Your 2013 Nashville Sounds

[TooLiveBrew]

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

On the Ramirez comparison: I think it's important to remember that Nick is just 10 months younger, & two levels behind, Morris. Hunter had an historically good (by Southern League standards) season at AA last season, and iirc got stronger as the season went along (his BB rate certainly did).

 

What I see with Morris is a player who has improved quite a bit over the course of the past season+, and not a guy that simply has had one bad & one good month in AAA. I see continued progression carried over from his breakout season last year. Imo it's reflected in not only his stellar month of May 2013, but also in his improved-even-over-2012 BB rate... currently on pace for about 60 BBs (finished w/40 in '12).

 

Now, none of that means that I think he's elevated himself into an elite prospect status. However, I do personally believe that Morris has turned into a very legit hitting prospect. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he winds up as basically a left-handed version of Corey Hart at the big-league level. At least statistically, they profile pretty similarly as hitters imo -- SLG%s carried as much by doubles as homers, BB rates that leave a little bit to be desired, but good raw power.

 

I realize I'm probably a bit more bullish on Morris than many, but I believe he has given reason to be more bullish about him in the past season+. For me it's not just a hot year in '12 that could just as easily have been a fluke, it was gradual improvement that he looks to be sustaining.

 

I agree that more time in AAA certainly can't hurt, but I'm a bit disappointed he's been kept at Nashville when it seemed to me there has been a perfect opportunity to let him get his feet wet at the big-league level.

[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.

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

And as a follow-up to my latest reply, this is a perfectly good reason to not call him up, and one I definitely missed. Good call, djoctagone. I swear you're the Brewers transactions guru.

[Mass Haas]

Getting to Know -- Rob Wooten

[Mass Haas]

Getting to Know -- Jesus Sanchez

[Mass Haas]

Davis' career echoes father's

by Mack Burke, The Tennessean

 

When Sounds outfielder Khris Davis was younger, he would accompany his father to work.

 

That led the 25-year-old to where he is today.

 

He got a closeup look at players such as Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez while his father, Rodney, worked as a coach and scout in the Seattle organization.

 

“I would watch what their routines were and how they worked,” Davis said. “I was a kid and mostly star-struck, honestly, so I didn’t say much, but they knew I was out there.”

 

That experience also made it easy for him to decide what to do.

 

“I got started playing baseball because of the bond with my father,” said Davis, whose father also worked as a scout with Cleveland and Arizona. He’s now a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

 

Sounds manager Mike Guerrero knows what that’s like. His father, Epy, who died May 23 at age 71, was a well-known Dominican scout who is credited with signing such players as Carlos Delgado, Tony Fernandez and Alcides Escobar.

 

Guerrero said having a father in professional baseball helps a young player, and son, develop the necessary tools he needs in order to be noticed and enter the professional game.

 

“He can tell you the pluses and minuses about the things you need to improve and the things that you are already skilled at,” said Guerrero, who made it to Double-A as a player. “But, you have to be able to overcome adversity once you’re (in the game).”

 

Davis’ mother also played a part in her son developing as a hitter. When his dad was away at work and couldn’t help a young Khris with his hitting, Sofia would take him to a local park.

 

“With my pops being a scout, he would travel a lot, so I would go to the park and toss up a baseball and hit it to my mom,” Khris said. “Or, she would throw beans and I would hit them with a stick, and that’s how I learned how to hit, really.

 

“That was freshening up the tools as far as my swing goes.”

 

Davis won a state baseball championship in his senior year in 2006 at Deer Valley High School in Glendale, Ariz., where he hit .592 with 10 home runs with 50 RBIs. He was drafted in 2006 by the Nationals in the 29th round but didn’t sign.

 

He played three seasons at Cal-State Fullerton, making it to the College World Series twice before being drafted in the seventh round by Milwaukee in 2009.

 

He reached Triple-A Nashville in 2012 and made his Brewers debut earlier this season.

 

“(The road) has been fast, but it has been slow at the same time,” Davis said. “It’s hard to look at the finish line, which is the big leagues, and want to get there and be rushed. But I just have to get better each day and trust that that will take care of itself with hard work.”

