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<a href=http://www.al.com/stars/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/sports/1080927977288620.xml>The Huntsville Times</a> 04/02/04
<b><font size=4>Two Stars veterans return</font></b>
As the Huntsville Stars roster grows closer to being set, two more veterans of the 2003 Southern League West team have been returned.
Ryan Knox, a 25-year-old outfielder who has spent part of the last three seasons with the Stars, has been sent down from Triple-A Indianapolis.
Ditto Brandon Gemoll, the Stars' first baseman last season and author of perhaps more clutch hits - his 65 RBIs was second on the team - than anybody on the club.
Knox will join the outfield quartet of holdover Brad Nelson, Tony Gwynn and Jason Belcher, who batted .320 at High Desert and has been sent down from Indianapolis.
Outfielders Chris Morris, Chris Rasmusen and Kennard Bibbs, who have been on the Stars roster most of the spring, have been sent to Class A.
Gemoll will back up Prince Fielder at first base and can be the designated hitter. The DH is used against American League affiliates, and the addition of Montgomery, a Devil Rays farm club, in the SL West provides more opportunities for the DH than before.
The infield is set now with Gemoll, Fielder, Rickie Weeks at second, Enrique Cruz at short, Chris Barnwell at third and Johnny Raburn in a utility role.
The search is still on for a back-up catcher.
The pitching staff is taking shape. Mike Jones, Jeff Housman, David Nolasco, Ryan Miller, Brian Adams and Chris Saenz are back from last year. They'll be joined by Tim Bausher, Dennis Sarfate, John Novinsky and Reggie Rivard, with a couple of other spots yet to be filled.
Starbrites: The Brewers are stepping things up a little more quickly with Nick Neugebauer's return. He's been assigned to High Desert, a convenient locale to his home in Riverside, Calif. ... Jason Shelley, who pitched in nine games for Huntsville last season, will remain at extended spring training before joining the club later. ... Reid Nichols, the Brewers' director of minor league development, will be in Huntsville for next Thursday's season opener against Montgomery.
<a href=http://www.etruth.com/news/story/318180/index.html>ETruth</a> 03/27/04
<b><font size=4>Kloosterman keeping pace</font>
Former Blazer hangs tough in Brewer camp</b>
PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Greg Kloosterman does not want his first spring training baseball camp to end.
Well, sort of.
"I want to be on top of my game once camp breaks," says Kloosterman, a left-handed pitcher from Elkhart in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. "Camp is over in about a week. I kind of wish I had an extra week to fine tune by fastball and my location."
Kloosterman, a former Central High School and Bethel College standout, has been in Arizona since mid-February when he reported to a mini-camp for Milwaukee Brewers prospects.
On Deck Baseball Prospects, ranked the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder 10th in the organization among starting pitchers with a minimum of 40 innings in 2003. At rookie-level Helena, the 2003 ninth-round draft pick went 6-1 with a 3.28 earned run average while striking out 76 and walking 23 in 68 2/3 innings.
Only one other Brewers pitcher at the rookie level -- southpaw Carlos Ramirez -- ranked higher.
ODPD categorized Kloosterman 20th overall among Brewers farmhands, including 11th among pitchers (fourth among left-handers).
The 2004 Baseball America Prospect Handbook has described Kloosterman's best pitch as a "killer curveball" that keeps batters honest against his 85-90 mph fastball.
Seven days a week this spring, Kloosterman has risen at 5:30 a.m., reported to Maryvale Baseball Park by 6:30, toiled all day in the hot sun and left the complex after 4.
"It's been going real well," says Kloosterman, 21. "I'm getting a lot better."
Placed in a five-man rotation with the high Class-A High Desert Mavericks, a California League team he may play for in 2004, Kloosterman has been getting into a routine similar to the regular season.
"I long toss everyday," says Kloosterman, who is wearing No. 66 on his back this spring. "I throw in the bullpen once in-between starts."
Kloosterman describes his performance as "solid."
The goal is consistency.
"I've done a good job of changing speeds and making adjustments both pitch to pitch and inning to inning."
Even in "B" games, Kloosterman found himself pitching to Lou Palmisano, his catcher last summer at Helena.
"We're pretty good buddies," says Kloosterman of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native. When not at the diamond, Kloosterman and his friends have found time to check out goings-on near the hotel in Tempe and has attended a few Arizona State University baseball games.
"We try to have a good time," says Kloosterman. "And not get ourselves in too much trouble."
This summer, Kloosterman hopes to make plenty of trouble for opposing batters.
<a href=http://www.etruth.com/media/NewsPhotos/12974_websm.jpg><img src=http://www.etruth.com/media/NewsPhotos/12974_websm.jpg border=0></a>
<a href=http://www.beloitdailynews.com/404/3spt3.htm>Beloit Daily News</a> 04/03/04
<b><font size=4>New crop of Snappers to arrive</font></b>
The Milwaukee Brewers officially made their personnel decisions for the 2004 Beloit Snappers team Wednesday night in Arizona.
