TheCrew07

Prospect Hot Sheet Chat (May 30) With Ben Badler

Prospect Hot Sheet (May 30): Bryant Terrorizes Double-A Pitchers Helium

What To Expect: Cardinals RF Oscar Taveras May 31, 2014 by Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Cards promote Taveras from Memphis Scratched from lineup, top prospect to join St. Louis on Saturday

River Bandits edge Wisconsin 4-3 Rattlers start homestand with one-run loss By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/3/0/77703930/cuts/May_31_Coulter_Homer_WEB_1ox33a75_b408w8s0.jpg Matt Erickson congratulates Clint Coulter on his tenth home run of the season. Coulter's blast was a solo homer in the bottom of the third inning on Saturday night. (Ann Mollica/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Quad Cities River Bandits got just enough offense to send the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to another frustratingly close loss on Saturday night. The hard charging River Bandits defeated the Rattlers 4-3 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in front of Wisconsin's largest home crowd of the season. Jose Pena gave the assembled 6,168 in attendance something to cheer and - more importantly - the Timber Rattlers (25-30) the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Clint Coulter doubled to right with two away to keep the inning alive. Pena followed with a single to right and Coulter scored. Pena extended a pair of streaks with that RBI single. The Wisconsin designated hitter has a five-game hitting streak and has driven in at least one run in each of the last five games. Quad Cities (29-26) rallied to tie the game in the top of the second. James Ramsay doubled, went to third on a grounder to second, and scored on a slow chopper up the first base line. Coulter put the Rattlers back in front with a titanic home run to left field with two outs in the bottom of the third. Coulter's solo shot hit the fence by the pedestrian trail well beyond the outfield fence on one hop and was his tenth home run of the season. The River Bandits took the lead back in the top of the fourth as they took advantage of a pair of two out walks. Wisconsin starting pitcher Zach Quintana retired the first two batters he faced in the top of the fourth. But, he issued back-to-back walks to Jon Kemmer and Ramsay to keep the inning alive. Chan-Jong Moon sent a high popup down the right field line. Michael Ratterree made a long run and a dive, but the ball dropped just out of his reach. Moon cruised into third with a two-run triple and the Bandits were up 3-2. Mathis followed with an RBI single on the next pitch to drive in Moon and Quad Cities was up 4-2. Wisconsin got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth. Johnny Davis singled and stole second with one out. Omar Garcia singled to left and Davis to make it a one run deficit. The Rattlers had chances to even the game. Michael Ratterree doubled with one out in the sixth against Quad Cities starter Evan Grills. Coulter singled, his third hit of the game, with one out in the eighth against reliever Frederick Tiburcio. Francisco Castillo singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Tiburcio. But, all three runners were left stranded and the Timber Rattlers fell by a 4-3 score. Saturday night was the twentieth game decided by a single run the Rattlers have played this season. They are 6-14 in one-run games this year. The Rattlers managed to stay within a run of the River Bandits despite the issuance of ten walks in the game by Wisconsin pitchers. All ten walks came with two outs in an inning and there were no 1-2-3 innings by the Timber Rattlers defense on Saturday. Quad Cities has won five straight games and remained one game behind the Peoria Chiefs for the first half Western Division Wild Card. Peoria rallied to defeat Kane County 5-3 on Saturday night. Wisconsin's loss dropped them five games off Wild Card pace with fourteen games remaining in this half of the season. Game two of the series is Sunday afternoon. Victor Diaz (1-2, 3.15) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Quad Cities will counter with Kevin Comer (0-0, 2.65). Game time is 1:05pm and there will be plenty happening before, during, and after the game. Fans will be able to meet the newest member of the Brewers family, Hank the Dog. The Ballpark Pup will be available to meet fans near the Festival Foods Grill at the end of the third base concourse from 11:30am to 12:15pm and again from 1:30pm to 2:15pm. Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez is scheduled for the first of two rehab appearances with the Timber Rattlers on Sunday. It's a Macy's Day at the Ballpark too, with prizes, events, and great deals from Macy's. Enter at the Timber Rattlers facebook page for a chance for your family to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch at this game. As part of Brewers Sunday, players and coaches will be wearing gold Rattlers jerseys based on the design of the Milwaukee Brewers. Fans can play catch on-field courtesy of Rasmussen College before the Rattlers and River Bandits play their game. All Timber Rattlers players will be available for a postgame autograph session. If you can't make it out to the game, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 12:45pm. Sunday's game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV. HOME RUN: WIS: Clint Coulter (10th, 0 on in 3rd inning off Evan Grills, 2 out) WP: Evan Grills (2-1) LP: Zach Quintana (0-4) SAVE: Frederick Tiburcio (2) TIME: 2:46 ATTN: 6,168 Wisconsin Boxscore Zach Quintana was once again what I would term effectively wild through the first 3 innings, he was maybe close to the target Coulter setup 1 out of 5 or 6 pitches... I didn't count to be exact, but he wasn't hitting spots with any regularity at all. He missed to both sides of the plate as well as up and down featuring his FB which was regularly 89-90 according to the broadcast crew. His curveball didn't have much bite and he didn't locate it any better than his FB. He dropped what looked a change-up in the 4th inning and had the hitter way out in front, but I didn't see the pitch before or after. All 7 of Zach's walks came with 2 outs and he threw just 45 of 93 pitches for strikes in his eventful 4 innings. He did have 3 strike outs but those were more happy accidents than pitching acumen... on one Coulter was setup away and the FB came up and in but the hitter swung through it for a strike out. Clint Coulter wasn't sharp behind the plate, I had mentioned that he had quit whiffing on FBs earlier this season, but tonight he did it twice in the 1st inning. The 1st time with no one on and the 2nd time with a runner stealing so it didn't show up in boxscore. In the second inning it appeared that he went to throw around the horn on a strike 2, he had a throwing error in the 4th, but punctuated the part of the game I watched with a caught stealing. He did however break out of his slump going 3-4 with a double and a HR. Trevor Seidenberger bailed out newly arrived Clint Terry in the 9th. Terry pulled yeoman's duty with the short start from Quintana and managed to put 4.2 busy but scoreless innings. Michael Ratterree (2-4,2B) had the other multi-hit day for the T-Rats. Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

