Your 2011 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers -- Latest: More from Instructional League

[Mass Haas]

Indications are that we will begin to see some formal minor league roster announcements as early as Thursday (perhaps not all on the same day) -- gee, it's not like there's a little something going on in Cincinnati that might hold our interest otherwise.

 

So whether it's Toby, Eric, or myself -- or more likely one of our readers -- feel free to link to any formal notices you see here. Don't worry about the initial post format, we'll pretty that up with an edit later if need be.

 

As you might know, we use the "Your 2011" threads to post and link to feature stories that are outside the scope of game activity covered in the Daily Link Report. Each feature story is then tied back to and linked to that player's Brewerfan Player Index page for future reference (check out Hunter Morris' page here, including article links towards the bottom of the page). All the links from the past two years should be "active", others from prior years may not be, as we had linked directly to the newspaper sites previously.

 

These threads have become among the most popular for viewing here, and we look forward to kicking them off formally.

[battlekow]

RHP Jimmy Nelson indicated on his (protected, so I can't link it) Twitter feed that both he and 1B Cody Hawn will be at Wisconsin.

[battlekow]

Nelson says he'll be starting on Saturday, 4/9.

[battlekow]

2011 Opening Day Roster

Chris Mehring/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The roster for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Midwest League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, has been announced for the start of the 2011 season. There are seven players on Wisconsin's Opening Day roster who were rated as Top 30 prospects in the Brewers minor league system by Baseball America.

The top three Brewers prospects with the Timber Rattlers listed by Baseball America to begin the season are pitchers and draft picks from the first five rounds of the 2010 first year player draft. Jimmy Nelson (2nd round, University of Alabama), Tyler Thornburg (3rd round, Charleston Southern), and Matt Miller (5th round, University of Michigan) were all members of the Helena Brewers, Milwaukee's Pioneer League affiliate, last season and helped that team win a Pioneer League Championship.

First baseman Cody Hawn (6th round, University of Tennessee) is Baseball America's top ranked position player on the Opening Day roster for the Rattlers. Hawn hit 13 homers and drove in 61 runs for Helena last season.

Other Brewers prospects as ranked by Baseball America on the Rattlers roster include: Catchers Cameron Garfield and Tyler Roberts and pitcher Austin Ross.

Garfield is one of five players to spend time with Wisconsin during the 2010 season who return at the start of 2011. Pitchers Del Howell and Damon Krestalude; infielder Carlos George; and outfielder Franklin Romero are the other four.

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers open the season with a home game at Time Warner Cable Field on Thursday, April 7 against the Kane County Cougars. Game time is 6:35pm. Tickets for Opening Day or for any of the 70 home games during 2011 are available on line at timberrattlers.com, in person at the box office, or over the phone at 800-WI-TIMBER.

The full Wisconsin Timber Rattlers roster for Opening Day, 2011:

PITCHERS
# Player B/T HT/WT Acquired
10 Charly Bashara L/L 6'1"/200 NDFA '10
36 Daniel Britt R/R 6'4"/190 29^{th[/sup] round '10
25 Tyler Cravy R/R 6'3"/196 17th[/sup] round '09
1 Brian Garman L/L 5'11"/203 17th[/sup] round '10
16 Greg Holle R/R 6'8"/240 11th[/sup] round '10
26 Del Howell L/L 6'4"/200 15th[/sup] round '09
18 Thomas Keeling L/L 6'2"/188 18th[/sup] round '10
39 Damon Krestalude R/R 6'4"/185 17th[/sup] round '08
22 Eric Marzec R/R 5'11/217 30th[/sup] round '10
23 Matt Milller R/R 6'6"/220 5th[/sup] round '10
20 Jimmy Nelson R/R 6'6"/245 2nd[/sup] round '10
12 Austin Ross R/R 6'2"/194 8th[/sup] round '10
30 Tyler Thornburg R/R 6'0"/188 3rd[/sup] round '10
40 Stosh Wawrzasek R/R 6'0"/249 16th[/sup] round '08}

CATCHERS
# Player B/T HT/WT Acquired
17 Cameron Garfield R/R 6'1"/195 2^{nd[/sup] round '09
19 Tony Pechek B/R 6'2"/201 NDFA '10
28 Tyler Roberts R/R 6'1"/228 10th[/sup] round '09}

