Link Report for Wednesday 5/4

[Mass Haas]

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Wednesday's Daily Menu:

 

All times are Central

 

Colorado Springs: RHP Jorge Lopez at home vs. Round Rock (Rangers), 11:30 AM pre-game, 12:05 PM gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link

 

Dan Karcher, the longtime play-by-play voice of the Sky Sox is on Twitter @SkySoxKarch; joining him this season is Dan Acheson (@Dan_Acheson)

 

MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Colorado Springs games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $49.99 season-long package ($12.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. The video of each game is archived online, which is a nice feature. All MiLB.TV details available at the link.

 

NOTE: Notice that on MiLB.TV's page, you can click on "Filter", then "Milwaukee Brewers", and you'll see just the Crew's organizational TV lineup.

 

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Biloxi: RHP Adrian Houser at Pensacola (Reds), 6:10 PM pre-game, 6:30 gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link

 

Chris Harris is the play-by-play voice of the Shuckers. Follow Chris on Twitter @CHarris731. We'll be linking to his fantastic "Shuck Dynasty" blog. Thaddeus Krzus (@Shucks1stIntern) joins Chris often. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be radio broadcast.

 

MiLB.TV - Eight of the ten Southern League teams telecast their home games, and Biloxi is among them.

 

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Brevard County: LHP Kodi Medeiros at home vs. Dunedin (Blue Jays), 5:35 PM gametime

 

Sorry, no audio is available for this series...

 

Unfortunately, the Manatees have dropped their broadcast coverage for 2016.

 

No Florida State League games are available via MiLB.TV. Ten of the 12 Florida State League teams provide audio (some only for home games), we'll do our best to let you know when an opponent's audio is going to be available.

 

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Wisconsin: RHP Freddy Peralta at South Bend (Cubs), 9:15 AM pre-game, 9:35 gametime; expect RHP Marcos Diplan to pitch in a tandem role

 

Free Live Audio Link

 

Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio.

 

MiLB.TV - Eight of the 16 Midwest League teams telecast their home games, and Wisconsin, once again, is among them. We'll let you know when a road TV feed is available.

 

NOTE: Thirty-nine (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on local TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (10) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (29) will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and remember to refer to the Rattlers' full TV schedule (scroll to bottom of link) so you can coordinate your DVR activity.

[Mass Haas]

BROADCAST NOTES for this morning and this evening --

 

Note that all six games on this Timber Rattlers road trip are available on MiLB.TV (opponent's feed, naturally).

 

Also, at AA, Pensacola is among the Southern League teams to broadcast on MiLB.TV.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Wednesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links:

 

Colorado Springs

 

Biloxi

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

[Mass Haas]

Look for these just prior to the respective game times --

 

Colorado Springs Media Notes - Linked on the Sky Sox official blog

 

Biloxi Media Notes - Linked on the Shuck Dynasty blog

 

Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog

 

***

 

STANDINGS:

 

AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division

 

AA - Southern League South Division

 

High-A - Florida State League North Division

 

A - Midwest League Western Division

 

***

 

Sortable individual stat pages:

 

Colorado Springs

 

Biloxi

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

***

 

Weather.com:

 

Colorado Springs, CO

 

Pensacola, FL

 

Viera, FL

 

South Bend, IN

[Mass Haas]

Day 1 of Trip -

 

Met the prolific Kyle Lesniewski of BrewCrewBall and BP Milwaukee, and his two adorable kids.

 

Enjoyed a fantastically entertaining Brewers win with Brewerfan staff friend 1992Casey, who also provided transportation back to the hotel.

 

And the long-overdue meet-and-greet with a very gracious Mr. McCalvy (hard to tell, but that is a Shuckers cap):

 

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/playerpix/caleb_smith.jpg

 

Perhaps most amazingly, saw someone in a Matt Childers jersey, circa 2002.

 

On to today's non-televised matinee, for out-of-towners, I'll be 2nd row behind the Crew's dugout, yee-hah!

[Mass Haas]

Enjoyed a fantastically entertaining Brewers win

 

Guys, it was #JuniorGuerraDay!

