TheCrew07

Rattlers complete the sweep of Peoria Hirsch goes seven strong inning, DeMuth & Matos each get three hits By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/0/8/120693008/cuts/4_Apr26_Hirsch_gil85g58_91oo6n9n.jpg Zach Hirsch earned the win by allowing one run over seven innings in Wisconsin's 5-1 victory over Peoria on Sunday. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers completed a three-game sweep of the Peoria Chiefs with a 5-1 win Sunday at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Zach Hirsch allowed one run over seven innings to earn his first Midwest League victory. The Chiefs (8-10) got to Hirsch in the first inning. Andrew Sohn doubled with one out and scored on a Danny Diekroeger single for a 1-0 lead. Collin Radack was next and Hirsch snared a liner off Radack's bat with a backhand to start an inning-ending double play. Peoria had runners at first and second with one out in the top of the second, but Hirsch got a strikeout and a flyout to left to keep the Chiefs at one run. Wisconsin (6-12) tied the game in the bottom of the first inning. Sthervin Matos singled with one out and stole second. He moved to third on a flyout to right. Monte Harrison was hit by a pitch to extend the inning. Elvis Rubio delivered a single to drive in Matos with the tying run. The Rattlers took the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Peoria starting pitcher Matt Pearce retired the first two batters of the inning, but walked Gregory Munoz to keep the inning alive. Brandon Diaz singled to put runners at first and second. Dustin DeMuth dropped a flare into right-center to score Munoz with the go-ahead run. Wisconsin padded their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Matos doubled, his second of three hits in the game, to start the inning and moved to third on a grounder to the right side of the infield by Carlos Leal. Harrison lined a single through the drawn-in infield to score Matos for a 3-1 lead. Later in the sixth, an errant pickoff throw allowed Harrison to race around to third base. Luis Aviles came through with the RBI single - Wisconsin's third two-out RBI hit of the game - to make it 4-1. Hirsch came out to pitch the top of the seventh and worked a perfect frame. Sunday marked the first time Hirsch pitched seven innings in a game as a professional. He gave up six hits, walked none, and struck out four over his seven innings of work. A controversial call added to Wisconsin's lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. DeMuth sent a slicing fly ball down the left field line. Sohn, playing as an outfielder for the first time as a professional, made a dive for the ball but missed it. The ball appeared to land in foul territory, but was ruled fair - after a brief hesitation - by the plate umpire. Sohn, who landed hard was trying to get his breath back as the ball rolled to the corner where centerfielder Blake Drake had track it down. DeMuth kept running and circled the bases easily for an inside-the-park home run and his third hit of the game. Peoria manager Joe Kruzel disagreed with the call and was ejected after a vehement argument. Tyler Linehan worked a scoreless eighth and Josh Uhen worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the Chiefs. The Chiefs swept a three-game series from the Timber Rattlers in the Fox Cities earlier this month, but the Rattlers returned the favor with this three-game sweep. Peoria has lost six straight games. The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday before returning to action on Tuesday in Iowa when they face the Clinton LumberKings at Ashford University Field. David Burkhalter (0-1, 7.27) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Clinton will sent Pat Peterson (2-1, 1.15) to the mound. Game time is 6:30. The broadcast will be available on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast will also be available on Tune In Radio. Wisconsin's next homestand will be May 1 through May 6 when they host the Quad Cities River Bandits and Cedar Rapids Kernels. Tickets are available by calling (800) WI-TIMBER or (920) 733-4152, in person at the Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium Box Office, or online through timberrattlers.com. HOME RUN: WIS: Dustin DeMuth (1st, 0 on in 7th inning off Nick Lomascolo, 1 out, inside-the-park) WP: Zach Hirsch (1-2) LP: Matt Pearce (1-2) TIME: 2:22 ATTN: 3,898 Postgame Post with Highlights and Interviews Post game comments and video highlights as per usual. Wisconsin Boxscore How awesome are the Brewer themed Sunday unis? Of course Ann takes great pictures as well, but I dig those unis, if I was a jersey buyer, I'd be in the market for one. I wish this game would have been televised because I would have loved to have watched Peoria's manager get ejected, Chris' description of events was entertaining enough. What wasn't mentioned in the story was that the home plate was a replacement for the home plate umpire who from Friday's game, I forget his name. However I remember when he got dinged, it was a FB up that the batter just ticked enough to skip over Leal's glove and it hit the umpire square in the mask. Leal spent a good 2 minutes out at the mound letting the ump collect himself. The same ump did the bases yesterday (the same crew works the entire series) but bowed out of today's game with concussion like symptoms so they brought in this local replacement. His strike zone was bigger than a typical professional umpire's zone so he was already taking a bit of heat from the teams (he called it the same both ways at least), and then he missed that call down the line which led to DeMuth's inside the park HR. Speaking of Dustin Demuth, did I mention he has a huge shiner? He took a ground ball to the face on the road trip and I wonder if that contributed to his recent slide as he went 3 straight hitless games before busting out again today. Sthervin Matos had his 3rd straight multi-hit game, and 3rd game in a row with an XBH, I could get used to this. Monte Harrison has been hit by pitches 5 times already this year and Jake Gatewood got the day off. Wisconsin Recap

