Link Report for Thursday 7/28

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

 

All times are Central

 

Colorado Springs: LHP Brent Suter at Nashville (Athletics), 6:30 PM pre-game, 7:05 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.

 

**********

 

Biloxi: LHP Wei-Chung Wang at home vs. Mobile (Diamondbacks), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:10 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.

 

**********

 

Brevard County: RHP Bubba Derby at home vs. Tampa (Yankees), 5:35 PM gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link (Charlotte feed)

 

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.

 

**********

 

Wisconsin: RHP Zack Brown at Clinton (Mariners), 6:10 PM pre-game, 6:30 gametime; expect RHP Corbin Burnes 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.

 

**********

 

Helena: Idle

 

**********

 

Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): at home vs. the mini-Padres, 9:00 PM gametime; never audio for games in this league

 

**********

 

DSL Brewers: at the DSL Nationals, 9:30 AM, although game data won't be available until later in the day

 

We'll link to this Dominican Summer League Brewers' thread as part of the Daily Menu all season to assist you with your familiarity with these young men.

[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

 

Pioneer League North Division

 

Arizona League Central Division

 

Dominican Summer League San Pedro Division

 

***

 

Sortable individual stat pages:

 

Colorado Springs

 

Biloxi

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

Helena

 

Maryvale

 

DSL Brewers

 

***

 

Weather.com:

 

Nashville, TN

 

Biloxi, MS

 

Viera, FL

 

Clinton, IA

 

Maryvale, AZ

 

San Pedro de Macoris, DR

[WV Brew]

DSL Brewers 7, DSL Nationals 3

 

Johan Dominguez to the rescue: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K, ERA now 1.80. Jesus Brea pitched the final 3 innings giving up 1 unearned run on 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K.

 

The offense was led by Antonio Pinero (2-3, 2 BB, 2 SB), Moises Perez (2-4, 2B, BB), Luis Avalo (2-5), Javier Castillo (2-4) and Jesus Lujano (2-4). Perez caught today and there was one wild pitch. No sign of Jose Sibrian who has been out a few games now.

 

Box Score

 

Game Log

[TheCrew07]

I was bouncing around looking at stats because I actually have time today and I'm not sure I understand what the organization is doing with Gilbert Lara, he's never really hit.

 

If you read and listen to enough MiLB talk you'll find out that many around professional baseball think a player has to fail before they will be coachable, and I'd agree with that to certain extent. All of these players got to professional baseball doing it there own way so the majority are going to have a built up resistance of varying degrees to change, that's just human nature. The minority are so thirsty for knowledge they'll drink up whatever is given, but even though I'm acknowledging that side of the coin I"m addressing my comments here towards the majority. Obviously also I know that many posters want a more aggressive promotion schedule and the current Brewer regime is playing into that, though I think sometimes more so for PR reasons than what's best for the player. Finally, as I post quite a bit about and Louis brought up earlier, perhaps nothing in sports is as important as self confidence, and developing that mental aspect of player's game is also paramount. So how does all of this fit together?

 

Personally, I want players to be ready for the next level before being advanced, and when it comes to pitching I have very specific criteria that I'm looking for, I could care less about the "challenge". Hitting wise I'm more flexible, I'm more concerned with the quality of the ABs than the result, and I want to see some defensive improvement over the course of the season. I've voiced my opinion on many promotions on an individual basis and I won't go into specifics now, but my track record is out there. I think as you look around the system there are some glaring cases where the assignment is stifling a prospect's success. So while I have decent understanding of why the Brewers were motivated to start Lara stateside, I don't get why he was pushed to Helena to finish 2015 and why he's there now. I would have rather he started in the DSL where he may have dominated early and then worked his into the states. Why should Lara have gone through a different promotion path than Joantgel Segovia who's hit at every stop along the way? Why should signing bonus, draft position, or talent matter? I'd rather every player start at the bottom and earn their way up, there can certainly be exceptions such as taking college players high in the draft or signing international FAs (Cubans or Japanese) who are more advanced than your typical amateur, but on the whole players need to be treated in a consistent manner. Then the player can be promoted at the pace their performance and skill progression determine, but they always have that initial success in their careers to fall back on, which I think is very important from a mental perspective. It's much to different to know that you can be successful than hope that you can be successful.

