TheCrew07

Brennan's blast sends Rattlers to win Wisconsin tops Kernels 6-4 on walkoff homer By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/4/8/78324748/cuts/Brennan_Leap_WEB_vecxhrgt_rq433pjv.jpg Taylor Brennan bounds into home plate as his teammates greet him after his walkoff home run to beat Cedar Rapids on June 4. GRAND CHUTE, WI - Taylor Brennan found out on Wednesday afternoon that he would be the starting third baseman for the Western Division in the 2014 Midwest League All-Star Game. Brennan celebrated on Wednesday night with a two-run, walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to a 6-4 win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The first three Timber Rattlers to bat in the bottom of the first collected hits and Wisconsin had a 2-0 lead. Johnny Davis and Omar Garcia singled to start the frame. Garcia stole second to get into scoring position. Michael Ratterree followed with a double to left that scored both runners. Cedar Rapids (27-32) loaded the bases in the top of the third inning when their first three batters of the frame reached on a double, a hit batsman, and a walk. Wisconsin starting pitcher Tyler Alexander walked Bryan Haar on four pitches to force in a run. But, Alexander worked out of the inning with a force out at the plate, a strikeout, and a grounder to short. Alexander ran into trouble again in the fourth. He hit Ryan Walker and gave up a single to Engelb Vielma before being removed from the game. Alexander had 90 pitches - 46 strikes - in 3-1/3 innings and was relieved by Rodolfo Fernandez. Fernandez got the second out, but walked the next batter to reload the bases. A passed ball on Clint Coulter with Haar at the plate allowed Walker to score the tying run. The game remained tied to the sixth inning. Then, things got intense. Taylor Williams, another Timber Rattlers All-Star, took over on the mound in the top of the sixth and allowed a double to Chad Christensen. Mitch Garver followed with a single to second to drive in Christensen to put the Kernels in front. An error on the play allowed Christensen to take second base. He would eventually score from third on a wild pitch by Williams and the Kernels were up 4-2. Wisconsin (27-31) responded in the bottom of the sixth. Michael Ratterree was hit by a pitch to start the frame. Coulter, who was named the starting designated hitter for the Western Division All-Stars earlier on Wednesday, crushed a 1-0 pitch from Slegers to left for a two-run homer to tie the game. The homer was Coulter's eleventh of the season and he leads the Midwest League in that category. The next pitch from Slegers was too close for comfort for Jose Pena and he stared down Slegers. Kernels catcher Michael Quesada got between Pena and Slegers and the benches and bullpens cleared to form a mob around the plate area. Words were exchanged between some as others tried to get the players back to the bench. There was a fifteen minute delay as the situation was sorted out by the umpiring crew. Wisconsin lost pitching coach Elvin Nina, Pena, and starting left fielder Omar Garcia to ejections. The Kernels lost Quesada, infielder Joel Licon, who was the first player out of the bullpen, and Bill Springman, the minor league hitting coordinator of the Minnesota Twins who was in town with the Cedar Rapids. The game resumed with Paul Eshleman taking over for Pena and flying out to center. Cedar Rapids had an opportunity with runners at the corners and two outs in the top of the seventh. But, Williams struck out Christensen to end the threat. The Kernels stranded fourteen runners on base and went just 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Williams set down the Kernels in order in the eighth and ninth innings to keep the game tied and set the stage for Brennan's dramatics. Eshleman started the bottom of the ninth inning with a single to right-center against reliever Brandon Bixler. Brennan took the first pitch he saw from Bixler in the ninth. Then, he sent a laser to the right of the batter's eye in center field. The ball hit off the boardwalk beyond the Kernels bullpen for a walkoff homer. The home run was the first from Brennan since he hit one in the second game of a doubleheader against the Burlington Bees on May 30. Wednesday marked the second consecutive walkoff win for the Rattlers. Francisco Castillo won Monday's game with a walkoff sacrifice fly to beat the Quad Cities River Bandits. This game was the fifth walkoff win of the season for Wisconsin. It was their second walkoff homer of 2014. Jose Pena hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to beat Lansing 10-7 in the first game of the doubleheader on April 16. The second game of the series is Thursday night. Wisconsin pitcher Clint Terry (0-0, 0.00) will make his first start of the season. Cedar Rapids pitcher Fernando Romero will make his 2014 debut. Game time is 7:05pm. The first 1,000 fans to attend this game will receive a special poster of Timber Rattlers outfielder Omar Garcia presented by Dunkin Donuts. The poster features a series of three photos taken of Garcia before, during, and after the catch he made to be named the #1 play of SportsCenter's Top 10 on May 14. Tomorrow is also a Thirsty Thursday presented by Arty's Old Fashioned and 95.9 KISS FM. That means 22-oz Pepsi products, 16-oz Miller products, or Arty's Old Fashioned drinks for just $2. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. The game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV. HOME RUNS: WIS: Clint Coulter (11th, 1 on in 6th inning off Aaron Slegers, 0 out) Taylor Brennan (5th, 1 on in 9th inning off Brandon Bixler, 0 out) WP: Taylor Williams (3-1) LP: Brandon Bixler (3-3) TIME: 3:11 ATTN: 4,366 Wisconsin Boxscore Wow what a win, I had given up waiting on the story (a bit gun shy after yesterday) and had to start this post over. None of the pitchers were particularly effective though they limited the damage to 4 runs. No T-Rat had a multi-hit game and as you read above Clint Coulter, Taylor Brennan, and Michael Ratterree provided the huge XBHs to bring in all 6 runs. Also mentioned above Coulter with another PB and is starting as the DH in the All-Star game, in case you're wondering the starting catcher is Will Remillard of the Cubs. I've yet to talk to anyone who's watched Coulter behind the plate who thinks he's even average at the position, though his bat is drawing rave reviews as it should. His career path will be interesting to follow because his bat is light years ahead of his defense right now. Wisconsin Recap Bench clearing altercations don't happen all that often in MLB anymore, even less in the minors. Ejections: Cedar Rapids Kernels catcher Michael Quesada ejected by HP umpire Adrian Gonzalez (6th); Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Pitching Coach Elvin Nina ejected by 1B umpire Nate Caldwell (6th); Wisconsin Timber Rattlers designated hitter Jose Pena ejected by HP umpire Adrian Gonzalez (6th); Wisconsin Timber Rattlers left fielder Omar Garcia ejected by HP umpire Adrian Gonzalez (7th) Wisconsin Gameday

