TheCrew07

Sounds Win Over Sox, 7-2 Nashville's Taylor Jungmann Earns First Triple-A Victory Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/0/6/77280106/cuts/DSC_0039_Large_e9wxx2h2_37n7c13g.jpg NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The first-place Nashville Sounds (28-26) picked up a 7-2 victory over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox Wednesday night at Greer Stadium behind a charged-up offense and Taylor Jungmann's quality start. The Sounds offense got off to a hot start, plating four runs on six singles in the first inning to snap a stretch of 18 1/3 scoreless frames. Outfielder Sean Halton recorded the third single in the inning to score Hector Gomez for the Sounds initial 1-0 lead. Matt Pagnozzi, Taylor Green and Kevin Mattison each followed with two-out RBI singles into centerfield for the 4-0 Nashville advantage. The Sounds plated two more runs in the home half of the second inning on Hunter Morris' sacrifice fly and a wild pitch from Sky Sox starting pitcher Yohan Flande (1-7). Pinch hitter Hainley Statia connected for a double to lead off the 6th before scoring on a double from Pete Orr. Statia's twobagger improves his pinch-hit average to .571 (4-for-7) for the season. Each of Nashville's batters, minus reliever Kyle Heckathorn, helped contribute for Nashville's 14 hits. Orr, Gomez, Caleb Gindl and Halton finished with multi-hit appearances. In his first Triple-A start, Taylor Jungmann (1-1) picked up the win, holding Colorado Springs to one run on four hits over six innings of work. His lone blemish came in the 6th inning, allowing a solo home run to outfielder Kyle Parker, the Rockies' No. 4-rated prospect. The 24-year-old earned his first Triple-A win with the quality start. He now holds a 1.35 ERA in the month of May, spanning four starts with Huntsville and two appearances, one start, with Nashville. Rehabbing Brewers lefty Tom Gorzelanny entered in relief behind Jungmann in the 7th inning. In his second appearance for Nashville, the southpaw retired the side using only eight pitches, firing five for strikes. Kyle Heckathorn also saw work out of the 'pen for Nashville, allowing one run in the 8th inning on one hit. Pinch hitter Angelys Nina hit a triple to centerfield and scored on Jason Pridie's groundout. Sounds batters went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position after hitting .103 (4-for-39) in their previous six games. The Sounds will play game three against Colorado Springs on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. LHP Brad Mills (3-0, 2.02) takes the hill for Nashville, opposite RHP Christian Bergman (3-3, 3.92). Broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore You know the picture got me wondering, can beards really be comfortable in the summer in the south? I've never rocked a beard but these are the random thoughts that pop into my head when I'm reading game stories... Back to the game, Taylor Jungmann's second appearance went much better than the first. There are bound to be some ups and downs for him as we go but he'll have success if he can keep the walks down like he did tonight. Give some credit to the offense for putting up a huge 1st inning off nothing more than the singles to help him settle in. I don't understand the Kyle Heckathorn obsession the organization seems to have. I liked the pick on draft day and I supported him all the way up to AA, but whatever he found last year snuck away over the winter. [pre]Year Age Lev ERA G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W 2009 21 Rk 6.04 6 5 22.1 30 18 15 4 4 15 1 1.522 12.1 1.6 1.6 6.0 3.75 2010 22 A-A+ 2.98 25 21 124.0 122 56 41 3 33 90 3 1.250 8.9 0.2 2.4 6.5 2.73 2011 23 A+-AA 4.97 22 22 116.0 127 74 64 15 38 89 5 1.422 9.9 1.2 2.9 6.9 2.34 2012 24 AA 4.75 35 17 119.1 127 67 63 7 38 88 13 1.383 9.6 0.5 2.9 6.6 2.32 2013 25 AAA 3.60 48 1 65.0 50 31 26 5 31 46 4 1.246 6.9 0.7 4.3 6.4 1.48 2014 26 AAA 8.44 14 1 21.1 33 21 20 5 11 15 2 2.062 13.9 2.1 4.6 6.3 1.36 6 Seasons 4.40 150 67 468.0 489 267 229 39 155 343 28 1.376 9.4 0.8 3.0 6.6 2.21 Rk (1 season) Rk 6.04 6 5 22.1 30 18 15 4 4 15 1 1.522 12.1 1.6 1.6 6.0 3.75 A (1 season) A 2.96 17 13 85.0 82 41 28 2 23 67 3 1.235 8.7 0.2 2.4 7.1 2.91 A+ (2 seasons) A+ 3.64 23 23 118.2 122 55 48 9 31 88 3 1.289 9.3 0.7 2.4 6.7 2.84 AA (2 seasons) AA 5.32 42 24 155.2 172 101 92 14 55 112 15 1.458 9.9 0.8 3.2 6.5 2.04 AAA (2 seasons) AAA 4.80 62 2 86.1 83 52 46 10 42 61 6 1.448 8.7 1.0 4.4 6.4 1.45[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 5/28/2014. Nashville Recap You don't see many innings like this anymore... kicking it back old school stringing a mountain of singles together. Nashville Bottom of the 1st Pete Orr strikes out on a foul tip. Hector Gomez singles on a ground ball to right fielder Kyle Parker. Caleb Gindl singles on a bunt ground ball to third baseman Ryan Wheeler. Hector Gomez to 2nd. Sean Halton singles on a line drive to left fielder Tim Wheeler. Hector Gomez scores. Caleb Gindl to 2nd. Hunter Morris strikes out swinging. Matt Pagnozzi singles on a line drive to center fielder Jason Pridie. Caleb Gindl scores. Sean Halton to 2nd. Taylor Green singles on a line drive to center fielder Jason Pridie. Sean Halton scores. Matt Pagnozzi to 2nd. Kevin Mattison singles on a line drive to center fielder Jason Pridie. Matt Pagnozzi scores. Taylor Green to 2nd. Taylor Jungmann strikes out swinging. Nashville Gameday