Nelson, Morris Lead Sounds Past I-Cubs In Series Opener First-Place Nashville Riding Four-Game Win Streak Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/3/6/77683336/cuts/Morris_UnitedWay_zy40rzov_z5yb3bfn.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Jimmy Nelson struck out a career-high 11 batters while working his tenth consecutive quality start to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Iowa Cubs in front of 8,381 fans on Saturday evening at Greer Stadium. The first-place Sounds (31-26) won their fourth straight game overall and have been victorious in 17 of their last 23 games at Greer. Nelson (6-1) held Iowa to one run on three hits in his season-high 7 2/3 innings of work, lowering his ERA to 1.64 with the effort. His 11 punchouts topped his previous career best of 10, accomplished on three occasions. Nelson has tossed a quality start in each of his 10 outings for Nashville this season. First baseman Hunter Morris put the Sounds on the board in the second inning when he slugged his team-leading eighth home run of the year, a leadoff solo shot to right off Iowa starter Chris Rusin that bounded onto Chestnut Street. Iowa tied the score at 1-1 in the seventh against Nelson. Brett Jackson (2-for-3) legged out a stand-up one-out triple and trotted home on a Jonathan Mota sacrifice fly. Nashville pulled right back in front, 2-1, in the home half of the seventh. Hector Gomez led off with a single and moved to third on an errant pickoff throw by Rusin. Sean Halton followed with a popup down the right field line that was nearly caught by a diving Logan Watkins but ended up as a go-ahead RBI double for the Sounds' right fielder. Rusin (3-7) was tagged with the loss despite hurling a quality start for the I-Cubs. He allowed two runs on four hits in his seven frames of action. Donovan Hand worked around a pair of baserunners in the eighth and retired the side in order in the ninth to secure the victory and nail down his league-leading 11th save of the year. The teams continue the series with a 2:05 p.m. matinee on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Mike Fiers (6-2, 2.48) will make the start for the Sounds and square off against Iowa southpaw Eric Jokisch (4-4, 3.59). Nashville Boxscore Jimmy Nelson just keeps keeping on, he even threw 68 of 99 pitches for strikes. The Sounds needed that stellar effort from Nelson because they managed just 4 hits in the contest but it was enough to plate 2 runs for the win. Donovan Hand is riding a nice hot streak as he hasn't given up a run since May 12th. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Sounds Cruise Past Sky Sox, 11-2 Nashville's Clutch Hitting Again Stars in Series Clinching Win Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/2/2/77552622/cuts/Caleb_Gindl_517_1_Large_97zt2vl4_jn7kjlqe.jpg NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The first-place Nashville Sounds (30-26) clinched a series victory over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox with an 11-2 win at Greer Stadium Friday night. Nashville's offensive success came mainly from another night of clutch hitting, as the Sounds hit 8-for-14 with runners in scoring position. During their three-game winning streak, the Sounds are now 14-for-28 in those situations. The Sounds' bats got to work immediately, breaking open to a 4-0 advantage in the first inning. Lead-off man Jeff Bianchi started off the inning with a double, the first of five two baggers for Nashville on the night. Hector Gomez followed with a walk before Sean Halton knocked in two runs with a single to left. Hunter Morris and Eugenio Velez reached base afterwards, and scored on Caleb Gindl's double into the gap. The double gives him 79 all-time with the Sounds, which surpasses Buck Showalter for fifth on the all-time list. Colorado Springs answered with two runs of their own in the top of the third when Jason Pridie hit a two-run home run off of the foul pole in left field. With the exception of Pridie's blast, Sounds starter Ariel Pena (4-4) was efficient on the hill, logging a quality start after throwing six innings and allowing two runs while striking out four batters. He now has picked up wins in four of his last six starts. It didn't take long for the Sounds to answer, putting up a five-spot in the bottom of the third. A Velez double knocked in Halton who got the rally started with a double of his own, advancing Morris to third on the play. A Robinzon Diaz intentional walk loaded the bases and Jeremy Hermida took advantage with an RBI single to give Nashville the 6-2 advantage. Pena helped his own cause with a two-run single in the third. It was the first RBIs for a Sounds pitcher during this season. The five-run outburst by the Sounds in the third tied a season high for runs in a single inning. Tom Gorzelanny continued his rehab for the Milwaukee Brewers and faced four batters in the seventh inning. He allowed a walk and a single, but struck out the last batter he faced. Dustin Molleken then came in to get the final out of the inning. After entering the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh, center fielder Kevin Mattison put an exclamation point on the evening with a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth. It was his fourth home run of the year. The Sounds will begin a four-game series with the Iowa Cubs Saturday at 6:35 p.m. RHP Jimmy Nelson (5-1, 1.71) takes the hill for Nashville, opposite LHP Chris Rusin (3-6, 3.49). Broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore That's more like it! 2 out of the last 3 games Nashville has had double digit hits against Colorado, much different from the series in Colorado Springs which should have been offense friendly... ohh well I'll take it. Ariel Pena is still struggling with the strike zone allowing 4 walks against 4 strike outs throwing just 51 of 97 pitches for strikes (52.6%), that's just better than Lyle Overbay's Brewer worst 50% strike percentage... Here's an interesting tidbit on that note because I looked at the MLB team earlier, Wei-Chung Wang has worst strike percentage of the actual pitchers at 58% which isn't surprising given his arm slot issues, but the next worst pitcher is Yovani Gallardo at just 59%, he's actually finding the strike zone less than he did last year... Yikes. Jeremy Jeffress channelled a bit of former Brewer closer Bobby Wickman in the 9th but just like my boy Bob went scoreless. Sean Halton (2-5) and Caleb Gindl (2-4,2 2B) were the prospects with multi-hit games, Hunter Morris (1-3,BB) left the game on a double switch in the 7th, I'd rather he get as many ABs as possible, but that's just me nitpicking. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday edit. Because I'm a putz.

