TheCrew07

I've watched Orlando hit quite a bit, and I saw him last Thursday in the sweltering day game. Right now he's doing in MLB what he was doing when he first got to WI, he's trying too hard and being over aggressive. Last Thursday he was way out in front with lower half onto his front foot long before he needed to be, so he's not balanced at all, but he makes up for it by having the best hand/eye coordination I've seen from a hitter in the Brewer organization since Braun. Orlando has the ability to put the bat on bad pitches and put them in play, the kind of pitches that almost all other hitters are going to swing right through. Right that's not serving him well and is leading to quite a bit of weak contact and ground outs on the IF or short pop flies to the OF. When he's staying back and swinging at good pitches that ability is the reason why he barrels up so many balls and has nice potential as a hitter. In his final AB on Thursday he stayed back and was on time so he drilled that sinking liner to CF which was misplayed into a triple. I was pretty happy about that because the only reason we were sticking around (the conditions down the RF line were miserable) was because I wanted to watch him bat one more time. It's neat to remember the young kid who was in WI then and see the young man who is getting his fee wet in the big leagues, and how far he's come. I've seen this over aggressive approach before, he won't strike out much, he'll walk here and there, but he won't start spraying line drives all over the yard again until he lets himself relax and play, it's easy to see. As long as he's out on that front foot he'll struggle, when stays balanced he'll start tagging the ball. He is not Escobar, and I could give 2 hoots about what fangraphs has to say about any prospect, that is not a reputable prospect site as far as I'm concerned, though they've made improvements since they started talking about prospects a few years ago. They are like MLB Pipeline before adding Jim Callis... Escobar was/is a better player defensively and Arcia has a much higher ceiling offensively. I had/have man crushes on both players and I don't see many similarities in their game, they don't have similar body types, they are completely different types of hitters, and while Arcia is very good defensively he doesn't have the arm or range of Escobar. The only similarities are that they are both Latin, both from Venezuela, both skinny (not the same as having a similar body type), and both were Brewer prospects... that's about as superficial as a comparison can be though. I guess one could tag them both as defensive first prospects, but I think that's that a disservice to the truth, I think that's selling Orlando short with the bat. Certainly it's possible Arcia never reaches his ceiling offensively, but at his absolute best Escobar was going to be a low .700s OPS type of guy, I thought if he added some muscle he could maybe be league average, but he never has. I think a .700ish OPS is Arcia's floor as a player, I will be shocked and severely disappointed if he isn't a better hitter than his brother. I'm not talking power, I see him hitting .270-.290 with a good OBP, 10-15 HRs, and 30ish 2B at his peak. Maybe it's true that his attitude has changed and he'll never be that guy, and fading like his older brother has, but I'm skeptical of those reports as I still remember him as the kid who was always smiling and having fun around the park. ***** As for Hardy, he had the injury and the Brewers brought him up basically straight from AA after missing a year, that was tough, there were plenty of calls to DFA Hardy during the first half of the season that year as well. Fielder wasn't rushed though Weeks was, but they were brought up because they were both mashing in AAA, Fielder went back down after interleague play though, he came up for good the following year and started the season with the Brewers after the Overbay trade. Fielder did start the season 0-fer, and I remember the fans at Miller Park giving him a nice hand of encouragement near the of that rough start, if only fans were willing to be so patient now. I would agree that the Brewers defensive development focus was lacking at that time and the majority of that first wave come up with serious defensive issues. Fielder had around 2000 PAs as a minor legauer, Weeks right around 900, Hardy around 1300, Hart (3 defensive positions) 2600+, Braun just short of 900, and Lucroy around 1500. Lucroy made significant defensive improvements, Hardy was a natural, the rest were pretty poor. That's why I say that if posters want a player's bat to carry him through the minors and be aggressively promoted then they need to be willing to push the player farther down the defensive spectrum. How much improvement is a player really going to make in basically 2 full MiLB seasons like Braun and Weeks had?