Cedar Rapids tops Wisconsin 5-2 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - Jason Kanzler continued his hot hitting against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and paced the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a 5-2 victory Wednesday night at Perfect Game Field. Kanzler had two hits, drove in two runs, and scored one for the Kernels to help send the Rattlers to their second straight loss. This is game number seven on the Rattlers current nine game road trip and for the seventh straight game, Wisconsin scored first. Jose Pena singled with two outs in the top of the second inning. Francisco Castillo was next and he lined a triple into the right field corner to drive in Pena for a 1-0 lead. The Kernels (25-28) came back in the bottom of the second inning. Bryan Haar doubled to start the inning against Rattlers starting pitcher Preston Gainey. Jason Kanzler followed with an RBI triple to tie the game. Michael Quesada knocked in Kanzler with a sacrifice fly for a 2-1 lead. Cedar Rapids added to their lead in the bottom of the third. Gainey retired the first two batters of the inning, but walked Mitch Garver to keep the inning alive. Haar followed with a single. Kanzler would also single to drive in Garver for a 3-1 lead. Kanzler is 8-for-18 with six RBI in four games against the Timber Rattlers this season. The Kernels scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning against reliever Harvey Martin. Bo Altobelli and Michael Quesada had back-to-back doubles with one out to make it 4-1. Ryan Walker's two-out single drove in Quesada and the Kernels were up 5-1. Wisconsin (24-28) could not get to Kernels starting pitcher Aaron Slegers after the second inning. The 6'-10" right-hander struck out four, walked two, gave up just three hits over six innings, and was in line for his fifth win of the season. Pena, who had three hits for the Rattlers on the evening, accounted for the final run of the game. He started the ninth with a tape-measure home run that left the stadium off Todd Van Steensel. Pena's homer was his fifth of the season. Wisconsin is 3-4 in the first seven games of their road trip. Game two of the series is Thursday night. Taylor Williams (1-1, 3.18) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Ryan Eades (3-6, 6.12) is set to start for the Kernels. 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. WP: Aaron Slegers (5-2) LP: Preston Gainey (1-3) TIME: 2:53 ATTN: 1,143 Wisconsin Boxscore You know how I'm always very slow to jump on the pitcher promotion bandwagon because I want to see how teams adjust the 2nd and 3rd time they see pitchers (the college guys especially)? Preston Gainey put 0s up on April 6th and 12th, since then he's only had 2 games with an ERA below 4.00... I could get into the all the advanced statistical stuff but in this case a simple glance at the ERA will tell you how he's trending. He's just very hittable and tends to give up too many XBHs. While he has made significant improvement over last year, everything about about him is very average in MLB terms. For some reason I root pretty hard for Harvey Martin but he's been disappointing thus far, he's been alternating scoreless outings around the not-so-good for most of the season. Jose Pena (3-4,HR) backs up yesterday's game 2 performance with another very good effort, unfortunately the rest of the team isn't hitting all that well of late. Michael Ratterree is rising up here and there, but Clint Coulter has slid all the way back to .280, Taylor Brennan is hitting just .167 over his last 10, and top it off both Francisco Castillo and Steven Halcomb are hitting below .200 for the season. I really miss David Denson and Chris McFarland, this line-up was looking pretty formidable 2 weeks ago and now... not so much. If you want a downer for some morbid reason just click on each player in WI's box score and look at their last 10 games... blech. Wisconsin Recap

Much more at the link. Injury Bug Visits One In Five Elite Pitching Prospects May 28, 2014 by Matt Eddy

The Blue Jays selected Grant Holmes for the 9th pick. Gah! He wasn't crossed off my list! Let me revisit and edit the original.