 

After he led the Brewers in home runs (six) and RBIs (16) in spring training, Davis made the 25-man opening day roster as a fifth outfielder.

 

“It’s a bit surreal,” Rodney Davis told the Wisconsin State Journal. “My son is one of the guys on baseball cards that I used to grow up looking at when I was a kid. I’ve loved baseball for a long time. I’m very happy for him. I know how long he’s pursued it and how long this mountain climb has been for him.”

 

Khris Davis struggled to get it going in the first month, going 3-for-16 (.188) in the Brewers’ first 26 games. So he was sent back to Nashville to get more playing time.

 

“I feel pretty humble,” Davis said. “And because I just came down from the big leagues, I know what it’s like, and it’s humbling to be here now because anything can happen.”

 

Even though his time in the major leagues has been short, Davis said he learned so much from his time there.

 

“There is so much information there that you have to take advantage of that, and the resources are unlimited,” he said. “It’s crazy how the environment influences your attitude and learning. It’s a good place to be.”

 

Davis also has struggled a bit since he’s been back in Nashville. He’s hitting .227 with six homers and 19 RBIs in 43 games.

 

“I’m a bit of a realist when it comes to my son,” Rodney Davis told the Wisconsin State Journal. “I know that he works very hard and that he’s talented. But I also know he’s got a lot of things to do to improve.”

 

Sounds outfielder Khris Davis learned about the game while watching his dad scout for major league teams as a child. / Sanford Myers photo, The Tennessean

 

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[CheezWizHed]

Probably some real pluses and minuses in having your Dad being a professional scout while you are trying to become a pro player.

[Mass Haas]

Getting to know: Sounds RHP Johnnie Lowe

[Mass Haas]

Sounds pitchers picked changeups over layups

Despite height, pitchers say their sport is baseball

by Mack Burke, The Tennessean

 

The Sounds have been mistaken for a basketball team while they were on a road trip.

 

With six pitchers who are at least 6 feet, 5 inches tall, there’s good reason. But among the Sounds’ tallest players, none seriously considered playing basketball after high school.

 

The tallest basketball junkie on the team is 6-1 closer Rob Wooten.

 

The tallest player is Johnny Hellweg, who is 6-9 and has a fastball that reaches the high 90s.

 

Hellweg grew up in a soccer and baseball family and only got into basketball when he was in middle school.

 

“I played both soccer and baseball all through grade school,” Hellweg said. “I started playing basketball in fourth grade and played it until eighth grade. I wasn’t awful at it, I just didn’t really have fun playing it, so I kind of gave it up once high school hit.”

 

Hellweg said he was 6-4 in high school and grew to his current height in his 20s.

 

“In 2009 to 2010, I grew like 4 inches after I got drafted,” said Hellweg, who was drafted in the 16th round by the Angels in 2008. “I’m asked the question like three times a day, ‘You must play basketball?’”

 

If Hellweg were to make it to the major leagues, he would be tied for fifth among the tallest pitchers in the league. The average major league pitcher is 6-2.

 

Relievers Michael Olmstead and Kyle Heckathorn and starter Jimmy Nelson are all 6-6.

 

“We have a big staff,” said Heckathorn, who is Hellweg’s roommate. “I guess if we ever had a brawl, we’d be all right, and I think we have a scrappy group.”

 

Starting pitcher R.J. Seidel, who is 6-5, grew up playing basketball. He was born in La Crosse, Wis., and followed the Wisconsin basketball team.

 

“I played (basketball) all the way up until I was 18, and it’s one of my favorites,” Seidel said. “But I always knew my future was in baseball.

 

“But everywhere I go, people always think basketball is the first sport I play.”

 

Reliever and spot starter Johnnie Lowe, who is 6-5, said most of the basketball talk in the clubhouse centers around North Carolina, thanks to Wooten.

 

“There’s always a little jabbing going around (about basketball),” Lowe said. “If you were to put a hoop and a basketball out here and say, ‘All right, guys, let’s see who can do what,’ then it’d get pretty competitive.

 

“I’ve got Wooten being a pretty good shooter. He seems like one of those skill guys.”

