Your 2013 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

[Mass Haas]

Indications are that we will begin to see some formal minor league roster announcements as early as Friday 3/29 or Saturday 3/30.

 

Feel free to link to any formal notices you see here.

 

As you might know, we use the "Your 2013" threads to post and link to feature stories that are outside the scope of game activity covered in the Daily Link Report.

 

One thing folks will notice this year is that we'll be providing less of the "link PLUS copy-and-paste" and just going with links in many of our threads. While in the long-term, this will impact the archive aspect of the site as some of those links go dead down the road, it will also make it much easier for all providing the news, as formatting the copy-and-paste was among the more tedious and time-consuming aspects of the forum each day.

 

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

[liveforoctober]

First guy I've heard is OF Tyrone Taylor - 2012 2nd rd pick - via his own twitter feed.

 

Tyrone T ‏@Ty_roneTaylor 2h

Made the low a team! #timberrattler congrats to my teammates that made it as well! #letsgo #pumped

 

EDIT: Just saw that you posted this in the other thread. My fault.

[TooLiveBrew]

Man, this T-Rats roster could be pretty exciting to open the season. I have to guess Roache will start in Appleton as well, although if he gets bumped right to BC that'd be exciting in & of itself. A potential outfield of Roache/Taylor/Haniger would be great to watch.

 

EDIT: Also hoping to see Chris McFarland & Adam Giacalone in the infield

[liveforoctober]

I live about 5 minutes from the stadium so every spring lately is exciting to see what we get to start the year... I was hoping for one of Roache or Taylor .. but now that Taylor has confirmed himself I'm going to be greedy and hope for both, although Roache's stay would probably be brief (hopefully).

[nate82]

Man, this T-Rats roster could be pretty exciting to open the season. I have to guess Roache will start in Appleton as well, although if he gets bumped right to BC that'd be exciting in & of itself. A potential outfield of Roache/Taylor/Haniger would be great to watch.

 

EDIT: Also hoping to see Chris McFarland & Adam Giacalone in the infield

 

Looks like you are going to get your way there

 

2B Chris McFarland - Wisconsin (tweet)

 

This should be a very fun and exciting year to follow the T-Rats.

[TooLiveBrew]

Nice! Now if Coulter gets assigned there as well...

 

Yeah, it's (again) looking good to follow the T-Rats. We're also so lucky to have Chris Mehring providing MLB-caliber coverage of them.

[BrewCrewForever]

This roster looks like it will be stacked. Going to have to make the treck up north to Appleton at least a few times this season to see all this talent.

[TooLiveBrew]

This roster looks like it will be stacked. Going to have to make the treck up north to Appleton at least a few times this season to see all this talent.

No kidding! It seems like each time I check back in on the MiLB forum, there's another player worth watching that gets assigned to the T-Rats.

 

Plus, the new addition/club level at Fox Cities Stadium alone is probably worth checking out. My first game this season is definitely going to be in the club level. It's looking pretty sweet.

 

The T-Rats are such an awesome occurrence. It's not just the affiliation. The people involved in running the club are all just genuinely good people, and it shows in the product. Rob Zerjav has been such a brilliant choice to head that ship -- great guy.

[splitterpfj]

Here's the roster...

 

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130330&content_id=43551248&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t572&sid=t572

[liveforoctober]

Interesting that Roache isn't on Brevard County or Wisconsin's roster .. I wonder if he is starting in extended spring?

[TheCrew07]

He was hurt at the end of spring training, I highly doubt he's starting in AA, the Brewers have never done that with any player in the modern era. Hopefully we see him in WI or BC in the next 2 weeks.

[And That]

As noted at the tail end of that article, the T-Rats are one under the roster limit. That addition could well be Roache - the only other regular outfielders on the roster are Haniger and Taylor. That's going to be a stacked OF if/when Roache is added.

[homer]

That Wisconsin team is going to be very intriguing once Roache gets there. Looking forward to the season.

[Mass Haas]

Another intriguing aspect of this roster is the mystery man from Cuba, RHP Rodolfo Fernandez, about to make his pro debut.

[James Zumstein]

To all the naysayers about the Brewers lack of talent in their minor leagues, I give you the 2013 T-Rats!

[Mass Haas]

One guy I can't believe did not get a bump is LHP Mike Strong, back with the Rattlers.

 

Lefty (stats) struck out 60 in 42.1 IP last season, while allowing only 30 hits (yes, walk rate high, but gee...).

 

Wonder if he'll get closing opportunities to begin the season.

[splitterpfj]

6-4-3, I'm with you, this team has plenty of guys who have a shot at a major league career.

 

They're all on the lower end of the Brewers' ladder right now, some guys are coming off injury, and some guys are very young...this group right here has a chance to change some opinions out there.

[TooLiveBrew]

Coulter, McFarland, Arcia, Roache, Taylor, & Haniger in the field... with Lopez & Magnifico on the hill? That's some exciting talent.