Sounds Blanked In Homestand Opener, 2-0 Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/7/8/77099378/cuts/Morris_0527_qaipoxt6_h3vfc7ug.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Colorado Springs left-hander Tyler Matzek tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings and belted a home run to lead the Sky Sox to a 2-0 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Tuesday evening at Greer Stadium in the opener of a four-game series. Nashville (27-26) -- which out-hit Colorado Springs, 7-4, in the contest -- was blanked for the second straight night and has lost five of its last six contests. It is the first time the Sounds have suffered back-to-back shutout defeats since June 11-12, 2010. Matzek (5-2) retired 13 of the first 14 Sounds batters en route to picking up the victory. He allowed four hits over his 7 2/3 frames. Matzek helped his own cause in the top of the sixth inning when he broke a scoreless deadlock by belting an opposite-field solo homer to left-center off Nashville reliever Johnnie Lowe (0-1), who took the loss. The blast was Matzek's first career home run and the first hit against the Sounds by an opposing pitcher since New Orleans' Brad Hand took Mike Fiers deep on April 16, 2012. The Sounds, who had runners on base in each of the final five frames, had their best scoring opportunity in the eighth, when they placed runners on second and third with two outs against Sky Sox reliever Chris Martin. The right-hander kept the one-run lead intact, however, by inducing an inning-ending groundout from Caleb Gindl. Colorado Springs doubled its lead to 2-0 in the top of the ninth when catcher Jackson Williams coaxed a bases-loaded, two-out walk from Dustin Molleken to force home Kyle Parker, who had doubled earlier in the frame. Martin permitted another pair of Sounds baserunners in the bottom of the ninth but caught Kevin Mattison looking at a called third strike to end the game and pick up his fourth save. First baseman Hunter Morris went 2-for-4 in the losing effort, the slugger's 10th multiple-hit effort in his last 20 starts. Shortstop Hector Gomez also went 2-for-4 for Nashville, upping his May batting average to .325 (26-for-80). The teams continue the series with another 7:05 p.m. meeting on Wednesday. Right-hander Taylor Jungmann (0-1, 12.00) -- the Brewers' #6 prospect -- will make his first career Triple-A start when he mans the bump for the Sounds in the contest. Colorado Springs will counter with left-hander Yohan Flande (1-6, 4.43). Nashville Boxscore This Colorado Springs team has been tough on the Sounds all year and Tyler Matzek who fell all the way down to the Rockies #12 prospect coming into the season after being the 11th overall pick in 2009 added insult to injury with his HR. Michael Blazek has actually been much better in the longer outings, he's only given up 2 runs since May 4th. Hunter Morris is inching closer to .300, now at .295 following tonight's game though his OPS is floating just over .800 at .808. Not great by any stretch but much better than whatever Lyle Overbay is going to put up over a full season, even if you knock off .150 points. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Clinton homer clocks Rattlers in nightcap Shank breaks tie with dinger, gives LumberKings a 4-3 win By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - Zach Shank's fourth inning home run broke a 3-3 tie and proved to be the difference in the Clinton LumberKings' 4-3 win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the regularly scheduled game on Tuesday at Ashford University Field. The Rattlers had beaten Clinton 6-2 in ten innings earlier in the evening to wrap up a game that had suspended on Monday. Wisconsin (24-27) grabbed the early lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Clinton starter Eddie Campbell walked Michael Ratterree and Taylor Brennan on eight straight pitches to start the inning. Jose Pena was next and he lined a 3-2 pitch to left for an RBI single to score Ratterree. Later in the inning a sacrifice fly by Angel Ortega drove in Brennan for a 2-0 lead. Clinton (26-24) stormed back in the bottom of the third inning. Anthony Banda got the first out, but walked Ian Miller and committed a balk to get him to second base. Jack Reinheimer lined a triple to the gap in left-center to score Miller. Marcus Littlewood followed with a double to the corner in right and Reinheimer scored the tying run. Jeff Zimmerman put Clinton in front with a two-out single that drove in Reinheimer. Ratterree started a rally for the Rattlers in the top of the fourth inning with a double on a fly ball to left that was lost in the lights. Pena drove in Ratterree with the tying run on a single to left. Victor Diaz took over for Banda in the bottom of the fourth inning and extended his scoreless inning streak to 16 as he retired the first two Clinton batters he faced. But his streak would not reach 16-1/3 innings. Zach Shank lifted a 1-0 pitch deep to left for a solo homer and the LumberKings were up 4-3. Campbell pitched around an error in the top of the fifth and worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning to maintain the lead. Thyago Vieira pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for his first save of the season. Wisconsin and Clinton have split the first six meetings between the teams this season. The LumberKings took two of three at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in a series May 2-4. The Rattlers won two of three at Ashford University Field this week. The teams meet in again this half with a series at Clinton June 7-9. The road series victory over the LumberKings was the first road series win by the Rattlers since they took two of three from South Bend April 11-13. It was also just the third road series win of the season for Wisconsin and their first against a Western Division opponent. The Timber Rattlers begin the final leg of their nine-game road trip on Wednesday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with a game against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Preston Gainey (1-2, 2.93) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Aaron Slegers (4-2, 5.36) is set to start for the Kernels. Game time at Perfect Game Field is 6:35pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. HOME RUN: CLN: Zach Shank (2nd, 0 on in 4th inning off Victor Diaz, 2 out) WP: Eddie Campbell (3-3) LP: Victor Diaz (1-2) SAVE: Thyago Vieira (1) TIME: 1:49 ATTN: 797 Wisconsin Game 2 Boxscore Anthony Banda has an opponent AVE over .300 so don't be fooled by his higher SO rate. Victor Diaz wasn't as sharp as he's been and isn't a huge SO guy, but he really only made 1 bad pitch and that was all it took to get stuck with the loss. The bats weren't very good accounting for just 3 hits over the 7 innings, Jose Pena (2-3) had the only multi-hit game. Jose had been struggling mightily of late, his AVE had fallen all the way to .226 prior to today's action, hopefully the 2 hit in the night cap gets him going again. Wisconsin Game 2 Recap

