Your 2012 Nashville Sounds

[Mass Haas]

Sounds tap Vinnie Chulk's experience

by Greg Sullivan, The Tennessean

 

Sounds relief pitcher Vinnie Chulk has been in baseball so long his entry in Nashville’s media guide fills up three pages.

 

That makes sense given he’s been called the Incredible Chulk.

 

The 33-year-old right-hander smiled and gave a sheepish laugh as the recently resurrected nickname was brought up.

 

“It’s not a bad thing, I guess,” said Chulk, who has spent parts of eight seasons with the Blue Jays, Giants, Indians and Brewers with a career ERA of 4.51. “That came out in Toronto and then I guess (Brewers outfielder) Nyjer Morgan got a hold of it (this year) and I heard it some up (with Milwaukee).

 

“Hopefully I can have them screaming it again one of these days.”

 

Sounds reliever Donovan Hand said the team hasn’t settled on a nickname yet.

 

“We’ve been calling him the Bullpen Liaison a lot,” Hand said. “He can speak Spanish since he’s got Cuban roots, so he’s been doing a lot of translating for the team.”

 

Chulk pitched for Toronto from 2003-06. He was traded to San Francisco midseason in 2006 and stayed with the Giants through 2008, spending most of his time in the majors before beginning the 2009 season in Cleveland.

 

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound power pitcher made stops in Columbus, Indianapolis, Japan, Sacramento and Nashville over the next three years before finally getting another shot at the majors in late April. But in seven appearances in Milwaukee, he had an ERA of 10.00.

 

“Once I got the call this year and got up there, it was a good feeling,” Chulk said. “I wish I could have stayed longer. But at the same time I got my feet wet. Hopefully I can keep throwing the ball well and get back up there.”

 

Chulk, who rejoined the Sounds on May 22, is 2-0 with a 1.90 ERA in 14 appearances in Nashville. He credits a recently added curveball with his success here.

 

“It just slows the hitters a little bit,” Chulk said. “Everything was hard, hard, hard. Now I’ve got a little, looping curveball that helps out to keep (hitters) off-balance.”

 

Chulk also has been playing the role of willing mentor in Nashville’s bullpen, Sounds manager Mike Guerrero said.

 

“So far he’s been doing good,” Guerrero said. “He helps the younger guys learn how to prepare. Players talk to each other so much. Any player that’s been to the big leagues, they can be a utensil to help teach other players.”

 

Hand said Chulk has been helpful for the bullpen because of his experience in the major leagues.

 

“I’ve been in Nashville three years and some of the big league pitchers like that are very approachable and some guys aren’t as much,” Hand said. “But Vinnie’s a guy you can always talk to. A lot of the younger guys, like me, ask him questions and kind of pick his brain. There’s not really a dumb question.”

[Mass Haas]

Getting To Know The 2012 Sounds: Pitching Coach Fred Dabney

[Mass Haas]

Schafer healthy, patient

By Chris Jackson / Special to MLB.com

 

Center field has been a problem for the Milwaukee Brewers this season as the platoon of Nyjer Morgan and Carlos Gomez has struggled to provide much in the way of offense.

 

The good news for the Brewers is that help could soon be on the way in the form of prospect Logan Schafer, who is hitting .294 (87-for-296) with seven home runs, 26 RBIs and 11 stolen bases at Nashville.

 

Schafer, though, is not concerned about the timing of a call-up.

 

"When it comes to opportunities you're not usually handed opportunities in this game," Schafer said. "It's very rare that you're just given something in this game.

 

"I'm here in Nashville, I'm trying to do what I can to help this team win."

 

Schafer, along with most of his teammates, got off to a slow start this season, but he has turned it on of late. In June, Schafer hit .354 (34-for-96).

 

"If I do everything I can do on both sides of the ball, defense and offense, I feel like I can create an opportunity at some point somewhere in the big leagues to show what I have and hopefully help some team, hopefully the Brewers, win at some point in the big leagues," Schafer said. "That's the approach I'm taking."

 

That Schafer is even back in the discussion for a big-league call-up is impressive after a disastrous run of injuries that limited him to just seven games in 2010 and only 99 games in the Minors (plus eight with Milwaukee) last season.

 

"Obviously being healthy is the first thing that I think about when I'm out there and playing the game," Schafer said. "I think about even if I have a bad game, at least I'm out there and able to play it.