Why are we always in such a hurry to move up a player after 1 hot month? I prefer they play at least half a year at their level, what's the rush? Who are any of these guys going to supplant in Milwaukee? Khris Davis is really the only player one could claim needs to be replaced, but none of our OFs will be major league ready by the end of this season. I see no reason to aggressively promote someone who's currently hitting nearly .100 points better than he ever has before. If both guys are still raking at the break by all means promote them and let them face better competition, but Roache in particular needs to prove he can make consistent contact. Coulter's best month of 2014 was April as well, he hit to 1.065 OPS and then leveled off in the .880 range for the rest of the season. I'm thrilled with the hot starts but I will continue to caution against these calls for promotions in April and May. I like to see what happens after teams make their adjustments, do the players continue to have success and make constant adjustments? If so then by all means promote them but that's not something we'll know about until June.

The choppiness is back during the T-Rats broadcast, it has to be something on the stadium side because the commercials are fine. Poor Chris, they've been working hard on this issue... he talks about it everyday.

No not yet, why rush him? Is he going to play over Braun?

Players don't normally don't skip Helena and only of couple of prospects have ever skipped past A ball with mixed results.

Let's not lose the larger point here which was MH's original premise. I have no problem with the Brewers drafting two way players with a big arm and taking a shot at converting him to pitcher if he shows some acumen on the mound, it seems prudent given the lack of impact pitching in the organization. By acumen I mean does he have decent mechanics, are the makings of good secondary pitches there, does he attack hitters? However this is a relatively polished catcher who jumped all the way to full season ball without the benefit of any indoctrination into pro ball as a batter and has hit from the start so the original question stands. Given the awfully wide gulf between Carlos' pitching and hitting results, what did they see as a pitcher? Or are they just throwing darts at the wall to see what sticks? I'm all for happy accidents, but how many times was Carlos personally scouted? Given his draft position I would guess maybe once if at all, in which case where did the pitching recommendation come from? The other important question is how long would this pitching experiment have carried on if Carlos had not requested a move himself? I don't want to go through all the names of all the players who've been played out of position, but the most recent was Coulter who pretty much anyone with a critical eye could see wasn't a C from the start. I disagree with the Brewers whole, "we don't coach players until they fail because then they are easier to coach" philosophy for a plethora of reasons which I won't go into here other than to say I feel that's poor leadership. I guess that's the way baseball works... this is what we've always done so this is what we're going to do mentality, but I that's me as a person and I've never been down with that approach. I also realize that we aren't through the first month of the season and Carlos could absolutely tank or fall off a cliff and then this was a pretty meaningless discussion. However I've watched him play and I think he's a 50 or 60 hitter at this level but more importantly I like what he does behind the plate. I've been hard on the catchers to come through WI because all of them have been poor fundamentally... way too many Passed Balls and pitches getting through them which should have been easily blocked. Carlos frames and blocks well in addition to having a very strong arm, thus far he's the best catcher I've seen in the Midwest League (the TRats haven't played all of the Western Division teams yet, nor any of the East), and statistically he's the 2nd best at this moment. He's definitely the best defensive C to come through WI since they've been affiliated with the Brewers. So again I'm thrilled to have him, but in a perfect world there are questions I would like the answers to, and MH hit both of them. This is coming from a guy who said to himself "who the hell is Carlos Leal?" and had to do research him during the first game of the season, I don't pay attention to draft picks past the top 20 rounds until they get to WI so I had no idea who he was and why I didn't know the name.