Many players get long when they are pressing, but he's been hot mostly away from home. The T-Rats had that quick 3 game home series before the D3 WS but I forgot to set my DVR so I didn't get to see him bat in that series. Early on he was taking a quite a few close pitches and getting behind in the count, for the most part I thought both he and Brennan (who also takes selectivity to the extreme) were correct that the pitches were in fact balls, but both have to be a bit more flexible and adjust to the umpire. Jawing at the umpire about close pitches isn't going to help your cause and mostly just put Ratterree in a hole count wise in way too many ABs. I don't think the power is a mirage, I just think he had to adjust his approach coming up to full season ball. Once he actually started hitting the XBHs are coming in bunches, not just the HRs. He's already rebounded all the way back to .240 after starting the day at .224. He'll be a guy that strikes out a fair amount, even in this recent stretch he'll still drop 3 SOs in a single game, maybe he's a .260ish hitter best case as a major leaguer, but he'll have a fair amount of pop, I don't think it's a stretch to project him as a 20 HR guy if he makes enough contact in a full 162 season. He's got some positional flexibility and is an average to above average corner OF defensively with a decent arm. If he doesn't make it as an everyday player he could have a fall back as bench bat with some pop. Ratterree might be an average runner, it's tough to tell where exactly he falls in that range without putting a stop watch on him. At his best he could be an upgrade over Khris Davis in LF but unlike Khris I do worry that he'll hit enough. Out of curiosity I just went and looked at his BA scouting report from last year's draft, I really don't look at the scouting reports of players drafted after the first 20 rounds: It looks like he's prone to these extended stretches of garbage at the plate like we saw to start the season.

Well it's good thing they have Machado to play 3rd otherwise the Brewers take the lead there. Ohh how I wish we had a legit 3B prospect anywhere near Milwaukee.

Selection #24 - Pittsburgh Pirates Monte Harrison - OF - Lee’s Summit (Mo.) West HS The Pirates always go upside and aren't afraid to deviate from the industry consensus about a player if they have a different opinion of the young man. Harrison is considered to be the best athlete in the class and one of the bigger projects as a 3 sport athlete, he's a very good basketball player though he's an even better at football with a scholarship to Nebraska as a WR waiting for him. He has the speed to stay in CF and has a plus/plus arm hitting 97 MPH from the OF. He's shown decent power in batting practice but has more of a live drive swing in games, he's one of the tougher players to project in this class. However the combination of physical tools are too much for the Pirates to pass up on even with the signability questions.

Selection #23 - Detroit Tigers Sean Reid-Foley - RHP - Sandalwood HS, Jacksonville Detroit is one of the few teams that will truly go BPA without a HS or College preference, though they have drafted a plethora of 1st round pitchers going back to 2003. Reid-Foley doesn't have the highest ceiling but the Tigers have used 1st round picks on players like Corey Knebel and Chance Ruffin both college closers in the recent past, he's the BPA here. Just a note that jjkoestler asked me to make his pick for him.

That's not exactly what was said... To me that reads like a bigger armed Yovani Gallardo at the same stage of their careers. The first round HS pitcher that has trouble throwing strikes is Toussaint because he's so inexperienced, but that also makes him so exciting as a prospect. I like Sean Reid-Foley as he's a bigger armed version of Odorizzi with good pitchability but averagish stuff, he's probably a #3 as well. As I said earlier I've set my bar at #2 type on draft day. I had a post this afternoon that I must have hit preview instead of submit on about this topic but neither Nola or Beede excite me at all. Nola has control but lacks stuff and Beede has stuff but no control, both look like #3s to me. If I'm drafting a control project I'd rather go with a HS kid who's younger and has less mileage on his arm. I don't really see the point of drafting a 21 year old out of college and having to keep him in the minors for 3-4 full seasons like Jungmann and Bradley, he's not coming up until he's 24-25 years anyway. I also posted earlier that I'm big on fastball velocity, stuff, and control, if a pitcher doesn't have those 3 things for their current level I'm moving on. That's why I'm so high on Freeland right now, he has everything I'm looking for including being a lefty. It's also why I zero'd in on Newcomb because his velocity comes so easy and he just keeps better with each season he's dedicated himself to baseball. Finally I initially targeted Aiken because he had the best command and stuff in the HS class with slightly projectable velocity. Yes I'm partial to lefties, partly because we haven't had any for years and partly because I'm lefty and naturally favor them. I agree that I'm not a fan of the Brewers drafting control projects as they haven't had any success with those pitchers in the past, which is why I narrow my window to so few players.

