Your 2006 W.V. Power

[Mass Haas]

Link, text follows:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...;fext=.jsp

 

Faces on the Field: Lorenzo Cain

By Lisa Winston / MLB.com

 

West Virginia Power outfielder Lorenzo Cain represents the epitome of making up for lost time.

 

The sheer natural athletic ability of the 6-foot-2, 165-pounder would seem to have made him a natural to be a three-sport star growing up, like so many professional athletes.

 

But, in fact, growing up in northwest Florida, Cain had little opportunity to play sports.

 

"My mom was working two jobs when I was growing up and there was just never a point where I could play, because I needed to help around the house," said Cain, who just turned 20 this past spring.

 

When he began high school, Cain finally went out for the basketball team but didn't make it.

 

The next year, as a sophomore, he decided to give baseball a try, and a Milwaukee Brewers top prospect was born.

 

Cain, who did not step onto a baseball field until a few years ago, is steadily rising among the ranks of the most highly regarded Brewers farmhands. And, in just his first full pro season, he's also been one of the most consistent, standout players in the 16-team, prospect-laden South Atlantic League.

 

Cain was among the league leaders with a .304 batting average and 30 steals, to go with five home runs, 49 RBIs and 28 doubles. His 134 hits with three weeks remaining in the season had him in a good position to break the Class A franchise record for hits of 150, set in 1992 by Bobby Perna of Charleston, when the team was a Cincinnati farm club. He was off to a hot start in Aug., hitting .353 after batting .312 in July.

 

Cain ranked third among South Atlantic League hitters in batting, just six points off the lead, and led the league in hits.

 

Credit can be distributed to a lot of folks in putting Cain firmly on the prospect map.

 

A strong family support system that includes his mom, his older brother and his grandparents has been crucial in keeping him level-headed, humble and grounded while his star takes off.

 

And speaking of stars, Milwaukee's Florida scout Doug Reynolds gets a four-star play in the scouting scorebook for finding Cain early and sticking with his raw but gifted discovery, to the point of going with him to the gym during the offseason to work out with him and further develop his still-slender build.

 

Reynolds convinced the Brewers to take Cain as a draft-and-follow pick out of Madison County High School in the 17th round in 2003. He played that year at Tallahassee Community College, and his progress was astounding as he hit .344 with a team-leading 19 steals.

 

"This was as good a draft-and-follow as you can have, and the type of guy you love to have this happen to," said Brewers scouting director Jack Zduriencik. "He's a good athlete, a great kid with terrific work habits, but he was an unrefined player. Doug recognized his abilities early, and by going to a good program like Tallahassee he just continued to get better and better, with the chance to play every day."

 

Cain signed with the Brewers just before the 2004 draft, and the club sent him to the Arizona Rookie League. It was his first time away from home, but he didn't let the homesickness get to him on the field, earning league MVP honors as he hit .356 with five homers, 37 RBIs, 45 runs scored and a league-best 73 hits.

 

"We knew he was a nice player with athletic ability, a nice swing and a loose body, but for him to go out and do what he did last summer? No way anyone could have predicted that," marveled Zduriencik. "But it's a tribute to him, how he approached things and his work habits."

 

As one of the Robin Yount Award winners for the Brewers' Organizational Players of the Year, Cain was among a handful of prospects who were flown to Milwaukee for a luncheon in their honor and their first visit to Miller Park.

 

"That was exciting, amazing," Cain recalled. "The stadium was beautiful and just to be there in front of all those people ... I really enjoyed myself."

 

One thing that has really impressed the Brewers staff has been Cain's quick learning curve.

 

"Last year he put up the good numbers in Arizona largely on the basis of his physical ability, because I don't think he had a good grasp of the game, in general, yet," said Jim Skaalen, Milwaukee's Minor League hitting coordinator. "But he's worked so hard that now he pretty much thoroughly understands what he's trying to do offensively. If he takes a bad swing he knows what he's done wrong and what he needs to correct. He's come so far, so quickly."

 

With a body that projects to fill out as he matures (right now, his uniform No. 11 appears fitting as it looks like any wider number wouldn't fit on his back), Cain possesses all of the "five tools" to one degree or another. He already hits for average with good speed. His power should come with time. He has a strong arm and is learning the nuances of outfield defense.

 

And that sixth tool, the all-important intangible: makeup? Off the charts.