 

Lowe said he mainly played rec ball growing up.

 

Wooten was born and raised in North Carolina, and he bleeds Carolina blue. He pitched four years for the Tar Heels before being drafted by the Brewers in the 13th round in 2008.

 

“My dad was a basketball player in college, so he put the basketball in my crib before baseball, but we all knew what my ticket would be and that wasn’t basketball,” Wooten said.

 

“My focus started shifting more toward baseball, and I started drawing more interest in baseball than in basketball. After my junior year, I stopped playing basketball to focus on baseball because I knew I had a chance to go to North Carolina, my dream school, and I knew it wouldn’t be in basketball.”

 

The height of pitchers, from left, Johnnie Lowe, Kyle Heckathorn, Johnny Hellweg, Rob Wooten and R.J. Seidel could cause the Sounds to be mistaken for a basketball team. / Sanford Myers Photo, The Tennessean

 

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[Mass Haas]

Seidel's seven seasons

Kyle Deckelbaum, wkbt.com

 

DES MOINES, Iowa - Central grad R.J. Seidel hopes to follow in the footsteps of Damian Miller, Scott Servais, and George Williams -- Major League Baseball players from the Coulee Region.

 

After seven long years in the minors, he's one step away from doing so.

 

Seidel signed with the Milwaukee Brewers as a senior at Central High School, turning down a full scholarship to play at Arkansas. Now, he's pitching for the Brewers' AAA affiliate, the Nashville Sounds.

 

"Leaving home at 18, most kids get driven to college. We put him on an airplane and he left us," Lynda Seidel, R.J.'s mom said.

 

In seven years, R.J. has played in Helena, Montana; Charleston, West Virgina; Phoenix, Arizona; Appleton, Wisconsin; Melbourne, Florida, and Huntsville, Alabama. Finally, this May, he was called up to Nashville.

 

"A lot of travel, a lot of cool experiences a normal person doesn't get to go through," R.J. said. "A lot of ups and downs, though."

 

"It was tough on R.J., not only physically, but mentally," said his dad, Dick, who pitched in the Yankees organization.

 

"I spent a lot of time on the phone, with my dad especially, talking through outings, and the bad outings, when you don't know how to handle them, and you can't even fall asleep at night because you're thinking about it, thinking I wish I could take that pitch back," R.J. said.

 

"It's tough," Lynda said. "Your child wants to reach this goal, and not a lot of kids make it. So every level he's gotten to, I've just been so proud."

 

With all the miles Seidel has traveled, and the miles he still hopes to go, there's one place he still loves to travel: La Crosse.

 

"I appreciate everything the city's done for me," R.J. said. "I'm very, very proud of where I've come from."

 

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[Mass Haas]

Well, this was timely...first posted Tuesday pre-callup -

 

Getting to know: Sounds OF/1B Sean Halton

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Sounds' Hunter Morris makes his dreams come true

Majors draw near for first baseman

by Mack Burke, The Tennessean

 

Sounds first baseman Hunter Morris was only 8 or 9 years old when he discovered he had an overwhelming passion, and talent, for baseball.

 

“I didn’t really know what kind of future I could have in baseball, but that was kind of when I started getting the itch and wanted to do it all the time, and it was something I really had a passion for,” Morris said.

 

“And it probably began then that I started to pursue the goal of getting to a major league career.”

 

Morris, who leads the Sounds in home runs with 14, attributes his start in baseball to his mother’s passion for the game as well as his father’s shared passion and competitiveness. He said that was really when he started playing catch and learning the rules of the diamond.

 

Morris and his father would spend additional time together at the batting cages near their home after Morris finished with baseball and basketball practice.

 

He said that he and his father, during each season of the year, would stay up until midnight hitting baseballs in the cages, knowing that he had to be up early for school the next morning.

 

“It seemed like every night after practice or a game, I would go home and finish up my schoolwork and then I’d head to the cage with my dad for an hour or so,” Morris said. “There were nights where we’d get home at 11:30 or 12, and I’d have to be up at 7 o’clock for school.”