[fondybrewfan]

Troy Stokes is back that's great to see. Diplan/Peralta days are always good days. Wisconsin has generally been pretty disappointing offensively but they have some fine pitching performances so far.

[Jenkins5]

Troy Stokes is back that's great to see. Diplan/Peralta days are always good days. Wisconsin has generally been pretty disappointing offensively but they have some fine pitching performances so far.

 

Hey whenever there is a T-Rats game, there is a chance Gatewood could earn his first walk of the season!

 

These are the % splits for T-Rats Top Prospects. To me, the offensive players I target are guys who have 10%+ BB and 20% or less K. The closer they are, the better. Isan Diaz is pretty close to that. The rest either very high in one and good in the other, or just terrible in both.....Gatewood....ouch!

 

Name BB% to K% (%Difference)

Sharkey 9% to 17% (-8%)

Diaz 12% to 21% (-9%)

McDowell 4% to 18% (-14%)

Belonis 2% to 18% (-16%)

Denson 11% to 29% (-18%)

Matos 9% to 32% (-23%)

Aviles 0% to 29% (-29%)

Harrison 7% to 38% (-31%)

Gatewood 0% to 33% (-33%)

 

Few guys are have some mind blowing BABIP's

Matos .069

Sharkey .103

Diaz .243

Harrison if he actually makes contact is at .280

 

Pitching really has been outstanding for the way I judge pitchers!

I focus on k% bb% (K-BB%) BAA and FIP the most.... If you have a K-BB% around 20 you are really pitching good and dominant. I like to see sub 10 BB% with 25%+ K% (usually equals 9 K/9). For BAA a sub .220 and a Sub 3 FIP.

 

J. Perrin 32% to 0%

D. Owenby 25% to 5.5%

M. Diplan 31% to 10%

J. Yamamoto 25.5% to 5%

D. Burkhalter 19.5% to 2.5%

M. Diaz 20% to 3.5%

F. Peralta 25% to 9%

 

Diaz, Burkhalter and Diplan have been extremely hard to hit! Diplan alone is only allowing hitters to hit .132 off him.

 

Marcos Diplan over last 3 outings....

14 IP 3H 0ER 2BB 18K

 

Burkhalter Minus April 19th

16IP 6H 0ER 1BB 10K

 

M. Diaz minus 4-21

16 IP 9H 3ER 2BB 14K

[TeesReport]

For those who are not aware, the Manatees have been rained out tonight (Wednesday).

Unfortunately, I will not be at the games Thursday or Friday. With those games being against Lakeland, there will be no radio at all. I apologize in advance for missing the two games, as it was not my desire to do so.

 

I will be writing the recap for both games (as much as it's not the same) and I will return to the park to finish the homestand (Friday and Saturday).

[AKCheesehead]

Houser has a fairly unique line for his day's work.

[DHonks]

Freddy Peralta continue to shine as one of our top young prospects. He made a big jump for a 19-year old from the AZ league and he's doing very well. As we all thought at the time, looking like a very nice trade acquisition.

[FVBrewerFan]

I predict big changes in the next rendition of the Top 25. Whether it's over-reacting or not, I'm sure plenty of debate to come.

[TheCrew07]

Wisconsin holds on for 4-2 win at South Bend

Rattlers win series over Cubs

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

Wisconsin Boxscore

Freddy Peralta was TOUGH today, the Marcos Diplan was a bit all over the place but the T-Rats hung on.

 

Jake Gatewood (2-4) has 5 multi hit games in his last 10 and is batting .325 over that span, he's pushed his AVE up from .197 to .240 with that effort.

 

Wisconsin Recap

[TheCrew07]

Big inning plagues Shuckers again in loss to Wahoos

Pensacola scores six runs in the fifth to win series opener Wednesday

Biloxi Shuckers

 

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Adrian Houser struck out a season high nine batters in the loss on Wednesday. (M.K. Krebs)

 

Biloxi Boxscore

Well to focus on the positive at least Adrian Houser struck out 9 batters, there's not much else that's positive to start this 2016 campaign for him. I'm not buying what the game story was selling...