INFIELDERS
# Player B/T HT/WT Acquired
7 Carlos George R/R 6'2"/160 46^{th[/sup] round '08
15 Cody Hawn L/R 6'1"/215 6th[/sup] round '10
5 Greg Hopkins R/R 6'1"/195 24th[/sup] round '10
6 TJ Mittelstaedt L/R 5'10"/185 44th[/sup] round '10
9 Jason Rogers R/R 6'2"/267 32nd[/sup] round '10
3 Nick Shaw L/R 6'0"/161 25th[/sup] round '10
33 Mike Walker L/R 6'4"/206 14th[/sup] round '10}

OUTFIELDERS
# Player B/T HT/WT Acquired
2 Robbie Garvey L/L 5'9"/170 NDFA '09
11 Reggie Keen R/R 5'11/176 NDFA '10
21 Franklin Romero R/R 5'11/180 20^{th[/sup] round '09}

COACHING STAFF:
Manager: Matt Erickson
Pitching Coach: Chris Hook
Hitting Coach: Dusty Rhodes
Athletic Trainer: Jeff Paxson
Strength & Conditioning: Tim Gifford

http://wisconsin.timberrattlers.milb.com/images/2011/04/03/VYVv3VXQ.jpg

Austin Ross (pitching) and Cody Hawn (at first) are two of the top Brewers

prospects starting the 2011 season with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

(Wisconsin Timber Rattlers)

[battlekow]

Things that jump out at you: No Eric Arnett, no D'Vontrey Richardson. Injured, or going to Brevard County? We'll see. Jumping Tyler Roberts to full-season ball is nice and certainly warranted, but you've also got Cameron Garfield repeating; it'll be interesting to see how Matt Erickson manages that situation. The rotation, even without Arnett, is really interesting, especially if they let Stosh Wawrzasek start some games. I guess TJ Mittelstaedt will play some outfield? He did a bit for Helena last year, and that roster lists only three outfielders.

[battlekow]

Chris Mehring indicates that Austin Ross is tentatively scheduled to start on Opening Day.

[YoungGeezy]

Little surprised, no Arnett, repeated Howell, no Shea Vucinich, both Garfield and Roberts behind the plate sharing time, no Allison (raw so understandable) no Chad Stang, im curious of which IFs will move to OF, my guess is Middlestadt will see time out there. Catching wise I find it hard to see how one of the two best young catchers in system will no be screwed over in there development by losing the chance to play everyday.

 

Lineup projection

1B Hawn

2b Shaw

SS George

3b Walker

LF Gravey

CF Romero

RF Keen

C Garfield

DH Hopkins/Roberts/Rogers

 

BENCH

C Roberts

C Pechek

2b/3b Hopkins

1b Rogers

OF Middlestadt

 

Batting Order projection

Keen

Shaw

DH(Roberts/Rogers/Hopkins)

Hawn

Walker

Garfield

Gravey

Romero

George

[DHonks]

a lot of NDFA on the roster. Don't we have any legit outfield prospects?

[TheCrew07]

Here's hoping Del Howell continues to improve and pitches his way out of WI by the break

 

edit. 2 prospect catchers on 1 team is pretty dumb in my opinion.

[YoungGeezy]

I thought Stang Walla Allison all had a shot to make the team and I consider those three to be possible prospects. Really kind of disappointed position player wise. I think Shaw could be a guy who will hit .300+ and get on base a ton and hit with some good gap power (will be a .750-.850 OPS guy) Keen surprised a lot of people last year so hopefully that continues, it seems the Brewers do like him. Hawn and Walker are prob the most important hitters on the team. Both have the power bats that will be in the line up every day. Roberts and Rogers both have heavy bats as well but not sure how playing time will shake out. I expect Garfield to continue to improve with the bat. It seemed as if he hit very well in spring games but I again how are him and Roberts going to split time?

 

Pitching wise, this is an exciting team! Lot of talent arms in both the rotation and bullpen. Holle, Marzec, and Garman are a termendous back of the pen combination. I have said it once and I'll say it again, Kneeling is a guy to watch out for, had maybe the worst first 10 IP of any player in the history of baseball but has an electric south paw arm.....just needs to throw strikes and he did that for the most part in spring games and I believe didn't give up any runs. Love the 2010 SP draftees: Thornburg, Nelson, Miller, & Ross. Can't wait to see how they perform (please baseball gods, no Arnett type repeats!) Cravy was a guy suppose to be the guy in Helena last year with great remarks and endorsements from his coaches (read a couple article last year in the Helena paper), he didn't have a great season but hope this year he comes around. Howell....... to repeat a 23 (24 in September) in low A pretty much tells me they don't have to much hope in him. He had a horrible start but finished the season much better. Even with April he finished the season with a 4.68 ERA.