He's the Yankees version of Casey McGehee, no thanks. This article saves me trouble of laying out why... Ask BA: Can Yangervis Solarte Keep This Up? May 21, 2014 by J.J. Cooper [pre]Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS 2006 18 -0.7 Twins DOSL FRk MIN 53 227 194 32 54 9 2 2 29 2 2 27 18 .278 .373 .376 .750 2007 19 -0.8 Twins GULF Rk MIN 52 203 175 25 53 4 3 1 33 7 3 11 18 .303 .342 .377 .719 2008 20 -2.2 2 Teams 2 Lgs A+-A MIN 83 328 294 34 70 13 1 3 33 9 4 21 38 .238 .301 .320 .621 2009 21 -0.2 3 Teams 3 Lgs Rk-A+-AA MIN 16 60 51 6 9 1 0 0 5 0 0 5 3 .176 .254 .196 .450 2010 22 -1.1 3 Teams 3 Lgs A+-AA-Rk MIN 84 344 322 36 94 18 1 5 34 4 1 17 35 .292 .328 .401 .729 2011 23 -1.3 NewBritain EL AA MIN 121 497 459 64 151 36 3 7 49 5 4 24 38 .329 .367 .466 .834 2012 24 -2.8 RoundRock PCL AAA TEX 130 568 518 69 149 28 0 11 54 3 1 41 44 .288 .340 .405 .745 2013 25 -1.9 RoundRock PCL AAA TEX 133 577 526 66 145 31 0 12 75 3 0 39 69 .276 .323 .403 .727 8 Seasons 672 2804 2539 332 725 140 10 41 312 33 15 185 263 .286 .336 .397 .733[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 6/4/2014. I'll simply say that trading Gallardo for a bench bat would be awful.