The Cards don't really have any no name pitching, and it would be Marco Gonzales who pitched for them last year a little bit and was the 19th overall selection in 2013. edit. Or not, just saw the other post that he was put on the DL.

Rattlers win second straight by shutting out Chiefs By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/8/8/120465688/cuts/4_Apr25_MSneed_oc3qgubb_dmpktcvn.jpg Cy Sneed struck out five over five scoreless innings on Saturday to pick up the win in Wisconsin's 2-0 victory over the Peoria Chiefs. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GRAND CHUTE, WI - Cy Sneed and Victor Diaz combined on a four-hit shutout of the Peoria Chiefs on Saturday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium to lead the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to a 2-0 victory. The win gave Wisconsin their first two-game winning streak of the season. Sthervin Matos put the Timber Rattlers (5-12) in front in the second inning. The Wisconsin third baseman hit a leadoff homer on an 0-2 pitch for a 1-0 lead. The home run was the second of the season for Matos, who also homered in Friday's win over the Chiefs. Peoria (8-9) threatened to tie the game in the top of the third as Blake Drake singled and Darren Seferina drew a walk. Sneed regrouped and got the next three batters to maintain the 1-0 lead. Sneed went five innings, allowed three hits, and struck out five to put himself in position for his first Midwest League win. Brandon Diaz helped the cause with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jake Gatewood singled with one out and was at second with two away. Diaz smacked a single up the middle to drive in Gatewood for the 2-0 advantage. Victor Diaz came out of the Wisconsin bullpen for the top of the sixth and retired the first seven batters he faced. The Chiefs got a one out single by Seferina in the eighth inning and a balk by Diaz moved Seferina into scoring position. Diaz came back to strike out the next two batters to end the inning. Collin Radack drew a two-out walk in the top of the ninth, but Diaz ended the game on a popup to third to earn the save. The loss was the fifth straight for Peoria. The final game of the three game series between the Rattlers and Chiefs is Sunday afternoon. Zach Hirsch (0-2, 4.00) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Matt Pearce (1-1, 0.00) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 1:05pm. The first 1,000 fans to attend this game will receive a poster of Kodi Medeiros, left-handed pitcher for the Rattlers and #1 pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2014 draft, courtesy of Dunkin Donuts. Area Girl Scout Troops will be on hand for a pregame parade and special recognition. Fans may play catch on-field courtesy of Rasmussen College starting at noon. Timber Rattlers players will wear their special Brewers Sunday jerseys as part of Brewers Sunday presented by 107.5, The Fan. Players will be available for a postgame autograph session sponsored by Tundraland Home Improvements, too. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, tune in for the radio broadcast on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 12:45pm. The broadcast is also available on TuneIn Radio and MiLB.TV. HOME RUN: WIS: Sthervin Matos (2nd, 0 on in 2nd inning off Will Anderson, 0 out) WP: Cy Sneed (1-1) LP: Will Anderson (2-1) SAVE: Victor Diaz (1) TIME: 2:24 ATTN: 3,068 Postgame Interviews & more – April 25, 2015 Luke Curtis on the pre-game, post game interviews, no highlights as of yet. Wisconsin Boxscore So who would have thought that the first "winning streak" for either the Brewers or TRats would come in late april? Sthervin Matos had multiple hits again today, the only Rattler to do so, I mentioned his improved defense earlier, but that got me thinking. The other player who noticeably improved defensively is David Denson, he looks smooth and natural around the bag now, he must have put in more work over the winter. Both Cy Sneed and Victor Diaz had nice change-ups today, Diaz in particular looked the best he has all year. Getting back to Matos, Chris told a funny story about him during the broadcast. The TV crew wanted to interview him last night after the game and while he speaks English he was so shy he booked it for the locker room after the game to avoid them. They had to coax him into the pre-game interview today but he went through with it. Wisconsin Recap