 

Kodi Medeiros is another example, unless they are going to completely revamp his delivery there's nothing wrong with him that isn't going to require lots of simple repetitions to fix (he basically needs to learn to locate his FB down), so why not give him repetitions in an environment that he can have consistent success in? Please spare me any statistical FIP (my disdain of the idea and how FIP is calculated aside) argument, his ERA is indicative of how he pitched in WI and now in BC, I think that's another trap organizations fall into... trying to recreate the wheel with statistical analysis when prospects are so volatile and such moving targets that it's incredibly difficult to quality their progression in a number to start with, and they end up convincing themselves players are better or more advanced than they are.

 

Age relative to league is only an indicator if the performance is there with it, but it's become the crutch excuse for lagging performance around here. What's the point of dropping players into the deep end over their head if they aren't good swimmers? Many will just assume the players were "busts" but I think there's more to it than that, there's probably plenty of fault on both sides, and I often wonder how a prospects' career might have turned out differently if they just be allowed to progress at their own pace. This isn't just a Brewer issue, it's an issue all around baseball as many high draft picks and high profile players are given unending chances because of their talent, but does that matter when they were assigned and promoted based on PR rather than performance and their confidence has eroded down to nothing over time?

[Mass Haas]

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

 

Colorado Springs

 

Biloxi

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

Maryvale

 

DSL Brewers

 

MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

[Austin Tatious]

Thanks for the thoughtful post, the Crew 07. It was a good read.

[igor67]

I would largely agree with Crew07, but I would adjust my promotions in large part on make-up at some point. Success is very important, but the relative amount of struggle that different players can tolerate productively is going to be fairly variable.

[Mass Haas]

Giant Manatee jersey auction taking place - keep in mind your last year to get "Manatee" items. Both of these flavors available.

 

***

 

[reillymcshane]

Final: Nashville 2, Colorado Springs 1

 

Sky Sox Downed 2-1 In Pitcher's Duel

By Aaron Cheris / Colorado Springs Sky Sox

 

Colorado Springs Box Score

 

The Sky Sox struggled to get hits tonight in a 2-1 loss vs the Nashville Sounds. The Sox only managed five hits - three from Orlando Arcia (who also stole a bas). Brent Suter continued a nice run, tossing 6.2 innings of quality ball (only 6 hits, no walks, 7 strikeouts), although he did surrender a solo HR. The left hander’s ERA has dropped to 3.56 for the season, a nice rebound after a terrible April.

 

Colorado Springs Game Log

 

Arcia and Suter were the only real highlights in this game. The Sky Sox only walked once to go with their five hits.

[Mass Haas]

AUDIO via Shuckers pre-game: Manager Mike Guerrero

[TheCrew07]

Clark Is Clutch in Rattlers Win

Wisconsin centerfielder drives in both runs of 2-1 win at Clinton

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattler

 

Wisconsin Boxscore

The pitching was outstanding in this one as Jack Brown, Nate Griep, and Corbin Burnes combined to give up 7 hits, 1 run (Griep), 1 walk, and 9 strike outs.

 

On the offensive side of things the Rattlers managed just 6 hits so Troy Stokes (2-3,2B,BB), Trent Clark (2-4), and Isan Diaz (2-4) collected all of them. Stokes is now hitting .357 over his last ten while Isan is hitting .474 over that same span.

 

The defense was rather shoddy with 3 errors committed but Clark did get an OF assist at first on the sacrifice which scored the run against Griep.

 

Wisconsin Recap

 

Not something you see every day...

 

Wisconsin Top of the 6th

• Juan Ortiz pops out to shortstop Rayder Ascanio.
  Troy Stokes Jr. singles on a line drive to center fielder Ricky Eusebio.
  With Trent Clark batting, Troy Stokes Jr. steals (15) 2nd base.
  Trent Clark singles on a line drive to left fielder Luis Liberato. Troy Stokes Jr. scores. Trent Clark to 2nd on the throw.
  Max McDowell hit into a fielder's choice double play, shortstop Rayder Ascanio to third baseman Logan Taylor to second baseman Chris Mariscal to first baseman Dalton Kelly. Trent Clark out at 3rd. Max McDowell out at 1st.