 

"I had a pretty rough stretch there with injuries. I took about a year-and-a-half off with multiple injuries -- the groin and the foot and the hernia and the broken thumb. I had a long list of injuries.

 

"But to be up and able to play it's an amazing feeling. I cherish it every day."

 

Once he overcame the final injury, a broken thumb suffered in Spring Training last year, Schafer caught fire, batting .315 between Class A Advanced Brevard County, Double-A Huntsville and Nashville before earning a September call-up with the Brewers, going 1-for-3 with a run scored.

 

"It took me a while to get my swing down, get my timing, recognize pitches," Schafer said. "I eventually got to where I wanted to be with my swing and my approach got to where it was in the previous couple of years."

 

After all that he has gone through, Schafer said he just enjoys taking life one game at a time.

 

"Every day you've just got to be excited to be playing and healthy," he said. "That's where I am, excited to be healthy and playing."

 

Logan Schafer is hitting .294/.349/.446 in 78 games for Nashville. (Jamie Harms/MiLB.com)

 

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[Mass Haas]

Nashville Sounds' Andy Gonzalez doubles as team barber

Infielder with 'steady hand' shines in important clubhouse role

by Greg Sullivan, The Tennessean

 

In his early teens growing up in Puerto Rico, Andy Gonzalez began cutting hair by offering haircuts to neighborhood friends.

 

Nowadays, the Nashville Sounds infielder is the team barber, an important role in virtually any minor league baseball clubhouse.

 

“I’d say that the (team barber) torch has been passed to Gonzo. Cutting hair’s a tough job. A lot of people are relying on you,” Sounds second baseman Eric Farris said. “But he’s the guy you trust right now with the clippers.”

 

Gonzalez, 30, who joined the Sounds in late May, smiled as he thought back to some of his earliest haircut clients in Puerto Rico.

 

“I want to say the first 10 or 15 cuts were a mess,” the former major leaguer said. “I messed my hair up, too. But it was OK for me. I’d just put the No. 1 (clipper) guard on and cut it again.”

 

At first, it was a process of trial and error for Gonzalez. But not long after he left Puerto Rico to attend high school in Florida, he had a steady stream of customers paying $5 a cut at his dormitory.

 

“I don’t charge now, but I needed the $5 back in high school,” Gonzalez said

 

In the clubhouse, the players say they know they’re getting a bargain.

 

“He does a great job cutting hair,” said Sounds starting pitcher Wily Peralta, who let out a hearty laugh as he showed off his faded-out Mohawk haircut, Gonzalez’s handiwork.

 

“He was doing Farris’ hair the other day, and I saw he did a pretty good (job),” Peralta said. “I said OK, I’ll do a Mohawk, too. I always do a Mohawk during the season, but I thought I’ll let (Gonzalez) do it since he’s pretty good at cutting hair. We don’t have to worry about going to the barbershop.”

 

“I think I picked the wrong career,” joked Gonzalez, who had short stints with the White Sox, Indians and Marlins in 2007-09. “I like cutting hair. I really like it when people come and say, ‘Do whatever you want.’ I like trying new cuts. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but most of the time they like it.”

 

'He does all flavors'

 

Of course, not every player wants a special haircut, and that’s OK with Gonzalez, too.

 

“The Mohawks look good on some of those guys, but I don’t think my wife would buy that,” said veteran reliever Vinnie Chulk, another of Gonzalez’s regulars.

 

“But (Gonzalez) pulls out a straight razor in here and he’s got a steady hand. I saw him cutting another player’s hair so I asked him if he could do mine … just a regular haircut, trim it on the top and a little fade, if you will. Every team needs a barber with how much we travel.”

 

“Andy Gonzalez? He did mine, too,” said first baseman Sean Halton as he pushed away his long curly hair to reveal his groomed sideburns. “He does all flavors.”

 

“I just thought I would switch it up,” Farris said, referring to his Mohawk, which Gonzalez cut during a recent homestand. “I needed to switch gears a little bit, and Gonzo’s the guy for it.”

 

In the meantime, Gonzalez said he doesn’t mind helping his teammates out now that the cat’s out of the bag that he cuts hair.

 

“Now they all know, so everybody’s asking. It’s hard to find barbershops on the road,” he said. “It’s the same thing in the big leagues. You don’t want to give your hair to somebody you’ve never seen before. They might mess your hair up and you have to wait three weeks to get it back. I think every team has a barber.”

 

And while many players wonder what they’ll do after their pro baseball career ends, Gonzalez already has another profession he can rely upon.