For all Matos' glove issues last year, his arm just really impressed me. The situation was runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out, he had a bounding grounder hit right at him at 3rd, he ran to the bag and made an off balance throw towards 1st in the manner of a 2nd baseman clearing 2nd towards the pitcher's mound when trying to turn 2. The throw was on a line and accurate so even though he missed getting the runner by about a step I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the throw and how close the play at 1st turned out to be.

I didn't mean to suggest they were better, but I can see where one would think I inferred that. I was just musing on the fact that our AAA teams have been largely devoid of legitimate of talent for years. I talked about it quite a bit when I covered Nashville last year and while I do see their side I'm still bitter we were punted once they got a new stadium. Next year will be the first interesting team from a prospect perspective in a very long time.

Matos & Leal homer in Rattlers 5-1 win over Peoria By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/1/4/120369614/cuts/4_Apr24_Matos_yxrrg3yz_f3hi7k8g.jpg Sthevrin Matos homered, doubled, and drove in two runs for the Timber Rattlers on Friday night in their 5-1 win over the Peoria Chiefs. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers defeated the Peoria Chiefs 5-1 on Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Sthervin Matos broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run home run in the fourth inning and a trio of Wisconsin pitcher made that lead hold up to break a four-game losing streak. Carlos Leal started the scoring with a two-out opposite field home run to left field in the second inning. The homer was the first of Leal's professional career. He was drafted as a pitcher by the Brewers in 2014 and spent his first pro season on the mound in the Arizona League. The Chiefs (8-8) came back in the top of the third inning with a fluky run off Rattlers starting pitcher Orlando Torrez. The first two Chiefs to bat in the inning were retired, but Andrew Sohn doubled to keep the inning alive. Danny Diekroeger sent a grounder towards first base, but the ball hit the bag and bounced over the head of first baseman David Denson and into right field for an RBI single as Sohn scored on the play. Wisconsin (4-12) broke back in front in the fourth. Brandon Diaz singled to start the inning, but he was still at first with two away. Matos, who just joined the Timber Rattlers last Saturday, lined an 0-1 pitch from Fernando Baez past the scoreboard in left-center for a two-run homer and a 3-1 lead. Luke Curtis entered the game in relief of Torrez to start the top of the fifth and pitched two scoreless, hitless innings with three strikeouts. The Rattlers added to their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Denson singled, his first of two hits on the evening, with two outs and Matos followed with a double. Leal sent a slow grounder to short for an infield single to knock in Denson and an errant throw to first on the play sent Matos home for a 5-1 lead. Angel Ventura took over for Curtis to start the top of the seventh and he loaded the bases with three walks, but kept the Chiefs from scoring. Ventura pitched a perfect eighth and a perfect ninth to close out Peoria and pick