 

Jacob Nottingham (2-4) and Nick Shaw (2-4) had the multi hit games for the Shuckers.

 

Biloxi Recap

[yoshii8]

Nottingham is getting closer and closer to getting up over that Mendoza line.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Round Rock 6, Colorado Springs 5

 

Sky Sox Edged 6-5 By Express

Round Rock holds on to win close battle over Sky Sox

By Aaron Cheris / Colorado Springs Sky Sox

 

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Austin Ross struck out five in three relief innings on Wednesday. (Paat Kelly)

 

***

 

Orlando Arcia can't quite deliver this time, but the Sky Sox phenom figures to adjust

Brent Briggeman, Colorado Springs Gazette

 

It turns out Orlando Arcia isn't quite perfect.

 

Such a thing doesn't exist in baseball.

 

The Sky Sox shortstop struck out to end a 6-5 loss to Round Rock on a picturesque Wednesday afternoon. The tying run was on base and Colorado Springs had already scored one run in the ninth to extend the game and give Arcia another chance at some heroics.

 

Remember, this is the same top prospect who won a game for the Sky Sox on the last homestand with a walk-off three-run home run, then popped a grand slam in a two-run win at Iowa a few days later.

 

This one didn't have the same storybook ending. Arcia couldn't complete a comeback from a 5-2 deficit after Jorge Lopez, another touted prospect, gave up five runs in four innings after he issued five walks.

 

Arcia still finished the day 2 for 5 with an RBI.

 

He experienced a bit of failure in a key situation, but that's not a bad thing. The reason he's in Colorado Springs now instead of Milwaukee is to fail and adjust against pitching that is almost big-league caliber, and that's what he's done throughout the season.

 

"He's learning," Sky Sox manager Rick Sweet said. "He's making adjustments on the fly. He makes them fast. I've been very impressed with the focus of his game. I like him. He's doing a good job."

 

That's probably selling Arcia's performance a bit short. The youngest player in the Pacific Coast League at 21, he's batting .304 with a team-high 17 RBIs. He entered Wednesday hitting .375 with a .625 slugging percentage with runners on base. He also tied a Sky Sox single-game record with three steals in a game in late April and, while he's not showing much patience with five walks, he's not a free swinger. Wednesday's game-ending strikeout was just his 11th in 97 plate appearances.

 

The offense was the question mark for Arcia coming into the season, as his defense was already deemed ready for the majors. So there's nothing to do now but wait and see how much longer he'll be playing in Colorado Springs.

 

Some fantasy baseball sites are calling him the top minor league player to pick up right now, because he figures to hit the ground running when Milwaukee brings him up.

 

"He is a very smart young man, but he's still learning the game," Sweet said. "The nice part about Orlando is you may fool him once, but you're probably not going to fool him again. That's the development that we're going through right now. Is there anything we're specifically focused on? No. Just his overall game getting him ready for what he's going to face up there as a 21-year-old who is still maturing."

 

Part of that maturation process, again, is failing. His last strikeout before the game-ender Wednesday came in his first at-bat Monday night. He was retired on three pitches, looking overmatched in the process.

 

Over the three at-bats that followed he hit screaming line drives, collecting a pair of hits.

 

No player has the gifts to make it in baseball on talent alone. The ability to adjust is just as critical. That, above all, is what Arcia has shown in his month with the Sky Sox.

 

"You might fool him once, but you're not going to continue to fool him with the same stuff, the same pitch," Sweet said. "He'll make the adjustment on you. Then they'll make an adjustment, and he'll make an adjustment again."

 

***

 

Colorado Springs Box Score

 

RHP Jacob Barnes has been fantastic, following up on the Arizona Fall League stint that netted him a 40-man roster spot...

 

Colorado Springs Game Log

 

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Did you listen to Tuesday's Link Report Colorado Springs media? Learn quite a bit, particularly with Hitting Coach Bob Skube. Middlebrooks interview worthwhile as well...