[DHonks]

Lintz and Brooks Hall are two others I'm a bit surprised by. Oh well, perhaps I'll get to see them in Helena this summer

[YoungGeezy]

Here's hoping Del Howell continues to improve and pitches his way out of WI by the break

 

edit. 2 prospect catchers on 1 team is pretty dumb in my opinion.

Terrible thing to do, makes zero sense at all. Both need to be catch almost everyday. You can not develop two of your youngest most talented catchers at the same time. Garfield caught almost every game last year, what good is it going to to to cut into his playing time? With Roberts, he has the bat but he needs to be behind the plate working on defense. With Garfield he will won't get the reps he needs. I just have a feeling that they are going to end up moving him off catcher. They had him DH a lot last year and now it appears that will be the case again. Hard to have a catcher if he never gets to catch

[DHonks]

Given the demands of a young pitching staff, can't it work with 2 catchers? Hopefully things work out and one ends up moving up (or down to Helena) when a spot opens. If Roberts was targeted for Helena but given a surprise placement at Wisconsin, it's probably better developmentally than being stuck in EST for a few months.

[TheCrew07]

Garfield wasn't a very good defensive or offensive catcher last year, at least when I saw him play, he needs as many repititions as possible. For that matter, so does Roberts, we have enough non prospect catchers that Garfield could have bumped a step as I believe Roberts belongs in WI.

[YoungGeezy]

Guessing Crew will be starting Neda at catcher in BC now but I really wonder how this is booing to play out

[brewfan1]

Absolutely flabbergasted!!!!!! Bottom line is that Garfield beat out Neda and won the Brevard County job hands down, no question. Heck, Garfield even was awarded the hitter of ST award the day before camp broke. There had been rumblings about age coming into play and I guess it did. I agree that having both Garfield and Roberts in the same place is going to be a headache. If we could only merge them together and have a defensive catcher like Garfield and a hitter like Roberts. Oh well, Roberts still has to prove himself above AZ. rookie ball.

[And That]

I called the Charly Bashara roster spot. I win.

 

Wouldn't be shocked to see Mike Walker get some outfield work, maybe Nick Shaw too. Both those guys will need to be versatile to succeed.

 

Last I knew Thornburg was going to be the only guy with a piggyback platoon (well, and the guy he's piggybacking with) and looks like that guy should be Krestalude. Wawrzasek may start in the bullpen and move to the rotation later on in the year. I'm sure the Brewers are hoping Nelson/Miller/Ross/Howell/Thornburg won't stick around Wisconsin all summer.

 

Bit surprised not to see Dishon or Stang on the roster. Suppose either could end up in BC, but it looks like the OFs there are set with the Davises, Krieger and Kjeldgaard, unless someone is injured. Hope that if Richardson is injured, it isn't too bad. He can't lose any development time.

[nate82]

Garfield wasn't a very good defensive or offensive catcher last year, at least when I saw him play, he needs as many repititions as possible. For that matter, so does Roberts, we have enough non prospect catchers that Garfield could have bumped a step as I believe Roberts belongs in WI.

I believe Garfield belongs where he is at right now but having the two in the same spot is a big mystery. I thought it was a forgone conclusion that Garfield would be staying in WI this season due to his age and his play last year.

[brewfan1]

He beat out Neda, plain and simple. He deserved the bump up, but at the end of the day, you cannot control certain things and unfortunately also cannot control reverse age discrimination in the minor leagues.

[jimmyjeromehardy7]

What are you basing that Garfield beat out Neda on?

[battlekow]

Chris Mehring has the Rattlers' rotation:

RHP Austin Ross

RHP Matt Miller

RHP Jimmy Nelson

LHP Del Howell

RHP Tyler Thornburg / RHP Dan Britt

Interesting. Britt is not who I would have predicted to be Thornburg's piggyback partner; I would have thought Tyler Cravy or Stosh Wawrzasek.

[brewfan1]

It's foundation is off first hand observation and the stats. Why do you think they gave him the ST hitters award? also he threw out 37 percent of the runners, tops for the camp.

[The Truth]

Cody Hawn is a player I'll be keeping an eye on this year. The kid had a .948 OPS at Helena. 13 HR's in only 65 games and posted a .407 OBP...

 

I want to see if he's just another guy or our 1B of the future

[dadofandrew]

I hope the Brewers don't use spring stats to decide who goes where. That's about as meaningless as stats can be, a tiny sample with huge disparity in competition. One day, one player might face an ace from the bigs, the next, his competitor might face a kid from A ball.

[WV Brew]

Al is correct. Also, if Garfield produces, it won't matter where he starts out the year. It's what he does on the field that will count. There is plenty of room for all the catchers to move up if they produce.