Long answer: When he was pitching with the big club I thought he had the makings of above average off speed, and if he added a tick or 2 velocity wise he could be something worth getting excited about. His problem at that time was he was pitching with A ball control in MLB so he got behind in counts and his FB got crushed because it didn't have much run. The only pitching prospect above WI who I've watched pitch this year was Hader, and it wasn't much, maybe 9 innings total, so I haven't taken the opportunity to see if Wang's stuff and/or velocity have improved. From an analysis and research standpoint his control really hasn't improved all that much as he was trying throw perfect pitches and ended up nibbling around off the corners getting himself in trouble. He's been much better since Hook got him to challenge hitters instead of pitching against the strike zone, you don't really have to hit spots if you can keep the ball down and keep hitters off balance, so in that respect he's more effectively wild like a Gallardo rather painting corners like a Fiers. I hope that description makes sense because normally when I'm talking "effectively wild" I'm talking about pitchers like Diplan who are missing spots by feet, not inches, and still having success. Short answer: I think the jury is still out on how legitimate he really is, he's looking like a back of the rotation guy right now.

Kane County Cracks Rattlers with Four-Run 7th Cougars snap 2-2 tie to beat Wisconsin 6-2 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Jordan Yamamoto hurt himself with the wild pitch which allowed the 2nd run, otherwise he pitched very well tonight. Crooked innings have been the issue of late, in that way he's similar to fellow Hawaiian Medieros last year who tended to give up his runs in bunches. Jordan had pitched 111.1 innings coming into the game which I thought was neat, now 117.1 which is over 30 innings more than the next closest pitcher. Matt Smith's WI debut was nothing to write home about. The Rattlers have run up against some excellent defense in the last 2 series, Carlos Belonis was robbed multiple times and Luis Aviles was robbed of an XBH which would have changed the dynamic of the game to end the first. I believes Aviles was in LF tonight because Brandon Diaz was promoted back to BC, though I didn't quite catch all of what Chris said about it as I was walking back into the room at the time. Lucas Erceg (2-4) had the only multi hit game for the Rattlers, he's settled in around the .300 mark as his sample size continues to grow. Wisconsin Recap edit. I didn't mean to post, I meant to preview, I will update when the game story pops. edit 2. Added game story

Straight FB low 90s, MLB averagish off speed, average command for his level. In short, nothing exciting but good enough to dominate A ball hitters when he's keeping the ball down. If he wasn't a high school kid I'd say he's your run of the mill college arm in A ball. He has a reasonable chance to continue to improve, he's made strides with his stuff each year.

Thanks and good catch.

Bats come alive as Shuckers blast Generals 8-3 on Monday Jacob Nottingham led the 12-hit attack by going 3-for-5 with a homer Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/8/0/195806780/cuts/Nottinghamthumb2_7y24v4yv_ljhsz9v0.JPG Jacob Nottingham blasted his ninth home run of the season on Monday night. (Mike Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore Brooks Hall gave up 2 runs in 5 innings while striking out 1, his strike outs are all over the place if you check his game logs and his K/9 while the best of his career, is just over 7 and falling with today's start. I still believe if he makes it he's a reliever, most will remember I've never been a believer in him as a starting pitcher, his K rate just isn't high enough. The Shuckers pounded out 12 hits in a veritable offensive explosion, Jacob Nottingham was the only hitter at the top of the order to do significant damage with 3 hits including the HR though Clint Coulter was also on base twice via a hit and HBP. The real story was the bottom of the order as Gabriel Noriega, Tom Belza, and Javier Betancourt, the 7, 8, and 9 hitters, all had multi hit games. Biloxi Recap

Rattlers shut down Cougars 3-0 Four Wisconsin pitchers combine on 5-hit shutout Wisconsin Boxscore I'm going to start off with Jake Gatewood tonight because he had been pretty shakey at 1B so far but was brilliant there tonight. I've lamented on Alan Sharkey's struggles at the plate because he's the best 1B to come through the system defensively since the Brewers switched to the Rattlers for A ball. However I was intrigued by Gatewood as a 1B and although I had been unimpressed, I'm hoping this game will be a sign of better things to come. Thomas Jankins started and went 4 scoreless innings and then was backed up by Conor Harber's 3 scoreless innings as well. Quintin Torres-Costa has been pitching better of late with an ERA just over 3 in his last 10 games, and pitched a scoreless inning of his own. Nate Griep closed it out and needed it as he's been a been erratic over his last 10 games with an ERA over 5. Troy Stokes (2-4) and Jonathan Oquendo (2-4) had the multi hit games for the Rattlers. Gatewood's HR was his first since July 25th, he only had 2 HRs in both June and July after his very impressive May. Wisconsin Recap

Sorry bro, I didn't mean to suggest it was, just much less than ideal. Losing Indy and then Nashville just stinks.