 

"I love his attitude," Skaalen said. "He gets down on himself, but not to the point where it tears him up but rather to the point where it pushes him to want to be better the next day."

 

Zduriencik has been delighted, most of all, by Cain's consistency over the grind of his first full season.

 

"He's been so consistent, with his average in the same range all year, and he'll just keep getting better," he said. "He already does things well, and the power will come with time. He just needs the continued fine tuning of playing the game on a daily basis."

 

Cain has already discovered the difference between Arizona League pitching (almost all fastballs) and the slightly more advanced level of off-speed stuff he's seeing in the SAL. Batting behind speedy leadoff hitter Darren Ford (55 stolen bases), he knows that if Ford is on base he'll see more fastballs, but he's also working on learning to hit the off-speed offerings. And if his numbers are any indication, he's succeeding.

 

"I'm just trying to improve my hitting and my defense, my whole overall game, trying to get better at all of it," he said. He knows that part of that improvement package will entail playing in fall ball or instructional league in Arizona, further lengthening his first full season. And he's ready for it, though with slightly personal mixed emotions.

 

"With fall ball and winter ball coming up, I'll probably be in Arizona all year, and that will be the first time I've been away from home for that long. It will be difficult, but I'll get through it."

 

Lorenzo Cain has been one of the most consistent players in the prospect-laden SAL. (Tony Farlow/MLB.com)

 

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2006/08/10/Xw5fm4yI.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...;fext=.jsp

 

Faces on the Field: Angel Salome

By Lisa Winston / MLB.com

 

It's not unusual for young Dominican-born baseball players to have to adjust to "culture shock" when they come to play in the United States for the first time.

 

But Milwaukee Brewers catching prospect Angel Salome's experience was quite different from that of many of his countrymen.

 

That's because Salome, who is currently hitting .287 with 10 homers and a league-leading 84 RBIs with the West Virginia Power in the Class A South Atlantic League, has spent most of his life living in the Washington Heights section of New York City.

 

The neighborhood has become the second home for a large percentage of émigrés from the Dominican Republic, so Salome can embrace his roots.

 

But at the same time, he is very much a "native New Yorker."

 

The culture shock he experienced was not one of coming to America. It was one of going out into America -- to the outposts of the country.

 

In his first three pro seasons, Salome's job has taken him to Phoenix (2004), Helena, Mont., (2005) and Charleston, W.V. (2006).

 

"When I came to West Virginia, it was so quiet that, even though I had my teammates around me, I was lonely," he said. "In New York, any time of the day or night there are people around; you hear cabs. But here, by 9 o'clock everything's closed. If you're hungry, you better have Corn Flakes in your house."

 

Salome moved to New York from the Dominican with his mom when he was 3, so he has been completely bilingual pretty much all of his life. He graduated in 2004 from George Washington High School, the alma mater of Boston Red Sox superstar Manny Ramirez, and was selected by the Brewers in the fifth round of the draft that summer.

 

Primarily a middle infielder growing up, the 5-foot-7 Salome moved behind the plate full-time in high school. And don't let the height fool you. The powerfully built 20-year-old with a cannon for an arm not only projects as a Major League catcher despite his size, but the Brewers think it could be an advantage.

 

"I don't think it's a negative being short, and in some ways it's a positive, because the taller kids sometimes have more issues," said Brewers scouting director Jack Zduriencik. "He's compact and as strong as can be, a good athlete who can throw. I think it works to his advantage."

 

Salome is certainly used to comments about his height and in his easy-going way he has a succinct answer for the doubters.

 

"People used to say to me, 'Aren't you too short to be a catcher?' And I'd say, 'Yes, I am.'"

 

Not that he'd let that stop him.

 

His arm grades out at a 70 on a scout scale of 20-80 (and rarely, if ever, does anyone receive an 80).

 

At the plate, Salome has hit with line-drive power to all fields. He has good speed and, thanks in part to his size, shows great agility for his position. Some of the niceties of the catching trade are still coming along, but his work ethic this season has given the Brewers added confidence that it will just be a matter of time before he works his way through the ranks to their big-league team.

 

Salome has been working intensively with roving catching instructor Charlie Greene, and his added dedication to that side of his game has been paying off with noticeable improvements.

 

"To say we're happy with him is an understatement," Zduriencik said.

 

Salome got his pro career off to a late start, not because of any signing issues, but because of a broken hamate bone suffered at the end of his senior year in high school. So, he played just a handful of games that summer, hitting .235 in just 20 games down the stretch in the Arizona Rookie League.

