TheCrew07

This is Kris Bryant stuff is very similar to Oscar Taveras in 2012... at least one article a week, every week. Bryant slams two more homers for Iowa Cubs' No. 2 prospect drives in three runs, including go-ahead tally

Subscriber... quite a few pitchers discussed but here's the first paragraph on Espinoza Who Is The Best Pitcher On The International Market? June 23, 2014 by Ben Badler

Another subscriber piece, but very interesting. The Quest For Height June 22, 2014 by J.J. Cooper

Subscriber content Glasnow Gives Hitters Plenty To Worry About June 22, 2014 by Tim Williams

Rattlers beat the rain and the Bees for fourth straight victory Wisconsin tops Burlington 5-2 in rain-shortened game By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BURLINGTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers defeated the Burlington Bees 5-2 Sunday at Community Field in game shortened to six innings by a severe thunderstorm. Taylor Brennan drove in a pair of runs and Taylor Williams worked six innings for a complete game victory for the Rattlers. Wisconsin has opened the second half of the season 4-0 after their four-game sweep of the Bees. Wisconsin (40-33 overall, 4-0 second half) took advantage of a bout of wildness by Burlington starting pitcher Victor Alcantara in the first inning. Johnny Davis walked, Omar Garcia singled, and Michael Ratterree walked to load the bases with no outs. Clint Coulter's fly ball to right was deep enough to score Davis. Garcia would score on an errant throw on the play and the Rattlers were up 2-0. Ratterree would take third on a wild pitch and score on a ground out by Brennan for a 3-0 lead. The Bees (38-35, 0-4) got on the scoreboard with an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning. Stephen McGee reached on an error and took second on a ground out. Ismael Dionicio singled to center with two outs to drive in McGee and cut Wisconsin's lead to two runs. The Rattlers answered in the top of the third. Coulter started the inning with a double. Brennan followed with a single to drive in Coulter. The throw home was wild and Brennan wound up on third base. Rafael Neda drove in Brennan with a double to left and Wisconsin was up 5-1. The storm clouds were rolling in during the sixth inning and Mike Fish hit a solo home run for the Bees with one out in the bottom of the frame. Williams got the second out, but a double by McGee, a passed ball, and a walk to Exicardo Cayones put runners on the corners and brought the tying run to the plate as rain started to fall. Williams got Ranyelmy Mendoza to pop out to right to end the inning. Then, the umpires called for the tarp. The Burlington grounds crew got the cover on the infield just before a torrential downpour hit Community Field. The game was called thirty minutes later as the rain showed no signs of letting up and the outfield began to flood. Williams earned his fifth win of the season. He allowed two runs - one earned - on six hits in a six-inning complete game. Williams walked one and struck out four. Wisconsin has opened the second half of the 2014 Midwest League season by doing something no other Timber Rattlers team has ever done. In twenty seasons of Timber Rattlers baseball, no team had ever come into Burlington and swept a four-game series from the Bees…until this series. The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday. They return to action on Tuesday at Kane County. Preston Gainey (2-3, 3.27) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Game time against the Cougars is 6:30pm. Catch the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. Wisconsin will have three games in Kane County before playing their next home game, a contest with the Bees on Friday, June 27 at 6:35pm. HOME RUN: BUR: Mike Fish (7th, 0 on in 6th inning off Taylor Williams, 1 out) WP: Taylor Williams (5-1) LP: Victor Alcantara (4-4) TIME: 1:59 (:30 delay) ATTN: 994 Wisconsin Boxscore Taylor Williams was pretty good, he only posted a single 1-2-3 inning (the 4th) but he scattered the 6 hits and 1 walk around his 6 innings enough that the solo HR in the 6th was the only damage charged to him. Steven Halcomb (2-3) had the only multi-hit game in this rain shortened affair but for those old school types who still like to count RBIs Clint Coulter collected his 50th of the year with the sac fly in the 1st. Wisconsin Recap