Beloit manager Don Money and pitching coach Rich Sauveur won't see many familiar faces in their lineup, but that's a fact they treat as a blessing. Most of the 2003 Snappers ``graduated'' and are progressing through the Milwaukee farm system.
Only four Snappers will make their way back to Beloit.
While the Class A Snappers and Double-A Huntsville drew accolades as playoff teams a year ago, the Helena Brewers of the Pioneer League were just as dominant.
The high rookie league club posted a 48-28 record _ second only to the 55-22 mark held by the Provo Angels (affiliate of the Anaheim Angels).
Most of that successful club will be walking through the gates of Pohlman Field next Thursday when they face the Swing of the Quad Cities (6:30 p.m. start).
The most talked about prospect for this year's team will likely be 2003 third-round draft pick Lou Palmisano.
The 21-year-old catcher out of Broward Community College in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. has already impressed Money.
``Judging from what I've seen in three days, he looks like he has a good arm,'' Money said. ``And he handles everything well. I'd say he's high on our list of prospects.''
In 47 games with Helena he drove in 43 runs, belted six home runs and posted a .391 batting average. Not to mention his slugging percentage was .592 and he stole 13 bases in 15 attempts.
Unlike last year's Snapper club, Money said he will generally go with Palmisano behind the plate most games. Last season John Vanden Berg and Pedro Esparragoza traded off with regularity.
The left side of the Snapper infield will be familiar. Adam Heether, a 2003 draft pick, returns to third base. Josh Murray, a 19-year-old second-round 2002 draft pick, will also be back in Beloit. Murray injured his leg just 10 games into last season.
<a href=http://www.al.com/sports/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/sports/1081071994288590.xml>The Huntsville Times</a> 04/04/04
<b><font size=4>Brewers proud of minor feats</font>
Stars benefit from bounty in decorated farm system</b>
It was a conversation with cartoon sound effects.
Scott Martins, assistant director of player development for the Milwaukee Brewers, has seen baseball life from both sides.
In 2000 and 2001, the Brewers were ranked No. 30 - dead last - among organizations by Baseball America. Now, they are No. 1.
As a result, by all accounts, the Stars team that lands in Huntsville on Monday and holds a 3 p.m. exhibition game Tuesday with Birmingham could be even better than last season's SL West champs.
Martins was reflecting on the Brewers' ranking recently while watching the Stars in a spring training game in Maryvale, Ariz. That's when the sound effects kicked in.
"I have never been as excited about the young group of guys coming up as I have been during the past year,'' Martins said. "It was real exciting for me last year because they were getting closer. They're not just rookie ball and A-ball guys. You start seeing them in Double-A having success. Now some of them are in Triple-A. They're getting closer yet.''
Then - thwack!
Rickie Weeks drilled a triple into the left-center gap.
Martins went on.
"Scouting has done a great job,'' Martins said. "Everyone says you're only as good as your scouts and the people they put in the organization.''
Then - boom!
Brad Nelson clobbered a two-run homer.
Pretty good scouting.
Pretty good evidence to be No. 1 among minor league systems.
Nelson was rated the Brewers' top prospect in 2003. He'll be the Stars' left fielder.
Weeks is rated the Brewers' top prospect in 2004, having been the consensus college player of the year last season. He'll be the Stars' second baseman.
The Brewers had a miserable decade-plus of drafts marked by poor scouting. Of their first-round picks since 1986, only five are even in the majors, just two with the Brewers. Somewhere along the lines, money and time was wasted on Antone Williamson and Chad Green and others.
Doug Melvin, the Brewers' general manager, pulled a sheet of paper from his desk on a recent morning, a chart scarred with yellow highlighter lines.
It's all the Brewers' draft choices, listed in columns from 1998 through 2003. Each player still in the organization is highlighted. There are only sparse yellow streaks on the left side, across the names Nick Neugebauer and Billy Hall on the 1998 column. The farther to the right, the more yellow. Sure, natural attrition is partly to blame. But Melvin said that getting three productive players out of one draft is an accomplishment, and even that hadn't panned out.
Not lately. Weeks, Prince Fielder and Mike Jones are the No. 1 picks of the last three drafts, and all are headed to Huntsville - en route to the majors. Each has a "can't-miss'' look to him.
That's been well-recognized throughout the sport. Topps presented Milwaukee with an "Organization of the Year'' award, symbolic of its prospects and its championship teams in Huntsville, Beloit and Helena in 2003.
"You've got to have some top picks like Fielder and Weeks and J.J. Hardy (to receive such honors),'' said Melvin. "You've got to have a couple of good drafts in a row. And they did.''
