Daily Archives: June 30, 2008

Quick Prospect Update

Posted on June 30, 2008 by | 3 Comments

Posted by Steve

I’m on a posting kick, so why not rip off another one? Now I know how Michael Jordan felt when he was “in the zone.”

I saw in the JS that Mat Gamel was 5-5 yesterday, which is what motivated me to make this post. Three minor leaguers right now, who in my opinion are the Brewers’ top three prospects, are really playing well as of late.

Mat Gamel

Gamel has been a dominating offensive player all season for Huntsville. His current line is Chipper Jones-esque: .379/.442/.636 for a gaudy 1.078. Unfortunately, his defense does not appear to be improving, as he has 22 errors already at third base. Errors are far from a good metric for defense, but it’s all that’s readily available for minor league stats.

Matt LaPorta

LaPorta’s is currently hitting .294/.406/.592 for a .999 OPS. What a bum, dropping below 1.000. Actually, the encouraging thing about LaPorta is that he has a huge OBP with a fairly sustainable .294 average. Gamel’s .442 OBP is pretty inflated by an unsustainably high batting average.

Both Gamel and LaPorta are putting up great numbers in a tough league, and both profile to be above-average hitters in the big leagues. It’s hard to say which hitter is more valuable; LaPorta seems to have more power while Gamel hits for a better average. Gamel is lefty and LaPorta is righty, which would seem to favor Gamel, but LaPorta is doing pretty well defensively in left while Gamel is still struggling at third. Unfortunately, we may find out pretty quickly which player the Brewers value more, as the Crew is rumored to be shopping for a frontline MLB pitcher. Hopefully any deal they make will not include Gamel, LaPorta or the next player I’m highlighting, Jeremy Jeffress.

Jeremy Jeffress

Jeffress is picking up where he left off before his suspensions. In 47.2 innings this season, he has a 4.34 ERA, 1.2 WHIP, 65 strikeouts and 18 walks. As indicated by the insane strikeout totals, Jeffress is still overpowering hitters with his crazy velocity. At least as encouraging is his relatively low walk totals. 3.6 K/BB is a very nice ratio.

It sounds bad, but the suspension could actually turn out to be a good thing in the long run for Jeffress if he pans out. The window for pitching injuries is much bigger for an 18 or 19 year old pitcher (just ask Mark Rogers, who was recently shut down AGAIN with shoulder trouble), when the player is still growing. The older young pitchers get, the lower the risk of serious injury. It’s why high school pitchers are so much riskier than college pitchers in the draft. Anyway, with Jeffress sitting out for about a year, you could argue that he was at least resting his arm and staying healthy. He has an unlimited ceiling if he can get everything together off the field.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Prospects/Minor Leagues

Goal: Split the series

Posted on June 30, 2008 by | 1 Comment

Posted by Steve

Sort of a rough series in Minnesota, but as a baseball fan it was awesome watching Kevin Slowey pitch basically a flawless game. The Brewers were only able to hit the ball twice all game—both by Corey Hart—and Slowey missed his target about five times the entire game. Bill made a good point about him hiding the ball (see, I have the ability to give Bill some credit), and after that I paid attention to it. Slowey hardly reveals the ball to the hitter until he is releasing it, which is probably how he can pitch so well with a 91 mph fastball.

Anyway. The Brewers are still in decent shape for the road trip. The Atlanta series put them in good position for a 5-5 road trip, which would have to be deemed a success considering the three-city trip and the quality of their opponents. It’s now at the point where the only thing that could make the road trip a big-time failure would be to get swept by Arizona in four games. One win puts them at 4-6, but the realistic goal should be to split the series for a .500 trip.

If the Brewers don’t crap the bed in Arizona, they’ll be sitting with a very solid record and an opportunity to gain some ground with a very advantageous-looking 10-game homestand against Pittsburgh, Colorado and Cincinnati.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Milwaukee Brewers 2008

Manny Parra=Wind Beneath Bill’s Wings

Posted on June 30, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Posted by Steve

There was no Scouting Report of the Week last week because I attended three of the games and also missed the one day game, so there wasn’t much to choose from. I did happen to catch the tail end of the segment while walking through the concourse last Sunday, and noticed one of the keys on Manny Parra was “Manny-ing up.” So that had to be a gem.

This week’s winner is yet again about Manny Parra, who clearly brings out the best (worst?) in Bill. Again, I didn’t see this one live—Dan told me about it, so I didn’t hear word-for-word how they were described.

Six Pack

No Walks

M&M

Six Pack. Manny Parra is a chiseled, barrel-chested Adonis with a washboard stomach. Or this is referring to Manny having six straight wins entering the game. (Side note: I think watching Manny Parra pitch is the pitching equivalent of watching Ryan Braun hit. Parra is so talented, yet he walks too many guys and throws way too many pitches. He could be a 1-2 type pitcher if he simply attacked more. Just like Braun being super-good yet swinging at garbage pitches.)

No walks. Speaking of Manny’s walks, Bill lands on it here. Obviously it’s a perfectly good point, because he walks too many guys, but it’s not really a scouting report. Plus, not walking guys is another one of those generic points that is crucial for the success of ANY pitcher.

M&M. Earlier this season was Manny’s “first time,” and now we see that he loves candy. Is he even younger than everyone thought? As it turns out, M&M actually refers to Mauer and Morneau. So basically, it’s a scouting report on the Twins rather than the pitcher. And by scouting report, I mean simply a true statement: Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau play for the Twins.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Bill's Scouting Report of the Week