Sounds Edged 4-1 In Salt Lake City Nashville's Gindl Homers; Cravy Makes Triple-A Debut Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/2/2/77552622/cuts/Caleb_Gindl_517_1_Large_97zt2vl4_jn7kjlqe.jpg SALT LAKE CITY - The Nashville Sounds (39-39) were on the losing end of a 4-1 tilt against the Salt Lake Bees on Sunday afternoon at Smith's Ballpark. Tied 1-1 in the 5th inning, Salt Lake pulled ahead by plating a pair of runs off of Sounds reliever Arcenio Leon (0-2). J.B. Shuck hit a double off the outfield wall before moving to third and scoring on a pair of Leon wild pitches. Right fielder Brennan Boesch followed with a single through the infield to score Tommy Field, who reached base on balls. Sounds starting pitcher Tyler Cravy saw his Triple-A debut end earlier than anticipated, leaving the game after 3 1/3 innings pitched with an apparent injury. The right-handed 24-year-old, who held an 8-1 record with a 1.72 ERA in Huntsville, limited Salt Lake batters to one run on two hits and three walks, while striking out four. Leon, who was charged with the loss, completed the 4th inning for Cravy. Outfielder Caleb Gindl helped Nashville out to an early 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the 2nd inning; Nashville's only run of the ballgame. Nashville batters collected six hits in the game, led by Eugenio Velez, who went two-for-four. Hunter Morris, Sean Halton, and Hector Gomez each recorded a hit. Salt Lake's Zach Borenstein capped off the Bees scoring with a solo home run off of Brent Leach in the bottom of the 8th inning. Leach picked-off the baserunner at first before the home run to avoid allowing another run to score. Caleb Clay (1-0) earned the win for Salt Lake, limiting Nashville to one run on three hits across 5 2/3 innings of work. Yoslan Herrera notched the save, his second. The Sounds will continue their series with Salt Lake on Monday at 8:05 p.m. RHP Taylor Jungmann (2-4, 6.83) will take the hill for Nashville opposite Salt Lake's RHP Joel Pineiro (1-1, 9.00). Broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore NOOOOO! Hopefully this Tyler Cravy injury isn't serious but at least the injuries are hitting the minor leagues instead of significant pieces of the big club this year. Eric Marzec put up a scoreless inning so his ERA remains spotless in limited AAA opportunities thus far. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Sounds Snap Losing Streak With 7-4 Win In Salt Lake Hermida, Pagnozzi Homer To Back Another Solid Start By Jimmy Nelson Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/3/0/78648830/cuts/Jimmy_Nelson_805_2_Large_oivj6akn_x7xrw46m.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) SALT LAKE CITY - Nashville hitters belted a pair of homers to back another solid start by top prospect Jimmy Nelson in the Sounds' 7-4 victory over the Salt Lake Bees at Smith's Ballpark on Saturday evening in the opener of a four-game series. With the win, the Sounds (39-38) snapped their season-high eight-game losing streak. Nelson (8-2) worked his 13th quality outing in 14 trips to the hill this season for Nashville, picking up the win after allowing three runs on five hits while fanning five batters in seven innings of work. Nashville grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning against Salt Lake southpaw Justin Thomas when Hunter Morris (3-for-5) led off with a double into the right field corner and came around to score on Jeremy Hermida's one-out single. Hermida (3-for-4) upped the visitors' advantage to 3-0 in the fourth when he slugged his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to right off Thomas. Morris, who preceded Hermida with a single, also scored on the blast. Bees right fielder Brennan Boesch (3-for-4) put Salt Lake on the board in the bottom of the inning when he swatted his 12th roundtripper of the year, a two-out shot to right off Nelson. It was the outfielder's sixth homer in his past six games. Pete Orr (2-for-5) led off the Sounds' fifth with a double and later scored on a Jeff Bianchi sacrifice fly to make it a 4-1 contest. Catcher Matt Pagnozzi stretched the Nashville lead to 7-1 in the sixth when he smashed a three-run homer off Thomas, his fifth big fly of the year. Sean Halton and Hermida each singled earlier in the inning before scoring on the homer. Thomas (4-7) was saddled with the loss after giving up seven runs on 10 hits and fanning eight batters over his six frames of work. Salt Lake third sacker Luis Jimenez pulled the home team back within 7-3 in the bottom of the sixth when he cranked a line-drive two-run homer over the right field wall for his 11th home run of the season. Alfredo Figaro worked the final two innings in relief of Nelson and allowed one run in the ninth inning. The teams continue the series with a 2:05 p.m. CT matinee on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Tyler Cravy (NR), who started the Southern League All-Star Game on Monday, will make his Triple-A debut for the Sounds. Salt Lake will counter with right-hander Caleb Clay (NR). Nashville Boxscore The streak is over... finally. As noted earlier in the thread Jimmy Nelson was good, just not as dominant as he had been in the past. Hunter Morris (3-5,2B) and Sean Halton (2-4) were the prospects who had multi-hit games for the Sounds but they pounded out 13 hits as a team. Tyler Cravy tomorrow should be extremely interesting. