Bambis Bombers

Did the Brewers have any interest in Connor Gillaspie? Not that he was going to win any gold gloves at 3B, but he would have been a tremendous value at pick 35. If Green, Gamel or Lawrie do ultimately succeed at 3B, Gillaspie could be a future trade chip if his bat pans out as expected. I like the Frederickson pick, but it seems likely that he would have been there at pick 53. I know it's easy to play woulda, coulda shoulda, but Gillaspie seems to fit the best player available philosophy much better than Frederickson at pick 35.

Here's a 2007 article about Erik Komatsu's long path to Cal State - Fullerton. He had a torn labrum in high school. He also played in the Northwoods League in 2006.

In the Huntsville game, Omar Aguilar is doing his best Guillermo Mota imitation

Colby - The Royals draft looks good on paper with Hosmer, Montgomery, Sample and Melville, but there will be challenges signing this group of prep standouts. What are your impressions of the Royals draft so far and will they be able to sign everyone? Going into the draft, I liked Sample and Montgomery and hoped the Brewers would select one of them.

Keith Law just updated his blog, confirmed the Astros interest in Lawrie, they think he can stick behind the plate. Also indicated that if the Cards take Hicks, the Twins may go with Lawrie.

Here is the long awaited final mock draft by Perfect Game's Patrick Ebert. He has Brewers picking BF.net fave Brett Lawrie.

Keith Law has posted his final mock draft on ESPN. While he has the Brewers selecting Jason Castro, his comments indicate he really does not know what the Brewers are going to do: 16. Milwaukee -- Jason Castro, C, StanfordThe Brewers never tell anyone what they're doing; they won't even confirm that there's a draft on Thursday. Lawrie and Hewitt are possibilities here. He has Blue Jays selecting Wallace at 17, Lawrie sliding to Arizona at 26 and SS Casey Kelly sliding out of the first round.

The final MLB.com mock draft has the Brewers selecting Castro. Lawrie is projected to go 10 to the Astros. Here's what they had to say about the Brewers mock selection: 16. Milwaukee Brewers: Jason Castro, C, Stanford They'd love to have someone drop, but barring that, there's an interesting mix of Brett Wallace, Anthony Hewitt, maybe even Zach Collier. With this landscape, though, the left-handed-hitting college catcher gets the nod. Last projection: Brett Lawrie

The note accompanying the Brewer pick in the final BA mock draft mentions Wallace or Friederich as alternatives if Lawrie goes earlier. No mention of Castro, which seemed to be the hot rumor yesterday.

According the BP's Kevin Goldstein, Buster Posey is looking for a $12 million deal. In light of this news, the Rays are now leaning toward Tim Beckham unless Posey's salary demands drop considerably.

Keith Law's June 4 ESPN Insider blog entry, he mentions the Brewers are considering C Jason Castro at 16, with the disclaimer that the Brewers are more secretive about their preferences than any other club. He also mentions that Seattle may a deal in place with Tanner Scheppers after their medical advisors gave the all clear on his right shoulder. He expects the Blue Jays to take Lawrie or Wallace at 17

BA posted a special prospect hot sheet for the months of April and May. Checking in at #2 - Mat Gamel: Team: Double-A Huntsville (Southern) Age: 22 Why He's Here: .382/.444/.670 (89-for-233), 54 R, 18 2B, 5 3B, 13 HR, 49 RBIs, 26 BB, 39 SO, 4-for-7 SB The Scoop: It's hard to match Bruce's total package-the outstanding performance, the tools, the potential superstar future, the defensive prowess while doing it all as the youngest regular in Triple-A. But in terms of pure hitting, Gamel's numbers stack up with anyone's. He's getting hits, he's getting extra-base hits and he's drawing walks. Gamel has reached base safely in 54 of the 55 games he has played, recording at least one hit in 47 games, at least one extra-base hit in 28 games and stringing together a multi-hit game 29 times. With Bill Hall struggling to hit as Milwaukee's third baseman at the big league level, Gamel might not be as blocked as he once appeared to be. Of course, that assumes Gamel, who came into the season a well-below-average defender, will be able to stick at third base. Errors don't tell the whole story, and while his 12 errors in 56 games aren't inspiring, it's a far cleaner total than the 53 errors he made in 113 games a year ago. And at #11 - Matt LaPorta: Team: Double-A Huntsville (Southern) Age: 23 Why He's Here: .286/.395/.586 in 210 at-bats, 41 R, 60 H, 14 2B, 2 3B, 15 HR, 49 RBIs, 31 BB, 43 SO, 1/2 SB The Scoop: LaPorta is making Brewers scouting director Jack Zduriencik and his staff look like geniuses for taking the Florida first baseman with the seventh overall pick last year. LaPorta and Gamel form the most dangerous hitting duo in the Southern League and perhaps in all of the minors. LaPorta is still getting used to playing in the outfield, but there's been no learning curve at the plate for the slugger with a slugging average .300 points higher than his batting average. The thought of adding LaPorta's and Gamel's bats one day to a lineup that already includes Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun is downright scary. LINK

