Spring Training Photos and Misc. Prospect News

[Mass Haas]

Lisa Winston of MiLB.com with a

 

Brewers Organizational Preview (boy, are a bunch of folks going to look silly if Kentrail Davis somehow falls flat)

 

and a

 

Top Brewer prospects to watch article

[Mass Haas]

Tom H.'s blog:

Ken Macha said he's been impressed with the play of outfielder Adam Stern this spring and indicated Stern might be the first guy up from the minors if an outfielder is needed.

[battlekow]

Lyle Spencer @ MLB.com: "A superb running catch in right by Chad Stang robbed Michael Ryan of extra bases on a sacrifice fly in the seventh."

[Mass Haas]

A followup to the earlier prediction post at Bernie's Crew.

[MLS1965]

Yea.. I was a little let down Mark Rogers did not get the call to Nashville to start the year, but my fingers are crossed that he makes it up here some time this year. Mark and I went to the same High School, be it 20 years apart for graduation.. and he grew up just down the road from me. His dad and a long time friend grew up together and hug out, so it will be fun to cheer for a player with a hometown connection.

[battlekow]

Project Prospect's Adam Foster:

Got a F- defensive review on Lawrie from a scout

today. He said Lawrie only cares about hitting. Sounds like 2B could be

very unlikely.

link

The scout I talked to thinks Lawrie will be a DH

link

[Hammer]

battlekow or anyone else in the know. Is it attitude for Lawrie or work ethic? Maybe he really doesn't like to play 2b...and is really a catcher at heart? Remember...the Catcher is involved in every play and it is easy to stay in a game. 2b is pretty boring if you ask me...

[sfl2hnq17]

Does anyone know what is going on with Brooks Hall? Haven't seen anything about him this spring and he was one of the prospects I was looking forward following him this year.

[TheCrew07]

Assuming he's healthy he should be pitching for Helena, so he'll be in EST until their season begins. I doubt he'll start in the AZL

[sfl2hnq17]

Thanks for the info. That sucks that I will have to wait until June to get to see how he does.

[battlekow]

battlekow or anyone else in the know. Is it attitude for Lawrie or work ethic? Maybe he really doesn't like to play 2b...and is really a catcher at heart? Remember...the Catcher is involved in every play and it is easy to stay in a game. 2b is pretty boring if you ask me...

I'm not "in the know", but Lawrie's certainly not a catcher at heart, given that he requested the position change. He didn't have a set position as an amateur, so I don't think he's anything at heart other than hitter, but obviously that's not the same thing as not caring about anything else. This is the nth anonymous scouting report panning Lawrie's defense that we've gotten, but contrast that with the cautious optimism exhibited by forum regulars who saw him play last year. I guess it simply remains to be seen whether the former is lazy scouting groupthink or the latter is too-hopeful fanboyism.

[battlekow]

Blaze back from ambitious Arizona trip

Langley Advance

The Langley Blaze U18 premier baseball team is now home from its

annual spring break trip in Arizona, where the players completed their

most ambitious schedule in club history.

The Blaze played eight

pro games (versus rookie/single A Major League Baseball affiliates)

along with seven college games.

Their

opener was against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Blaze did well,

considering they arrived straight from the airport and started playing.

The

Brewers dressed almost all of the Canadians in their organization, and

former Blaze player Stosh Wawrzasek pitched a scoreless inning versus

his old team, striking out two while giving up a hit to Josh Wray.

Brewers

prospect Brett Lawrie visited with his former Blaze teammates in the

batting cage prior to the game.

[battlekow]

Baseball America tabbed Zach Braddock as the Brewers' Prospect Star Of Camp.

[TooLiveBrew]

I guess it simply remains to be seen whether the former is lazy scouting groupthink or the latter is too-hopeful fanboyism.

 

My guess would be a little bit of both. Prospect experts fall victim to that groupthink thing all too easily.

[battlekow]

More from Adam Foster on Lawrie:

Wow, Brett Lawrie

is almost Gabe Kapler yoked now. His muscles have muscles.

link

Lawrie looked good

taking grounders at times this morning. I doubt he lasts at the

position, though. He doesn't have infield instincts.

link

[DHonks]

battlekow, can we just move him to RF so he's ready when we give up on Hart?

[battlekow]

Foster keeps the Brewers nuggets coming:

Impressive

curveball and cut fastball from Jake Ordorizzi but he didn't command his

4-seamer, which topped out at 93 and sat 88-91.

link

Scooter Gennett

has really impressed me today. Advanced feel for the game. Good leader.

Has some pop. Plays strong D at SS.

link

Evan Anundsen's

fastball sat in the mid-80s today. He looked like a junk-baller.

link

Evan Anundsen may be the least inspiring pitching

prospect I've seen this spring. He didn't have velo today & his arm

action is ugly.

link

I had Kentrail Davis at 4.06 and 4.03 on his two

groundouts today. That's above-average speed - he's a lefty.

link

The comment about Gennett's defense is interesting. Weren't a lot of people projecting him as a future second baseman?

[DHonks]

Too bad about Anundsen's velocity. I remember reading in Sept/Oct that he was committed to going home and regaining his HS velocity through a new workout program. Of course, Steve Woodard was a solid big league starter throwing 85-88 mph. What screwed him up was his desire to become a power pitcher. He did gain the velocity he wanted, but his career was lost by that point

[Mass Haas]

Within his post that kicked off the 2010 Nashville thread with AAA roster info, Tom H. included several nuggets of interest --

 

The starting rotation at Class AA Huntsville will have some of the top young pitchers in the organization, including RHP Mark Rogers, RHP Amaury Rivas, RHP Michael Bowman and RHP Alex Periard. Another top righty, Evan Anundsen, was slated to be in that rotation but will begin the year on the DL with a slight shoulder problem. LHP Chris Cody will take his place.

RHP Mike Jones, the 2001 first-round pick who has attempted to come back from shoulder and elbow surgeries, is switching to a relief role this year and will begin with Huntsville.

Centerfield prospect Lorenzo Cain also was sent to Huntsville to get his feet on the ground after missing much of 2009 with a knee injury. Another fast centerfielder, Lee Haydel, will be in that outfield, as will Caleb Gindl.

***

 

One wonders when Logan Schafer may be ready for action, whether Cain might be bumped to Nashville at that time.

[battlekow]

According to their agent, Harold Bicknell, Mike Fiers will be assigned to Brevard County, Sean Halton to Wisconsin, and Matt Costello to EST. Bicknell also reports that Halton was voted the best hitter in minor league camp.

[Mass Haas]

LHP Matt Costello to EST.

My Massachusetts kid Costello needs to be in Wisconsin pronto (age 23 season coming up). Deserves it.

 

 

[sfl2hnq17]

I wonder if the slight shoulder issue for Evan was the reason his velocity wasnt up there. I'm not sure just throwing that out there as a possibility.

[battlekow]

I wonder if the slight shoulder issue for Evan was the reason his velocity wasnt up there. I'm not sure just throwing that out there as a possibility.

Mid-80s is pretty standard velocity for Anundsen, unfortunately.

[sfl2hnq17]

I was just saying that big Evan said late last year he was going to go back to his high school and work on his velocity. I guess I got caught assuming that it went up and his shoulder issue caused the drop.

[Mass Haas]

Tom H. looks at the top Brewer pitching prospects