Rattlers end road trip with a 10-5 loss at Cedar Rapids By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are heading home after a nine-game, four-city road trip with a tough 10-5 loss to the Cedar Rapids Kernels as their final memory of the odyssey. Engelb Vielma went 4-for-4 and drove in four runs for the Kernels, who erased an early 4-0 Wisconsin lead on the way to the win at Perfect Game Field. Wisconsin (25-29) used a pair of two-out hits to score four runs in the top of the third inning. Jose Pena stepped to the plate with runners at second and third with two away and singled to center to drive in both runners. Michael Ratterree hammered the next pitch over the wall in left for a two-run homer and a 4-0 lead. The home run was the ninth of the season for Ratterree and tied him with Clint Coulter for the team lead in homers. A mishandled grounder in the bottom of the fourth inning prevented the Rattlers from turning a double play and - instead of none on with two outs - the Kernels had runners at first and second with no outs. The next batter flew out deep to right-center to put runners on the corners. A wild pitch by Barrett Astin allowed the Kernels (26-29) to have runners at second and third with Jason Kanzler at the plate. Kanzler singled through the left side of the infield to get a run home. Then, Michael Quesada hit a home run to left. The three-run home run by the Kernels catcher tied the game 4-4. Astin walked Ivory Thomas, the ninth hitter in the Cedar Rapids lineup, on four pitches to start the fifth inning. Ryan Walker's line drive to left was misjudged for a double that gave Cedar Rapids runners at second and third with no outs. Vielma put the Kernels in front with a sacrifice fly to score Thomas. The Kernels loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth to knock Astin out of the game. Reliever Rodolfo Fernandez got the second out, the Kernels added to their lead in the sixth on a two-run single by Vielma. Cedar Rapids was up 7-4 The Rattlers knocked Cedar Rapids starting pitcher Ethan Mildren out of the game in the top of the seventh. Rafael Neda doubled and Paul Eshleman was hit by a pitch. A sacrifice bunt against reliever Brandon Bixler moved both runners into scoring position. Steve Halcomb drove in Neda to make it 7-5. That would be as close as Wisconsin would get. The bottom of the eighth was a tough one for the Rattlers. Reliever Chris Razo gave up a leadoff single and walked Thomas to start the inning. Catcher Paul Eshleman would pick the runner off second and catch the Thomas trying to steal second and there were two outs and no runners on base. Then, Walker doubled. Vielma doubled - his fourth hit of the night - and drove in Walker - his fourth RBI of the night. Mitch Garver singled to send Vielma home. Bryan Haar capped the inning with a double to score Garver and the Kernels were up 10-5. The Timber Rattlers dropped two of three games from the Kernels and ended their nine-game road trip with a 4-5 record. Wisconsin returns home to face the Quad Cities River Bandits on Saturday night to start a six-game, seven-day homestand. Zach Quintana (0-3, 5.70) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Rattlers. Evan Grills (1-1, 3.28) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 6:35pm. Saturday night is St. Paddy's Day in May. Wear some green, dance a jig, and remember that everyone is Irish on a day presented by Oshkosh Irish Fest. Stick around after the game for the first FOX 11 Fireworks display of the season. Plus, Potawatomi Bingo Casino presents Baseball Bingo for the first time this season! Play a baseball-themed bingo to win prizes. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, there are many ways to follow the action. MyNEW 32's Sports Showdown will have the television broadcast beginning with their pregame show at 6:00pm. The radio broadcast may be heard on AM1280, WNAM and IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. Subscribers to MiLB.TV may watch the game, too. HOME RUNS: WIS: Michael Ratterree (9th, 1 on in 3rd inning off Ethan Mildren, 2 out) CR: Michael Quesada (2nd, 2 on in 4th inning off Barrett Astin, 1 out) WP: Ethan Mildren (1-3) LP: Barrett Astin (5-3) TIME: 2:48 ATTN: 3,749 Wisconsin Boxscore I was doing family stuff tonight and at one point the Rattlers were cruising with a 4-0 lead and then the iHeart Radio feed went haywire for the second night in a row (poor Mehring going old school with analog phone line tonight) and by the time I was able to catch back up with the game the T-Rats were actually losing and ended up getting doubled up. I talk quite a bit about paying attention to trends as much as I do stats, ceiling, and so on. My impression from the couple of times I've gotten to see Barrett Astin pitch and listening to the games is that he doesn't handle adversity behind him real well. It stood out again today with the misplays; 1 by Halcomb in the 4th on the double play ball and Pena in the 5th on a misjudged fly ball. When the defense is solid he pitches pretty well but when he lets his emotions run he blows up like with the 3 HR in the 4th and when he came out for the 5th and walked the 9 hitter on 4 pitches. Astin had 9 walks all season prior to this game (4 in one game on 5-25), and I don't recall a single 4 pitch walk to that point, there may have been 1 or 2 sprinkled across all his starts, but he just doesn't walk hitters, let alone on 4 straight that weren't really even close. Admittedly I was only catching bits and pieces with the radio issues but I did hear the 4 pitch walk and looked through the game log to see what I missed. Omar Garcia (2-4,2B) and Michael Ratterree (2-4,2B,HR). An interesting tidbit from tonight's game was with all 3 catchers in the line-up there was no bullpen catcher available to warm-up Rodolfo Fernandez so Johnny Davis ran down to the pen and took care of it, I really like him as a person, the baseball part aside. I'm already know I'm going to struggle being objective with him, he just seems like another one of those great young men who are a blast to coach... Wisconsin Recap

