Your 2013 Nashville Sounds

[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.

[Southern Leaguer]

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130330&content_id=43548816&vkey=pr_t556&fext=.jsp&sid=t556

[igor67]

Nashville always seems the hardest to predict how well they will do record wise, but with the mix of prospects and guys with experience they seem like they should be fun both on the scoreboard and with the prospect talent.

[Mass Haas]

Jeff Hem ‏@JeffHemPBP

 

The @nashvillesounds rotation order is currently set up like this: Thornburg, Burgos, Hellweg, Kroenke, and De La Cruz.

[monty57]

Halton, who will transition to right field for the Sounds this season due to Morris' presence at first base, led Nashville with 17 home runs and 57 RBIs in 119 games to earn club MVP honors in 2012.

 

Well, that answers the question of how they'll get Morris and Halton in the lineup every day. I saw that Halton played 3B for the Brewers in some later ST games, so I kind of hoped he would see some playing time there. We could use a good 3B prospect more than another OF prospect.

 

The Sounds ought to be a fun team to follow this year.

[MLS1965]

I'm looking forward to Thursday might. It's always nice to see the guys back. Donovan, Sean and Calib all had great springs and turned some real heads and I'm so proud of them. The Minors are fun for season ticket holders. Over time you get to know the guys on a more personal level. I look at the current Brewers roster and 80% of the team I know from Nashville and a few I'm still in touch with. I remember sitting down near the bullpen talking with John Axford for many games before his call up. I'm also guessing Cory Heart, Mark Rogers and Taylor Green will make a brief stops sometime in April.

[Mass Haas]

The Sounds are the best online presence in MiLB. Among other things, they make their entire media guide available in PDF format.

 

The Sounds wrapped up spring training games Saturday, Tyler Thornburg looked very good:

 

Right-hander Tyler Thornburg picked up the victory after striking out seven batters and allowing only one run on five hits over five innings of work.

[MLS1965]

Of course the current weather report for Thursday is heavy rain... UGH..!!!

[Mass Haas]

Photo gallery - each individual Sound for 2013's opener

[Mass Haas]

Jeff Hem's blog: Pitching Probables and Roster Notables

[Mass Haas]

Getting to know: Nashville Sounds pitcher Johnny Hellweg

by Nick Cole, The Tennessean

 

Three minutes with Sounds pitcher Johnny Hellweg:

 

Q: Who was your favorite baseball player growing up?

 

A: Well, I’m a pitcher, so obviously I liked pitchers. Randy Johnson is one that was fun to watch. Power guys that dominated, guys like Nolan Ryan.

 

Q: Who is the toughest hitter you have ever faced?

 

A: Everyone is tough in their own way, but the best hitter I have seen is probably (Cardinals top prospect) Oscar Taveras… he’s pretty advanced for his age.

 

Q: What is your fondest baseball memory?

 

A: Taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning in the high-A playoffs in 2011.

 

Q: What is your favorite thing about Nashville?

 

A: I’m new here, but I drove around the other day and the town looks awesome. All the restaurants and the nightlife looks pretty cool, so it will be fun to get out on the town and check it out.

 

Q: What is your favorite thing to do away from the ballpark?

 

A: I love to hunt. I’m a big outdoorsman, so I like to get away and get out to some property and ride some ATVs and do some hunting.

 

Q: Favorite movie of all time?

 

A: When I first saw ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ with the twist at the end, that was good. I liked that.

 

Q: What’s on your music player right now?

 

A: I’m a Pandora guy. My favorite station on Pandora is probably Eric Church or Kid Cudi.

 

Q: What is must-see TV for you?

 

A: Hunting shows — ‘Duck Dynasty,’ ‘The Fowl Life.’

 

Q: Favorite sport outside of baseball?

 

A: Soccer. I played in high school, I love to watch it on TV — I’m a big soccer guy.

 

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t a professional baseball player?

 

A: People ask me that all the time and I honestly have no idea. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else, so I just don’t know how to answer that question.

 

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[Mass Haas]

Sounds pitcher Hiram Burgos lives a dream at World Baseball Classic

Pitcher was dominant during Puerto Rico's second-place finish

by Nick Cole, The Tennessean

 

For Sounds pitcher Hiram Burgos, taking part in the World Baseball Classic was the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

 

The 25-year-old right-hander joined major league All-Stars such as Yadier Molina, Carlos Beltran and Alex Rios on the roster of his native Puerto Rico for the tournament held in March.

 

“It was really special,” Burgos said. “It was such an honor to play for your country. It was something that as a kid you see the Classic and you see all the stars, and you never realize that you could be there one day.”

