville takes a 1-0 lead.

Brock Kjeldgaard just K'd again, that's 89 Ks in 72 games... cripes. That's a K for every 2.73 ABs on the season thus far...

Ha... Delaney changed his walk up music again... apparently he decided Jump Around was bad luck. Kemp singles in Sanchez, WI up 1-0 in the first. Dennis hasn't left the T-Rats for treatment, that may be a good sign, typically for serious injuries they all rehab in AZ.

BC postponed, surprise surprise... Huntsville down 2-1 in the 4th. Nashville scoreless after 1. Cody Adams throwin 91 on the stadium gun, much 3 MPH faster than when I saw him last. And let me just say, that we're pretty spoiled radio wise, i've been eavesdropping on the opponents feed on the laptop lately just to see... I might be a bit of a homer but I like all our guys better. Well, with exception of BC... seriously... it's time for Internet broadcasting, get a college intern if you don't want to pay someone!

Again running all IF through drills or all outfielders through drills is much different than isolating areas that need vast improvement and providing individual instruction to specific players on a daily basis. Of course they are doing their best to work on defense, but it's really up to the prospect to take it seriously enough to improve. There isn't time with only 3 (and I'm not sure how valuable the pitching coach is in this sense) coaches to regularly pull a player aside and work on fielding instruction, they are just trying to get to each player as many generic reps as possible. There's still value in that work, but players that aren't getting better on their own will need more attention, especially players with MLB hitting tools... like the list of players that I provided. The Brewers draft athleticism and power and have been very successful doing so, but they need to develop the defensive side of the game better than they have been. It doesn't make sense to continue to bring up inept defenders and try to straighten them out at the big league level, but this is morphing into an exact copy of the discussion from earlier in the year which I will link to when I get home. Prince is still a bad 1B, though not as horrid as he was last year, and you've basically made my point for me if he's your one example. However he was still stretching too early and stepping out with the wrong foot on occasion as a rookie in MLB, that's basic stuff that I've seen little league 1B do properly. It takes thousands of perfect repetitions to relearn a movement or create new instincts if you prefer... going through the motions in team drills isn't going to get a player there...

Jenkins... a no brainer really.

Actually I believe it does count as service time but doesn't count against ROY awards, or something along those lines. This discussed in depth last September... I'm fuzzy on the details though.

Most college players are draft eligible as Juniors, some as Sophomores, so the vast majority can go back to college.

How about something other than, "The minors are for development", which we already know. Name 1, just 1 prospect that's made significant defensive strides each step in the minors in the last 10 years? I think you severely overestimate the amount of 1 on 1 time that's possible in the minor leagues. Again, roving instructors came about to get the players individual instruction, but if each roving instructor only spends a week at a time with each team, how much time are the players really getting? We discussed this at length in a different thread coming into the season. I'm very interested to hear what happens in the lower minors from someone who's experienced it because from the outside looking in, and from comments players have made like Salome, their focus is almost entirely on their bats. The only players the system has developed that are good defensive players were naturals, they were already good defenders when they were drafted/signed. I'm not sure how college is relevant to the dicussion, the travel schedules are about as dissimilar as can be, the travel schedule of the Northwoods League is much similar to that of the Minor Leagues which is why I orginally pointed to the Bull Frogs as I have first hand knowledge about their lifestyles.. Gamel didn't get significant coaching until AA, Weeks never did, Fielder was horrible when he came up, Braun was horrible, Hart never had a home in the minors till he was an OF, Hall was a suspect defender when he came up. The evidence contrary to your opinion is pretty overwhelming in my opinion.

I wasn't sure how you would feel about it but I was going to drop a sympathy post in here for you... this has to be a trying year with all of the injuries, some guys under performing expectations, and now the suspension. The good news is that at least things only have 1 way to go.

The post draft P50 usually has some movement, but wow were there a lot of big movers both ways. My only nitpick is that Dennis would have been in the 20s, probably in front of Brewer.

Helena scores 6 in the inning, 9-3 H-Crew. Odorizzi finishes real strong (assuming he's done here after 4 IP), Roberts with a nice play in CF running down a gapper.

Odorizzi with a real nice job in his 3rd IP. He gives up a double, then saves a run with a real nice hustle play backing up a throw from Krieger to 3B that was airmailed so bad Odorizzi caught it on the fly 25 ft behind 3B. With a runner at 3rd base and 1 out he strikes out the next 2 batters to get out of the inning. edit. Dykstra hits a 3 run HR on his birthday! Odorizzi in line for the win.

Roberts with a HR, then Arias with a HR that had Wendt really excited, it sounds like he absolutely crushed the ball, tie game now in Helena.

Villy needs to ditch that curve ball or needs to learn how to locate it better. It's been getting hammered since the Atlanta series. edit. I just realized this got posted after the Sheffield HR... that was a fastball, I was watching the DVR and referring to the double he hung up in the zone.

The H-Crew gives away another run, a bases loaded shallow fly in to LF, Ellington catches the ball and guns home, but Zarraga drops the ball and the runner scores. That play followed by a single and Odorizzi who was a tad shakey in the middle of the inning before a coaching visit to the mound gives up 2 runs that he shouldn't have.

Dillard has only given up 1 run, but has 4BBs to 2Ks the good news is that he's only given up 4 hits through 6. Nashville adds 2 more runs, Katin is 3 for 3 with a HR now, Koshansky also with 2 hit game after I suggest he be released so Heether can use his roster spot.

Nashville with a huge 3rd Inning, 6 runs... Heether with another HR. Huntville now down 6-2, but the box for the pitchers shows Wapepah giving up 3 runs, so it may be 7-2. Another error as Dhanani (playing 3B) rifles a ball into RF and Arnett gives up an unearned run after a lead off double. edit. Zarraga takes a nasty foul tip off his bare hand, long injury timeout. Fatse has been promoted to WI because of the injuries. Stang and Brownstien are now in Helena, roster moves courtesy of Steve Wendt.

Thank you Steve! No radar gun at Kindrick field but Mr. Wendt says Arnett was hitting 94 on the stalker gun.

Baseball-Reference is your friend. The answer is 5 with his A tonight.