up his first professional save. The win snapped Wisconsin's four game losing streak and sent the Chiefs to their fourth consecutive loss. Wisconsin and Peoria play again Saturday afternoon in game two of the series. Cy Sneed (0-1, 1.42) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria has named Will Anderson (2-0, 2.08) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 1:05pm. Saturday is Frozen Day presented by Dairy Queen and Cupcake Couture at the stadium. There will be royalty here to meet the princesses from the Fox Cities and special surprises during the game. The first 1,000 fans to attend the Festival Foods Saturday at the ballpark will receive a Timber Rattlers fleece cap from Dairy Queen. If you can't make it out to the game, there are several ways to catch the action. MyNEW 32's Sports Showdown will televise the game starting at 1:00pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 12:45pm. The broadcast is also available on TuneIn Radio and MiLB.TV. HOME RUNS: WIS: Carlos Leal (1st, 0 on in 2nd inning off Fernando Baez, 2 out) Sthervin Matos (1st, 1 on in 4th inning off Fernando Baez, 2 out) WP: Luke Curtis (2-1) LP: Fernando Baez (1-2) SAVE: Angel Ventura (1) TIME: 2:31 ATTN: 2,356 Postgame Post with Interviews, Highlights, & Stuff The usual assortment of goodies, check out the HRs, they will brighten your day! Wisconsin Boxscore Winning is so much more fun! Between his cameo last year and his limited time back with the TRats so far in 2015, today was the best Sthervin Matos has looked by leaps and bounds, he only had 1 hit coming into the game. Both of David Denson's singles were lined, one up the middle and one the opposite way. They did get him to strike out on another one of those low middle in breaking balls, but he's looking much better at the plate. Both Monte Harrison and Jake Gatewood are pull happy right now and both swung through pretty good hitter's pitches on their strike outs, but both were looking towards the 3B dugout as they finished their swings. I cannot figure out Brandon Diaz' arm, he was in RF today after mostly playing LF thus far. Teams will try to run on him because he's made some of the most pitifully weak throws, but then he'll zip one on a laser beam like he did today from RF that would have reached 3B on the fly had Gatewood not jumped up and picked it out of the air. Nothing has jumped out at me as to why the velocity and quality of his throws is so inconsistent, it has to be a combination of mechanical issues but the TV feed is so overproduced with switching camera angles that it's tough to tell exactly what is happening. I've sent a couple of support requests to milb.com regarding Carlos Leal's messed up player page but it hasn't been fixed yet. After that mini slump he's back hitting the ball again. On the pitching front, I would term both Orlando Torrez and Angel Ventura as effectively wild. Torrez gave up 1st pitch of the inning hits in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th innings, and most everything was up, as in at the thighs or higher, which is why Orlando had more fly outs than ground outs in the game. Ventura has a couple of legitimate pitches, as in flashing MLB average, he'll be interesting, he could be something. Luke Curtis has done what's he done all year, he's around the plate and mixes his pitches well. Wisconsin Recap

