TheCrew07

Indians' Polanco comes through in clutch Bucs top prospect gets three hits, plates tying run, scores winning run

My goodness... Pelicans' Gallo slugs three homers again Rangers prospect pulls trick for fourth time as pro, second time in '14

Hanson shows off skill set in Curve's win Pirates' No. 5 prospect goes 3-for-4 with home run, two stolen bases

Skulina, Cougars no-hit River Bandits Cubs' No. 18 prospect walks two, strikes out five over 7 1/3 innings

Mehring is in rare form today, a very entertaining listen.

I'm going to come off sounding like Monty but why should the Brewers ever overpay for anything? I've yet to see you rationally justify an overpay. Why would we overpay for for a 32 year old with a .647 OPS? What does Hart bring that the other 2 guys at 1B don't? If you want to trade for him that's fine but why should Milwaukee give up or take on more salary than he's worth? There's no guarantee he'll ever be the .800+ OPS player that he once was, he may have a year or 2 of nice production like that as he approaches his mid 30s but his knees might also be shot as well. There's very little upside with this move, it's not bold or aggressive, it's just wasteful. On a personal note I wouldn't want to bring him back simply because I don't want to read threads suggesting we should extend him hoping he regains his past form. Many posters and DM have a history of being unable to let to go of players they have a familiarity with... better the devil we know than the devil we don't type of thing. We should be looking to walk away from players in their early 30s, not extend our relationship with them. It was a good move to walk away from Hart and let him sign in Seattle and it would be wise to stay away from him in the future as well. Every dollar spent matters so much more to a team like Milwaukee, the smallest market in the game, than it does the largest markets like NY. Every misspent dollar limits the ceiling of the team, are we really so desperate to prove the franchise is relevant that we need to keep overpaying for bad production from FAs? Overpaying for talent is the absolute worst way to operate a franchise regardless of sport, even in small doses. There is a better way than constantly trying to recycle someone else's castoffs into some useful every day player. It was necessary from 2003-2006 but we should be long past that philosophy by now... and before someone says it, Wang isn't a castoff, the Brewers astutely pilfered him from another organization, that's a completely different concept.

This is categorically false. Not only do the tendons not get a chance to heal and mature with constant throwing, opposing muscle groups aren't adequately developed which is also a significant issue. Why do opposing groups matter? In the same way that female athletes are at a much greater risk for ACL injuries due to a different lower body structure than men. If you strengthen all of the muscle groups around a joint you can significantly reduce but not eliminate the risk of injury. Also just like the knee in female athletes where proper strength building starts in the hip, for pitchers proper strength buildings starts in the shoulder. Throwing a football does not create more arm drag than a throwing a baseball, I can see where one would conceptually assume that based on the weight, but it's not true. Regardless "arm drag" is never good a thing, I've yet to see anyone who's arm action was out in front of the rest of their body movement, however most pitchers who whip the ball down to 6 o'clock and then all the way back around have significant arm drag because the arm action is out of sync with what the lower body and core are doing. The biggest difference with the added weight of the football is that the farther out from a pure over the top delivery you get, the more stress you feel through the elbow. I'm a firm believer in moving the arm action to 12 o'clock and keeping everything in a single plane of motion, if the arm is in sync with the step you essentially removing any horizontal muscle triggering and can just focus on distance, or up and down for a pitcher. This would be very similar to any good shooter in basketball, they all have a vertical shooting arm elbow to wrist and release straight at the hoop. Players who fly their elbow off to the side are never going to be as accurate or as good because their muscles have to adjust for movement in the addition planes. This is why 3/4 type pitchers have a hard time repeating their delivery and it takes tens of 1000s of repetitions to get it down. Not only is it difficult to maintain the same arm slot for each pitch the body has to correct for a much larger number of factors each time as well. Then if you add in those pitchers who fall off hard to either side of the mound not only are their bodies compensating for the arm movements, but the body is also compensating for the centrifugal force of the rounded out motion as well. It's no wonder most of those guys don't locate well and end up in the bullpen, from a physics standpoint they've created the most difficult environment to succeed in that is humanly possible. Poor mechanics will obviously have an impact on TJ surgeries, but again people have been throwing wrong for a 100 years. This issue is almost entirely about specialization at too early an age, I could literally run out of the 60000 character limit posting on everything that is wrong with specialization prior to college. Once again if I'm a Scouting Director I'm looking for athletic and coachable multi-sport athletes through-out the entire draft. Sometimes you'll get Brent Brewer or Mark Rogers and sometimes you'll get Tyrone Taylor and Jake Odorizzi, I'm willing to take the bad with the good...