Mehring also said during tonight's broadcast that Bradley was still suffering the ill effects of that flu bug which went around the BC clubhouse last week.

Chris announced during the game that Ramirez' rehab stint starts with the T-Rats on Sunday.

There has been much misinformation pandered about regarding concussions, not the severity of the injury, but the frequency rate of various sports. For example all forms of soccer, girls basketball, and youth hockey have higher concussion rates than any level of football. The concussion itself isn't the issue as much as proper diagnosis and what comes after it... even though I love hockey as a sport the hockey culture is generally pretty dismissive of injuries. For example there's just no way that Corey Koskie's first concussion was suffered while playing for the Brewers, his symptoms were more along the lines of secondary concussion syndrome and suggested a undiagnosed concussion history likely going back to his hockey days. I would highly recommend that anyone who's worried about concussions get the facts and not just go by public opinion. It shouldn't matter what activity your children are doing... 4 wheeling, riding a bike, sports, whatever... if they have a concussion there are certain protocols that need to be followed: No video games, no school, no sports, basically no activity of any kind except for bed rest, give the brain time to rest & heal without being over stimulated. Your child will likely fight you especially because bed rest is so boring and the simple truth is the majority of family doctors/general practitioners don't really know how to treat or rehabilitate someone with a concussion so they aren't going to be much help either. A hospital system up here in GB finally took the steps to educate all of their doctors on concussions this spring, it had not been done before. I've had multiple conversations with parents of players I coached or who were my co-workers asking about their kids where the parent fought my recommendation saying, "but he says he feels and wants to: go to school/play a sport/what have you". One of those parents repeatedly let their kid back on the ice too fast because his son "felt good enough to play" but when he got a concussion in 8th grade football and the effects lingered for a couple of weeks football was the problem and not the mishandled concussions that had come before it. Concussions are no joke, we're dealing with the rest of someone's life, and unfortunately there's no such thing as eliminating the possibility of them unless you live in a bubble, but some simple common sense will virtually eliminate much of the long-term risk. edit. As far as what to do in regards to the topic, I would recommend keeping it light and encouraging your son to play multiple sports, be active year round. Skills from various sports cross over to each other and the more well rounded athlete your son is the better baseball player he will be in the end. Very few kids from WI are going to get a D1 scholarship or will have a future in any professional sport, if your son is good enough he can specialize when he gets to college and go all in at that point. I wouldn't encourage any HS athlete to specialize in any particular sport and I certainly wouldn't go that route with such a young child. I admire the commitment to sports you and your wife have so the best advice I have is to just let your son be a kid, I don't believe it's necessary to be committed to traveling teams to get his name out there. If he's that outstanding through HS you can start doing some summer showcases and stuff then to see how he stacks up against the other top players at that time. Coaching is always going to be hit or miss, even when you pay for it... A kid who played for me is pitching at Whitewater and the coach his mother hired as a Christmas present told him pitchers didn't lift weights, they just ran, so that's all he did despite what all of his knowledgeable coaches and our trainer were telling him. Well this young man goes to college and finds that in good programs pitchers do in fact lift to develop additional strength and agility, so he wasted a year a half with that clown and is now playing catch-up with his peers.

Baseball America Prospect Report (May 30)

Gardner makes strong second impression Cubs farmhand hurls five hitless innings over 6 1/3 scoreless frames

Cooney comes within one out of no-hitter No. 9 Cardinals prospect allows two-out single in ninth for Redbirds