I want to say they just bought into one within the last couple of years because I remember bringing up that I thought it would be a really good idea for the Brewers to follow. I take the security of player development over potentially losing money. What's worse, losing $800,000/year if people decide to quit supporting the team or $10,000,000+/year on the last 2 years of a worthless FA contract? As I said at the time of the Wolf & Chapman signings, would you rather have an aging and declining mid to bottom of the rotation guy or go after Chapman who had top of the rotation potential with a fall back option of being a back end reliever? Who's ultimately the better value? $36 mil for 3 years of Wolf or 6 years of Chapman? I still think Chapman could have started, CIN was just impatient with him and never let him develop. The Brewers have always needed to focus more on development than aging FA retreads, even if just provides 1 extra player every 2 years, that's still significant cost savings over going the FA route to plug the same hole.

Correct, there's a very good reason the Brewers wanted out of High Desert and ended up in Brevard County. In the early 2000s the Brewers were skipping prospects past A+ and sending them right to AA because they felt the AZ weather was having a negative effect on player development, and I'm not talking about the heat but rather the extremely high offensive output.

Coulter stays hot, but Shuckers fall to Generals, 3-1 Sunday Clint Coulter went 2-for-4 with a homer and has hit in all seven AA starts Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/8/4/195652684/cuts/Coulter3_z3pdv2dw_3srhtczc.jpg Clint Coulter has 13 hits in his first seven starts with the Shuckers, including a pair of homers. Biloxi Boxscore At least Jorge Lopez was better, he allowed 2 runs in his 5 innings of work. Tristan Archer had an interesting game but didn't allow a run while Junior Rincon continues his late season swoon. His ERA is now well over 8 in his last 10 appearances. The Shuckers managed just 4 hits, so there isn't much to talk about beyond Clint Coulter's exploits which were covered in detail already. After that fantastic start Biloxi has fallen all the way down to 58-60 on the season, which to me is extremely disappointing given the talent on this squad. Biloxi Recap

Snappers Hold Off Rattler Rally for 3-1 Win Beloit takes three of four from Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore This team just hasn't recovered yet from those deflating back to back late inning losses last weekend, it's been pretty much a tailspin since. Trey Supak's performance was alright, nothing spectacular though he gave up just 2 runs. Miguel Diaz gave up a run in just 2 innings of work and I do understand why he's being utilized cautiously. It looks like they are making it a point to keep him below 90 innings this season, his previous high was 48.2 in the DSL back in 2013. T-Rat batters managed just 4 hits but Luis Aviles (2-4) recorded a multi hit game. Wisconsin Recap

Stokes and Santana Deliver a Rattler Victory Wisconsin rallies to beat Beloit 4-3 in 11 innings at Pohlman Field By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore What a win! After hitting line drives all over the yard which turned into outs hit right at fielders, and giving Beloit credit due for playing stellar defense, a bloop single finally pushed the Rattlers over the top. Call it irony, call it justice, call it karma, call it what you want, I'll simply call it a very good win. The only real downside was that it was Domingo Santana who hit the tying HR and not a prospect, but I'll take it. I mentioned the umpiring mistake earlier, and the Rattlers have had issues with this crew over the last month, unfortunately this sort of thing seems to happen with a different crew each year. It would be nice if the Rattlers don't see these guys again once the Beloit series wraps up. So this has been gnawing around in the back of my head for quite a while and I haven't said anything because I don't want to get into an extended debate about a gut feeling, but at the same time I think it needs to be said. Trent Clark (2-5) doesn't appear to be a heady baseball player, the mistakes he's made on the bases and the way he plays balls in the OF... he's just doesn't appear to be a natural, but covers up many mistakes with his athleticism. With all of the CFs in the system, and OF in general, if he hits as well as I think he will, he'd be a guy I'd look to package for a player of greater need down the road. A situation of having surplus OFs would need to present itself, but seems plausible given the state of the farm system, and he's just not the defender that many of the other CFs to come through WI have been. I don't think I've mentioned that Corbin Burnes is on a soft pitch count of 50 which he blew way past tonight. He just wasn't sharp, but Alex Farina bailed him out of a bases load jam in the 3rd and Alex would have been my player of the game as he was the primary reason the game remained within reach. As And That pointed out, Zack Brown pitched well as the back half of the tandem. Wisconsin Recap