Peoria gets Wisconsin in the twelfth Rattlers fall 2-1 to Chiefs By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers PEORIA, IL - For the second day in a row, the Peoria Chiefs and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers went extra innings at Dozer Park. The Chiefs came out the victor for the second day in a row with a 2-1 decision on Saturday thanks to a Carson Kelly RBI single in the bottom of the twelfth. Ronald Castillo put the Chiefs (25-16) in front with a two-out RBI single in the top of the first inning. Wisconsin (19-22) answered with a two-out hit of their own in the top of the fourth. Michael Ratterree singled with one out and stole second. Rafael Neda was at the plate with two away and fouled off five two-strike pitches before lining a single to left to drive in Ratterree with the tying run. Kenny Peoples-Walls doubled to start the Peoria fourth inning. Wisconsin starting pitcher Preston Gainey stranded Peoples-Walls by retiring the next three batters. Gainey would wind up retiring the final twelve batters he faced and the score was still tied 1-1 when he was done. Gainey allowed a run on four hits with a walk and six strikeouts over seven innings, but he would get a no decision. Wisconsin had an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the eighth. Johnny Davis singled with one out. Chris McFarland's fly ball to right was dropped for an error and the Rattlers had runners at second and third with one out. Clint Coulter's grounder to first with the infield playing in was turned into an out at the plate and a strikeout ended the frame. Peoria had a better opportunity in the bottom of the eighth inning against reliever Trevor Seidenberger. Back-to-back errors with one out put runners on first and third. A walk would load the bases. Seidenberger escaped with a fly ball to shallow left and a routine fly ball to center ended the threat. The game stayed tied until the twelfth. Rattlers reliever Harvey Martin, who had entered in the eleventh, retired the eight and nine hitters in the Peoria order to start the bottom of the twelfth. But, Jimmy Bosco singled to keep the inning alive. Herrera followed with another single to get the game to Kelly. Kelly lined a 1-0 pitch to left-center and Bosco raced home with the winning run without a throw. Wisconsin is 2-2 in extra inning games this season. They are 4-10 in games decided by one run. The final game of the series is Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park. Taylor Williams (1-0, 3.25) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria has named Arturo Reyes (2-2, 3.24) as their starter. Game time is 2:00pm. Tune in for the broadcast starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 1:40pm on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio. Wisconsin returns home for to begin a brief series against the Kane County Cougars on Monday. The Western Division leading Cougars are the Midwest League affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and will be in town from May 19 through May 21. WP: Steve Sabatino (2-0) LP: Harvey Martin (2-3) TIME: 3:36 ATTN: 5,822 Wisconsin Boxscore Bah. The only thing worse that losing back to back games to the Cards is being walked off in back to back games in extra innings. Things seems to fall apart rather quickly for Harvey Martin this season, he's giving up hits in bunches, his forgettable start to the season continues. Preston Gainey was pretty darn good though, I hear a lot of 91s when he's pitching but you gotta love only 5 baserunners in 7 innings with 6 strike outs to boot! Of the pitchers coming out of the bullpen right now Trevor Seidenberger is by far my favorite, he reminds me some of Michael Strong from last year's team.. Chris McFarland committed his 8th error already but Angel Ortega committed his 15th(!). Most of McFarland's errors that I've seen have been to his backhand, Ortega's have run the gamut. The Rattlers posted just 6 hits in the contest, all by the same 3 batters; Johnny Davis (2-4,BB), Michael Ratterree (2-5), and Rafael Neda (2-5). As if on queue Mehring mentioned an outstanding block of a pitch by Coulter in the 10th or 11th tonight, I forget exactly which inning. Normally that wouldn't be notable for a catcher but based on my comments regarding Clint behind the plate you can see where that stood out to me. Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

If Martin Viramontes can keep his BB rate at it's current level for the year he'll climb into my top 20 list. It's too early to throw a WOAH SOLVVD label on him, but he's one of the most intriguing bullpen arms in our system.