 

Pitching as a long reliever out of the Puerto Rico bullpen, Burgos was a key member of the team that knocked out the United States and two-time defending champion Japan on its way to finishing as runner-up to WBC champion Dominican Republic.

 

“Being the second-best team in the whole world is something you can take with you for your whole life,” Burgos said. “Getting to the finals was something that was such an accomplishment for the whole country because we knew that on paper they didn’t have us moving past the first round.”

 

Burgos appeared in three games for Puerto Rico during the deep tournament run, logging a 0.69 ERA and striking out 12 batters in 13 innings of work.

 

He attributed the experience of throwing to Molina, a five-time Gold Glove winner at catcher for the Cardinals, as a big reason for his success in the tournament filled with a variety of big league stars.

 

“Molina is one of the best catchers in the game right now, and it was awesome to work with him,” Burgos said. “His attitude and everything was amazing. He gave me so much confidence as a young player. He had a plan and a confidence about him, but then he had trust in me. He would say, ‘Hey, throw what you want to throw if you think it will work,’ and he would let me shake him off.

 

“I was feeling so comfortable throwing to him.”

 

Burgos threw 4 2/3 innings in the WBC championship game against the Dominican Republic, allowing just one run against their star-packed lineup and striking out five.

 

“I just say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I was getting to face all of those guys,’ ” he said. “It should build confidence as a pitcher because when you are facing a lineup like the Dominican Republic, there is no one you can pitch around. It is better than any major league lineup out there.”

 

But perhaps the most thrilling experience for the 2012 Brewers minor league pitcher of the year was a first-round win over Spain.

 

Burgos recorded 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico — just 31 miles from his hometown of Cayey.

 

“I still have goose bumps,” he said smiling. “It is really something to have all your family and all your friends and all the people that know you but can’t go to the States to see you pitch.”

 

Burgos said that the sense of national pride and unity felt during the team’s deep run into the tournament was a breath of fresh air for an area that is often filled with crime and unrest.

 

“That was good for the country because I think baseball became the main sport again,” Burgos said. “I think the World Baseball Classic being over there really helped. It helps give hope to the young ballplayers over in Puerto Rico that are trying to get a better life and get out of the country and go to college or play professional baseball.”

 

Burgos, who said the Brewers were thrilled with his performance and participation in the WBC, took the momentum from his strong effort there into his first start with Nashville on Friday.

 

He threw five innings of shutout ball in a no-decision against New Orleans.

 

Burgos will take the mound for his second start of the season Wednesday night at Greer Stadium (7:05 PM) against Oklahoma City.

 

Puerto Rico's Hiram Burgos, now a member of the Sounds, celebrates after his national team beat Japan 3-1 in a semifinal game of the World Baseball Classic on March 17. / Eric Risberg / AP

 

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[Mass Haas]

Reminder that we had previously linked to Jeff Hem's April 13th audio interview with Chris Jakubauskas here.

 

***

 

Nashville Sounds' Chris Jakubauskas keeps chasing big league dreams

Sounds' reliever hopes for another call to big leagues

by Nick Cole, The Tennessean

 

The path to the big leagues can be a long and windy road, and no one knows that better than Sounds pitcher Chris Jakubauskas.

 

The 34-year-old has embarked on his 11th professional season as a relief pitcher for Triple-A Nashville — his 16th professional team — in search of a fourth opportunity to crack a Major League roster.

 

To fully appreciate the persistence shown to still be chasing that dream, one must first understand where the 6-foot-3 righty has been.

 

Jakubauskas was not a fire-balling, top-round draft pick like many of his Sounds teammates.

 

In fact, he wasn’t drafted at all.

 

Jakubauskas spent his college career making headlines as a hitter, not a pitcher. He split time between Citrus College in Glendora, Calif. — where he set school records for home runs, doubles and RBI — Santa Clara and a final season with the University of Oklahoma.

 

“I grew up pitching and hitting when I was young,” Jakubauskas said. “I did both all the way up through junior college until I got to the University of Oklahoma, where I just mainly focused on hitting. And one day, my swing just left me. I couldn’t hit anymore. I couldn’t hit water if I fell out of a boat.”

 

With his senior season behind him and no swing to fall back on, opportunities seemed limited for Jakubauskas to continue playing the game he loved.

 

The California-native decided to a make a trip to Lakeland, Fla., in search of a tryout for the independent Frontier League. It was there that an impressive showing on the mound earned him a chance to continue his baseball career as a pitcher.

 

He signed his first professional contract with the Florence (Ky.) Freedom in 2003, earning as little as $608 per month to pitch and be the team’s designated hitter on non-pitching days.

 

“A leap of faith is probably an understatement,” he said about the decision to play in the independent leagues. “It’s a crapshoot. You’re hoping that one day you do well that somebody is there to see you, and you’re hoping you did well enough for them to take a chance on you.”