[TheCrew07]

Ramirez, Wang lead Shuckers to 2-1 win over BayBears

Wei-Chung Wang improved to 6-5 with his seventh quality start on Thursday

Biloxi Shuckers

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/9/4/192364394/cuts/Ramirez_pose_nnvuhwki_y0mgr1rv.jpg

Nick Ramirez hit his 11th homer of the season in the bottom of the second inning Thursday night. (Michael Krebs)

 

Biloxi Boxscore

This is becoming almost comical... how few hits can Biloxi collect and still win a ball game? Today's answer was 3 because Wei-Chung Wang was fantastic. I hope people read the article which MH linked regarding the Biloxi pitching, I believe that was yesterday. As I alluded to earlier this season when Wang nibbles around (think Manny Parra) he gets himself into trouble, Hook has been pushing Wang to stay aggressive and dictate to the hitters... and it's been working of late. HRs are going to happen and I would like more SOs but the rest of his line was fantastic as he got through 6 complete on 86 pitches. Stephen Kohlscheen worked a scoreless 9th for save but he gave up a hit, which is only notable because he's gotten in a habit of striking out the side.

 

Nick Ramirez (1-2,HR,BB) pushed his AVE over .200 for the first time since July 12th, he's been slightly above or below that line since the end of June. His high water mark was .292 on 5/2, and it was a fairly steady decline from there to .200.

[Noche]

Arizona Brewers roughed up Cal Quantrill a little bit today.

[Austin Tatious]

1. Corbin Burnes may have been a steal. Don't make fun of me for sample size. I'm not basing it on sample size. We have too many posters whose sole mission is to put you in your place and disrupt the flow of discussion. I also like that the MLB folks listed him pretty high.

 

2. Isan Diaz is going to be extremely high on my top 25 list. An electric bat like that at second can really provide a big delta over the opponent who typically won't have so much pop there. Love the kid and I feel like he will give us an advantage.

 

3. Wang is not dominant but he's been steady and based on my expectations I'm pleased. His long term role is puzzling but IMO he's functioning pretty well relative to his potential. I say puzzling because I don't know that his stuff translates to the modern bullpen and I just don't know how good of a MLB starter he can be. We can just watch his development and see.

 

4. I'd like to see Suter in Milwaukee in good time this season.

 

5. It'd be great to see Clark get on a roll. His injury as well as Harrison's were unfortunate progress stoppers.

[Noche]

1. Corbin Burnes may have been a steal. Don't make fun of me for sample size. I'm not basing it on sample size. We have too many posters whose sole mission is to put you in your place and disrupt the flow of discussion. I also like that the MLB folks listed him pretty high.

 

Not sure who is looking to make fun of you but you are hardly the first to suggest we got a steal when we drafted a top 50 prospect in the 4th round.

 

Those same MLB folks had Corey Ray as the best hitting prospect in the entire draft by the way. You have been especially hard on him for some reason.

[Mass Haas]

AUDIO via the Sky Sox pre-game: RHP Aaron Wilkerson

[Mass Haas]

Final: Arizona Brewers 7, Arizona Padres 0

 

Weather: 109 degrees, cloudy.

Wind: 5 mph, In from CF.

 

Clean defense, too! Best game in the desert this summer?

 

Maryvale Box Score

 

It's clear that after a college pitcher-heavy draft, there are pitchers in Maryvale, such as 22-year-old RHP's Emerson Gibbs (33rd round, Tulane, five scoreless here) and Dalton Brown (30th round, Texas Tech), who need to be higher in the system. Next spring training will be important for them.

 

Maryvale Game Log

 

Considering the Brewer batting averages in this "Sunday lineup" (no disrespect intended), great to see everyone contribute, with special kudos to 19-year-old Panamanian catcher Johel Atencio, who as you'll see, had a huge night.