 

Photos by George Walker IV / The Tennessean

 

Sounds infielder Andy Gonzalez, who doubles as the team barber, cuts pitcher Wily Peralta's hair in the team clubhouse.

 

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Andy Gonzalez gives Wily Peralta a Mohawk. 'He was doing (Eric) Farris' hair the other day, and I saw he did a pretty good (job),' Peralta said. '… I thought I'll let (Gonzalez) do it since he's pretty good at cutting hair.'

 

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[Mass Haas]

Corey Patterson making the best of his Nashville opportunity

[Mass Haas]

Getting To Know The 2012 Sounds: First Baseman Sean Halton

[Mass Haas]

Nice article here on Wily Peralta --

 

Working his way back to the Majors just another challenge for Nashville's Peralta to overcome

[HiAndTight]

Nice article here on Wily Peralta --

 

Working his way back to the Majors just another challenge for Nashville's Peralta to overcome

 

 

Don't get me wrong, I'll root for a Ryan Braun with a Gary Sheffield attitude...if he's doing it for our team(not that's the case with Braun at all) but it's a helluva lot nicer knowing the kid you're rooting for is a kid that came out of the DR when he was 17 and a great kid to boot.

[Mass Haas]

Getting To Know The 2012 Sounds: Outfielder Khris Davis

[TooLiveBrew]

Getting To Know The 2012 Sounds: Outfielder Khris Davis

Nickname: Krit

Sure, maybe to him...

[Mass Haas]

Sounds catcher Jason Jaramillo struggles to return to big leagues

by Autumn Allison, The Tennessean

 

Baseball is full of ups and downs. Just ask Jason Jaramillo.

 

After three seasons in the majors and a rough spring training, Jaramillo — pronounced HAIR-uh-mee-yo — found himself with a minor-league contract in Double-A ball.

 

Now a catcher with the Nashville Sounds, he is working to reach the big leagues again.

 

“I’ve been handed a tough one this year, just trying to fight through it and constantly working hard,” Jaramillo said. “Things will work out.”

 

The Wisconsin native got his professional start with the Philadelphia Phillies, who drafted him in the second round in 2004.

 

In 2008, the Phillies’ 10th-best prospect was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the next year he had 62 at-bats.

 

But after three straight seasons of being on the Pirates’ Opening Day roster, Jaramillo’s major league streak broke. During the past offseason, he was traded to the Cubs and invited to spring training as a nonroster player.

 

“Had a rough spring training,” Jaramillo said. “I got hurt, and consequently towards the end of spring training I was released. Maybe with a week and half to go in spring, I signed with the Brewers.”

 

As part of his minor-league free-agent contract with Milwaukee, Jaramillo was sent down to Double-A Huntsville. It was the first time since 2006 that he had been at that level.

 

“It’s humbling going into Double-A and trying to work your way back,” Jaramillo said. “It’s one of those things that have been thrown at me.”

 

Getting the contract was an opportunity for Jaramillo to play in his home state.

 

“There was an opening here (Milwaukee) to go Double-A,” Jaramillo said. “I’d always respected this organization and in the back of my mind and heart had wanted to play for the Brewers, you know being from Wisconsin.”

 

Until then, Jaramillo continues to work on “not focusing on where he is but on concentrating on giving it his everything every day.” But even with constant focus, Jaramillo is still working on overcoming the difficulties of the mid-season swap.

 

“It’s kind of difficult coming in mid-season trying to adjust to the different personalities, new pitchers, different styles,” Jaramillo said. “It’s a lot to get used to.”

 

Even though Jaramillo is still making adjustments to get “familiar to the plate,” Sounds manager Mike Guerrero sees skills and a work ethic that will succeed with time.

 

“He does have the ability to keep working, the ability is there … just has to get in the groove,” Guerrero said.

 

As for his return to the big leagues, Jaramillo is just waiting and trusting.

 

“I don’t have a set timetable or anything like that. We’ll see what happens. I’m a man of faith, so I put my trust in the Lord,” he said. “This is where he has me, so I’m going to put my trust in that."

 

A former second-round pick, catcher Jason Jaramillo has spent this season in the minors. / JOHN PARTIPILO, The Tennessean

 

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[Mass Haas]

"Getting to Know" series -- LHP Mitch Stetter

[Mass Haas]

Gindl is learning in Music City

Bill Gamblin, Santa Rosa (FL) Press Gazette

 

Caleb Gindl has learned a great deal in 2012 and now his bat is making some sweet music for the Nashville Sounds.