Sounds Cruise Past RedHawks, 10-4 Sean Halton Matches Career High With Five RBIs For Nashville Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/5/7/4/75852574/cuts/Halton05172_jilh1kbr_scy25ehc.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds snapped a two-game skid with a 10-4 victory over the Oklahoma City RedHawks on Saturday evening at Greer Stadium. Left fielder Sean Halton enjoyed a big night for the Sounds, going 2-for-4 with a triple, double, and career high-tying five RBIs. The red-hot slugger is batting .444 (16-for-36) over his last 12 games. Every Sounds player contributed to the 13-hit attack except shortstop Hector Gomez (0-for-5). The Sounds got on the board in the home half of the third, sending 10 batters to the plate to put up five runs against Oklahoma City starter Rudy Owens. The outburst matched Nashville's biggest inning this season. Nashville filled with bags on a Taylor Green double followed by a pair of walks drawn by Eugenio Velez and Caleb Gindl before Halton dropped a bases-clearing, three-run double down the right field line. Hunter Morris followed with an RBI single up the middle to bring home Halton for a four-run cushion. Later in the frame, catcher Matt Pagnozzi floated a run-scoring single to left-center to drive home Morris for a 5-0 Nashville advantage. The RedHawks got three runs back with a two-out rally in the top of the fourth against Nashville reliever Alfredo Figaro (1-1), who picked up his first victory of the year. After the first two batters were retired, Oklahoma City recorded three straight singles then drew back-to-back walks, the second of which coming with the bases loaded, to cut the Sounds' lead to 5-3. The Sounds responded with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to extend the lead to a comfortable 9-3. Irving Falu (2-for-3), Velez, and Gindl started the inning with consecutive singles to bring in one run and chase Owens from the contest. Halton continued his big night by greeting Oklahoma City reliever Raul Valdes by drilling an RBI double to left to score Velez. Morris plated Gindl with a sacrifice fly before Jeremy Hermida (2-for-4) closed out the four-run outburst with a two-out RBI single to left to bring in Halton. Owens (2-3) was tagged with the loss after surrendering eight runs on nine hits in his three-plus innings of work. Oklahoma City pulled closer in the seventh when Domingo Santana led off with a single and scored on Gregorio Petit's one-out single that made it a 9-4 contest and ended Figaro's night. Dustin Molleken (1.2 IP) and Johnnie Lowe (1.0 IP) closed out the contest with scoreless relief outings for Nashville. The Sounds will look to gain a split of the four-game set when the teams play a 2:05 p.m. matinee finale on Sunday afternoon at Greer. Brewers top prospect Jimmy Nelson (4-1, 1.76) will toe the slab for the Sounds to face Oklahoma City right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (3-2, 4.00). Nashville Boxscore Sean Halton's hot streak continues but even as hot as he's been he's only SLG .427, his career SLG is .449 in the minors... it's too bad really, he's kind of in the same boat as Michael Reed, he does many things you like but in the end there's just not enough power. Reed still has time but with Halton it's hard to project him to find more power considering he's already 27 years old. Tomorrow's pitching match-up is a good one with Nelson facing the erratic but fireballing Foltynewicz. For those that are unfamiliar with Houston's system here's his BA scouting report: Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