Ratterree's 10th inning slam lifts Rattlers to victory Wisconsin beats Clinton 6-2 in conclusion of Monday's suspended game http://By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - It was worth the wait. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers were leading the Clinton LumberKings 2-0 on Monday when their Midwest League game was halted by rain. When the game restarted, Clinton managed to tie the game. Then, Michael Ratterree hit a grand slam home run in the top of the tenth to provide the winning margin in Wisconsin's 6-2 victory on Tuesday at Ashford University Field. The Timber Rattlers (24-26) started the game on Monday with a double by Johnny Davis and an RBI single by Omar Garcia for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Angel Ortega drove in Francisco Castillo with a two-out single in the top of the second for a 2-0 advantage. Wisconsin starting pitcher Zach Quintana tossed three scoreless innings around three hits and a walk with the help of a pair of strikeouts. Steve Halcomb singled to start the top of the fourth inning on Monday, but rain halted play for the day. When the game resumed, Clinton (25-24) pulled to within a run in the bottom of the fourth. Tristan Archer replaced Quintana and gave up a single to Jeff Zimmerman and a double to Joe DeCarlo with one out. A wild pitch with Corey Simpson at the plate allowed Zimmerman to score. Archer kept the game at 2-1 with a strikeout and a popup to end the inning. The LumberKings tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Jack Reinheimer singled and stole second to start the inning. Zimmerman reached on a one out error to put runners on the corners. Archer looked like he would get out of the inning as DeCarlo sent a grounder near second for a possible double play. But, the force play at second was fumbled and the only out was on DeCarlo at first as Zimmerman scored the tying run. Clinton got the go-ahead run to third base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Archer stranded him there to keep the game tied 2-2. LumberKings reliever Paul Fry worked 4-2/3 innings without allowing a hit and striking out six, but a two out single by Michael Ratterree in the eighth knocked Fry out of the game. Clinton closer Emilio Pagan came on to face Castillo. Castillo sent a line drive to the gap in right-center on the first pitch he saw from Pagan. Right fielder Austin Wilson made a diving grab to deny Castillo extra bases and a possible go ahead RBI. The LumberKings put the leadoff man on base against Archer in the eighth, but could not score. Clinton also put the leadoff man on in the ninth. He was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and Archer got the second out on a grounder to short. Trevor Seidenberger came on to get the final out of the ninth and send the game to extra innings. In the tenth inning, Garcia started the rally when he was hit by a pitch from Emilio Pagan. Clint Coulter drew a four pitch walk to put two men on base. Pagan hit Rafael Neda on an 0-2 pitch to load the bases for Ratterree. Ratterree, who had three hits in his first 15 at bats of the current road trip, showed signs of breaking out as he has singled and doubled earlier in this game. In the tenth, he got a hold of a 2-2 pitch and hit a no doubt, grand slam to left and the Rattlers were back in front by a score of 6-2. Seidenberger went out and tossed a perfect bottom of the tenth to pick up his fourth win of the season. The regularly scheduled game will begin around 7:45pm. HOME RUN: WIS: Michael Ratterree (8th, GRAND SLAM in 10th off Emilio Pagan, 1 out) WP: Trevor Seidenberger (4-1) LP: Emilio Pagan (1-2) TIME: 3:00 (1:30 delay) ATTN: 918 Wisconsin Boxscore Some games I love Michael Ratterree and there have been much more of them lately. Tristan Archer was not sharp, he didn't have a clean inning, and Chris was struggling to come up with the proper adjective to describe his day, but he limited the damage. Trevor Seidenberger continues to be a stud, he has 21 SO in 22.1 IP with 9 BB. The BB rate is a tad high, but but a WHIP under 1.00 is pretty awesome. Wisconsin Recap

Offensive Players of the Week For the week ending May 25

Draft Reports: Prospects 251-300 Draft Reports: Prospects 301-350

Baez leads Iowa with bat, glove, legs Cubs' top prospect doubles twice, flashes leather and steals base

K-Rod is just one of those guys who isn't ever as good as he appears when he's "hot", he's the same guy pretty much all the time. He depends on swings and misses at his very good off speed stuff out of the zone because he's not going to blow anything by anyone these days and he doesn't locate well at all, look at where the catcher sets up and where the ball actually goes... He's been getting hit hard all year when batters make contact, they've just tended to be "loud outs". K-Rod doesn't look any different to me than he has the past 3 years, most days I wonder how he does so well being effectively wild. Wooten leaving the ball up by hanging whatever off speed pitch he was trying to throw to 3 straight hitters stunk but the most disappointing thing to me was the contact play with 2nd and 3rd and 1 out. They must have studied the contact play as an organization because they use it across all levels but I think whatever math they used is flawed, because there is no way the T-Rats break even on it and it doesn't seem to work out well at the MLB level either. Over the past 3 seasons I've grown to despise the contact play, to me it's as risky as having runners steal bases on first movement.... teach them how to read the play, don't over simplify the strategies to the point of absurdity to try and make it "easy" for the players.