Mills Fans Career-High 13 To Lead Sounds To 3-0 Shutout Win Diaz, Bianchi Homer To Power Offense For First-Place Nashville Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/2/4/77412824/cuts/Mills0529_8jn3obsj_68762oa1.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Left-hander Brad Mills struck out a career-high 13 batters over eight scoreless frames to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on Thursday evening at Greer Stadium. Mills (4-0), who retired his first 11 batters in order and 17 of his first 18 overall, lowered his ERA to 1.76 with the outstanding outing, his longest of the season. He scattered three hits and did not walk a batter in his 101-pitch start. Donovan Hand set down the Sky Sox in order in the top of the ninth to close out Nashville's third shutout win of the year and nail down his tenth save, which co-leads the Pacific Coast League. The two Nashville hurlers combined to allow only three hits and strike out 15 batters, a season high for the club. The Sounds plated all of their runs with a pair of longballs off Sky Sox starter Christian Bergman in the bottom of the third inning. Catcher Robinzon Diaz spotted Nashville a 1-0 lead when he led off the frame with a solo homer to left off, the backstop's third longball of the year. Following Pete Orr's one-out single, shortstop Jeff Bianchi -- playing his first game of the year with the Sounds -- slammed a two-run homer off the guitar-shaped scoreboard in left-center to make it a 3-0 contest. Bergman (3-4) took the loss despite a quality-start effort for Colorado Springs, allowing three runs in seven frames of work. The right-hander settled down after the three-run third, retiring his final 13 Nashville batters in succession. Right fielder Kyle Parker recorded two of Colorado Springs' three hits on the night. The teams wrap up the four-game set with a 7:05 p.m. finale on Friday night. Right-hander Ariel Pena (3-4, 4.14) will toe the slab for the Sounds and face Sky Sox left-hander Christian Friedrich (1-5, 6.91). Nashville Boxscore Jeff Bianchi who had 37 HRs in 8 minor league seasons coming into todays game says, "Demote this!" Brad Mills hasn't pitched this well since he was 23 years old, obviously something is different because he's not getting insanely lucky, however I have no idea what it might be. Here's his draft report, the Blue Jays actually drafted him back to back years. Here's his BA scouting report when he was ranked the Jay's 30th prospect following the 2010 season: Maybe his "feel for pitching" has just improved that much? No idea, but who can argue with the results so far this season, 13 strike outs in 101 pitches is crazy good, that's my kind of pitch efficiency. With just 5 hits no batter had more than 1, this Sky Sox staff has been tough on the Nashville bats. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Rattlers rally for win over Kernels Wisconsin scores five in 7th for 8-5 win By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers came back twice on Thursday night and defeated the Cedar Rapids Kernels 8-5 at Perfect Game Field. Taylor Brennan went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI to pace Wisconsin's 11-hit attack. One of Brennan's hits was part of a big five-run seventh inning that put Wisconsin ahead to stay. The Kernels (25-29) took the lead with a single run in the first and two more in the second against starting pitcher Taylor Williams. Mitch Garver drove in the first run with a two-out double in the first. Engelb Vielma was at the plate in the second with runners at second and third. Vielma singled to left to drive in a run. Vielma headed for second on the throw into the infield. The throw to get Vielma was wild and that allowed the runner at third to score for a 3-0 lead. Wisconsin (25-28) rallied back to tie the game. Brennan doubled with two outs in the top of the fourth to drive in Clint Coulter. The Rattlers loaded the bases in the top of the fifth inning. Then, Jose Pena delivered a two-out two-run single to even the score 3-3. The Rattlers nearly took the lead in the top of the sixth. Johnny Davis lined a two-out single to left-center with Brennan on second base. Brennan tried to score on the play, but was out at the plate on a strong throw from centerfielder Jason Kanzler. Michael Quesada put Cedar Rapids back in front in the bottom of the sixth. There were two on with one out and Quesada doubled to drive in both runners. The Kernels were up 5-3. But, not for long. Omar Garcia drew a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh. Clint Coulter followed with a single against Kernels reliever Chris Mazza. Mazza got the first out of the inning on a strikeout. Michael Ratterree was up next and Garcia took off for third