 

Morris’ practice and motivation helped develop his advanced skills, which allowed him to play up several age groups when he was younger. He then had to adjust to the type of play exhibited by the older kids.

 

Morris said when he was 9 years old he was placed on a 12-year-old-level team, where he quickly earned a starting role. He started playing travel baseball when he was 10 years old and went across the Southeast for tournaments.

 

“I started playing travel ball when I was 10, and I think that kind of opened the door to everything I’ve been able to do to this point,” Morris said. “We would travel around and play in Memphis, Nashville, Southhaven (Miss.) and Birmingham (Ala.).”

 

Morris’ advanced skill carried over to high school where, in eighth grade, he earned a starting spot — hitting in the third spot in the lineup — for the varsity team at Virgil Grissom High School in Huntsville, Ala.

 

He said that he and a few other players always would show up to school about 6 a.m. to get extra work in the batting cages with their coach.

 

“We worked hard; we pushed each other,” Morris said. “My best friend growing up, Blake Martz, played at Troy University, and if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have had that competitive drive to get to where I’m at.”

 

Morris hit .470 in high school with 46 home runs and 198 RBIs, played for Team USA in the World Games in Cuba in 2006 — where he won a silver medal — and was drafted by the Red Sox in the second round in 2007. However, he didn’t sign with Boston and instead attended Auburn.

 

“I was looking forward to the draft, and I wanted to sign out of high school. I wanted to go play,” Morris said. “But, at the same time, college was important, so I tried to make my decision on college early enough that I didn’t have to deal with (pressures of choosing college or professional baseball) along with the draft.”

 

Morris’ choice to attend Auburn worked out. He met his future wife, Macie, who played softball at Auburn, as he put together star seasons for the baseball program.

 

In 2008, Morris was named the SEC Freshman of the Year and was selected to the All-SEC second team. He was honored as SEC Player of the Year in 2010 after hitting .386 with 23 home runs and 76 RBIs. Morris was only the second player in SEC baseball history to be named both SEC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year.

 

“(Auburn) wanted me to play from day one, and that is a big selling point for anybody who is going to play for a big program like that,” Morris said. “I had to earn it, and by all means it wasn’t given to me.”

 

Morris’ Auburn team, though, never made it to a College World Series.

 

After college, Morris was drafted in the fourth round by the Brewers in 2010, and his first stop in the minor leagues was with the Low-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, where he had nine home runs and 44 RBIs while hitting .251 in 71 games.

 

He then moved up to the Advanced-A Brevard County Manatees in 2011, where he hit .271 with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs in 126 games before being promoted to the Double-A Huntsville Stars for four games.

 

In 2012, Morris had an eye-opening full season with hometown Huntsville, where, in 136 games, he led the Southern League in home runs (28) and RBIs (113), plus added 40 doubles to go with a Minor League Rawlings Gold Glove Award at first base.

 

Morris said his time at Huntsville was comforting because of all the family and friends he had in the area to support him.

 

“It was nice to have friends and family every day,” Morris said, “and to go home and be with my wife and son every night was just really awesome.

 

“My parents still live in Huntsville, and my wife’s from Huntsville, so it’s her whole family, and it made a lot difference in my personal life,” Morris said. “It’s a chance most guys don’t get, and most guys that have families, kids and wives may go six or seven months without seeing them, but for me, I was literally at home for half of the season being able to sleep in my own bed.”

 

In 2013, entering Tuesday night’s game, Morris was hitting .240 for the Sounds and is second in RBIs (37). He has been able to ride the wave of his humbling career experiences on and off the field.

 

“Certainly a year like last year will give you some confidence moving forward, knowing that you belong and you’ve earned a chance to move up and spend another year trying to prove yourself,” Morris said. “But, for me, there have certainly been some struggles this year.

 

“The home runs are there, but there are still some adjustments to be made. The game changes, and it has changed this year for me, so now it’s just about learning a new approach to hitting and learning more about myself as a player.

 

“I’d rather take my lumps now and learn from it rather than spinning my wheels and trying to keep my head above water.”