Sounds Shut Out In Road Trip Finale, 3-0 Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/2/5/4/75069254/cuts/_MPS0571_Large_1u9tc5di_g0nsn4w3.jpg METAIRIE, La. - A pair of New Orleans hurlers combined on a four-hit shutout as the Zephyrs blanked the Nashville Sounds, 3-0, on Monday afternoon in the finale of a four-game series. Z's left-hander Brian Flynn (5-3) held the Sounds to four singles over eight scoreless innings to earn the victory. The southpaw issued one walk and struck out three Nashville batters. Chaz Roe inherited a pair of baserunners in the ninth but work flawlessly out of the jam to complete the shutout. The Sounds (27-25), who suffered their second shutout defeat of the year, lost three of the four games to the Z's, only the third losing series for Nashville in 13 series this season. Eugenio Velez, Hector Gomez, and Sean Halton produced the four Nashville hits in the game. Velez extended his hitting streak to a season-best six games with a 2-for-4 afternoon. New Orleans struck first, grabbing a 1-0 lead against Mike Fiers in the third inning when Juan Diaz hit a leadoff double and later scored on a Josh Rodriguez sacrifice fly. The Sounds had a chance to tie the game in the fourth. Gomez singled and attempted to score standing up on Halton's double into the right field corner but was tagged out a half-step before reaching the plate. The Z's doubled their lead to 2-0 in the sixth when Rodriguez led off with a bunt single, was sacrificed to second, and scored on Jake Marisnick's RBI single to left. Fiers (6-2) suffered his second loss of the year despite working his seventh quality start. He allowed two runs on five hits while striking out seven batters and walking none in his six-inning, 90-pitch effort. Left-hander Brent Leach took over on the Nashville hill in the seventh and was greeted by a Brian Bogusevic opposite-field homer to left-center. The outfielder's first big fly of the year upped the New Orleans lead to 3-0. The Sounds did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position until the ninth inning. In the final frame, Pete Orr drew a leadoff walk from Flynn and moved to second on a Velez single, which chased Flynn from the contest. Roe took over on the hill and popped up Gomez, induced a fielder's choice from Caleb Gindl, and retired Halton on a game-ending flyout to secure the shutout and nail down his third save of the season. The Sounds begin an eight-game homestand tomorrow evening at Greer Stadium. Right-hander Michael Blazek (0-3, 5.33) will take the hill for Nashville in Tuesday's 7:05 p.m. opener of a four-game series against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Left-hander Tyler Matzek (4-2, 3.70) will provide the opposition. Nashville Boxscore Mike Fiers did what he does and the rest isn't worth discussing, just an ugly offensive game. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Rattlers game suspended in the 4th inning on Monday in Clinton Get ready for the resumption of play and a 7-inning game on Tuesday By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had a 2-0 lead over the Clinton LumberKings on Monday at Ashford University Field. But, a heavy downpour and a steady downpour in the top of the fourth inning forced a suspension of play until Tuesday evening. The teams will resume Monday's game on Tuesday at 5:00pm. The regularly scheduled game will be a seven-inning game and will start approximately thirty minutes after the conclusion of the suspended game. Wisconsin Mini Boxscore Wisconsin Mini Recap

