Helena Roster / Opening Day Coverage!

[LatinPrincess12]

Does anyone know when the updated Helena Roster is coming out ?

[MassBrew]

Shortly after the draft in early-mid June....

 

There is little need for the Brewers to differentiate between the Helena and Arizona rosters at this time.

[MassBrew]

Well, here are some odds and ends from the Helena roster as listed on the Helena site. This one seems to be more updated than the one on the Brewers' own site, and since I imagine the good folks in the Helena front office actually know who's in Montana right now, the Brewerfan Player Index matches the Helena site for the most part.

 

From the Pionner League site:

 

The Pioneer Baseball League is classified Rookie Advanced. This makes us a starting place for players beginning their professional careers. Each team is limited to a roster of 35 active players, with no more than 30 players in uniform for each game. Our Player Eligibility Rule states that no more then 17 of the 35 active players may be 21 and older, provided that no more than two of the 17 are 23 or older. Also, no player on the Active List may have more than three years prior service.

 

There are 32 names on the Helena roster list.

 

We just moved the following players from the Arizona roster to the Helena roster here at Brewerfan:

 

RHP Todd Gelatka, 2000's 28th round pick, hopefuly healthy this year

 

18 year old Dominican lefty Carlos Ramirez is in Helena; Toby is smiling for his Power 50 favorite

 

RHP Ty Taubenheim, this year's 19th round pick, who was originally slated for Arizona

 

C Jeremy Frost, 2002's 10th rounder; Frost is already 23, this move had to be made

 

C Alberto Segura, a 19-year-old Dominican

 

2B Guilder Rodriguez is a Venezuelan who will be 20 in July

 

Local Racine, Wisconsin product Vinnie Rottino, who should see time as a super-utility man

 

SS Augustin Septimo, a Dominican product who just turned 19 years old

 

Jeremy Frost and Vinnie Rottino appear to be the two designated 23-year-old eligibles.

 

(LHP Eric Henderson and RHP Judd Richardson are also 23, but are listed on the Helena roster as injury rehabs.)

 

Now here are some players that we've placed on Brewerfan's Arizona roster until we can confirm that they are still with the organization. They had been on the Helena roster earlier:

 

LHP Alex Correa will be 21 in July. He's already spent the past two summers in Arizona

 

Tim Dillard, the 2002 draft-and-follow signee, is not listed on the Helena site. That makes sense if he'll be pitching as rumored, instead of catching.

 

2003 11th round 3B Adam Heether also is not listed on the Helena site. That should free up playing time for 2002 DFE 3B Justin Barnes.

 

So here are the questions we'll try to answer in coming days:

 

Where are the following players? For now they are still listed on the Helena roster here at Brewerfan...

 

2002 3rd round RHP Eric M. Thomas - Toby's reported here about potential injury issues for the 6'9" Thomas

 

2002 2nd round SS Josh Murray - the youngster won't be 19 until August, a summer in Arizona will be fine if he's over earlier injury issues from April in Beloit

 

2002 20th round RHP Tyler Shepple; the Univ. of Washington product was hit very hard in Ogden last summer; he'll be 23 in August, so to be MIA isn't a good sign right now

 

2002 28th round RHP Eric A. Thomas; this Thomas will be 24 in August (man, there are a lot of farmhands born in August), so again, to have not made the Beloit cut earlier this season spells trouble

 

So we'll see what shakes out over the next week or so. One of the interesting aspects of this year's Helena club is that their is no very high pitching draft pick to watch. Beyond Dana Eveland (hopefully), it's anybody's guess as to what the starting rotation looks like. Greg Moreira? Are Henderson and Richardson healthy enough to start from the get-go? Manny Ramirez got some of us excited in High Desert last season -- he's listed as an infielder, and not a catcher, on the Helena roster. Perhaps those lax defensive skills have forced a move to first base.

 

The fun begins Tuesday! Hopefully the Helena site and newspaper coverage will keep us well-informed!