 

Hunter Morris leads the Sounds with 14 home runs and is second on the team in RBIs. / Autumn Allison Photo, The Tennessean

 

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[Mass Haas]

Tennessean -- Getting to Know: Tim Dillard

[Mass Haas]

The headline writer jumped the gun, but some nice reminiscing by Tim Dillard in a hometown Mississippi profile.

[Mass Haas]

Seven Sounds make debut on 'Show time'

Sounds find their way to major leagues

by Marc Torrence, The Tennessean

 

When Nashville Sounds second baseman Scooter Gennett got called into manager Mike Guerrero’s office after a game in Round Rock in June, he thought he was in trouble. Guerrero told him that he wouldn’t be playing in the Sounds’ next game.

 

It turns out, he would be on a plane to Milwaukee to make his major-league debut.

 

Gennett is one of seven Sounds to have played in a major-league game for the first time this season, fulfilling the dream to go to “The Show.”

 

“There’s no words to describe it because it’s something you’ve worked your whole life for to finally to get the opportunity to be there,” said Sounds outfielder Josh Prince, a 2009 third-round pick by the Brewers who was called up just two days into the Sounds’ season.

 

“There’s still no words to this day to describe the feeling I had because it’s a feeling I’ve never had before.”

 

Players said the first at-bat is when it hit them.

 

“That first time you walk up and you’re walking up and you see ‘major league debut, first at-bat’ on the scoreboard, and you hear 30,000 fans screaming for you,” Prince said. “I had to take a step out of the box and just kind of take a deep breath because the adrenaline was running so much.”

 

Gennett had a special moment in Cincinnati. Playing in his hometown, with family and friends in the stands, he hit his first major-league home run.

 

“It’s weird how all of that works out,” Gennett said. “Overall, it was just a really good day.”

 

And they quickly learned that rookies have to pay their dues. Gennett said he had to get water and food for the older players.

 

Caleb Gindl wasn’t so lucky.

 

After his first major-league hit, the ball was tossed into the dugout for him to save. But Brewers pitcher Kyle Lohse switched it with a new ball, and threw the new one into the stands, making Gindl think his milestone ball was gone.

 

“They got me a little bit with that,” Gindl said.

 

But playing for a major-league team comes with some major-league perks as well.

 

On a trip to Los Angeles, Prince met country music star Rodney Atkins backstage after a show. Atkins paid Prince a return visit last Tuesday in Nashville before a game, and Prince threw batting practice to the singer’s son and bandmates.

 

As for advice to players making their MLB debut?

 

“I would just say relax,” Gennett said. “You’ve got to trust your abilities anywhere you are to be able to play the best you can. Just relax and trust yourself and trust what got you there and don’t change anything. Don’t feel like now that I’ve made it I can stop working as hard. You’ve got to work just as hard to stay.”

 

FORMER SOUNDS’ MAJOR-LEAGUE DEBUTS

 

Sounds players who played their first major-league game this season:

• Khris Davis - April 1*

• Josh Prince - April 6*

• Donovan Hand - May 26

• Scooter Gennett - June 3*

• Caleb Gindl - June 15*

• Johnny Hellweg - June 26

• Sean Halton - June 27

* - Returned to Sounds roster.

 

Sean Halton gets his first major-league hit, a single, during the Milwaukee Brewers' June 27 game against the Chicago Cubs. Halton is one of seven Sounds who made his major-league debut this season. AP Photo

 

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[Mass Haas]

Hunter Morris dealing with a season of a few headaches

Mark McCarter, Huntsville Times

 

NASHVILLE, Tennessee - "It was really kinda funny," Hunter Morris begins, and well, I guess if concussions and disabled lists are real hilarious, thigh-slapping, Comedy Central sort of events, then this was it.

 

Fresno's Chris Dominguez, a mere 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, hit a two-hop bouncer off the nub of his bat, down the first base line. Morris scampered up to get the ball and tag the oncoming Dominguez. About that time pitcher Tim Dillard, was hustling over to help on the play.

 

"Dillard was in front of me and we got out feet tangled up," Morris says. "And when I fell forward, my head and the runner's knee were in the same place at the same time."

 

We'll pause for a moment while you stop guffawing.