 

In 2005, however, he headed to Helena to catch for the club's Pioneer League squad, and that was where he really opened eyes with his bat as well as his arm. His .415 average, eight homers and 50 RBIs in 37 games earned him the Brewers' Robin Yount Organizational Player of the Year, as well as a promotion to West Virginia in August.

 

He finished up the '05 campaign at West Virginia, hitting just .254 with four homers and 21 RBIs in 29 games after the jump. But he came back to the Power in 2006 and has been one of the stalwarts of a club that was leading the 16-team South Atlantic League in hitting at .276.

 

Batting third in the lineup, Salome was fifth in the league with 31 doubles, despite missing five games recently after injuring his thumb when he was hit by an opposing player's backswing.

 

"From Montana to this league, the difference is the pitchers here have more control. They throw more breaking pitches in any count, more sliders," Salome said. "The first time I came up, I saw the difference, and it took some time. This year I knew the league, so, thank God, I'm doing better."

 

From the moment the Brewers started talking with Salome pre-draft, they were as impressed with his attitude, his work ethic and his desire as they were with his formidable tools.

 

"He was very focused on what he wanted," Zduriencik recalled. "We asked him if he was excited about being drafted, and he said 'I'm excited about being a big leaguer.'"

 

But don't get the idea that Salome is a single-minded player, only concerned about his own rise up the ladder.

 

The truth is quite the opposite, as just about any of his Latino teammates will be quick to tell you.

 

He has made a point of utilizing his comfort zone with both cultures to take under his wing any young teammates who may not be familiar with the language or the customs of this country. From helping them hook up their phone service to lending them money for groceries, Salome has been there for them, whenever needed.

 

In addition, his bilingual talents have been a huge help in being able to communicate with all of his pitchers.

 

"We have pitchers from everywhere, and the Dominican guys, I teach [them] the signs and let them know they can be comfortable with me, they don't have to be shy," he said. "If they have any questions, I'll always do anything to help them out."

 

There is one area, though, that he admits he can't really help them with ... because he has his own problems: home-cooked meals.

 

"I miss my family, and I miss my Dominican food," he laughed. "I can cook it here with my teammates, but it's not the same as when my mom cooks it."

 

When the Power came up through Lakewood, N.J., Salome's mother came to town with rice and beans and chicken for her son. When he was in Arizona, she overnighted him 15 pounds of beef.

 

Keeping on the pounds without that home cooking has been one of Salome's biggest professional challenges, as he estimates he can lose as much as 10-15 pounds in a day (much of it water weight) in his catcher's gear in the intense heat. And at 190 pounds of muscle, dripping wet, that is weight he can ill afford to keep off.

 

"I was almost crying in Arizona, I was so hungry and getting so skinny," he recalled.

 

So count this as yet another incentive to get to the Majors for Salome: those road trips to New York City for mom's home cooking.

 

West Virginia's Angel Salome is hitting .287 with 10 homers and a league-leading 84 RBIs. (John Setzler/MLB.com)

 

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2006/08/14/8iQeoVjZ.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...;fext=.jsp

 

Sally All-Star team proves Power-ful

By Carl Dispoto / Special to MLB.com

 

The South Atlantic League All-Star Team bears more than a passing resemblance to the starting lineup of the West Virginia Power.

 

West Virginia's Will Inman, Angel Salome, Mat Gamel and Lorenzo Cain were named to the South Atlantic League All-Star Team on Wednesday, making up more than one-quarter of the roster. None of the other 16 teams in the league had more than two players chosen.

 

Inman, with a 10-1 record and a 1.40 ERA, has 126 strikeouts in 103 innings and has allowed less than one baserunner per inning in 22 appearances, including 19 starts.

 

Inman's battery mate Salome was selected at catcher, batting .292 with 10 homers and 85 RBIs. Gamel was chosen at third base for hitting .289 with 17 homers and 87 RBIs.

 

Cain, who leads the Power with a .303 batting average, was one of four outfielders to make the squad. He has scored 87 runs this season and has swiped 32 bases near the top of West Virginia's potent lineup.

 

The Power added a fifth selection in the form of manager Mike Lum, who was chosen as a coach. Augusta's Roberto Kelly was named manager of the All-Star Team.