I'd take Hoffman at 12 for sure, I don't like him as much I like Aiken but he's right there Freeland and Newcomb for me. edit. I should maybe elaborate some in that in Hoffman scares me a bit because of his control but he was definitely great when he was on prior to TJ. Hard to argue with the arm and 2 secondary pitches which flash plus and 3rd averagish one though.

Japan’s Shohei Otani Hits 99 MPH, Strikes Out 10 To Outduel Kenta Maeda June 4, 2014 by Ben Badler

Brennan, Coulter, Astin, Gainey, and Williams are the T-Rat representatives. Midwest League names All-Star teams Speedy Smith, powerful Coulter to bolster Eastern, Western lineups By Sam Dykstra / MiLB.com

I lost my weight with P90x and stuck with it because I can do it at home and around my schedule which can fluctuate daily based on work. I like the fact I'm not tied to into a rigid routine doing my workouts at a set time each day. That being said I definitely understand how that routine can work for people and I do have friends that swear by Crossfit, it's just not my thing, the only strict routine I've adopted is an eating schedule. The Crossfit workouts are extremely challenging and there is a profound sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from their completion, personally I'd rather read that someone completed a Crossfit workout than went out for pizza on a status update, but to each his own. As for the injury issue, Crossfit isn't designed to be safe, it's based on plyometrics and olympic lifts, it's athletic training on a scaled down version to what we'd do with HS, College, and Professional athletes. Yes it's high impact, yes it's not for everyone, yes form is critical with olympic lifts or you can get hurt, but I think that anything which gives people a sense of accomplishment, hope, and better self image is good thing. Personally I've found that there's something therapeutic and cleansing that comes with working out, it rights my ship. I would guess from my personal experience and the friends who've tried to push me into Crossfit that the profound sense of accomplishment is what they find so exciting and want to share. I completely understand if people can find that elsewhere in their lives but I just know what is working for me and the people around me.

No but they should if it makes the team or organization stronger. Good roster management should be independent of record but baseball has this rigid but arbitrary framework of buying if you're in it and selling only if you are out. I would agree that fan perception and the conservative nature of baseball GMs is the driving factor, most fans and front office people want their teams to operate on established MLB protocols. I'm not one of those people, I'm always looking for a better way... TB wasn't completely of it when they dumped Kazmir, they were in the race until they tanked in September. They never had great playoff odds that season, but they were in the thick of things. There's quite a bit not to like about Yo as his velocity hasn't bounced back like many posters had hoped, he's averaging less than 6 IP per start, and he's tied for Wang with the worst strike percentage on the team. I just don't think the perceived drop off from Gallardo or Estrada to our next pitcher is enough to completely close the door on the idea of trading a player. Especially this year with the rash of pitching injuries... if someone is desperate for a pitching upgrade and willing to give up more than Gallardo/Estrada are worth I'd move them in a heartbeat. The media wouldn't like it, the fans wouldn't like it as I'm sure Gallardo will bounce back results wise some, but it would be a very solid move for the organization in the short and long term. I'm not so much interested in what teams have done historically, I'll take it into consideration when I post, but I'm most interested in isolating variables and working on sound organization building strategy. The perception is that you don't sell veterans when you are in the race, you must buy with prospects, but the reality is that if you wouldn't suffer a production drop off it shouldn't matter when you trade the player, the only thing that should ultimately matter is when you can get the best return. There's no reason you can't buy and sell if the moves are what's best for organization, like much in baseball there's way too much "this is the way it's always been done so it should only be done this way"... when much of what baseball has done is wasteful, inefficient, or ineffective long term.