 

Not quite as long as Morris got himself paused - a week on the disabled list, his first DL sentence in pro ball - early this season, his first at Class AAA Nashville.

 

Morris is the former Grissom High and Auburn University standout who in 2011 became the first Huntsville-born player to appear for the Huntsville Stars. He spent the full 2012 season with Huntsville, winning the Southern League Most Outstanding Player award, batting .303 with 28 homers, 113 RBIs and 40 doubles; he led the league in homers and RBIs, was second in doubles and slugging average, 11th in batting average.

 

There are no physical after-affects from the concussion. Everything is 100 percent now, as Morris leans on the wall of the third-base grandstands at Greer Stadium minutes before a pregame ceremony in which he'd be presented the 2012 Huntsville Times Sportsperson of the Year award.

 

Morris homered in his Class AAA debut and is third in the Pacific Coast League - yes, geography students, Nashville is in the Pacific Coast League - in homers at 18, which puts him ahead of last year's pace. But going into Tuesday night's play, he was batting .244 with only 48 RBIs.

 

"Defensively, I'm very pleased with where I am," he says. "That's been a main focus of mine. At the plate, the power numbers are ahead of last year but the batting average and RBIs have taken a big hit. That comes with this being my first year in Triple-A. I'm facing a lot of guys with experience who know how to pitch. Now I'm making the adjustments, trying to keep up with them."

 

There has been a lifestyle adjustment for him as well. The demands of being in his hometown have subsided. However, it also means wife Macie and son Tripp aren't there on a daily basis. The travel has gone from bus rides, most of which were six hours or less, to cross-country commercial flights, with 3:30 a.m. wakeup calls after a night game, to hustle to the airport for a flight and a game that night.

 

Morris was given a look-see in spring training by the Milwaukee Brewers for the first base job, left open by an injury to Corey Hart, but he didn't produce at the plate. Since then, Milwaukee has used seven different first basemen on its stagger to last place in the NL Central, and nine different Sounds have been promoted to the majors since April.

 

"If I start worrying about what's going on in Milwaukee, I'll drive myself crazy," Morris says. "I already put enough pressure on myself. Most people will tell you that the pressure I feel I put on myself. That's something I've got to get past."

 

There is this one thing, though.

 

"From what I've heard, the travel in the big leagues is easy," he says. "That's something to look forward to."

 

Former Grissom High standout Hunter Morris, center, is presented the 2012 Huntsville Times Sportsperson of the Year award by Times columnist Mark McCarter, left, at a recent Nashville Sounds game. Sounds manager Mike Guerrero is at right. (Special photo/The Nashville Sounds)

 

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[Mass Haas]

Sounds reliever makes transition from catcher

by Mack Burke, The Tennessean

 

NASHVILLE — Sounds reliever Jesus Sanchez recalled pitching just three times prior to 2008, and he said that was in a Venezuelan little league.

 

Since 2004, the 25-year-old Sanchez has converted from shortstop to catcher to relief pitcher.

 

He was playing shortstop in Venezuela when the Yankees organization signed him in July 2004 and suggested that he move behind the plate.

 

Sanchez hit .165 with the Dominican Summer League Yankees in 2005. Then he hit .220 in the next three seasons in the minors, which included a trade to Philadelphia in the Bobby Abreu deal.

 

“One day I was called into the office, and they said, ‘Hey, listen, we think you have talent as a catcher, but we think the fastest way to make it to the big leagues, if you’re going to make it, is as a pitcher,’” Sanchez said. “They liked my arm and all that, but my hitting wasn’t getting better.

 

“This is a game of opportunities and you just take what they give you, you know?”

 

What sparked the switch was a drill in Phillies spring training in 2008. Sanchez, who was beginning his last season as a catcher, was clocked at 91 mph throwing to second base from home plate.

 

“By the middle of the season that year, they said, ‘Hey, we want you to be a pitcher,’” Sanchez said. “And, I’ll tell you, I thought I was going to throw 100 (mph).

 

“I mean, I would throw the ball from behind the plate, and I would hit the second baseman or shortstop in the forearm because they thought the ball was going to dive, but it would rise.”