 

All-Star Matt Maloney of the Lakewood Blue Claws was named the league's Most Outstanding Pitcher. He leads the league with 16 wins and has the second-best ERA to Thomas Fairchild's 1.66 at 1.99. Maloney has tossed a league-high 162 2/3 innings and has set a team record with 172 strikeouts this season.

 

Augusta GreenJackets second baseman Eugenio Velez was picked as the Most Valuable Player, batting a league-leading .310 with 14 homers and 88 RBIs. He also tops the field with 19 triples and has 60 stolen bases for Augusta, which boasts the league's best record.

 

The Most Outstanding Major League Prospect honor went to outfielder Andrew McCutchen of the Hickory Crawdads. McCutchen is batting .291 with 14 homers, 77 runs scored, 62 RBIs and 22 stolen bases in just 114 games.

 

Maloney's teammate Carlos Carrasco was also named an All-Star after going 11-6 with a 2.19 ERA in 25 starts. He has notched 152 strikeouts in 152 1/3 innings.

 

Charleston first baseman Ben Jones and Rome infielder Eric Campbell, who are tied for the league lead with 21 homers, also earned All-Star spots. Tommy Manzella of Lexington was named at shortstop primarily because of his defense, and he has made just eight errors in 99 games.

 

Asheville outfielders Cole Garner and Dexter Fowler were also chosen as All-Stars. Garner is batting .307 with 19 homers and 84 RBIs, and Fowler has posted a .300 average with 40 stolen bases and 87 runs scored.

 

Hickory's Brad Corley was chosen as the designated hitter with a .283 batting average, 15 homers, a league-leading 96 RBIs and 85 runs scored.

 

The team is voted on by the league's managers, general managers and media outlets, including print, television and radio.

 

West Virginia battery mates Will Inman and Angel Salome get to turn two as teammates on the South Atlantic All-Star squad. (West Virginia Power/John M. Setzler Jr./MLB.com)

 

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2006/08/30/BgyOrNUb.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/news/Sp...006090849/

 

Club records fall for Power this year

Michael Dailey

Charleston Daily Mail sportswriter

 

When the West Virginia Power's season ended last week with a 5-3 loss at Hickory, there was certain disappointment in the visitor's clubhouse.

 

A slow start in the first half of the season, coupled with inconsistent play throughout the season's second half, left the Power with an overall record of 74-62 and out of the South Atlantic League playoffs.

 

But despite the disappointment with the team's overall play, there were a few individual accomplishments and one team feat that rewrote the franchise's club records.

 

Power batters, under the tutelage of hitting coach Mike Lum, blistered Sally League pitching for a league-leading and franchise-record .277 team batting average.

 

West Virginia hitters surpassed the club record of .264, established in 1997, and were just four runs shy of the club record for runs in a season of 695, also set in 1997.

 

Lorenzo Cain, who set the club record for hits in a season with 162, paced the Power batters. He led the league in hits and finished third in the league with a .307 average.

 

Outfielder Michael Brantley was also solid with a .300 average, good for seventh in the league.

 

Speedy center fielder Darren Ford finished with a club-record 69 stolen bases, which was second in the league, and finished with 93 runs scored, second on the club's all-time list for runs in a season.

 

Third baseman Mat Gamel finished a solid season at the plate with 88 RBI, which was third in the league, and 17 homers, three shy of the club's season record.

 

Ace Will Inman led West Virginia's pitching staff.

 

Inman captured the league ERA title with a paltry 1.71 average.

 

Inman finished 10-2 and allowed 21 earned runs, while striking out 134 in 110 2/3 innings pitched.

 

"The bright spots for me were the pitching of Will Inman and earlier the pitching of Steve Garrison and Joe Thatcher, Power pitching coach John Curtis said.

 

There were also a few surprises as well.

 

Curtis said reliever Patrick Ryan was the biggest surprise of all.

 

Ryan finished the season with a 5-2 record and a 1.87 ERA in 45 appearances.

 

"Patrick Ryan was the most pleasant surprise of the season," Curtis said.

 

"Patrick wasn't even included on the staff that was supposed to come here. He was a last minute pick by (Power manager) Mike Guerrero.

 

"Patrick pitched beautifully here. His work out of the pen might have been the most valuable on our pitching staff."

 

But not all the surprises were pleasant.

 

Power fielders combined to commit 184 errors on the season, which trailed only Kannapolis, Hickory and Hagerstown in the league's standings.