I never saw Lopez throw a pitch above 94 in person, which isn't bad, but isn't a great, though his FB had good run on it, he was mostly 91-93 last year. He hadn't filled out his frame much at all, I believe he was topping out at 93 as an amatuer, so there may be some velocity projection left with him. I want to say that Mehring mentioned a 95 on a stadium gun during a radio broadcast right when Jorge was starting to pick it up last year, but I didn't go back through the forum and search for a post from me to verify that.. In 2013 when his curve flashed plus he was pretty successful and went it got bland and loopy he got smacked around. His change wasn't special in that it had any wow factor to it when I saw him pitch, but admittedly I might not have watched him on TV or in person when he had a good one. When he threw the change it was more of a, "sweet he mixed in something else", rather than "ooh that was a good pitch". I remember him throwing a nice slider in one of the televised games last year as well. Everything about Jorge was inconsistent last year from his arm slot to the quality of the pitches, which of course led to a very inconsistent year on the mound and ultimately that unsightly 5.23 ERA. It's still pretty early but he's made improvements at least in his control, he's not walking as many batters or allowing as many hits so his WHIP is down nicely as is his BB/9. With the early spike in his K rate his K/BB is the best of his career as well (excluding those 4 games in AZ as an 18 year old). If he can get the K rate up over 9 by the time he's in AAA and perhaps pickup another MPH or 2 (working 93-95 MPH) we could have something worth getting legitimately excited about but right now he's in that 22-23 range for me. He's certainly age appropriate for the league, I would have never guessed he'd be in A+ by age 21 after being demoted to the DSL as 19 year old. Last year when I bumped him up into the low 20s he really tanked for a month and in general I make an effort to not overreact to a small sample. If it's a player who I've been waiting on to breakout I'll move them up the list fast like I did with Coulter but Lopez is going to have to earn it some for me personally. I wouldn't throw even a #3 label on him right now, but with some maturity the raw tools are there and if he could pickup some velocity his ceiling is probably that of a #2 best case, at it stands his ceiling is probably that of a 3. A handful of posters on the draft forum thought that the pitchers taken at the top of the 2011 draft were actually drafted in reverse order of their ultimate ceiling... meaning that Lopez > Bradley > Jungmann, which may yet prove true. Here's BA's report from this off-season, they don't mention the slider so maybe I'm just not remembering correctly:

Sounds Clipped By RedHawks, 6-5 Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/2/4/75734824/cuts/Jeremy_Hermida_430_5_Large_s8h8vwn9_0m0nmlcd.jpg NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Despite a five-run second inning, the Nashville Sounds allowed the Oklahoma City RedHawks to battle back Friday night at Greer Stadium to defeat the home team by a final score of 6-5. Locked at five runs apiece, Oklahoma City scratched the game winner off Sounds reliever Kyle Heckathorn (2-2) in the sixth inning with Adron Chambers hitting an RBI-double up the left-field line. Chambers went 3-for-5 for the 'Hawks, accounting for three RBIs. A pair of two-out singles from Pete Orr and pinch hitter Taylor Green put runners on the corners in the bottom of the ninth for Nashville, but the potential rally ended on an infield groundout by Irving Falu. Nashville worked back from a 3-0 deficit in the second inning off the bat of Jeremy Hermida, who drove a three-run homer over the right-field wall to level the game. With the home run, Hermida's fourth of the season, Nashville has gone yard in each of their last seven games. The Sounds added two more runs in the inning with an RBI-triple from Orr and Falu's sac-fly. In the fourth inning, Oklahoma City worked three consecutive hits off Sounds starter Mike Fiers, plating one run on Chambers' RBI-double. Later in the frame Fiers uncorked a wild pitch with two outs, which scored the game-tying run for the RedHawks. Fiers exited the game after four innings of work, allowing the RedHawks five runs, three earned, on eight hits and one walk. The PCL strikeout leader twirled eight K's on the night to increase his season total to 72. Relievers Jeremy Jeffress, Brent Leach and Donovan Hand also saw work from the bump for Nashville, combining for three scoreless frames. Caleb Gindl, 1-for-4, connected for a single over a leaping Ronny Torreyes in the fifth inning to extend his hit streak to 10 games, the longest active streak on the team. The RedHawks scored a run in each of the first two innings to claim the initial 2-0 lead. Oklahoma City's Chia-Jen Lo (1-0) claimed the win for his scoreless fifth inning. Jason Stoffel recorded the final out to pick up the save, his fourth. The Sounds will host game three of their four-game set with the Oklahoma City RedHawks on Saturday night at Greer Stadium. Right-handed pitcher Michael Blazek (0-2, 5.95) will make the start for Nashville, opposite the RedHawks LHP Rudy Owens (2-2, 4.66). Broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore Mike Fiers is an interesting case study in pitching because even though he wasn't locating well, he still had enough pitchability to fool hitters. However when they made contact they hit Mike hard and he only lasted 79 pitches (57 for strikes) after posting 117 in the outing before. 5 of his first 6 outs in the game were strike outs but mixed in between those strikes outs were 2 doubles, 2 well struck singles, a WP, and 3 runs. Jeff initially thought the error in the 2nd was on Fiers but the official scorer assigned it to Peter Orr as missed catch when he had to get out of the way of the runner and couldn't catch the ball. Regardless another disappointing close loss for the organization today. Hunter Morris (2-4,2B) had a nice game, Sweet had Mattison pinch run for him in the 8th to get more speed on the bases being down a run, he wasn't lifted for injury. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