I think you need should probably reconsider your opinion on this topic. It's not about comfort or any other silly emotional zone, it's about players putting themselves into a position to succeed, and the easiest way to do that is to simplify and get back to the fundamental basics. CC wasn't a talented hitter: he wasn't strong, wasn't above average athletically, didn't have exceptional hand/eye coordination, so in effect he did everything he could as a player to limit his offensive potential with that rubber band stance. Maybe he learned from his experience, maybe he didn't, but that's not the type of player who typically is good a teacher of the game, those are generally players who were adaptable and got the most out their talent, I never saw that from CC as a player. At the opposite end of the spectrum great players are rarely good coaches because everything came so naturally to them that they aren't able to explain to others how to do what they did... simply because they just reacted and things always worked out for them. I absolutely do not see baseball, or sports in general, the same way the majority of people do, I have much different perspective and see things that others simply don't care about. It's fine if you don't view CC the same way I do, or the Brewers, or baseball, I expect that as it has been the norm on this site for a long time. I don't watch as a fan, I'm not able to do that anymore even though sometimes I wish I could, I watch as a coach, and when you do that you see the game in a much deeper way which is difficult to explain. I have no idea how to qualify of lifetime of experience and distill it down to meaningful rebuttal of a petty attack. I would like to say it should be beneath you as person, but I don't know you, so playing the internet tough guy might well be the only contribution you'll make.

Rough sixth inning dooms Shuckers in loss to Generals Clint Coulter homered and had three hits, extending his hitting streak Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/3/4/195446734/cuts/Coulter2_gquvhi87_tq4g5t53.jpg Biloxi Boxscore Brandon Woodruff threw a stinker out there tonight, that's all that needs to be said. I'm not sure what to make of this scorching start by Clint Coulter in AA, it will be interesting to see what happens with him next year. I take an ultra conservative view on breakout performances, they just so rarely mean great things for a prospect, I want back to back excellent years from a player before I get excited. There are some exceptions, where I'm just certain about a guy, but they are few and far between. Biloxi Recap

I'm concerned with how well he can teach the game, I do understand that people think he's really smart but I have a very hard time getting past his horrible batting stance, nothing about it made sense. I'm mostly concerned with the player development side and if he nails that with the prospects as they come up I'll be happy. The organization seems enamored with him so he'll stick around for quite a while.

So Jonathan Oquendo makes a great play to start the game but the ump blows the call. Burnes becomes unhinged and walks the next batter on 4 pitches, then grooves 2 for line drive singles to the next 2 hitters. Gary Lucas comes out to talk to Burnes, afterwards he gets a bounding GB to Gatewood at 1B who loses the ball on a high hop in the sun and just like that Rattlers are down 0-3 without recording an out in the 1st.

After beating on his defense for a while I've been letting it go of late, there's not a whole lot of positive with that squad right now.

Yes I am and I considered it a tremendous waste of resources when they moved him up from the pitching coordinator to the MLB bullpen. Instead of being able to have an impact at every level of the organization he's only dealing with a handful of players in any one season. I'm sure it was better for Lee on a personal level as he's on the road half as much, and of course he's getting paid more, but I would have rather paid him the same or more to stay in the role he was occupying at the time of the promotion.

The bullpen coach is Lee Tunnell, whom I have great respect for and learned quite a bit about teaching pitching from, his audio interviews with various affiliates over the years were extremely informative.