 

Sanchez pitched just one inning that year and was released by the Phillies in 2010. But he signed with the Brewers in 2011 and is 3-1 with a 2.05 ERA in his second season with the Sounds, throwing between 92-95 mph.

 

“Usually catchers have big arms, and for the most part, guys behind the plate with big arms who don’t get it done in the catching role, they stick them on the mound to see how well they do,” Sounds pitching coach Fred Dabney said. “He was no exception with his arm.”

 

Dabney worked with current Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen, who also switched from catcher to pitcher.

 

Sanchez said catchers and pitchers approach hitters in a similar way.

 

“The most important thing for me is that you learn that hitting is not easy,” Sanchez said. “You don’t give (hitters) too much credit, and you have seven more guys behind you that can make plays.

 

“So, that’s one thing that I think someone who’s never hit (professionally) before doesn’t have in mind, so I think that takes a lot of pressure off of me.”

 

He gets help from Sounds catcher Anderson De La Rosa, who was also his teammate in Double-A Huntsville in 2011 and 2012.

 

“I have a good connection with Jesus,” De La Rosa said. “When he comes into the game, I know what he wants to throw because I talk to him a lot. We stayed together in Huntsville, and I have a connection with him. When he’s not in the game, I go over and talk to him about certain situations.”

 

After Sanchez’s first season in Huntsville, Brewers bullpen coach Lee Tunnell suggested that Sanchez stop throwing a curveball and start throwing a cut fastball (two-seam), which was set up to help him later learn a slider to go along with his change-up.

 

Sanchez’s favorite player growing up was the all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera, who has made a Hall of Fame career with the Yankees using a cut fastball.

 

“His feel for pitching is there,” Dabney said of Sanchez. “His execution and fastball command is tremendous, and he’s got his slider in place and is just trying to work in getting consistent with his third pitch (change-up).”

 

Sanchez said that because of his struggles at the plate, he has learned to pound the strike zone rather than picking at the corners of the plate and risking walks.

 

“(Hitters) don’t know what’s coming,” Sanchez said. “So you can just attack them. When you attack hitters, you make them think, and when they’re thinking, they have no time to react.”

 

Relief pitcher Jesus Sanchez went from playing a catcher to now being a productive pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

 

http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20130710&Category=SPORTS04&ArtNo=307100105&Ref=AR&Profile=2072&MaxW=600&Border=0

 

***

 

VIDEO - Sounds pitching coach Fred Dabney discusses Sanchez in more detail

[Mass Haas]

Tennessean: Getting to know Sounds outfielder Caleb Gindl

 

Q: What is your fondest baseball memory?

 

A: Probably the day I got drafted. I always wanted the opportunity to maybe make it to the big leagues one day, and I remember the day that that happened. That was probably the best day of my life, just to get the opportunity.

 

***

 

Guessing this was done before the big league call-up...

[Mass Haas]

Comedy online, and in the clubhouse

 

Includes video...

[Mass Haas]

Jimmy Nelson interview posted at Disciples of Uecker

[Mass Haas]

Sounds' Kentrail Davis began baseball training in his backyard

by Mack Burke, The Tennessean

 

Sounds outfielder Kentrail Davis stuck with baseball after most of his Mobile, Ala., friends stopped playing the sport as they got older.

 

“I really just (started) to play because all of my friends played,” Kentrail said. “That’s kind of how we all did things, and after a while I really started to like it. Just kept playing, and my friends stopped (playing). I hung with it.”

 

Today, Kentrail, 25, is an outfielder for the Sounds and one step away from the major leagues.

 

A standout in high school, he played in the 2006 AFLAC All-American High School Baseball Classic, and was named by Baseball America as the Louisville Slugger/National High School Baseball Coaches Association High School Player of the Year for the state of Alabama in 2007, his senior year.

 

Davis credits a lot of his early motivation in the game to his father, Kenny, who tried hard to work with him on his game.

 

“My dad just kind of pushed me and said, ‘Hey, you want to be better at this, you need to work at it,’ and that’s what I did,” Davis said. “My dad is my biggest motivator, my biggest fan.”