 

The former Pace High School standout was recently named the Pacific Coast League Batter of the Week on Aug. 27.

 

The 2007 fifth round draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers scorched opposing pitchers on a road trip that included Omaha and Round Rock.

 

Gindl batted .533 as he went 16-for-30 with five doubles, a triple, two home runs, 10 runs batted in, and scoring seven runs.

 

The Pace grad has been one of the best PCL hitters since the All-Star break.

 

"I feel like I have gotten hot at the right time," Gindl said. "I am finally getting rewarded for the hard work I have done this year."

 

He went one step further on Monday after being honored by the PCL as he hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning at Greer Stadium in Nashville to help the Sounds defeat the Iowa Cubs.

 

Gindl, who is completing his second season in Nashville for the Brewers, got off to a slow start this season, but things are turning around as many players like him are eyeing the Sept. 1 date when major league teams can expand their rosters.

 

"I sure hope I get called up after the season is over, but all of us here hope to get that chance as well," Gindl said. "They are not talking about it too much here, but the coaches keep giving us the same message.

 

"They remind us to go out there and do the best we can night in and night out."

 

Players like Gindl in Nashville will have to wait to see if they get the call from the big leagues as the Brewers have indicated they have no plans to call any of the Sounds up until their finish their season on Sept. 3 against the Memphis Redbirds.

 

Milwaukee's manager Ron Roenicke is looking at September differently than he did his first season when the Brewers ran away with the National League Central title.

 

"Last year was strictly to help us win," Roenicke said. "We didn't want to have a lot of guys up there, just because we liked the atmosphere and how it was going. This year, some of it may be to reward somebody, some of it may be to see a guy, to see if he's in the plans for next year, and with the pitching, we'll need a couple of starters."

 

Gindl has spent all of 2012 on the Brewers' 40-man roster and came close to making the major league squad out of spring training in Arizona.

 

After he was assigned to Nashville, Gindl got off to a very slow start batting just .205 in April and .220 in May.

 

Now he is batting over .260 and is hoping he can improve his batting average to .270 by the end of the season.

 

"This has been a very mental year on me," Gindl said. "I have never dealt with anything like this in baseball, but everyone has to at one point or another.

 

"I started to question myself and putting in a lot of extra work to help me become mentally stronger."

 

One of the biggest helps, as been those he has worked with plus someone who knows him better than anyone.

 

"One day I got a call from Coach Bagley who asked me what was going on," Gindl recalled. "But the biggest help I have gotten is from my dad, who has watched me play baseball since day one.

 

"He kept things in perspective for me and reminded me relax and try not to do everything in one at bat or on one pitch."

 

Gindl thought he had a lot to prove when he arrived back in Nashville and that is where he things the slump began.

 

"Sometimes in this game less is more, especially if you just let it happen," Gindl said. "I think there were time I was trying to prove something and do something in one at bat.

 

"It felt like I was hitting the ball right at people."

 

Now Gindl is looking at things differently.

 

"I try to find something positive out of every game now," Gindl said. "If I am struggling at the plate and not getting a hit then in the field I will try to make a diving catch or something to make sure they don't get a hit as well."

 

At 23 years of age Gindl feels he is doing everything he can to prepare himself for the majors as he has learned all three outfield positions so he could be more versatile when the opportunity presents itself.

 

"I am trying to do what every young man who gets drafted does and that is reach the major leagues," Gindl said.

[Mass Haas]

Sounds site: Season in Review

[Mass Haas]

John Sickels on Hiram Burgos

[Mass Haas]

Twitter:

 

Gord Ash stated that @nashvillesounds 1B Sean Halton will be learning LF in Venezuela this winter to help his versatility.

[Mass Haas]

Matt Eddy of Baseball America:

 

Marlins sign 1B/corner OF Jordan Brown to minor league deals. Brown slugged .477 vs. Triple-A righties this year.

 

C Humberto Quintero signed with Phillies.

[Mass Haas]

Claudio Vargas minor league deal with Toronto

[Mass Haas]

Audio highlights included --

 

2012 Nashville Sounds Honorable Mention Moments

[Mass Haas]

RHP Donovan Hand featured in hometown Alabama article

[Mass Haas]

Jeff Hem's blog: Opening Day ’12 vs. Opening Day ’13