[Mass Haas]

[Eye Black]

Final: Tampa 5, Brevard County 1

 

Tampa sweeps Brevard County

By Donald Rieber, Jr., 27 Outs Baseball

 

***

 

Brevard County Box Score

 

Bubba Derby with a rough outing giving up 10 hits and recording just 1 strike out.

 

As noted in the game story, RF Clint Coulter threw out a Yankees runner at third base. Not the first time this season he has thrown a strike from right field to third to eliminate a baser runner.

 

Brevard County managed 7 hits in the game, the only player with multiple was Blake Allemand (2-for-4) who is one of four Manatees players in starting lineup currently batting under .200.

 

Brevard County Game Log

 

The Manatees were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. They scored a run in the 9th and then had the bases loaded with just 1 out, but were unable to come through with the big hit they needed.

 

Brevard County Bottom of the 9th

• Clint Coulter singles on a line drive to center fielder Jeff Hendrix.
  Wendell Rijo called out on strikes.
  Fidel Pena reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Gleyber Torres. Clint Coulter to 2nd.
  Blake Allemand singles on a line drive to left fielder Trey Amburgey. Clint Coulter to 3rd. Fidel Pena to 2nd.
  Jose Cuas walks. Clint Coulter scores. Fidel Pena to 3rd. Blake Allemand to 2nd.
  Malik Collymore called out on strikes.
  Corey Ray grounds out, third baseman Thairo Estrada to first baseman Connor Spencer.

[Eye Black]

If you didn't get your complete Manatees fix yet, here is another game article...

 

Manatees swept by Yankees, lose 5-1

Brevard County manages just seven hits in loss

Brevard County Manatees

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/9/4/192347794/cuts/IMG_7497_d_rs_1p3nb2u7_jl0rzz30.jpg

(Photo by Tim Holle)

[ZBTMP]

I was bouncing around looking at stats because I actually have time today and I'm not sure I understand what the organization is doing with Gilbert Lara, he's never really hit.

 

If you read and listen to enough MiLB talk you'll find out that many around professional baseball think a player has to fail before they will be coachable, and I'd agree with that to certain extent. All of these players got to professional baseball doing it there own way so the majority are going to have a built up resistance of varying degrees to change, that's just human nature. The minority are so thirsty for knowledge they'll drink up whatever is given, but even though I'm acknowledging that side of the coin I"m addressing my comments here towards the majority. Obviously also I know that many posters want a more aggressive promotion schedule and the current Brewer regime is playing into that, though I think sometimes more so for PR reasons than what's best for the player. Finally, as I post quite a bit about and Louis brought up earlier, perhaps nothing in sports is as important as self confidence, and developing that mental aspect of player's game is also paramount. So how does all of this fit together?

 

Personally, I want players to be ready for the next level before being advanced, and when it comes to pitching I have very specific criteria that I'm looking for, I could care less about the "challenge". Hitting wise I'm more flexible, I'm more concerned with the quality of the ABs than the result, and I want to see some defensive improvement over the course of the season. I've voiced my opinion on many promotions on an individual basis and I won't go into specifics now, but my track record is out there. I think as you look around the system there are some glaring cases where the assignment is stifling a prospect's success. So while I have decent understanding of why the Brewers were motivated to start Lara stateside, I don't get why he was pushed to Helena to finish 2015 and why he's there now. I would have rather he started in the DSL where he may have dominated early and then worked his into the states. Why should Lara have gone through a different promotion path than Joantgel Segovia who's hit at every stop along the way? Why should signing bonus, draft position, or talent matter? I'd rather every player start at the bottom and earn their way up, there can certainly be exceptions such as taking college players high in the draft or signing international FAs (Cubans or Japanese) who are more advanced than your typical amateur, but on the whole players need to be treated in a consistent manner. Then the player can be promoted at the pace their performance and skill progression determine, but they always have that initial success in their careers to fall back on, which I think is very important from a mental perspective. It's much to different to know that you can be successful than hope that you can be successful.