 

Power relievers also blew more than 20 saves during the course of the season.

 

"If you go through the stats, they'll tell you what happened," Guerrero said. "Having 21 blown saves and having almost 200 errors as a team, shows the immaturity of our players.

 

"But in other ways you can look around and see how the players matured during the season.

 

"All of the players got better during the season and that's what they were here for."

[brewmann04]

WOW very nice to see so many prospects on their way up

very bright future along with the Boys in Huntsville

[SE Brew]

one of the most interesting and impressive records set by the power this season seems to have been forgotten. early in the season the power tied a modern day professional baseball record by hitting 6 home runs in one inning. this record happened while facing a 1st round draft pick college pitcher.

 

having seen the power play on several occasions it appeared as though the players were a bunch of good guys and very fan friendly with festa, corredor, yoho and holmberg going out of their way to interact with the fans.

[UndraftedFA]

You got that right about the 6 HR's. Considering how young these guys are, and far from physically developed, it's simply amazing!

[wvpowerblkwel]

I actually witnessed that 6 HR inning and it was truly something...these guys weren't exactly power hitters, but they seemed to thrive off of each other all season long....runs always seemed to come in bunches!

[colbyjack]

A short & sweet Will Inman interview done by a new prospect blog/site, Project Prospect (with picture):

 

projectprospect.com/2006/...inman.aspx

[adamf214]

Thanks for the mention colbyjack. We're going to try to get an interview with Lorenzo Cain this offseason, and wishfully Yovani Gallardo, too.

 

This looks like a great board. I'll be around...I'd love to hear more feedback.

 

P.S. We'll have our top 3 prospects for every team in the NL Central up tomorrow. Come check out which three Brewers made our list and who our other top prospects in the NL Central are.

 

Adam Foster

Founder of Project Prospect

[Mass Haas]

Toronto Sun, 9/30/06:

 

PLAY IT OUT, SON

 

Jays hitting coach Mickey Brantley got a call from his son Michael recently who was playing for the West Virginia Power (Milwaukee Brewers) of the South Atlantic League. Michael was on the eve of the final game of his season and sitting on a .300 average. He was banged up and wondering if he should ask out of the final game. Father's advice went something like this: "Walk into the clubhouse and if your name is in the lineup go out and get two hits. If it's not, it's not."

 

Turns out the game was rained out.

[Mass Haas]

For our own "pogokat" in particular, the Power's 2007 schedule is online at the team's site. Plan your road trips now:

 

www.wvpower.com/

 

www.wvpower.com/schedule/...edule.aspx

[pogokat]

They don't hit NC at all until May, but then they are playing in Greensboro, Asheville, and Kannapolis all in a row...hopefull i can hit a handful of those games, as I'm not sure we're going to be here past July..

 

edit: the 4 dates in Columbus GA at the end of the summer are hittable as well...cool

[Mass Haas]

Charleston Gazette:

 

West Virginia Power reshuffles front office

 

The West Virginia Power, a Class A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, announced several front office changes Wednesday.

 

Andy Milovich, the general manager of the Power since January 2004, was promoted to executive vice president of Palisades Baseball and the Power while Ryan Gates takes over as the Power GM. Other front office moves includes the addition of Kristin Call (director of promotions), Ted Robinson (operations manager) and Cam Clendenin (box office manager). Brian Harrigan was promoted to client services director.

 

Milovich, who will be entering his 17th season in professional baseball, will oversee the Power Alley Grill and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Gates is in his fifth year in professional baseball and fourth with the Power.

 

Not an impact in terms of the product on the field Brewers-wise, but we wish Andy Milovich and new GM Ryan Gates well. Those who follow the board here certainly have seen Andy's name often in quotes regarding Appalachian Power Park and its opening two seasons ago.

 

2006 Power Front Office Profiles:

 

www.wvpower.com/power/frontoffice.aspx

[Mass Haas]

Congratulations to Angel Salome -- a pretty prestigious honor when Topps names you the top catcher in all of A-ball (that's low-A and high-A, a total of 60 minor league teams):

 

www.kinstonindians.com/ne...cle_id=905

[saget]

Promote the man!

[battlekow]

I'm bumping this, the oldest Power thread I could find, for this long, loving retrospective from the Charleston Gazette covering some of the most prominent Brewers prospects that came through West Virginia from 2005 to 2008, in particular the '05 squad.