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Rattlers rally for third straight win Brennan's two-run double in eighth breaks tie at Burlington By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BURLINGTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers got another clutch hit from Taylor Brennan and scoreless relief from Clint Terry to record a 5-3 win over the Burlington Bees at Community Field on Saturday night. Brennan's two-run double in the top of the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie and helped send Wisconsin to their third straight win to start the second half of the Midwest League season. The Bees (38-34 overall, 0-3 second half) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Erick Aguilera singled to drive in Angel Rosa from second base to put Burlington in front against Wisconsin starter Barrett Astin. Rafael Neda doubled with one out in the top of the third. Neda was the first base runner against Bees starter Garrett Nuss. Angel Ortega followed with a single to center and Neda beat the throw home to tie the game. Ortega moved up to second on the throw to the plate and took third on a ground out by Francisco Castillo. Omar Garcia put the Rattlers (39-33, 3-0) in the lead with a bloop single to right-center to score Ortega. Aguilera started the Burlington fourth inning with a double. Exicardo Cayones doubled with one out to drive in Aguilera to tie the game 2-2. The Bees took the lead back in the bottom of the sixth inning. Stephen McGee doubled with one out against reliever Tyler Spurlin. Ryan Dalton was next and he doubled to drive in McGee for a 3-2 lead. Burlington starting pitcher Garrett Nuss left after six innings and a season-high seven strikeouts. Then, Wisconsin rallied against the Bees bullpen. Brian Loconsole got the first two outs in the top of the seventh, but Jose Pena kept the inning alive with a single to left. Garrett Cooper worked the count full against Loconsole before lining a single to right to move Pena to third with the tying run. Rafael Neda's grounder to third could have ended the inning. However, Angel Rosa's throw to second for the force on Cooper was wild and would up in right field to allow Pena to score and tied the game 3-3. Terry took over for Spurlin in the bottom of the seventh inning and tossed a scoreless frame to keep the game even. Garcia started Wisconsin's eighth inning rally with a single. Michael Ratterree drew a walk and Clint Coulter's check swing blooper dropped in for a single in shallow right to load the bases. That brought Brennan, who has three walkoff hits and a grand slam for the Timber Rattlers in 2014, to the plate. Loconsole was ahead of Brennan 1-2 when the Rattlers third baseman fouled off a tough pitch to get another swing. Then, Brennan lined the next pitch on one hop off the wall in left for a double that scored Garcia and Ratterree for a 5-3 lead. Terry got the first two outs via the strikeout in the eighth, but gave up consecutive two-out singles to Dalton and Erick Salcedo. Kody Eaves got a hold of a 2-0 pitch from Terry, but Ratterree made the catch on the warning track in right-center with his back nearly against the 365' sign. The Rattlers closed out the win when Terry recorded a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth. Terry walked one and struck out five in his three shutout innings to earn his first Midwest League victory. Wisconsin is 14-3 in June and has won seven of their last eight games. The final game of the series is Sunday afternoon at Community Field. Taylor Williams (4-1, 3.18) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Bees send Victor Alcantara (4-3, 3.98) to the bump. Game time is 2:00pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 1:40pm. WP: Clint Terry (1-1) LP: Brian Loconsole (2-3) TIME: 2:58 ATTN: 3,040 Wisconsin Boxscore The Rattlers start the second half winning 3 in a row... pretty sweet! Barrett Astin and Tyler Spurlin were OK... not great and not bad, but Clint Terry rebounded from his horrendous June 15th outing with a masterful 3 innings where he allowed 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5. Omar Garcia (2-4) had the only multi-hit game. Wisconsin Recap