There is such an animal - the Minor League Splits database

Huntsville 3B Mat Gamel is the Southern League's entry for MILB.com's Offensive Player of the Week. Let's vote for Mat early and often! LINK

X - While Kazmir signed for more than slot, his signing bonus with the Mets ($2,150,000) was lower than less than what the Brewers has to pay to sign Prince ($2,400,000).

A ZachJack implosion in the 8th inning for the Sounds. One out, six earned runs on five hits and a walk...so far

A bit of a 'meh' pick for me, I would have preferred Lawrie.

and Aguilar with his first save in AA ball.

Keith Law is not so convinced that Lawrie will stick at catcher in the comments section of his May 25 blog: "Lawrie can hit, maybe. He's got a good swing and has had some success this year with metal, but was a cipher with wood last summer, which is a significant concern. He also doesn't have a position; he catches now, but he's not a catcher long-term, and he's very rough at 2b. He's in the pile with Hewitt, Knapp, and a few other HS kids about to be overdrafted." http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/3411917

Jonathon Mayo of MLB.Com has posted his inital mock draft for the first 30 picks. At 16, he still has the Brewers selecting Anthony Hewitt. Tanner Scheppers, Alex Meyer, Tim Melville and Conor Gillaspie are all undrafted through 30 picks and potentially available for the Brewers in the supplemental round. 16. Milwaukee Brewers: Anthony Hewitt, SS, Salisbury School, Salisbury, Conn. Hewitt's still very much in the mix here and will likely be part of a very interesting draft-room discussion. Other high schoolers who could figure into that debate are Hicks, if he's still around, and Lawrie. If a power arm like Cashner or Perry floats down, that might be the way to go and perhaps Josh Fields, Georgia's closer, could sneak into consideration. For now, though, we'll stick with Hewitt and his tremendous upside. Last week's projection: Hewitt LINK to the entire first round

It's Derrick Turnbow getting the start for Nashville. Women and children, avert your eyes...

Per the May 28th BA draft blog, the current assessment of Tanner Scheppers' shoulder is that he does not have a stress fracture. There may be a bone bruise, but other than that, the MRI was clean. Despite the change in diagnosis, Scheppers will not pitch for the remainder of the season for Fresno. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=282

Colbyjack - Let me join the chorus in praising the quality of this year's edition of the draft preview - excellent work! I do have a hard time getting my head around the Brewers picking Castro. While I think Hewitt is a bit of an overdraft at 16, it would be the most Zdueriencik-esqe choice.

Clancyphile, thanks for starting this thread. With the big league team struggling, the mock draft discussion is a pleasant diversion. Given Jack's Z. preference of selecting the best available player, I expect him to maximize the talent entering the system rather than trying to fill holes in the current big league line-up. Assuming Mark Anastasio is willing to write the checks for all the signing bonuses, this is the club's opportunity to build the nucleus for a pennant run in 2013. Using the BA Top 200 prospect list (LINK), this is who my inner Jack Z would draft: 16 - Casey Kelly (ranked 19 by BA) Jack Z hopes to draft the next Robin Yount in Kelly, the perfect balance of tools and performance at a premium position. 32 - Jake Odorizzi (ranked 32), an elated draft team in the Brewer war room adds this power arm from the Land of Lincoln 35 - Issac Galloway (ranked 36) - the organizational need for a center fielder dovetails with Jack Z's fetish for toolsy prospects 53 - Destin Hood (ranked 54) - determined to corner the market for corner outfield propects, Jack Z pulls the trigger on this Alabama prep 54 - Zeke Spruill (ranked 69) - the Brewers harvest this sinker-slider pitcher from a strong crop of Georgia prepsters 62 - Adrian Nieto (ranked 73) - it can't be a true blue Brewer draft without a high pick spent on a catcher, so this Florida prep will fit the bill 94 - Brad Holt (ranked 98) - finally time to break into the college ranks with this UNC-Wilmington flamethrower

In the aforementioned Keith Law blog, Gray recently switched agents. The new agent has informed clubs not to draft Gray since Gray has decided to honor his scholarship committment to Vanderbilt.