I posted a little a bit about this in the LR's this week, but I'll try to quickly sum up those observations here for those that don't read the LRs on a daily basis, EVEN THOUGH YOU ALL SHOULD! Last year Clint would literally whiff on FBs, as in he would barely make contact with them as they went bye. I had never seen that before and it didn't take me long to question his placement in WI last season based on what he was doing. He also dropped a ton of balls regardless of the type of pitch, that's something you see occasionally, but not 5-8 times per game. This year he's not whiffing anything anymore (thankfully), and the drops are down to 1-2 per game, but he's still awful on balls in the dirt. On any low pitch he simply stabs at it with his glove trying to pick it, I've never seen him block a ball on his knees in any game I've watched, nor do I recall a play where Chris described him blocking a pitch on a radio broadcast. There are very few catchers in A ball who won't block a ball, and if he won't block he's simply not a major league catcher. Most of the WPs I've seen when Clint is catching aren't good pitches but they shouldn't have made it through him to the backstop either. Some of those pitches could have easily been scored as PBs as well since they weren't technically in the dirt but crossed him up. He currently has 5 errors and 4 passed balls in only 22 games behind the plate so while he's made progress, he's still well below average. His arm can cover up many of his defensive deficiencies when the pitchers help him and keep the runners honest at all, but his CS stealing numbers aren't indicative of his general aptitude behind the plate. Much like with Brett Lawrie, the Brewers are letting Clint do what he wants to do, he wants to catch so they are keeping him there. I would hope if he gets moved the Brewers would try him at 3rd because of his arm before any other position to see if he could be a competent defender there. Coulter seems to be a good young man and by all accounts he works extremely hard and is very coachable, it's not his talent or commitment that is the issue. If he doesn't have that instinct to get down and block by now, how long is it going to take to develop it if he ever does? I just think given what he's shown the hill is too steep to climb as a catcher.

I've been highly critical of the entire minor league system in the past even though I believe in a free market economy and I lean red, I just don't understand this at all. There is so much money in baseball that it would be very easy to at least pay minor leaguers a livable wage during the season. The teams' have so much riding on the success of these guys why wouldn't they want to provide proper nutrition, living conditions for adequate rest, and proper training facilities so they can get the absolute most of the players that make it? I've found the system progressively more infuriating which each successive insight I've had into the life over the years. At least the Brewers made a change are providing more nutritious pre-game spreads than what was reported in the story, but the rest of the "development" that takes place in the minor leagues is a joke.