Cards' McKinney gets first Appy League win 2013 fifth-round pick allows two hits, pitches seven scoreless innings

Baseball America Prospect Report (June 21)

With emotions high, Romano pitches down Reds' No. 14 prospect allows two hits, no walks in six shutout innings

Schwarber climbs, continues to shine Cubs' first-rounder goes yard in second game after Class A promotion

Cubs' Baez leads charge in crowd pleaser Stocked with top prospects, Iowa poised for special second half

Thanks MH, I would have gotten Nashville this AM, but I appreciate the coverage.

Rattlers start second half with doubleheader sweep Wisconsin gets a twinbill sweep at Burlington with 4-1 victory in nightcap By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BURLINGTON, IA - Zach Quintana pitched five scoreless innings as the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers beat the Burlington Bees 4-1 in game two of Friday's doubleheader at Community Field. The win in game two of the twinbill earned the Rattlers a sweep of the Bees to start the second half of the Midwest League season. Wisconsin (38-33 overall, 2-0 second half) went up 2-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Clint Coulter singled to start the inning. Jose Pena followed with a triple to right-center to chase Coulter home. Pena scored later in the inning on a wild pitch. Zach Quintana made that lead stand. The right-hander tossed five scoreless innings, allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out a season-high six batters. The Rattlers added to their lead in the top of the sixth. Francisco Castillo drew a walk with one out. Michael Ratterree lined a triple to right-center and Castillo scored easily for a 3-0 advantage. Burlington (38-33, 0-2) cut into the Wisconsin lead with a run in the bottom of the sixth against reliever Tristan Archer. Cambric Moye walked and Erick Salcedo singled to start the inning. A passed ball moved both runners into scoring position. Archer got the first out on a grounder to third that held the runners at their stations. A slow grounder off the bat of Mike Fish did get Moye home from third to make it 3-1. Eric Aguilera was next and he lined a pitch ticketed for right field and an RBI single. But, Castillo, the Rattlers second baseman, leapt and snagged the line drive for the final out of the frame. Wisconsin added to their lead again in the top of the seventh. Pena started the inning with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Omar Garcia. A wild pitch moved Garcia to second base. Rafael Neda reached on an error that put Garcia at third. Then, Angel Ortega put down a perfect safety squeeze bunt up the first base line to score Garcia for a 4-1 lead. Archer pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to close out the Bees and earned his fourth save of the season. Game three of the series is Saturday night at Community Field. Wisconsin plans to send Barrett Astin (5-3, 4.52) to the mound as the starting pitcher. Burlington has scheduled Garrett Nuss (3-0, 3.93) as their starter. Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. WP: Zach Quintana (2-4) LP: Clint Sharp (3-4) SAVE: Tristan Archer (4) TIME: 1:54 ATTN: 922 Wisconsin Game 2 Boxscore SWEEP! Obviously I'm a pretty happy camper with tonight's action thus far. Zach Quintana had his best start since April 19th and I missed all of it... I wasn't able to tune in until the 6th, so I have no idea what he had going on other than the ultimate result was fantastic. The T-Rats didn't have many hits but they made the most of their opportunities with plenty of assists from the Burlington defense. Jose Pena (2-3,3B) had the only multi-hit game. Wisconsin Game 2 Recap

Prospect Hot Sheet Chat (June 20)

Prospect Hot Sheet (June 20): A Great First Week At Work In The Team Photo Not-So Hot Helium Watch

Bryant leaves yard in his Triple-A debut Cubs' No. 2 prospect mashes 23rd home run between two levels

Glasnow fires six more shutout frames No. 3 Pirates prospect extends scoreless streak to 24 1/3 innings