I thought these MLB depth veteran AAA teams were supposed to perform better? That certainly hasn't been the norm from the Brewer perspective.

Yep, to the opposite field, it a no doubter as well.

Maybe it got by me in the past, but this TRats schedule just stinks playing the same teams over and over. This is the 3rd series against Peoria, they've played 2 series against Burlington, they have a series against Clinton coming up, then Quad Cities, then back to Cedar Rapids whom they just played, then back to Quad Cities, then Clinton again. I just don't remember so little variety in the schedule and it is entirely possible that somehow I've just never noticed. The only thing I can say about the way the schedule is aligned is that every team is going to have excellent scouting reports on one another come June. Carlos Leal just threw out another baserunner, I believe he's 8 for 17 gunning would be base stealers so far this season.

Watch the video, Clint Coulter discussed. BA Today (April 24): Former Catchers And A Blocked Second Baseman April 24, 2015 by Staff Report

All of this talk about GMs drafting players in baseball... shouldn't we be past that by now? The Scouting Director conducts the amateur draft, not the GM.

MLB Draft Pack: April 23 David Rawnsley Jheremy Brown

Kernels shutout Rattlers 3-0 on one hit By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/5/8/120096358/cuts/Luis_Ortega_04_23_15_mgtvfztn_rtn9gz7i.jpg Rattlers pitcher Luis Ortega allowed two runs on four hits and struck out five over 5-2/3 innings, but took the loss against the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Thursday afternoon. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Jake Hansel) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers managed one hit in a 3-0 loss to the Cedar Rapids Kernels Thursday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Kernels starter Stephen Gonsalves struck out eleven and allowed the Wisconsin hit over seven innings to pick up the victory. Wisconsin (3-12) received a solid start out of Luis Ortega as he kept the Kernels (11-4) off the scoreboard - with some help from his defense - through five innings. Cedar Rapids got a leadoff double from Brian Navaretto in the third inning, but Ortega got a popup to center sandwiched between a pair of strikeouts to escape the inning. Monte Harrison made a spectacular diving catch in right-center field to deny Trey Vavra an extra-base hit in the fourth inning. First baseman David Denson made several nice picks on low throws to first, too. Wisconsin got their lone threat of the game in the fourth inning against Gonsalves, who had retired the first ten batters he faced. Brandon Diaz pushed a bunt up the first base line for a single and Gonsalves hit Dustin DeMuth with a pitch to put two runners on base with one out for the Rattlers. Sthervin Matos followed with a line drive to left center that looked like it might drop, but the ball hung up for Zack Granite to make the catch. Gonsalves got the final out of the fourth on a fly to left to keep the game scoreless. Cedar Rapids broke through in the top of the sixth inning. Jonatan Hinojosa, the #9 hitter in the order for the Kernels, beat out a grounder to second for an infield single. Granite was next and he pushed a bunt past the mound for a single. After the duo of Hinojosa and Granite pulled a successful double steal, Zack Larson drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Max Murphy drove in Hinojosa with a fly ball to right that was deep enough to also move Granite to third base. Vavra was at the plate when Ortega appeared to have Larson picked off first base, but Larson beat the throw to second. Vavra would strikeout, but the ball got away forcing catcher Carlos Leal to throw the ball to first. As soon as Leal threw to first, Granite broke for the plate and beat the return throw to score the second run of the game. The Kernels got to reliever Milton Gomez for an insurance run in the top of the eighth. Gomez walked Granite and Larson to start the inning. Vavra drove in Granite from third with a two out single to right for a 3-0 lead. After hitting DeMuth, Gonsalves retired the next ten batters in a row before walking Elvis Rubio with two outs in the seventh. Gonsalves struck out the final batter he faced and left after the seventh. Gonsalves has 30 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched this season to lead the Midwest League in that category. Trevor Hildenberger set down the Rattlers in order in the eighth and ninth innings to record his first save of the season. Wisconsin continues their homestand on Friday night with game one of a series against the Peoria Chiefs. Orlando Torrez (0-1, 3.65) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria plans to send Fernando Baez (1-1, 1.29) to the mound as their starter. Game time is 6:35pm. Lorenzo Cain played for the Timber Rattlers in 2009 and the 2014 American League Championship MVP will be honored with his own Timber Rattlers bobblehead on Friday night! The first 1,000 fans to attend this game will receive a bobblehead of the current Kansas City Royals outfielder courtesy of Pepsi. Friday is also a North Shore Bank Family night with lots of fun for the whole family. Children 14 and under may participate in Kids Run the Bases thanks to Molina Healthcare after the game. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, you can catch the action on television, on the radio, and on the internet. MyNEW 32's Sports Showdown will televise the game beginning at 6:30pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The broadcast is also available on TuneIn Radio and MiLB.TV. WP: Stephen Gonsalves (2-0) LP: Luis Ortega (0-2) SAVE: Trevor Hildenberger (1) TIME: 2:07 ATTN: 476 Postgame Post – April 23, 2015 Pre game interview with Monte Harrison, whose catch in RC is also worth looking at. The usual assortment of post game interviews as well. Wisconsin Boxscore I hate being on the wrong side of MiLB.com stories, you gotta think one is coming. Stephen Gonsalves was the 4th round pick of the Twins in 2013. Here's part of BA's scouting report on him: Wisconsin Recap This of course is waaaay too obvious, but I needed a pick-me-up.