Sounds Clip Zephyrs, 4-2 Brewers LHP Tom Gorzelanny Logs 2.1 Innings In Rehab Start Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/8/0/76812180/cuts/Gindl_Caleb_taken_by_Mike_Strasinger_Large_86icgmyx_5ohgg7d1.jpg (MIKE STRASINGER) METAIRIE, La. - The Nashville Sounds plated a pair of runs with two outs in the final inning of Sunday's game against the New Orleans Zephyrs to take the 4-2 victory and snap the team's three-game losing streak. Facing two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth, outfielder Caleb Gindl drew a bases-loaded walk to give Nashville their second lead of the ball game. First baseman Hunter Morris, 2-for-5, added an insurance run with an infield RBI-single to his counterpart Justin Bour. Sounds closer Donovan Hand entered the game in the bottom of the ninth and allowed the Zephyrs to load the bases with two outs. Hand avoided damage and secured his ninth save of the season by striking out Jordany Valdespin to end the game. The Zephyrs took the initial 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, working a pair of game-opening base knocks off Sounds starter and rehabbing Brewers left-handed pitcher Tom Gorzelanny. Josh Rodriguez opened the frame with a double to left field and was driven home on Valdespin's single to right. Gorzelanny, on three day's rest and a 45-pitch limit, remained the in the game to log 2 1/3 innings of work, allowing one run on four hits. The 31-year-old struck out two and walked none, before giving way to reliever Johnnie Lowe after 41 pitches. Nashville tied the game in the fourth inning on Morris' RBI-single into right field. The knock scored Eugenio Velez, 2-for-3, who doubled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on Gindl's single. Both teams connected for inning-opening home runs in the sixth. First Gindl, 2-for-3, sent one to the berm over the right-center field wall to give the Sounds a 2-1 advantage and their first lead of the game. But the Z's leveled the score with a solo blast from Justin Bour off Ariel Pena (3-4), who was originally scheduled to start for Nashville. The homer was Pena's lone blemish over five innings of work. He fanned five batters and walked two to earn his third victory of the year. Nashville finished with nine hits, even with New Orleans, and a season-best four stolen bases; two by Velez, one from Hector Gomez and one from Gindl. New Orleans reliever Henry Rodriguez (0-1) was charged the loss, walking five over 1 2/3 innings and allowing Nashville's two runs in the ninth. The Sounds will play the series finale against New Orleans on Monday at 1:00 p.m. at Zephyr Field. RHP Mike Fiers (6-1, 2.43) takes the hill for Nashville, opposite LHP Bryan Flynn (4-3, 3.42). Broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore I listened to this game in it's entirety and Jeff mentioned Tom Gorzelanny is expected to spend the full 30 days possible on his rehab assignment, the ending was a nail biter, but definitely entertaining. Prospect wise Caleb Gindl (2-3,2 BB) and Hunter Morris (2-5) had multi-hit games. Morris had an epic 13 pitch AB in the 4th on his RBI single. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Wisconsin hangs on for 3-2 win in Clinton Big defensive plays in ninth preserve Rattler victory By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - The Clinton LumberKings made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers held on for a 3-2 win on Sunday afternoon at Ashford University Field. Wisconsin (23-26) loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first on singles by Johnny Davis and Steve Halcomb and a hit batsman to Clint Coulter. Rafael Neda gave the Rattlers the lead on a grounder to third that turned into an out when Halcomb was tagged out heading to third. A wild pitch by Clinton starting pitcher Lars Huijer moved Coulter to third and Neda to second with Taylor Brennan at the plate. Brennan's grounder towards left was cut off on a diving play by third baseman Joe DeCarlo. Coulter would score on the play as DeCarlo's only play was to first base on Brennan. Clinton (25-24) responded with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. The LumberKings loaded the bases with no outs against Wisconsin starter Barrett Astin on a single by Joe DeCarlo, a walk to Justin Seager, and a single by Martin Peguero. Astin walked Lonnie Kauppila to force in a run and keep the bases loaded. Zach Shank was next and he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Seager scored from third on the play to tie the game 2-2. The Rattlers used the bunt - three straight bunts to be exact - to take the lead back in the top of the fifth. Francisco Castillo started the inning with a bunt and went to second on a throwing error by catcher Marcus Littlewood. Omar Garcia followed with a bunt up the third base line that dropped in for a hit to put runners on the corners. Davis, who started the game with a bunt single, dragged another bunt up the first base line for a hit to drive in Castillo with the go ahead run. That would be the end of the scoring, but not the end of the action. Barrett Astin tossed a scoreless bottom of the fifth before turning the game over to the bullpen. Astin allowed two runs on four hits, walked four, and struck out three in the game. That put him in position for his fifth win of the season. Rodolfo Fernandez pitched three scoreless innings to maintain the lead before turning the game over to Chris Razo to start the ninth. Razo got the first out on a strikeout. The next batter was Martin Peguero and he wound up at second base after an error on a grounder off his bat. Then, pinch runner Jack Reinheimer took over for Peguero at second. Razo walked Kauppila to put the winning run on base as well. Shank was up next and he sent a single to the outfield. Reinheimer tried to score on the hit, but right fielder Jose Pena made a strong one-hop throw to the plate and Reinheimer was beat by plenty for the second out of the inning. However, Kauppila went to third as the tying run and Shank, the potential winning run, was at second. Corey Simpson swung at the first pitch he saw from Razo and sent a fly ball to the gap in left-center. But, Johnny Davis ran it down and made the catch for the final out of the game. Game two of the series is a Memorial Day matinee in Clinton. Tristan Archer (2-2, 5.03) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Edwin Diaz (2-2, 3.19) is scheduled to start for the LumberKings. 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: Barrett Astin (5-2) LP: Lars Huijer (2-3) SAVE: Chris Razo (3) TIME: 2:32 ATTN: 982 Chris adds to my thoughts my below about all of the bunting in today's game, post game interview, and the very cool story from MiLB.com that I was going to post when done with my summaries. Please check out the blog today if it's not a usual stop for you. Postgame Post – May 25, 2014 Wisconsin Boxscore Barrett Astin continues to pitch much better in non televised games than he has in the televised games, his last 3 outings have been pretty good with the exception of the walks today. I wish Johnny Davis (2-4) wasn't bunting for hits so much but it is what it is, at least the relatively high AVE should be keeping his confidence up, I'd just rather he was learning how to hit professional pitching, as I said last month I'm just not sure you can speed your way to the bigs anymore. Steven Halcomb (2-4) and Omar Garcia (2-4) had the other multi-hit games for the T-Rats. This is the first game in some time in which the Rattlers didn't have an extra base hit of any kind but pulled out the victory all the same, they closed within 3 games of .500 again. Wisconsin Recap

Nelson isn't the only pitching depth we have and Estrada would be the guy to move if possible simply because he's never been able to establish a full healthy season in the bigs. So if Nelson is going to pitch for Estrada at some point anyway due to health problem and Marco only has 1 more year of team control remaining, what have the Brewers really lost?