 

I'm going to go to as many games as I'm able this season. The earlier the better, because Haniger & Roache might not be here long.

[monty57]

To all the naysayers about the Brewers lack of talent in their minor leagues, I give you the 2013 T-Rats!

 

While Nashville will be fun to follow, Wisconsin is certainly the roster that can answer some questions. With the young guys (Coulter, Taylor, Arcia, Lopez) and Roache's first season after the wrist injury, there is a lot of promise.

 

Hopefully they'll all excel and the Brewers can bring the teenagers up through the system together the way they did with the "first wave" guys (Fielder, Weeks, etc). I'd have to think that if Roach is healthy, he'll move through the system pretty quickly.

[ramssuperbowl1999]

I'm doing writeups for my top 50, and in some of the research I came across a fun fact regarding how ridiculously aggressive Orlando Arcia's Low A assignment is.

 

Does anyone know how many 18 year olds recorded a full season in the Midwest League last year?

 

1. Francisco Lindor.

[TheCrew07]

I'm doing writeups for my top 50, and in some of the research I came across a fun fact regarding how ridiculously aggressive Orlando Arcia's Low A assignment is.

 

Does anyone know how many 18 year olds recorded a full season in the Midwest League last year?

 

1. Francisco Lindor.

 

 

There aren't many in a given a year and truthfully if they excel outside of the Brewers most of those 18 year olds get a bump to A+ right away that first season as they are Latin kids whom have already performed and are on the fast track. At least as far as the ML and divisional prospects go, whom I spend the majority of my time following. In fact, outside of the Brewers many first year players don't stay in the league for a full season if they perform, but with that being said I'm not sure I would have bumped Gennett up after his first half in WI either, there was simply no need since the organization planned on resigning Weeks. Off the top of my head I'm thinking of American draftees like Trout, Bundy, Cowart, and so on regardless if they spent a year in short season ball or not prior to hitting A ball. I would desperately like Arcia to blow through the ML and earn a promotion to BC after the break. I'm not all that big on Yadie, he's one of those guys who flashes a ton of talent but stays pretty much the same guy from season to season. I don't think his presence in BC should have anything to do with Arcia's career path.

 

The talent the Brewers have in WI is nice and all, but it has to perform, and that still doesn't diminish the fact that above Rookie ball (which is largely meaningless) the Brewers were woefully thin on talent coming into the off-season. We've beat this into the ground over the winter, but again let's not count our chickens before they are hatched here. Many of us have continually said that this year could redefine our system if some of our position players perform. However, we're still awfully thin from an impact pitching standpoint below AA... as in there's no one... and there's not a lefty in the system worth being legitimately excited about so there's still plenty of work to be done.

 

I know Lopez was assigned to WI and had a projectable frame on draft day (and yes I obviously remember championing the pick) but that placement seems awfully aggressive based on his demotion all the way to the DSL last season. I'll be curious to see him in person for a variety of reasons which is why I think I'm going to catch the entire opening series next week at TWC field, with the exception of possibly Wednesday depending on who is pitching. If it's someone I'm lukewarm on I'll probably do my usual Wednesday Wings/Duck Dynasty thing at my brother's restaurant as I'll be able to catch them later in the season.

[Mass Haas]

RHP Taylor Mangum (2012 stats) is the 25th Rattler (24 players had been announced previously).

 

His tweet

 

Mangum was featured on the Wisconsin Sports Blog recently.

 

Earlier this week he thanked a couple of big league Brewers for their insights.

[TooLiveBrew]

Given this Mass Haas post, I wonder who will make way for Roache on Wisconsin's 25-man once he's healthy. Since Mangum will be the 14th pitcher, I'd have to guess one of those arms will be sent back to extended ST.

[battlekow]

On Jose Pena, from the Transactions thread:

 

Still so young (just turned 20), but was hoping for a Wisconsin placement. But with that OF, who sits? Yes, there's a DH, but we want to see Pena's RF gun regularly. They'll get him plenty of AB's in extended spring, and we all know injuries and player movement always happens. There's guys on the Helena roster deserving of being on full-season teams, and you'll see some of them get their chance before rookie league play starts in June.

It's a little interesting that the Brewers promoted Reed over Pena. Pena outhit Reed by a lot Helena (albeit in less than half as many games); it could be related to defense if they prefer Reed in center over Tyrone Taylor, but that just shifts the argument to Taylor vs. Pena. Reed and Pena are the same age, with Taylor a year younger. You could say Reed's offensive approach is more advanced given their walk rates, but Reed is the one who struck out 28% of the time last year.

 

Ultimately I guess it just comes down to "they like Reed more", exhibits A & B of which are his cameos at Brevard County and Huntsville last year.

[homer]

Ash confirms the Roache speculation in this thread:

 

Ash said outfielder Victor Roache, a first-round draft pick in 2012, remained in extended camp while recovering from a slight hamstring strain. Roache, who didn't play after signing because of a broken wrist, will report to Class A Wisconsin when ready to play.