That's a pretty superficial reverse justification, similar to what people have said of Jungmann. Pitchers need to be able to miss bats to get themselves out of trouble, it's that simple. Look at the best ground ball pitchers in MLB history and then also look at their K rates. People are way too hung up on ground balls, that's always been the object of the game, that's why middle defense has always been so important. Very few pitchers will strike out more hitters in MLB than they did in MiLB, that's why I've never been a big Brooks Hall supporter, I believe in SO rates, in SO:BB, in WHIP, and ultimately in stuff. Medeiros is on the opposite end of the spectrum, he has stuff but doesn't pitch to location. Can he be an effective MLB pitcher if can't really hit spots consistently? Maybe? It's been done before, Edwin Jackson is the epitome of that kind of pitcher. Kodi has a long time to figure it out but I'd rather hitch my horse to his wagon than someone with with a career K rate below 8 in MiLB. You won't find many if any of those guys in my top 25... I really like Tyler Wagner, I always have, but And That's comments were spot on, if he can't maintain a K rate of 7 as he moves up then I'm not sure exactly where he figures into the mix.

Rattlers rally, but fall short 5-4 to Cedar Rapids Harrison hits two homers for Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/2/6/119966026/cuts/Harrison_Apr22_373_47xg0p1z_yt4g35vk.jpg Monte Harrison is congratulated on the first of his two home runs on Wednesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers fell behind 4-0 in the first inning to the Cedar Rapids Kernels Wednesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Rattlers rallied thanks to a pair of home runs by Monte Harrison, but fell short in a 5-4 loss to the Kernels. Wisconsin starter Kodi Medeiros struggled in the first inning. The Hawaiian left-hander allowed hits to Zack Granite and Nick Gordon to start the game. He hit Zack Larson to load the bases. Cedar Rapids (10-4) took the lead when Max Murphy drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to force in Granite. The Kernels added runs on an RBI single by Trey Vavra, a fielder's choice by TJ White, and a successful double steal pulled off by White taking second and Murphy stealing home on the throw to second,. Medeiros rallied after getting out of the first inning. The #1 pick of the Brewers in the 2014 draft, allowed one more hit and struck out eight from the second through the fifth inning. The eight strikeouts set a new single game high as a professional for Medeiros. Harrison started Wisconsin's comeback with a solo home run in the second inning. Harrison, Milwaukee's second round pick in 2014, launched a 1-0 pitch deep to left for his first home run of the game. The Rattlers (3-11) scored again in the fourth inning when David Denson tripled with one out and scored on an RBI grounder by Elvis Rubio. Harrison was in the middle of another Wisconsin rally in the fifth. He drew a leadoff walk, went to second on a wild pitch, and took third on a grounder to the right side of the infield by Sthervin Matos. Gregory Munoz drove in Harrison with a two-out single and the Rattlers were down 4-3. The Kernels picked up an important insurance run in the top of the sixth inning when David Burkhalter took over on the mound for Medeiros. Vavra doubled on a sinking line drive to left that got by Brandon Diaz with one out. White was next and he singled to left to knock in Vavra. The Rattlers pulled within 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh on Harrison's second long drive to left of the game. The multi-homer game was the first of the season by a Rattler and the first of Harrison's career. But, Wisconsin could not get the game back to even and they dropped their second straight game of the series to the Kernels. The series finale between the Rattlers and Cedar Rapids is Thursday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Luis Ortega (0-1, 5.63) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Kernels will counter with Stephen Gonsalves (1-0, 1.38). Game time is 12:05pm. Thirsty Thursday means 16oz soda, beer, and Arty's Old Fashioned drinks are available for just $2. Since this is a weekday afternoon game, it is a BONUS Business Person & Senior Citizen Special from Baker Till, WVBO and WNAM. Show your business card when you purchase a ticket and for $13.50 you will receive a box seat ticket, a beverage and your choice of brat or hot dog. This offer is also available to seniors aged 55 & older. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 11:45am. The broadcast is also available on TuneIn Radio and MiLB.TV. HOME RUNS: WIS: Monte Harrison (1st, 0 on in 2nd inning off Zack Tillery, 1 out) Monte Harrison (2nd, 0 on in 7th inning off Randy LeBlanc, 1 out) WP: Randy LeBlanc (1-0) LP: Kodi Medeiros (0-1) SAVE: Cam Booser (2) TIME: 2:37 ATTN: 702 Wisconsin Boxscore This was a cold one, it was about 35 degrees at game time, at least here in Green Bay. I said enough about Kodi Medeiros' night earlier, it was the same plan as it's been all season, the C sets the same target every time and the ball just goes where's going to go. Pinpoint control is not part of Kodi's game at this point, but my goodness does he rack up Ks. Monte Harrison did not get cheated on a single swing all night, and he needed a big night in the worst way. Hopefully he relaxes a little bit and starts to let his talent play. Speaking of talent, Cedar Rapids attacked Jake Gatewood with a simple plan tonight... off speed low and away and FBs up out of the zone, and he struck out 3 times. He was one of many Rattlers who smacked the ground with their bat after a strike out, the team once again struck out 16 times, they are averaging well over 10 strike outs per game. David Denson had a nice night, missed a HR by about a foot in right center, it hit right off the top of the wall, and had a nice sharp line drive single the opposite way as well. He started really slow last year and then started a gradual ascent towards a good year till he broke that bone. Hopefully he gets off this 1 hit per game thing and starts putting more multi-hit games together like he did tonight. He's actually had a hit in 8 of the last 10 games but is only hitting .231 over that span. Wisconsin Recap