His CS % percentage is a function if his incredibly strong arm, not his defensive acumen, he's poor for an A ball catcher behind the plate. In just 32 games behind the plate this year he has 6 errors and 6 PBs, with many more balls getting through him that don't show up in boxscores. I've been provided observations on his catching in the Link Reports on the minor league forum. Regardless if Coulter is able to stick at C if the Brewers think Pentecost is the best player they should take him anyway, you can never have too depth as we found out with Salome/Lucroy. I have very serious concerns about Coulter's ability to catch long-term. My opinion on a bat hasn't changed since my first post on possible draft targets in this thread, if we're taking a bat I'd like it to be Schwarber as a 1B. I don't think he'd be the BPA, but I really don't want Trae Turner or any of the OFs.

2014 Draft Preview: Best Tools

Youngest And Oldest Players In The 2014 Draft June 3, 2014 by Clint Longenecker

My goodness I must have hit preview but never hit post, thanks MH. A bit different commentary than I intended to post yesterday afternoon .

I get that Colby, my point was meant to be that with the baseball draft HS players are so fluid that even information from last fall is outdated. Hell in January no one was talking about Aiken #1 overall...

For those that don't read the minor league link reports each day here is every pitcher who's thrown for the MLB team sorted by strike %: [pre]Rk Tm G IP H R ER BB SO HR HBP ERA BF Pit Str StL StS GB/FB LD WHIP SO9 SO/W 1 Alfredo Figaro Milwaukee 1 3.0 2 1 1 0 3 1 0 3.00 11 48 67% 8% 10% 0.60 13% 0.667 9.0 2 Brandon Kintzler Milwaukee 21 18.2 22 8 8 4 7 3 0 3.86 79 274 67% 20% 6% 1.17 29% 1.393 3.4 1.75 3 Kyle Lohse Milwaukee 12 83.0 70 28 24 13 65 8 2 2.60 330 1200 67% 22% 9% 0.77 26% 1.000 7.0 5.00 4 Zach Duke Milwaukee 26 23.0 20 5 4 4 30 1 0 1.57 90 352 66% 22% 12% 1.25 24% 1.043 11.7 7.50 5 Matt Garza Milwaukee 12 73.1 70 41 36 26 64 7 1 4.42 316 1175 66% 17% 10% 0.65 26% 1.309 7.9 2.46 6 Rob Wooten Milwaukee 18 18.0 16 6 6 4 16 1 1 3.00 72 294 66% 22% 11% 1.63 18% 1.111 8.0 4.00 7 Marco Estrada Milwaukee 11 67.0 59 31 30 20 62 17 1 4.03 272 1134 64% 20% 11% 0.62 23% 1.179 8.3 3.10 8 Jeremy Jeffress Toronto 3 3.1 8 4 4 3 4 0 2 10.80 21 84 64% 26% 8% 0.67 47% 3.300 10.8 1.33 9 Wily Peralta Milwaukee 11 69.1 68 27 21 18 54 9 1 2.73 290 1083 64% 16% 8% 1.09 26% 1.240 7.0 3.00 10 Jim Henderson Milwaukee 14 11.1 14 10 9 4 17 3 0 7.15 50 188 63% 11% 15% 0.50 33% 1.588 13.5 4.25 11 Francisco Rodriguez Milwaukee 27 27.0 19 7 7 6 31 3 1 2.33 105 419 63% 21% 11% 0.65 35% 0.926 10.3 5.17 12 Will Smith Milwaukee 29 26.0 19 3 1 11 36 0 1 0.35 108 454 62% 19% 14% 1.22 30% 1.154 12.5 3.27 13 Tyler Thornburg Milwaukee 25 26.2 21 9 9 16 25 1 0 3.04 114 439 61% 17% 10% 0.54 28% 1.388 8.4 1.56 14 Martin Maldonado Milwaukee 1 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 4 15 60% 20% 7% 0.33 75% 1.000 0.0 15 Jimmy Nelson Milwaukee 1 5.2 5 0 0 3 6 0 0 0.00 25 107 60% 23% 12% 0.67 13% 1.412 9.5 2.00 16 Yovani Gallardo Milwaukee 11 65.2 59 26 26 24 46 9 1 3.56 278 1087 59% 20% 6% 1.26 18% 1.264 6.3 1.92 17 Wei-Chung Wang Milwaukee 8 10.2 22 16 16 5 8 5 1 13.50 60 225 59% 13% 8% 0.53 24% 2.531 6.8 1.60 18 Lyle Overbay Milwaukee 1 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 1 6 50% 17% 0% 0.00 0% 0.000 0.0[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 6/3/2014.