 

Kodi Medeiros is another example, unless they are going to completely revamp his delivery there's nothing wrong with him that isn't going to require lots of simple repetitions to fix (he basically needs to learn to locate his FB down), so why not give him repetitions in an environment that he can have consistent success in? Please spare me any statistical FIP (my disdain of the idea and how FIP is calculated aside) argument, his ERA is indicative of how he pitched in WI and now in BC, I think that's another trap organizations fall into... trying to recreate the wheel with statistical analysis when prospects are so volatile and such moving targets that it's incredibly difficult to quality their progression in a number to start with, and they end up convincing themselves players are better or more advanced than they are.

 

Age relative to league is only an indicator if the performance is there with it, but it's become the crutch excuse for lagging performance around here. What's the point of dropping players into the deep end over their head if they aren't good swimmers? Many will just assume the players were "busts" but I think there's more to it than that, there's probably plenty of fault on both sides, and I often wonder how a prospects' career might have turned out differently if they just be allowed to progress at their own pace. This isn't just a Brewer issue, it's an issue all around baseball as many high draft picks and high profile players are given unending chances because of their talent, but does that matter when they were assigned and promoted based on PR rather than performance and their confidence has eroded down to nothing over time?

 

he's never really hit.

This isn't exactly true. Reports were he led instructionals in batting average after signing in 2014. That would seem to have made the organizational set him up for a more aggressive developmental path than they should have.

 

Why should Lara have gone through a different promotion path than Joantgel Segovia who's hit at every stop along the way? Why should signing bonus, draft position, or talent matter?

The Brewers have what? 200 players throughout the organization? The Brewers have limited resources and limited opportunities. While it'd be fantastic for everyone to get the maximum opportunity to become the best baseball player they can, every sports organization is going to give more focus and opportunities to those who they think will give them the biggest potential. At the end of the day if the Brewers think there is a 35% chance that Lara becomes an impact player and a 10% chance Segovia becomes an impact player, they need to account for that in their development path in order to maximize the resources and opportunities they have.

 

What's the point of dropping players into the deep end over their head if they aren't good swimmers?

 

I can't say your wrong on Gilbert Lara and Kodi Medeiros. Clearly they aren't developing ideally at the levels they are at. I will say though that its not a given that the assignment is the root cause of the problem. Putting Lara in the best offensive league in professional baseball and Medeiros in the best pitching environment in professional baseball doesn't scream too aggressive. They may be having the same problems in the DSL and MWL even though the level is lower on the developmental rung.

I'm struggling to see the PR aspect of it. The portion of fans who care about minor league player assignments is minute.

I think its too broad of a brush to say aggressive assignments are causing players to fail. Its more case by case. I'd say there are counter examples where the player has benefited. Alcides Escobar didn't really produce until age 21 at AA but the Brewers kept advancing him prior to excelling at any level. Jorge Lopez, ignoring his implosion this year, suddenly saw his light bulb go on last year at AA. Arcia was moved out of A ball after just producing an 84 wRC+, but kept rewarding the Brewers with better production as he would get bumped up until this year. Coulter certainly hasn't excelled by being held back. You can question if specific players would have developed better with more conservative placement, but you can also question whether guys like Braun, Fielder, Weeks would have been as successful had they been more conservative placed.

 

Ultimately it is a case-by-case scenario, but I'd agree that the Brewers aren't demonstrating that they are particularly adept at handling this right now.

 

I know it's SSS, but hopefully Zach Brown is another guy who benefits from aggressive assignment. After following up his 6+ ERA in Lexington with a double digit ERA in Helena, there is little reason to justify him in Wisconsin. But he has a big fastball and was taken in the 5th round so there he is. But maybe getting bumped up has caused something to click. We can only hope.

[LouisEly]

TheCrew07, we haven't agreed on a lot over the years but I am pretty much 100% in agreement with what you said, particularly the point about age/ballpark factors adding a "yeah, but" to performance.

 

Very encouraging start by Zack Brown. IIRC the knock on him was walks, and if he can develop some control will be a heckuva draft pick.

 

I also think Wang has come along nicely. For all intents and purposes, this is only his second year of full-time development and having turned 24 earlier this season is not old by any stretch.

[clancyphile]

Right now, it looks like my top six will be Suter, Hader, Erceg, Wang, Isan Diaz, and Perrin in that order.

[PlayerHader]

Nobody is surprised, I'm sure.