Link Report for Tue. 8/24 -- Odorizzi (8 IP, 10 K's) and Rosario combine on Rattler NO-HITTER!!

[brewmann04]

I guess they will continue to use ross as a starter? and what about the plans For JJ and Thornburg will they use him as a reliever or starter down the line.

[homer]

The Ross numbers are really nice but a college guy in the Pioneer league should be putting up pretty dominating numbers. Obviously better than the alternative but let's see how he does in A ball before getting too amped up.

[Gobias Industries]

It is nice to have a pitcher in the system to get excited over. Odorizzi is just that. Have not felt this good about a pitching prospect since Gallardo.

Odorizzi is the cream of the crop for sure, but you could make that plural. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I really like Heckathorn's potential myself, and Peralta should be a good one too. Not too mention Jeffress, Rogers, etc.

 

I'm not gonna lie, I haven't followed the minor leagues like this since the 2003-2005 years. It's been awesome checking the link report and seeing a stud pitch almost every day. It makes up for the mess our big league team is.

[TooLiveBrew]

I agree that it's nice to have multiple pitchers to get excited about in the system. You really do get to follow at least one very good pitching prospect on any given day.

[Mass Haas]

Chris has a cool "mega-post" on his blog with all things no-hitter.

[Tedaldtada]

Chris from the blog post MH just posted:

 

"No spectacular plays were needed in this no-hitter. The hardest hit ball for the Kernels was when Randal Grichuk lined out right to Joey Paciorek at third for the final out of the seventh inning."

 

Thought that was interesting and awesome.

[TooLiveBrew]

Just posted earlier this afternoon... I hadn't heard about the other no-hitter until I read this article. Pretty cool.

 

 

Wednesday Dish: Double Dose of No-Nos

By Jim Shonerd, Baseball America Prospects Blog

 

The minor league season is a long grind, especially for players who haven't been through it before. The grind looked like it might have been getting the better of Brewers righty Jake Odorizzi. That is, until the 20-year-old fought back in a big way on Tuesday, throwing eight no-hit innings as part of a combined no-hitter against Cedar Rapids.

 

Odorizzi, who's traversing his first year in a full-season league with low Class A Wisconsin, was 6-1, 2.98 through the end of July, but August had been a different story. Having thrown 90 2/3 innings to that point, he'd already easily surpassed his career total from his first two seasons (68), during which the Brewers had kept him in Rookie-ball after making him a supplemental first-round pick in 2008. In his first three August starts, Odorizzi gave up 13 earned runs on 21 hits in 17 1/3 innings. He also struck out just nine hitters during that stretch, easily his worst of the year.

 

The last of those three starts was against none other than Cedar Rapids, who touched Odorizzi up for a season-high six runs (all earned) on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Given another crack at the Kernels Tuesday night, Odorizzi found his grove again, mixing all four of his pitches, led by his low 90s fastball and plus curveball, to baffle Cedar Rapids' hitters for eight innings. He struck out 10 and allowed just three baserunners—on an error, a hit-by-pitch and a walk. He was removed after eight innings having thrown 118 pitches.

 

“I was fired up at the moment,” Odorizzi told the Cedar Rapids Gazette about being pulled. “Wasn’t too happy about it then they told me how many pitches I had. You just have to let it go. Your career is more important than just one game.”

 

Righthander Adrian Rosario came in for the ninth and pitched around a one-out walk to finish the no-hitter, striking out Kernels first baseman Jose Jimenez to end it. The no-hitter was the fourth in the Midwest League this year, though just the second that went the full nine innings. Three Cedar Rapids pitchers combined on a nine-inning no-hitter against Kane County on April 30. You'd have to go back to June 30, 2004, when Burlington's Chris Coughlin threw a perfect game, to find the last solo nine-inning no-hitter by a MWL pitcher.

 

-- Two Of A Kind --

 

Brian Peacock is still looking for his first professional win, but he can still say he was part of a little history on Tuesday. The 20-year-old lefthander with Rookie-level Idaho Falls threw the first seven-innings of the minors' second no-hitter on Tuesday night. Like Odorizzi, Peacock's fortunes hadn't been going well lately. A 31st round pick in 2009, Peacock started the year in the Chukars' bullpen but moved to the rotation in late July. The move hadn't taken so far, as he was 0-4, 7.71 through his first six starts.

 

Peacock's not going to blow his fastball by hitters, as it resides mostly in the upper 80s, but he has a good curveball and he settled in quickly against the [ARZ Rookie ball affiliate Missoula] Osprey. Pounding the bottom of the zone, he retired the first 16 batters he faced before an error allowed one to reach in the sixth. He issued a leadoff walk in the seventh, but that runner was promptly thrown out trying to steal second. Peacock finished the frame and was taken out of the game having faced only one hitter over the minimum over his seven innings. He struck out eight, a season-high.

 

Righthanders Jason Mitchell and Alex Rivers pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Despite his fine effort, Peacock didn't get a win to show for it as the game remained scoreless until the Chukars pushed across three runs in the bottom of the eighth.