 

Here's the Helena site roster:

 

www.helenabrewers.net/htm...rewers.php

[MassBrew]

Two other notations I didn't include in my initial post here:

 

2003 12th round OF Carlos Corporan was originally ticketed for Helena, but perhaps is still in Maryvale

 

Where is OF Francisco Plasencia, the Venezuelan who turns 19 this week? Toby knows something, as Plasencia said good-bye (for now) to the Power 50 this week. Apparently not quite Pioneer League time yet for Francisco, who has been ranked as high as # 19 on the P50 -- he must have had a tough off-season http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ...

[950opsLHcatcher]

Thoughts...

 

RHP Todd Gelatka, 2000's 28th round pick, hopefuly healthy this year

 

Gelatka was a DFE a couple years ago, along with Minnesota native and fellow pitcher Ryan Trytten. Gelatka also has what I would assume to be the highest ERA in club history, with a good 'ol 243.00 last season.

 

18 year old Dominican lefty Carlos Ramirez is in Helena; Toby is smiling for his Power 50 favorite

 

See? I'm not cracked. This dude is athletic as they come, is left handed, and he's only 18.

 

C Alberto Segura, a 19-year-old Dominican

 

When a little birdie told me the other day that there were only 3 catchers left in Arizona, I was trying to figure out which ones they were, and I would have been pretty certain that Segura was one of them, but congrats to the young guy. On a related note, the catching corps in Maryvale could be murderously bad this AZL season - prove me wrong, Arturo Bravo, Simon Guhring, and Gbenga Olayemi.

 

2B Guilder Rodriguez is a Venezuelan who will be 20 in July

 

Watch out for this kid. Has the ability to be oustanding defensively.

 

SS Augustin Septimo, a Dominican product who just turned 19 years old

 

I've heard some very good things about Augustin. Don't be surprised to see him pop up on the Power 50 sooner or later. Faster than Krynzel, they say.

 

Where is OF Francisco Plasencia, the Venezuelan who turns 19 this week? Toby knows something

 

Weird how those things work http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[MassBrew]

Opening Day Preview from the Helena Independent Record:

 

Play Ball!

A few misspelled names here, but a nice little preview by the sports editor having never seen these kids in game action...

 

www.helenair.com/articles...703_01.txt

 

Sedar to stress hustle

Isn't that the mantra of every Rookie League manager? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

www.helenair.com/articles...703_01.txt

 

Feature on 3rd round catcher Lou Palmisano:

Nice things to say about the Milwaukee organization; junior college players are actually eligible after their freshman year as well -- see article...

 

www.helenair.com/articles...703_02.txt

 

Pioneer League Has Undergone Change:

 

www.helenair.com/articles...703_03.txt

 

Not Brewer-related, but an interesting piece on baseball's arrival in Helena and some players who went on to big things:

 

www.helenair.com/articles...703_01.txt

 

Thanks again to our new friends at the Record! Online articles are available first thing in the AM, a big plus with the Link Report staff!

[MassBrew]

No word yet on a new hitting coach for Helena...

[igor67]

A catcher talking about hitting, man I love Lou.

[MassBrew]

mlb.com now confirms that Josh Murray and Eric M. Thomas, 2002's 2nd/3rd round picks, are on the Arizona roster for now.

 

There are still a few discrepancies between the Brewers' own minor league page, and the roster page on the Helena site. Right now, Brewerfan's rosters are kind of a compilation of both, based on what we believe to be correct at the moment. Until the rosters get settled betwen Helena and Arizona, not every transaction between the two clubs will be logged in our Transaction Archive.

 

We'll now try to confirm the status of RHP's Eric A. Thomas and Tyler Shepple with the Brewers. Kate Geenen, the administrative assistant to the Brewers' player development staff, had provided us with information when we asked about certain specific moves in the past. We'd only ask her when we exhausted all other resources, and she was very obliging. Apparently she's left the Brewers to pursue a career in teaching, always a noble move. We wish her well!