on a pitch that Ratterree grounded deep into the hole at short. The Kernels shortstop misplayed the ball and Garcia scored on the error. Brennan followed with a single to knock in Coulter with the tying run. That knocked Mazza out of the game. The hit by Brennan sent Ratterree to third base and set the Rattlers up with runners at the corners with one out against reliever Jared Smith. Francisco Castillo greeted Smith with a perfect safety squeeze bunt up the first base line. Ratterree scored the go ahead run and Castillo reached on the bunt single. Steve Halcomb added some insurance for the Rattlers with a two-out double to left that scored both Brennan and Castillo for an 8-5 advantage. Tyler Alexander took over for Taylor Williams in the bottom of the seventh inning and didn't allow the Kernels to think about a comeback. Alexander tossed three scoreless innings, allowed one hit, and struck out three to nail down his first Midwest League save. The Timber Rattlers are 4-4 in the first eight games of current road trip. The final game of the series - and of Wisconsin's nine-game road trip - is scheduled for Friday night. Barrett Astin (5-2, 3.64) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Cedar Rapids will send Ethan Mildren (0-3, 4.35) to the mound. Game time is 6:35pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The Rattlers return home to begin a six-game, seven-day homestand on Saturday night. There will be fireworks, a visit from Hank the Dog, and many more events going on when the team gets back to town. WP: Taylor Williams (2-1) LP: Chris Mazza (0-1) SAVE: Tyler Alexander (1) TIME: 2:58 ATTN: 2,099 Wisconsin Boxscore Taylor Williams wasn't sharp as evidenced by 8 H and the 5 ER he gave up across 6 IP against just 3 SOs. In fact he hit Kanzler twice, the second time right between the shoulder blades and Kanzler made a move towards Williams but Clint Coulter quickly jumped in the way and that was that, Clint is a big boy. Speaking of Clint he was up and down as usual behind the plate, he let of a couple of balls get through him but gunned a runner with his cannon of an arm. Tyler Alexander has been pitching well since May 7th, Chris was raving about his change-up tonight. Taylor Brennan's perfect day was mentioned above but the other multi-hit games came from Francisco Castillo (2-5) and Steven Halcomb (2-5,2B)... all it takes is a little LR mojo to turn things around. That reminds me, I wanted to clarify something I bagged on the other day but probably didn't make clear regarding Michael Ratterree. I was talking about the fact that he's taking too many called strikes, but I didn't mean to suggest that he should swing at anything early in the count, I'd much rather he stay selective and look for something to drive. The problem is that with 2 strikes he strikes out looking way too much, I'd like him foul off some pitches and give himself a chance. He doesn't like the knee high pitch off the outside corner but if the umpire is calling it a strike, and many A ball umpires will give that on the outside corner, then you have protect and give yourself a chance. Continually being called out on strikes drives me nuts. edit. I almost forgot Jose Pena who's line is going to look bad with the 4 SOs, but 2 of those were long battles with the pitcher which he ultimately lost, however it's hard to qualify 8-10 pitch ABs as a loss at this level, even if the end result is a strike out. Wisconsin Recap Chris said this best, "Nobody in the stadium was expecting Halcomb's ball would carry that far!"... after being fooled and letting the ball get over his head Williams somehow made a bad situation worse by hurting his ankle trying to run the ball down. Wisconsin Top of the 7th Omar Garcia walks. Clint Coulter singles on a ground ball to center fielder Jason Kanzler. Omar Garcia to 2nd. Jose Pena called out on strikes. Michael Ratterree singles on a ground ball to shortstop Ryan Walker. Omar Garcia scores. Clint Coulter to 2nd. Fielding error by shortstop Ryan Walker. Taylor Smith-Brennan singles on a line drive to right fielder Ivory Thomas. Clint Coulter scores. Michael Ratterree to 3rd. Pitching Change: Jared Wilson replaces Chris Mazza. Francisco Castillo singles on a bunt ground ball to pitcher Jared Wilson. Michael Ratterree scores. Taylor Smith-Brennan to 2nd. Rafael Neda pops out to shortstop Ryan Walker. Steven Halcomb doubles (2) on a line drive to left fielder J. D. Williams. Taylor Smith-Brennan scores. Francisco Castillo scores. Defensive Substitution: Joel Licon replaces left fielder J. Williams, batting 2nd, playing left field. Johnny Davis walks. Cedar Rapids Kernels left fielder J. D. Williams left the game due to an injured ankle. Omar Garcia strikes out swinging.