Beloit busts Timber Rattlers 4-2 at Miller Park Herrera stifles Rattlers as Marincov homers in Snappers win By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers MILWAUKEE, WI - Tyler Marincov had three hits, including a key home run, and Ronald Herrera broke a personal three game losing streak with seven solid innings as the Beloit Snappers defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-2 Saturday night at Miller Park. Rafael Neda hit a solo home run with one out in the top of the second inning. Neda hit a high drive down the line in left and the ball caromed off the foul pole. The home run was Neda's first since June 29, 2012 and it gave the Rattlers (22-26) a 1-0 lead. Beloit (22-26) broke through against Wisconsin starter Tyler Alexander in the bottom of the fifth. Jose Chavez just missed a home run as he lined a double off the top of the wall in left to lead off the inning. He was still there with two outs. Alexander hit Marincov on to keep the inning alive. BA Vollmuth lined a 3-2 pitch from Alexander back up the middle and knocked the glove off the Wisconsin pitcher. The single to center drove in Chavez with the tying run. Jaycob Brugman lined the next pitch to right to score Marincov and the Snappers had a 2-1 lead. Wisconsin responded with a two-out RBI hit of their own in the top of the sixth. Steve Halcomb was hit by a pitch, sacrificed to second, and took third on a wild pitch. Clint Coulter dropped in single to right on an 0-2 pitch to knock in Halcomb with the tying run. Herrera ended the inning with his sixth and final strikeout of the night. The Snappers went back in front in the bottom of the sixth against Wisconsin reliever Taylor Williams. Chavez singled with two outs and none on base. Boog Powell lined a 3-2 pitch to deep center for a triple to score Chavez with the go-ahead run. Marincov capped his night with a leadoff home run off Williams in the seventh to give Beloit a 4-2 lead. Wisconsin managed just two hits off Herrera in seven innings and didn't fare any better against the two Beloit relievers they faced. Blake McMullen tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Tyler Vail walked Coulter with one out in the ninth, but that was the only blemish on his night as he earned his first save of the season. The Timber Rattlers continue their road trip with a game at 2:00pm on Sunday at Ashford University Field in Clinton, Iowa against the Clinton LumberKings. Barrett Astin (4-2, 3.65) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Clinton has named Lars Huijer (2-2, 3.96) as their starting pitcher. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the pregame show at 1:40pm. HOME RUNS: WIS: Rafael Neda (1st, 0 on in 2nd inning off Ronald Herrera, 1 out) BEL: Tyler Marincov (6th, 0 on in 7th inning off Taylor Williams, 0 out) WP: Ronald Herrera (3-4) LP: Taylor Williams (1-1) SAVE: Tyler Vail (1) TIME: 2:22 ATTN: 5,301 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap

Sounds Lose Third Straight Game, 3-2 To New Orleans Six Of Nashville's Last Nine Losses Have Come By One Run Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/5/2/74956852/cuts/VelezRed_p4kztf1y_qp2kva0o.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) METAIRIE, La. - The Nashville Sounds dropped their third straight game on Saturday evening, falling 3-2 to New Orleans at Zephyr Field. Eugenio Velez, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, and Sean Halton drove in the two Nashville runs. The Sounds took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning against New Orleans starter Alex Sanabia. Irving Falu led off with a bunt single and hustled home when Velez followed with an RBI double off the center field wall. Two batters later, Halton roped a run-scoring single to right to bring in Velez. New Orleans halved the Nashville lead to 2-1 in the fifth. The Z's loaded the bases against Brad Mills without putting a ball in play, sandwiching a pair of walks around a hit batsmen, before Josh Rodriguez ripped an RBI single to left to put the home team on the board. The Sounds southpaw worked out of further damage in the frame by popping up Mark Canha then striking out Justin Bour to end the inning with the bags full of Zephyrs. Mills -- who received a no-decision for his efforts -- allowed one run on four hits over five innings of work, walking three batters and striking out seven. The Zephyrs took their first lead of the night at 3-2 in the sixth against Michael Blazek (0-3), who made a costly two-out throwing error on pinch-hitter Zack Cox's dribbler to allowed a pair of baserunners to score in unearned fashion. Nashville (26-24), which has held a lead in 11 of its 15 road losses this season, had runners on base in each of the final five innings but were unable to add to their two-run scoring total. The Sounds finished just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position on the night. Z's reliever Grant Dayton (2-0) was awarded the victory after working a scoreless inning. Arquimedes Caminero followed with a pair of scoreless frames before Chaz Roe took over in the ninth and worked around a leadoff single to secure his second save of the year. Dustin Molleken turned in another solid relief outings for Nashville, striking out four batters while retiring all seven Zephyrs he faced. In his last five appearances, the Canadian has worked 9 2/3 scoreless innings while allowing only three hits and fanning 12. The teams continue the series with a 1:00 p.m. matinee on Sunday afternoon. Rehabbing Brewers left-hander Tom Gorzelanny will make the start in his first rehab appearance for the Sounds and will be followed by regular starter Ariel Pena (2-4, 4,43). New Orleans will counter with left-hander Brian Flynn (4-3, 3.42). Nashville Boxscore Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Thanks for taking the time to put this together reillymcshane!

Cardinals' Gonzales gets first Double-A win Lefty turns Midland's patience against it over seven shutout innings