Rattlers storm back to beat Bees Wisconsin opens second half with 8-4 win over Burlington By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BURLINGTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers used a six-run fourth inning to erase a deficit and go on to defeat the Burlington Bees 8-4 in game one of a doubleheader on Friday night at Community Field. The game was the first game of the second half for both teams. Wisconsin (37-33 overall, 1-0 second half) grabbed the early lead with two runs in the first inning against Bees starting pitcher Ryan Etsell. Omar Garcia doubled with one out. Michael Ratterree followed with an RBI single. Clint Coulter was next and he doubled to the wall in right-center to put runners on second and third. Taylor Brennan drove in Ratterree with a sacrifice fly to center and the Rattlers were up 2-0. Burlington (38-32, 0-1) stormed back against Rattlers starting pitcher Anthony Banda with three runs in the bottom of the first. Kody Eaves drew a leadoff walk. Angel Rosa doubled to drive in Eaves. A single by Mike Fish scored Rosa with the tying run. Fish would score later in the inning on a wild pitch by Banda and the Bees were up 3-2. Coulter tied the game with a leadoff home run in the top of the fourth. The homer was the twelfth of the season for Coulter and it gave the Rattlers offense a jump start. Brennan and Francisco Castillo followed with singles. Then, Garrett Cooper launched a long home run to center. The three-run shot by Cooper put the Rattlers up 6-3 and knocked Bees starter Ryan Estell out of the game. Burlington reliever Ben Carlson came into the game and retired the first two batters he faced. But, the rally restarted with consecutive singles by Johnny Davis and Garcia. Ratterree blooped in a single to right to knock in Davis. Coulter collected his second hit of the inning - and third of the game - with an RBI single to drive in Garcia and the Rattlers were up 8-3. Banda regrouped after the first inning and didn't allow another run through his five total innings of work. Banda matched his professional single game high for strikeouts with eight. Trevor Seidenberger tossed the final two innings out of the Rattlers bullpen. Ryan Dalton hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the seventh inning to account for the final run of the game. HOME RUNS: WIS: Clint Coulter (12th, 0 on in 4th inning off Ryan Etsell, 0 out) Garrett Cooper (1st, 2 on in 4th inning off Ryan Etsell, 0 out) BUR: Ryan Dalton (3rd, 0 on in 7th inning off Trevor Seidenberger, 0 out) WP: Anthony Banda (3-5) LP: Ryan Etsell (4-3) TIME: 2:04 Wisconsin Game 1 Boxscore That's quite the way to start the second half, what a monster game from Clint Coulter (3-3,2B,HR)! I've said it before but he's a better hitter than there are pitchers in the league this year. In fact the entire top of the order was very strong with Johnny Davis (2-4,2B), Omar Garcia (2-4,2B), and Michael Ratterree (2-4) all turning in multi-hit games. Wisconsin Game 1 Recap

Baseball America Prospect Report (June 20)

Sounds' Skid Hits Unlucky Seven In Vegas Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/2/0/6/80694206/cuts/FaluRed_q0jc33ro_8n9orx3r.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Nashville Sounds suffered their seventh straight loss on Thursday evening at Cashman Field, falling 6-2 to the host Las Vegas 51s. Nashville (38-37) fell 2 1/2 games behind first-place New Orleans with the setback. Las Vegas left-hander Darrin Gorski (2-1) struck out 11 Sounds batters while twirling a quality start to earn the win. The southpaw held Nashville to two runs (one earned) on five hits over his 6 1/3 frames of action. The Sounds took a short-lived 1-0 lead in the first inning when Irving Falu (3-for-4) singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Hunter Morris. Las Vegas responded with a pair of runs in the home half of the initial frame to grab a 2-1 advantage against spot starter Johnnie Lowe. Andrew Brown and Cory Vaughn contributed RBIs for the 51s in the inning. 51s catcher Travis d'Arnaud (3-for-5) upped the home team's lead to 5-1 in the second when he slugged a three-run homer to left off Lowe, the backstop's sixth big fly of the year. Lowe (0-2) took the loss in his spot start for the Sounds, surrendering five runs on six hits over his three innings of action. Brown recorded his second RBI of the night for Las Vegas in the fourth, when his two-out single off Sounds reliever Dustin Molleken brought home d'Arnaud, who had doubled. Nashville plated its second run of the night with a two-out rally in the fifth as Logan Schafer coaxed a free pass from Gorski and later scored on a Falu single. The visitors mounted an unsuccessful rally in the ninth, putting runners on the corners with two outs courtesy of a Hector Gomez walk and a pinch-hit single off the bat of Pete Orr. However, 51s reliever Eric Goeddel popped up Schafer to close out the contest. The Sounds look to avoid their second consecutive series sweep in the 9:05 p.m. CT finale between the clubs on Friday evening. Right-hander Ariel Pena (4-5, 4.27) will man the bump for Nashville and face Las Vegas right-hander Giancarlo Alvarado (2-3, 6.80). Nashville Boxscore This is just a much different ball club without the elite pitching featured earlier in the year. To be clear I don't have a problem with Jungmann and now Cravy moving up but Fiers and Mills were simply fantastic which carried this erratic offense. Brent Leach had a nice outing going 2 scoreless innings with 5 punchouts. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

July 2 Notebook: Garcia, Yankees, Tigers, White Sox, Alfaro, Emery, Pena June 19, 2014 by Ben Badler

Somehow I had completely forgotten that Coulter wasn't brought up as a C. MWL All-Star Notes: Stewart Continues Making Rapid Progress For Twins

Nothing really new here. Jorge Soler is the only divisional prospect, he's still nursing that same hamstring issue. The Baseballist: Nine Top Position Prospects Stymied By First-Half Injuries