1. Tyrone Taylor 2. Jimmy Nelson 3. Clint Coulter 4. Orlando Arcia 5. Mitch Haniger 6. Devin Williams 7. Victor Roache 8. Hunter Morris 9. Johnny Hellweg 10. David Goforth 11. Michael Reed 12. Taylor Jungmann 13. Tyler Wagner 14. David Denson 15. Tucker Neuhaus 16. Hiram Burgos 17. Chris McFarland 18. Tyler Cravy 19. Nick Delmonico 20. Jose Pena Comments. 1. Tyrone Taylor - I still believe he's roughly comparable to Cubs' prospect Albert Almora and is the highest ceiling player in the system above R ball. 2. Jimmy Nelson - I think he'll be a solid mid rotation guy for the Brewers. 3. Clint Coulter - Has done nothing to convince me he's a catcher but I love what he's done with the bat this year. 4. Orlando Arcia - He's having the season I figured he would to this point. Hopefully the bat starts to ascend as he nears Milwaukee. 5. Mitch Haniger - disappointing start to the season but I'm not moving him down yet 6. Devin Williams - Very curious to see what 2014 has in store for the system's highest ceiling pitcher at this time 7. Victor Roache - Awful start to the season, very similar to last year, hopefully his second half also mirrors what he did last year. 8. Hunter Morris - He's having a nice season, his only problem remains his selectivity at the plate. 9. Johnny Hellweg - TJ surgery is disappointing considering he's out of options, he'll be a bullpen guy for someone at some point. 10. David Goforth - I still like him as a back of the bullpen type. 11. Michael Reed - Everything you would want in a corner OF except for power which will determine his ultimate ceiling as a player. If he develops some he could be very intriguing down the road. 12. Taylor Jungmann - Same steady pitcher he's been since joining the organization, should be in AAA, maybe a #3 best case. 13. Tyler Wagner - When Tyler is on he's just nasty, he'll be stuck in BC until the logjam in front of him clears. 14. David Denson - The average isn't there but David is not lost at the plate, he displays a good approach in many ABs. He's similar to Arcia last year in that he'll get himself into trouble trying to out-guess the pitcher at times and make weak contact or strike out. 15. Tucker Neuhaus - I'm hoping last season was a fluke and he establishes himself this year in Helena. 16. Hiram Burgos - Hasn't found his command all year, it's probably going to be a process for him to settle back in. 17. Chris McFarland - No Brewer prospect has transformed their body the way McFarland has. His D is still a bit shakey but this new found power is very exciting. 18. Tyler Cravy - No longer the 4 seam pitcher who was hitting 93-94 all those years ago in Helena he's now a sinker baller working 90-91. He probably fits best long-term in the bullpen but he could maybe be a back of the rotation type as well. 19. Nick Delmonico - Just recently returned to action, I've never been all that high on him, but he has shown well in the past and this is more of a reputation ranking. 20. Jose Pena - He's very intriguing to me but has run hot and cold at the plate so far. I think he's very capable of posting a mid .800 OPS at WI this year. He has nice size but doesn't get to play much in the field with all of the OF on the Rattler roster, his swing can also get a little long, but he crushes mistakes. Last guys out: Michael Ratterree, Taylor Williams, Taylor Brennan, Garrett Cooper, Damien Magnifico, Drew Gagnon, Jed Bradley, Ariel Pena, Jorge Lopez.

News from AAA... Jeff says Figaro is going back to the pen and Blazek will be joining the rotation starting tomorrow.

Hendricks fans 11 in eight shutout frames Righty matches career high in K's during three-hit outing for I-Cubs

