Draft Pick Discussion Thread, Rounds 41-50

[colbyjack]

Please use this thread to share your thoughts on the Brewers picks on draft day from rounds 41 through 50. Please do not start separate threads to discuss the individual picks.

[Mass Haas]

Posted the same text in the Minor League Forum:

 

Maybe the Brewers just needed to wait and give the young man the summer off after a 180-pitch performance on May 26th (in a game that was interrupted two hours after the first inning, no less!), but the Brewers have signed RHP D.J. Lidyard, their 43rd round draft choice in the 2006 draft.

 

By the way, Lidyard pitched again on three days rest to end his season, allowed six hits and struck out four while pitching into the fifth inning.

 

It is believed Lidyard pitched this summer with the Team USA entry in the Honkbal International Tournament, which began July 21 in Haarlem, located outside of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

 

Lidyard, who will turn 21 late this September, pitched his junior college ball at Lower Columbia College in Washington state.

 

I would imagine that the contract begins in 2007, and thus his organization clock would begin next season.

 

Lidyard's slider has been described as "nasty" and "the hardest pitch to hit in his league".

 

Here's the game story link and text from Lidyard's season-ender:

 

www.tdn.com/articles/2006...news08.txt

 

Red Devils take tough loss in NWAACC Tournament opener

By Rick McCorkle, Longview (WA) Daily News

 

If the NWAACC Baseball Championships were won each year solely on gritty performances, then Lower Columbia College pitcher D.J. Lidyard would be packing home the title hardware.

 

Lidyard, a sophomore pitcher from Cascade Christian High near Puyallup, threw an eye-popping 180 pitches and struck out 14 in a complete-game 12-inning effort. But the Red Devils couldn't reward him, dropping a 2-1 decision to Everett in the tournament's final opening-round matchup Friday at soggy David Story Field.

 

"That was one of the guttiest performances I've ever seen," LCC coach Kelly Smith said of Lidyard, who was a 19th-round pick of Baltimore in the 2005 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft and has signed at Oregon State University. "He scattered 10 hits against a very good Everett team. We talked about getting him out of the game after nine innings, but he refused to come out. I've rarely had a guy tell me, 'No, I'm going back out there.'"

 

"My hat's off to Everett because they (the Trojans) are a very good ballclub," Smith said. "I knew we had a bad draw when I saw the tournament bracket. I hate to lose any game, but that's as good a game as you'll see at the junior college level. They made the plays, and got the hits and sacrifices when they needed them."

 

The contest was originally slated for 7:35 p.m. Thursday, but rain delayed the start to 9:35 on Friday morning. The inclement weather refused to go away, and the game was rescheduled for 2:35. Lidyard threw the top of the first inning and struck out three of the four Everett batters he faced before rain halted the contest. The game resumed two hours later, and he continued his mound mastery.

 

"I don't know what to say because we should've had them, but we came up a little short," Lidyard said. "I had my best stuff, but they managed to get by us."

 

Amazingly, his velocity didn't waiver much through the 12 innings. He was clocked at 94 miles per hour in the first inning, had a fastball that touched 91 in the 10th inning, and was in the mid-80s when he struck out Everett designated hitter Jake Northrup in the 12th.

 

"I think I had a 140-pitch game in high school as a senior, but 100 is usually my limit," said Lidyard, who had 126 of his 180 pitches ---- mostly sliders and fastballs ---- cut across the plate for strikes. "I was in a groove and the adrenaline had me up. I hope to come back and pitch Monday or Tuesday if they need me."

 

Smith's plan was to get as many innings as possible out of Lidyard to save his bullpen.

 

"We thought he deserved to be out there, because it may be the last time he's on the mound for the Red Devils," he said. "He definitely saved our pitching by staying out there."

 

LCC stranded 14 baserunners, including half in scoring position. By contrast, Everett left 11 baserunners, including five at either second or third base.

 

"We were snakebit because we had the game won more than a few times," Smith said. "We had a ball caught up against the wall in left field, and a ball that a guy makes a tremendous catch on that was a double-deep hit to right-center field. If he's 6-foot (Everett center fielder Daniel Ulrich is 6-3) he doesn't catch it, but he's taller and he grabbed it."

 

Devils first baseman Justin Burger launched a towering fly ball to left field in the ninth inning that was hauled in by Gavin Heinemann at the wall under the 326-foot sign, and Tony Jones had his looping drive to center caught by a stretching Ulrich to end the 10th.