Didn't the Brewers have something like 30 players come in for the pre-draft workout today?

I don't believe I posted this yet, PG's one stop page for your all your draft related needs... everything, and I do mean everything is linked off of this one page. 2014 MLB Draft Preview Content PATRICK EBERT Here are the latest installments of the top 500, also linked Patrick's story above. Draft Reports: Prospects 351-400 Draft Reports: Prospects 401-450

Let's see what could overworked arms & and unchanged poor mechanics lead to? This is a subscriber piece. For Elbow Injuries, College Pitchers Fare Worst May 29, 2014 by J.J. Cooper

Only 14 years too late but hey we'll take what we can get... With College Pitch Counts, Times Are Changing May 29, 2014 by J.J. Cooper

Additional Links at the story URL. Sports Medicine Experts Roll Out More Guidelines For Keeping Pitchers Healthy May 29, 2014 by J.J. Cooper With Tommy John surgeries occurring at epidemic rates, the American Sports Medicine Institute produced a position paper Wednesday to eliminate misconceptions and educate parents to help the next generation of pitchers stay healthier than this generation has been. Many of the misconceptions ASMI attempts to clear up are points they and other medical experts have made in the past: Tommy John surgery doesn’t make a pitcher throw harder, although the intense rehab may allow some pitchers to exceed their pre-injury velocities; curveballs aren’t a big factor in Tommy John surgeries; lowering the mound won’t help and they haven’t found Latin American pitchers to have a higher success rate of staying healthy. But the paper also has advice for the pro pitcher, most notably that pitchers need to figure out how to succeed without throwing 100 percent on every pitch and both the pitcher and team need to be in constant communication about how the pitcher feels. This is part of a continuing effort by ASMI, which has already put out a position statement for youth pitchers urging them to stop all baseball throwing for two-to-three months a year, take at least four months off from competitive baseball, pitch for no more than one team at a time, adhere to pitch limits and avoid having pitchers also catch.