Snappers Shutout and Slam the Rattlers By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore Jordan Desguin got the loss but pitched extremely well allowing 1 run on 4 hits and a walk over 5 innings while striking out 5. Jake Drossner struggled coming out of the pen, which was atypical as I've pointed out for whatever reason he's been much more effective in relief this season. That 8th inning really got away from him. Lucas Erceg (2-4) recorded the only multi hit game for the Rattlers and while the Rattlers put 9 hits on the board, they combined poor situational hitting with mistakes on the bases and managed just the 1 run. Wisconsin Recap

Moore holds Shuckers in check during 3-1 loss to Generals Taylor Jungmann turned in his fourth consecutive quality start in loss Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/3/2/195252032/cuts/DSC_1340_sebiren4_w96bf9c2.jpg Taylor Jungmann allowed three runs over seven quality innings on Friday night (Mark P Driscoll) Biloxi Boxscore Taylor Jungmann was much better later in the game, but by then the Shuckers were already down 3-1 and with the typical offensive output of this team being down just 2 runs seems like a steep hill to climb. Biloxi has scored just 385 runs in 115 games, Jackson has scored 531 in the same number. Opposing pitcher Andrew Moore is more of a sniper than a stuff guy, his FB is very average, but his control is excellent, his off speed has improved, and he got the better end of this dual. Dustin DeMuth has gone hitless 2 games in a row, say it ain't so! Biloxi Recap

It's not negativity, no one has said Guzman is a terrible prospect, he's a very nice prospect. The point is to get the best talent available, not settle for lesser talent because it fills a position of need. That's one of the things besides "mlb ready" that drove me nuts about Melvin as a GM. If you a trade a SS, you don't have to bring back someone crappy like Yuni B, or if you trade a OF, bring back a MLB ready OF regardless of talent level... please, for love of god, just get the most talented players possible... if they are in AA great, but if we have to go down to R ball like with Diplan, that's just as good. As soon as you start placing arbitrary conditions on trades such as "last year of team control if out of contention" or "mlb ready" which have been so popular on the MLB side of this forum for years then you severely limit the trade possibilities and targets. We need depth of talent as an organization, winning MLB team or not it's a reality of the financial aspects of a MLB franchise playing in a market like Milwaukee, and that means casting the talent as wide as possible. That means continually turning over the roster and staying away from players 30 years or older. If the Brewers pro-player scouts (who I hold in pretty high esteem) think Guzman is the best talent available then by all means grab him. Just because I would prefer Payano doesn't mean I think Guzman is garbage... in the same way that when it came to the 2016 draft it doesn't mean I think Corey Ray stinks because he's not a pitcher. I'll always point out the counter side of a prospect if only one side is being trumpeted because I believe in getting all of the information out there, not just some statistical "this guy jumped up to 16 HRs so he should be our guy" argument which is where I felt most of the Guzman support was coming from. I'm going to try and provide some context to those stats, I'm going to go and do my home work which means as much video and print information as I can find. Until I get the young potential impact pitching I want, I'm always going to lean that way, but that doesn't mean I don't value impact positional talent, because almost all of my favorite prospects currently in the system are position players. Truthfully, even if I get that pitching at some point I'm probably going to continue to lean that way because I believe in building the pitching staff first.

Beloit Beats Rattlers 4-3 in 13 Innings Erceg's Ninth Inning Homer Forces Extra Innings By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wisconsin Boxscore I got home from the Brewer game just in time to follow extra innings and piss me off... I'm about done with David Lucroy. As I've said previously he has legitimate professional stuff but he gives up runs literally every other appearance. Someone asked about Jordan Yamamoto, he pitches low 90s with a very straight FB and decent off speed, he gets into trouble when he leaves the ball up like any pitcher, but most pitchers don't utilize an arrow straight FB. He's going to need to locate like a Marcum at his peak to have success. Nate Griep and Scott Grist had nice outings after struggling over the weekend. Just 6 hits in 13 innings so Max McDowell had the only multi hit game. The game story will cover the rest. Wisconsin Recap

Nottingham's big night leads to Shuckers 4-3 win in 11 innings Shuckers take series opener over Generals in Jackson Biloxi Shuckers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/0/6/195107606/cuts/2Q5A0001_0wdtp2mj_0anhitt9.JPG Jacob Nottingham was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and game winning on RBI on Thursday night. (Michael Krebs) Biloxi Boxscore Luis Ortiz was just okay in this one, nothing special statistically, bordering the poor side with the walks and hits. Stephen Kohlscheen has hit a bit of a cold streak here at the end of the season, but Tristan Archer picked up the team. Jacob Nottingham (3-6,2 2B) posted his 2nd consecutive multi hit game, it would be exceedingly awesome if both he and Brett Phillips would finish the season strong. Biloxi Recap