 

The Devils broke up a scoreless tie in the sixth inning when Drew George drilled a leadoff double over Ulrich's head in center field, moved to third on a groundout from Jonah Hobson, and scampered home when Jones hit a line drive through the middle of the infield. Everett countered with a run in the top of the seventh when Ulrich was hit by a Lidyard slider, went to second on a sacrifice bunt from Nick Fleck, and scored on a base hit from Kevin Owens.

 

LCC had a chance to score the game-winning run in the eighth inning when David Hovde slapped a one-out single to left field and went to second on a wild pitch from Everett's Stephen Fife. But a base hit to left field by Garrett Brown was scooped up by Heinemann, who threw home to nail a sliding Hovde.

 

Everett plated the game-winner in the 12th when Fleck slapped a one-out single to the right-center field gap, Owens hit a line drive down the right-field line that moved Fleck to third, and Jake Hammons lifted a fly ball to deep center field that scored Fleck.

 

"It came down to a hit down the line," Smith said. "We probably lost the game in the early innings when we had a chance to score runs. In this tournament, you have to score runs every chance you get against good teams."

 

Fife scattered six hits and struck out three batters through nine innings before yielding to Brandon Eagon, who gave up a hit through the final three innings.

 

Brown and Hovde had two hits apiece for LCC. Everett's Micky Pingree had three hits, with Owens adding two singles and a double.

 

http://lcc.ctc.edu/athletics/baseball/mens/2005/pics/prof32.jpg

[SheetsCyYoung04]

after a 180-pitch performance

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eek.gif

[Mass Haas]

First, a link to our post on 2006 42nd round RHP Matt Peck:

 

p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...mp;stop=42

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.enidnews.com/siteSear...33928.html

 

Peck headed for OSU

By Mark Rountree

Enid (OK) News Sports Editor

 

One of the Enid Majors? big-game pitchers is going big-time.

 

Matt Peck has committed verbally to Oklahoma State.

 

Peck, 19, visited the Stillwater campus Monday, and came away with an offer from OSU head coach Frank Anderson.

 

?I want to be part of the program,?? said Peck, now a sophomore at Cowley County (Kan.) Community College.

 

Peck also was recruited by Louisiana-Monroe and Michigan State.

 

Peck went 6-1 with a 2.50 ERA last season for the Tigers and is expected to be one of the team?s top pitchers again this year.

 

Peck was drafted in the 42nd round by the Milwaukee Brewers in the June draft. He said there is a possibility he could sign with the Brewers next spring.

 

?If I have a good spring (at Cowley) and if the Brewers put up some good (money) numbers, I would think about it,?? he said.

 

Peck said he would not sign for less than a six-figure signing bonus.

 

Resting what he termed a tired arm, the right-hander pitched only six innings during Cowley?s fall scrimmages.

 

The former Cimarron High School All-Stater was a big-game pitcher for the Enid Majors. Manager Bill Mayberry referred to Peck as his ?bell-cow?? pitcher.

 

Peck went 11-4 for the Majors last summer, helping the team to a state championship and a second-place finish in the Mid-South Regional in Crowley, La.

 

Peck pitched a no-hitter against Lawton in June ? on the same day he was drafted by the Brewers ? in a game at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.

 

Two summers ago, he beat the defending state champion Edmond Stars in the second round of the state tournament and got the save against Metairie, La., in the finals of the regional tournament in Pine Bluff, Ark., to put Enid into the American Legion World Series in Rapid City, S.D.

 

Peck started the series opener, and was the starter but did not get the decision in the championship game victory over Twin Cities, Wash.

 

?Peck?s breaking ball, when it was right, was the best individual pitch that anybody had in any tournament we played in,?? said Mayberry.

[Mass Haas]

47th round pick Matt Coburn, still eligible to sign as a draft-and-follow candidate, has signed a National Letter of Intent to the TCU Horned Frogs:

 

www.cstv.com/sports/m-bas...06aak.html

 

Matt Coburn hails from Humble, Texas and currently pitches at San Jacinto Junior College. He was a 47th-round draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers this past summer and was selected to play in the Texas JUCO All-Star game this past spring.

 

"Matt is a strong power right-hander from San Jacinto College, which is one of the premier junior college programs in the nation," Whitting said. "Matt is a player that we have been tracking since he was at Humble High School and we are very excited about what he will bring to our pitching staff next year."