 

Jakubauskas spent four years in independent ball, battling through Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for nine months and working odd jobs to make ends meet, before finally finding that break he was looking for at age 28.

 

The Seattle Mariners signed him to a minor-league contract on June 13, 2007, and assigned him to Double-A West Tennessee.

 

Sensing that time was short for a 28-year-old prospect, Jakubauskas knew he had to work quickly to impress the organization to avoid being released.

 

Posting an 8-1 record and 1.88 ERA in his first full minor league season did plenty to prove that he belonged in professional baseball.

 

He opened the 2009 season as a member of the Mariners, Jakubauskas had reached his ultimate goal as a 30-year-old rookie.

 

“It was funny, I didn’t really care that I was 30. I would have a 24-year-old kid ask me to go get a cup of coffee, and I was glad to do it,” he said.

 

Jakubauskas finished his rookie season with a 5.32 ERA and 6-7 record in 35 appearances (eight starts) for the Mariners. After his debut season, he was claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

 

After spending the beginning of the 2010 season at Triple-A Indianapolis, Jakubauskas finally got the call to return to the bigs for a start with the Pirates.

 

That’s when things took a turn for the worse.

 

Jakubauskas was not even a full inning into his first appearance for the Pirates when he took a Lance Berkman line drive off his head — effectively ending his season.

 

“It pretty much cost me the whole year, and it almost got me out of the game,” Jakubauskas said. “It pretty much took me until almost February to sign with another team following that season.”

 

Battling the psychological impact that goes with taking a line drive off the skull, Jakubauskas was able to make Baltimore’s roster out of spring training in 2011. He posted a 5.72 ERA in 33 appearances for the Orioles that season, which marks his last appearance in the big leagues at age 32.

 

He has since spent time with the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays organizations, but was unable to crack their Major League rosters.

 

This season with Milwaukee may be the last opportunity for Jakubauskas to make one final attempt at beating the odds, but the veteran says he’s content with the way everything has worked out.

 

“I took the road least-traveled, but it got me to this place that I wanted to be,” he said. “I have had some success, got some time in the big leagues and really enjoyed myself along the way.”

 

Chris Jakubauskas (39) was hit in the head by a line drive while with Pittsburgh in 2010. / Pat Sullivan / File / AP

 

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Jakubauskas made his first trip to the Major Leagues with Seattle in 2009, when he pitched in 35 games. / Elaine Thompson / File / AP

 

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[Mass Haas]

Two Nashville Sounds players headed to the top - together

Morris, Gennett reach same levels over the years

by Nick Cole, The Tennessean

 

Brewers’ prospects Hunter Morris and Scooter Gennett are one step away from the big leagues — and if history is any indication — they might just make it there together.

 

From Wisconsin to Florida to Alabama to Tennessee, Morris and Gennett have used contrasting styles to move up the Brewers’ minor-league ladder in lockstep since becoming teammates in 2010.

 

Morris is a stout, power-hitting first baseman who earned the Southern League Most Valuable Player award after slugging a league-high 28 home runs last season.

 

Gennett, on the other hand, is a scrappy, 157-pound second baseman who consistently shows a knack for making something exciting happen on the diamond and holds a career batting average north of .300.

 

Together, they have formed one of the better right-sides of the infield in the minor leagues over the past four seasons.

 

Gennett, a 16th-round pick in the 2009 draft out of Sarasota, Fla., chose to forgo the opportunity to play college ball at Florida State to begin a professional career.

 

His first assignment from the Brewers was to join Single-A Wisconsin at the beginning of 2010.

 

It was there that Gennett and Morris met, after a standout junior season at Auburn earned Morris the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Award and made him the fourth-round selection of the Brewers in the 2010 draft.

 

“From day one we have been on that side of the infield together,” Morris said. “It has been fun — we work together all the time, we get along great, and there is definitely a good relationship there. I think we learn a lot from each other as we go.”

 

After that opening season in Wisconsin, the two moved together to Advanced-A Brevard County in 2011 and also made the full-time jump to Double-A Huntsville in 2012.

 

The familiarity with each other developed in those seasons leaves Gennett and Morris with a sounding board for frustration and a place to turn when things aren’t going well on the field.

 

“We try to steer each other in the right direction,” Morris said. “He tells me things I can do better based on what he sees that I don’t see and vice versa. I try to tell him things when he starts rushing or trying to do too much in the field or at the plate or whatever it is. I’m just going to tell him: ‘This is how it is when you are going good’ and he does the same for me.”

 

But perhaps the bigger on-field advantage to the relationship is the ability to know exactly what the other is going to do defensively without uttering a word.