Jimmy Nelson makes BA's All Prospect Team for May.

Finally a Brewer, Jimmy Nelson! All-Prospect Team: May Edition June 3, 2014 by Matt Eddy

BA 500: Your Ultimate Guide To Draft Talent

Subscriber, by now I'm sure everyone is aware of this because of the Disney movie. Singh Works To Be A Prospect, Not A Novelty June 3, 2014 by John Perrotto

I wonder if BA pays the beat writers for their content? If so then maybe they should look elsewhere, some one has to be willing to look for good minor league stories like Suter or Lopez that haven't had much written about them this year... talk to some scouts, talk to the organization, talk to the player, talk to the coaches... the simple truth is that anyone on this site could write the "subscriber" stories that TH does for BA.

The union would file a grievance in a heartbeat if that was the case.

I'm not sure if you read the Nashville summary from yesterday's LR but Ratterree leads the entire organization in strike outs with 78 in 55 games. Last year he had 72 in 65 games at Helena, his hit tool is hard for me to get a handle on... he watches so many strike 3s...

I'll take a hit tool over a power tool any day, what good is power if you aren't able to make contact? Stanton was a 3 sport athlete who was extremely raw coming into the draft and while Gatewood drew a Stanton comparison in his PG draft focus article, that doesn't mean he's a superstar in the waiting. I'm not interested in a boom or bust prospect at 12 this year, we need to hit on this pick, but we don't need to hit a HR, which just need an impact player. There's quite a bit to like about Gatewood, but again not at 12, if he's there at #41 absolutely. The Brewers drafted LaPorta with the intention of trading him, he was a high floor player, and I'm not advocating a high floor player either or I'd be thrilled with mocks that have Nola coming to the Brewers at 12. I don't buy into "quick mechanical fixes", that's the same exact thing people said about Jungmann for example and he's now 24 and just finally hitting AAA for the first time. There are certain baselines I'm looking for, or put a different way there is a minimum floor for both hitters and pitchers in the 1st round. I talked much earlier in this thread about what I look for in pitchers at the top of the draft, but with position players I'm looking for hit tool first, if they don't have that I'm moving on, then athleticism, then power. Power can be developed, I don't believe you can teach the ability to put the ball on the bat, nor can you teach athleticism. Beyond the the first round I don't care, latch onto a tool and draft as many high ceiling players as possible. There are plenty of players with 60-70 raw power in the majors that aren't superstars, and there are tons who never made it out of the minors. Power in itself doesn't determine a player's ceiling... Gatewood hit .320ish in the fall and .340ish in the spring vs HS kids. Stanton hit .298 in A as a 18 year old with 39 bombs. If Gatewood can match that I'll happily eat crow and say I was wrong, but I don't think he'll hit as well as Clint Frazier from the 2013 draft who had 70 power but a more compact swing with a similar feel for hitting. It's one thing to have raw power and it's another to be able to translate it.

Gatewood hasn't hit high school pitching all that well since last summer, there's a reason why he's falling down draft boards. With HS players information 6 months old is outdated... He's not Gallo, he's more like Roache, no thanks at #12.

Fluff as usual, subscriber content. It would be really nice if he would actually do some research and pen a prospect article with some inside information from the Brewers instead of his typical MLB related fluff every single time. Nelson Was An An Easy Call(up) June 3, 2014 by Tom Haudricourt

Subscriber content Silverio Learning To Take A Walk June 3, 2014 by C. Trent Rosecrans

Subscriber content Taveras Shines In Long-Awaited Debut June 3, 2014 by Derrick Goold