Smokies' Bryant collects four more hits Cubs' No. 2 prospect extends Southern League lead with 15th homer

Glasnow collects strikeouts by the dozen Pirates prospect fans 12, allows one hit, two walks in 5 2/3 innings

Disposable? How exactly do you figure the Brewers resign Gomez given what he's done the last 2 years? Gomez' contract runs through 2016 and Taylor would potentially be ready to replace him in '17. Coulter could be expendable if he's ultimately an OF, but if he's a C/3B/1B then why would we trade him away? Just because he's in A ball? Lucroy's deal is done for sure after 2017 so by 2018 if Coulter stays a C he should be ready for the big leagues. He could move as fast as hit bat would carry him elsewhere and there's no one of note ahead of Coulter at either corner IF position though I do like Denson. Arcia's bat is too unknown yet for him to bring back any kind of return, he'll be ready for the 2017 or 18 season if his bat ascends enough. Roache has huge power potential but also hasn't proven he'll hit enough, he's not LaPorta as a prospect. Jungmann isn't Odorizzi, he doesn't have that kind of pitchability though they have similar stuff. I would trade Jungmann away but I question the return he would bring. The main point here is that if you're looking to do a blockbuster type trade the Brewers don't have the ammunition to get it done. LaPorta was the #23 prospect in baseball when he was traded, Brett Lawrie was the #59, Alcides Escobar was the #12 prospect coming off his first full season in MLB, Lorenzo Cain had just outplayed Gomez and won the CF job in Milwaukee, and finally Jake Odorizzi was the #69 prospect. All of those guys except for Cain were the Brewers' top prospect at one point in time in a fairly highly rated farm system, and all of them except for Odorizzi had played above A+. In fact there were some scouts who thought that Odorizzi might be a Zach Greinke lite in 2010, he just never developed any plus secondary offerings but his pitchability has always been fantastic. Why would anyone give us anything of significant value for prospects in the bottom of the Brewer's top 10 which by the way is universally considered the 2nd to worst farm system in baseball coming into the year? And why on earth would we move Taylor or Coulter for the limited value they have right now? What's the urgency to procure a marginal upgrade with prospects? Why not just give Morris a shot over Overbay to see what he can do when that's a move which doesn't cost the Brewers anything. From BA in 2010 when Odorizzi was the #1 Brewer prospect after Lawrie was dealt to Toronto: How does Jungmann stack up to that as the current #6 Brewer prospect? As far your comments about the draft, I'll take a performing prospect over a draft pick 100 times out of 100. The current Brewers regime has yet to prove they can draft top prospects let alone impact big leaguers.

As opposed to Fiers, Henderson, and Axford who were all that age or older when they made their debut or college players like Jungmann, Suter, or Bradley who would be that old by the time they may earn a rotation spot? What about a guy like Burgos who got a taste at 25 and is now back in the minors? Or Kintzler who also got a taste at 25 but didn't solidify a spot until he was 28? There is no way Wang would pitch next year in WI, he would start in BC. I find no consistency in the way you evaluate players... for the guys you like who are getting results regardless of their ceiling it's the best case scenario and for anyone with legitimate talent but isn't blowing the doors off anything performance it's typically the absolute worst case scenario. Where's the middle ground? Why does it always have to be taken to the extremes? You've consistently over exaggerated how bad or "not ready" he really is. It would be different if this discussion was grounded on the knowledge acquired from having actually watched minor league pitchers over the years so you could make an educated guess on his actual arrival date instead of the arbitrary worst case scenario. The constant "if he even makes it" isn't any kind of justification either, you could say that for any prospect at time, they are all 1 serious shoulder injury away from being done. He's already made it, he's already on a MLB roster, and while that may be some injustice based on a technicality from your point of view, he's still accruing more MLB service time than the majority of prospects currently in the Brewer system will ever see. He's got talent, he's got Lee Tunnell whom I hope he's working with on side sessions, and if he makes progress with his command he'll likely split A+ & AA as as 23 year old in which case he would be exactly the average age of your typical AA player. He could split AA & AAA as a 24 year old and be ready if needed by age 25, or he could spend a full level each year and be ready at age 26. At 6' 1" and 180 LBs he actually could have a bit of velocity projection left as well. The positives here vastly outweigh the contrived negatives, until Wang actually costs the Brewers a win there truly isn't anything to actually complain about. Yes Wang may not make it back to MLB like previous Brewer Rule 5 selections, but you could say the same for a bunch of recent Brewer 1st and 2nd round draft picks and with his stuff I feel like we picked up a 2nd round draft pick for a measly $50k which is incredible value. Unfortunately to keep him we have to waste a year of his service time, but if he performs at all the year can easily be bought back in with a pre-arby contract.