 

“You get an advantage when you get into a situation where it is more instinctual,” Gennett said. “Because you kind of know what the other is going to do before it happens. That always gives you an edge as an infielder.”

 

“We are so comfortable with each other now, we don’t even have to communicate anymore,” Morris added. “I know which balls he is going to get and which ones he is not. So I know which ones I know I need to go for and I know the ones that he has gotten to a hundred times before, so I can just get back to the bag and be ready for the throw.”

 

Moving levels of competition at the same time has its advantages, too.

 

Changing minor-league teams often involves an adjustment to new teammates, coaches, stadiums, living conditions, weather and level of competition, but the two have experienced that together.

 

“Whenever you are thrown into a new environment, to have somebody that you are familiar with and comfortable with is huge,” Gennett said. “A lot of times guys don’t get that. I guess we are fortunate that we have progressed together and are able to feel comfortable no matter what situation we go into.”

 

The newest assignment is with Triple-A Nashville this season, one step away from their ultimate goal of a big-league career in Milwaukee.

 

Both guys have experienced a varied level of success in their first three weeks on the job in the Music City, as Gennett leads the Sounds in batting average and Morris leads the team in extra-base hits.

 

But both are quick to say the game is much different at the highest level the minor leagues has to offer.

 

“Everybody now really has a sense of what is going on,” Gennett said of Triple-A. “Guys are doing the right things in each situation. You don’t have guys taking those big swings when the situation calls for getting a runner over, you know, you just see more things in situations that you didn’t see as much at the other levels.”

 

Said Morris: “I think the biggest difference is the way that pitchers understand hitters and the game of baseball at this level. Pitchers really have a plan and see holes in swings a lot quicker. It’s not necessarily just guys with great stuff just rearing back and challenging hitters, it is much more of a finesse mentality to go along with really good stuff, so it’s definitely an adjustment to be made.”

 

“It only gets tougher from here, so it is good to be seeing it now and learning how to make those adjustments.”

 

Hunter Morris, left, and Scooter Gennett have played on the same side of the infield since being on the same Single-A team. / Larry McCormack, The Tennessean

 

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[Mass Haas]

Getting to Know: Donovan Hand

[Mass Haas]

Getting to know: Hainley Statia

[Mass Haas]

From the Tennessean:

 

Three minutes with Sounds third baseman Scooter Gennett…

 

***

 

Versatility is map to majors for Nashville Sounds' Josh Prince

Prince practices seven positions

[bork]

From the Tennessean:

 

third baseman Scooter Gennett

 

[/i]

 

[sarcasm]Good to see him increasing his versatility.[/sarcasm]

[Mass Haas]

Tennessean: Getting to know Stephen Parker

[Mass Haas]

Getting to know: Sounds catcher Blake Lalli

[TooLiveBrew]

EDIT: I split the Morris/Gennett discussion that came up in the MiLB Transactions thread & put it here, in the interest of keeping the transactions thread neater & tidier.

 

 

Scooter Gennett to Milwaukee - I imagine there will be plenty of discussion on our major league forum.

 

Congrats, our Muppet Babies friend.

So... decent amount of coverage at 2B between Weeks/Bianchi/Yuni/Sea Bass, Gennett cooled off significantly in May (.634 OPS, .581 last 10 games) & gets callup.

 

Awful offensive production at 1B from Yuni/Sea Bass, Corey Hart rehab news has gone silent, Hunter Morris puts up a May OPS north of 1.000 & doesn't get called up.

 

Got it.

[DHonks]

Hunter has a lot of work to do in AAA. I'm not worried. If he's going to develop into a solid big leaguer, he likely needs all year in AAA and perhaps a chunk of next year.

[djoctagone]

Hunter has a lot of work to do in AAA. I'm not worried. If he's going to develop into a solid big leaguer, he likely needs all year in AAA and perhaps a chunk of next year.

and a spot on the 40-man roster . . . which is currently full, and excludes corey hart.

[TooLiveBrew]

Hunter has a lot of work to do in AAA. I'm not worried. If he's going to develop into a solid big leaguer, he likely needs all year in AAA and perhaps a chunk of next year.

What do you think he still needs to work on? Curious to get your take.

[DHonks]

I haven't seen him play, but simply from a stats side of things he needs to continue to work on things. He has had one good month and one bad month in AAA. Before this year he had one good year in AA and two poor offensive years in A ball. I guess the Brevard season was good with hr and 2b, but that's about it. I guess I'm only slightly more excited by him than Nick Ramirez. I like that they have power from the left side, but for a non-elite prospect I like more than 1 good month in AAA. His numbers still pale in comparison to the work Gamel did over multiple seasons or Green did in his 1 1/2 good seasons, and they have flopped thus far in the big leagues for various reasons