I was going to stay out this because quite frankly I tired of the discussion a long time ago. However this notion that posters are "cherry picking trades" to criticize isn't true at all, and never has been. The discussion always has been about ULTIMATE VALUE, but apparently that concept keeps getting past people. Why is it so hard to understand that by trading for Sabathia and the playoffs in 2008, the Brewers likely compromised what was possible in 2009 and 2010. Or that trading for Marcum and Greinke directly led to 2012-2015? Why is it so hard to acknowledge the good and the bad that came with those moves? It's the same with FA signings, what major impact have any of those signings over the years had? Did any actually move the Brewers up into the next tier and make them significantly better than they otherwise would have been? This is fascination with being 1 or 2 players away has been fallacy from the start, it's never been true and will never be true until we have legitimate depth through out the organization. People aren't cherry picking anything, it's been the same tired strategy year after year since 2006 and it hasn't produced meaningful results. We have 1 playoff series win to show for all the talent we had come through Milwaukee because the roster construction was flawed from the start. Personally I've hated every move besides the Greinke trade with the exception of Gallardo, which I'm indifferent on, posters have called me out on that on fact, and I've readily agreed. The strategy was never sustainable and many of us were figuring that out long before the Greinke trade. The Brewers simply cannot just continually buy MLB players with prospects, they cannot continually target short term solutions, they cannot arbitrarily box themselves in with the "only making moves if we're out of it in July" theory, and they need to quit wasting money on FA acquisitions that won't make a significant impact. They need to both buy and sell to keep the organization deep in talent as well as young, and FA should be a place to sign temporary stop gaps to fill out the roster, not a place to try and sign key members of the team. Signing players in their mid 30s or older has just lead to wasted money at the end of every single contract. Take a wider view and see the entire picture, see how all of the moves link together, see how the patterns continually repeat. If your focus is only 2008 and 2011 then you're missing the greater truth.

Denson tripled off the top of the wall and eventually came around to score, Medeiros has now struck out 8 in his last 4 innings, couldn't ask for better after that 1st inning.

All 3 2015 threads (PG, BA, and Int) are now current, sorry for the delay.

Draft Pack: March 26 DAVID RAWNSLEY FRANKIE PILIERE

Draft Pack: April 2 DAVID RAWNSLEY FRANKIE PILIERE