Chiefs take down Timber Rattlers 4-3 in eleven Peoria stops Wisconsin's win streak at three By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers PEORIA, IL - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers walked the tightrope all game long on Friday at Dozer Park against the Peoria Chiefs. Peoria built an early 3-0 lead and had several major scoring opportunities, but Wisconsin pitchers denied the Chiefs and allowed the Rattlers to tie the game. But, Peoria eventually pushed the Rattlers off the wire with a game-winning double in the bottom of the eleventh inning to defeat Wisconsin 4-3. Peoria (24-16) grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Juan Herrera stole second and wound up at third on an error. Ronald Castillo singled up the middle on the next pitch to give Peoria a 1-0 advantage. The Chiefs scored two more runs in their half of the second. Steve Bean drew a leadoff walk and Mason Katz doubled to put runners on second and third. Jake Stone and Michael Schulze collected consecutive bloop singles to right that knocked in a run. Stones looper scored Bean. The Texas Leaguer by Schulze got Katz home for a 3-0 lead. Peoria threatened to add to their lead against Rattlers starting pitcher Anthony Banda in the third inning as they loaded the bases with no outs. But, Banda stranded all three runners. CJ McElroy, Jr. tripled off Banda to start the bottom of the fourth inning. Banda escaped without allowing a run in this inning, too. Victor Diaz took over for Banda in the fifth and the Chiefs put the first two batters of the inning on with an error and a walk. Diaz took a page out of Banda's book by not allowing a run in the frame. Wisconsin's bats got going in the top of the sixth by drawing walks. Taylor Brennan and Jose Pena drew back-to-back walks with one out to chase Peoria starting pitcher Rob Kaminsky from the game. Michael Ratterree drew a walk against reliever Chris Perry to load the bases. Rafael Neda drove the next pitch to center to get Brennan home. Francisco Castillo was next and he fell behind Perry 0-2. Castillo battled by fouling off six two-strike pitches as he worked the count to 3-2. Castillo grounded the twelfth pitch of the at bat into right field. Pena scored easily. Ratterree raced home with the tying run and slid in safely under the tag of Steve Bean. Peoria had a runner at first with no outs in the bottom of the seventh. Diaz got a tailor-made double play ball to short, but the ball was missed for an error, the fourth Wisconsin error of the game, to put runners on the corners. Diaz got the first out on a shallow fly to center, but the runner from first tagged and went to second. The Rattlers elected to intentionally walk Stone to load the bases. Diaz struck out Schulze for the second out and got McElroy to ground out to short to end the inning still tied 3-3. Jose Pena started the Wisconsin eighth by reaching second base on an error. Johnny Davis came on to pinch run for Pena and he took third on a wild pitch with one out. But, Peoria got out of the frame with Davis still at third base. The Chiefs had a potential rally in the bottom of the eighth. A leadoff single, sacrifice bunt, intentional walk, and wild pitch put runners at second and third with one out. Diaz navigated his way through with a strikeout and a flyout to left. Diaz tossed a 1-2-3 ninth inning, the first by a Wisconsin pitcher on the day, to end his outing. Diaz went five high-stress, shutout innings, allowed two hits, walked four - two intentionally - and struck out three to keep the game even. Wisconsin (19-21) missed out on a great opportunity in the top of the tenth. Chris McFarland drew a walk and Taylor Brennan singled to left. A sacrifice bunt attempt ended with McFarland being forced at third base for the first out, but a wild pitch moved two runners into scoring position with one out. But, this time the Chiefs stranded Wisconsin runners to keep the game tied. Kenny Peoples-Walls singled to left with one out in the bottom of the eleventh. Bean was next and he lined a 1-0 pitch into the corner in right for a double. Peoples-Walls scored well ahead of the throw home to tally the winning run. Peoria stranded 16 runners in the game and was 4-for-21 with runners in scoring position. Wisconsin left nine runners on base and went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The third game of the series is Saturday night. Preston Gainey (1-2, 3.10) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Michael Holback is set to make his 2014 debut as the starting pitcher for the Chiefs. Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the pregame show at 6:10pm. WP: Kevin Herget (3-1) LP: Mark Williams (0-1) TIME: 3:33 ATTN: 4,140 Wisconsin Boxscore Chris put it very well when he talked about walking a tightrope all game, it's too bad things didn't work out for the T-Rats today. It was a fun game to listen with all the highs and lows, especially with WI in the field on defense. The Rattlers managed just 6 hits in the 11 innings, Angel Ortega (2-5) had the only multi-hit game. Unfortunately I've been waiting for Ortega to make a spectacular play in the field, but I've yet to see one, and he's has now committed 14 errors on the season. Wisconsin Recap With many houdini acts to choose from, I thought this was the best... Peoples-Walls probably should have scored but had a really poor jump off of 3rd on the fly out to Garcia. Peoria Bottom of the 7th Kenneth Peoples-Walls singles on a sharp line drive to center fielder Omar Garcia. Steve Bean reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Angel Ortega. Kenneth Peoples-Walls to 3rd. Mason Katz flies out to center fielder Omar Garcia. Steve Bean to 2nd on the throw. Victor Diaz intentionally walks Jake Stone. Michael Schulze strikes out on a foul tip. C. J. McElroy grounds out, shortstop Angel Ortega to first baseman Paul Eshleman. Wisconsin Gameday

Mock Draft: Pitchers aplenty in first round Rodon, Kolek, Aiken projected to go 1-2-3 to Astros, Marlins, White Sox

2014 MLB Draft: Prospects 401-500

2014 MLB Draft: Prospects 301-400

2014 MLB Draft: Prospects 101-200

2014 Draft Order And Essential Information May 15, 2014 by Staff Report

Tyler Beede to the crew in this one and my boy Kyle Freeland to the Cubs, this mock is depressing. At least they mention a connection to Grant Holmes. 2014 Draft Preview: Rodon Remains Atop Mock Draft 2.0

Prospect Hot Sheet Chat (May 16)