 

Kenny spent long hours working construction when Kentrail was young but managed to find the time to work with, and motivate, his son to push himself to success in baseball. Kenny provided support in several ways, including a batting cage that he placed in the yard for Kentrail.

 

“We got him a batting cage, so he could hit every day,” Kenny said. “We didn’t have to make him hit. It was just something he wanted to do.

 

“We got a pitching machine, and I would go out there and feed (baseballs) to him (through the machine) or toss them to him. I did construction work and worked long hours, so when I wasn’t there, he would go out there and turn the feeder on and get his swings in.”

 

Once Kentrail’s skills started to progress, he began attending camps and showcases and started working with training coaches. During the summer months, he even played for travel baseball teams that showcased a plethora of talent.

 

“When I was younger, my dad would work with me, but when I got older he would take me to coaches that he thought maybe had more experience than him,” Kentrail said.

 

Kenny said Kentrail played with current Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer on a summer travel team named the Florida Bombers.

 

In high school, Kentrail was scouted by professional teams and recruited by some of the best college baseball programs in the country before he settled at Tennessee. He passed up signing with the Colorado Rockies out of high school after they took him in the 14th round of the 2007 June amateur draft.

 

“That was a very exciting time for me then, coming out of high school,” Kentrail said. “I summed it up to three schools and that was LSU, Alabama and Tennessee.

 

“I took my recruiting trip (to Tennessee), and it was awesome,” Kentrail said. “After that, I felt good there.”

 

He hit .330 with 13 home runs and 44 RBIs in his freshman year at Tennessee, which led to him being named to the freshman All-American first team. He finished his sophomore season in 2009 with a .308 batting average with nine home runs and 30 RBIs.

 

“(Playing at Tennessee) definitely prepared me for what I’m facing now,” Kentrail said. “It taught me to discipline myself and develop a standard for how to do things.”

 

The Brewers took Kentrail 39th overall in the June 2009 supplemental draft, and he exploded onto the scene in 2010 when he played in 97 games with Milwaukee’s Low-A Wisconsin and Advanced-A Brevard County teams. That summer he hit a combined .304 with three home runs and 64 RBIs.

 

Kentrail has since slowed down a bit over the past couple of seasons. He played all of 2011 with Brevard County, where he hit .245 with eight home runs and 46 RBIs while stealing 33 bases. He spent all of 2012 with Double-A Huntsville, where he improved his average to .274 and added seven home runs and 41 RBIs.

 

This season, Kentrail started at Double-A Huntsville and hit .266 with five home runs and 33 RBIs in 88 games before being promoted to Nashville on July 11.

 

Since his promotion, Kentrail has provided a steady bat in the lineup and speed on the basepaths for the Sounds. He has hit .255 with six RBIs and a .336 on-base percentage in 28 games before Tuesday’s game while trying to develop a consistent approach at the plate.

 

“I know he may be discouraged sometimes about not playing at the level he thinks he should be playing at, but you know, that’s how it is,” Kenny said. “He’s going to keep working.

 

“He’s determined to get (to the major leagues), so hopefully he’ll get there.”

 

Kentrail has fallen into a few hitting slumps since he began his time in Nashville, but he has also put together long strides of consistent hitting at times, which can be attributed to his humble, resilient approach to hitting.

 

“I just try to get into a state where I think ‘Hey, this will pass,’ ” Kentrail said. “When you’ve been through something so many times, you kind of know how to get out of it, you really don’t panic about it.

 

“I just keep grinding away,” he added. “You learn how to grind your way out of it.”

[Mass Haas]

Via the Tennessean:

 

Sounds Q&A - Pitcher Travis Webb

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm surprised I/we missed this all season, but the Sounds have their own Instagram account. Some fun pictures there, including this 2012 Elvis Night promo shot of Logan Schafer. Don't be cruel, click the links & check out their pics!

[Mass Haas]

Hellweg remains confident after stint in Majors

No. 3 prospect learned a lot while getting roughed up in three big league starts

By Kevin Massoth / MLB.com

[Mass Haas]

Via the Tennessean -- Down season had some ups

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Site: Sounds Season in Review