The organization almost strained its rotator cuff patting itself on the back two weeks ago. Melvin sprung for a champagne celebration at the minor league complex, a shotgun cinderblock building across the parking lot from the Brewers' spring training stadium. The party was in honor of the various organizational awards, plus some of the individual ones (Corey Hart, Fielder and Lou Palmisano were all league MVPs).
"It was a toast to all the scouts and player development people together,'' Melvin said. "That's more important than what we're doing on the big-league level right now.''
Ironically, Melvin is in his position because his predecessor couldn't sell that notion. Don't minimize the impact of ex-GM Dean Taylor and his staff on the improvement. However, Taylor inherited a mess in Milwaukee, and the sight of empty seats in a new ballpark were enough to do him in.
Taylor brought aboard Jack Zduriencik (zur-en-sik) as the director of scouting, and things began to bubble. "The backbone of any organization is scouting,'' said Reid Nichols, the director of player development.
In turn, Melvin has made it a priority to have his player development staff and scouting staff on that proverbial same page.
Said Nichols, "I've been in organizational meetings (elsewhere) where a scout has stood up and said, 'Why did you do this and that (to a prospect)? He was good and you screwed him up.' We don't have that here.''
Nichols took a wry approach to Milwaukee's No. 1 ranking.
"When you're on top, you've got to stay there,'' he said. "The only place to go is down. So if we don't stay there, it'll look like we're screwing up.''
Inevitably, the Brewers' ranking will drop.
But, the way things are now, it won't go crash!
<a href=http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1081343123,95549,>Daily Press</a> 04/07/04
<b><font size=3>Mavs' bats heat up vs. Rams</font>
High Desert wins annual exhibition game with VVC</b>
ADELANTO — At times, the Victor Valley College baseball team looked to be the equivalent of its opponent, the High Desert Mavericks.
And at other times, well, they looked like a junior college squad facing a professional team.
The latter moments heavily outweighed the former as the Mavericks scored in bunches to beat the Rams 23-1 in their annual exhibition game on Tuesday at Mavericks Stadium.
"They did the best they could and we can play them tomorrow night and it might be a different situation, you never know from one game to another," High Desert manager Mel Queen said. "It was good for both teams. They got to face some professional hitters and our guys got to swing the bats."
It took the Mavericks only two innings to flex their muscles and the onslaught started with some familiar names.
Jeremy Frost, with one on in the second, singled. Chris Morris followed with a double. Dan Boyd had an RBI-ground out and Mario Mendez added a sacrifice fly giving the Mavs a 3-0 lead.
Frost, Morris and Boyd were all with High Desert last year.
Callix Crabbe, who has never been to California before now, didn't mind Tuesday night's cool temperatures. He's use to that having played with the Low-A Beloit Snappers last year in Beloit, Wis. The big difference Crabbe noticed was the wind.
"Beloit was also cold, but its windy here," Crabbe said. "It's a good change of scenery. It's nice though. It's my first time in California, I enjoyed it."
Crabbe has reason to be happy. He went 3-for-5 with five RBIs and three runs scored. Crabbe had a two-run single in the fourth inning and a two-run double in the fifth.
"It's good to work out the last kinks," Crabbe said. "There's no pressure and you don't have to worry about getting a hit. I had a few tonight, I can't complain. I'll take them. I wish they counted."
High Desert was up 9-0 before the Rams posted their only run of the game.
In the top of the fifth, R.J. Franquera led off with a double. One out later, Matt Markle and Mark Carrillo walked to load the bases. But VVC could only muster one run as Alex Enriquez grounded out and Bobby Miller hit into a force play.
Rams head coach Nate Lambdin wasn't going to let a game played earlier in the day be an excuse for his club. VVC lost a 10-9 nailbiter to College of the Desert, but Lambdin said his team was ready to play.
"This is a pure exhibition game," Lambdin said. "We love to play it. It's a great community affair. The earlier game didn't hurt us.
"A couple of guys swung the bat really well. Nate Pratt, (Bobby) Miller and Markle all swung the bat pretty well. ... Yeah, I wish it was closer, it wasn't. But we have nothing to be ashamed of."
Pratt, Miller, Markle and Franquera accounted for the Rams' four hits.
<a href=http://www.vvdailypress.com/storypics2/040704_mavs.jpg><img src=http://www.vvdailypress.com/storypics2/040704_mavs.jpg border=0></a>
Photos by Scott Smeltzer/Staff Photographer
Mavericks second baseman Callix Crabbe runs for third on an overthrown ball to second along with Victor Valley's Shawn Michels.
<a href=http://www.al.com/stars/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/sports/108135993556110.xml>The Huntsville Times</a> 04/07/04
<b><font size=4>Stewart's a willing student</font></b>
Stars pitcher prepares for fatherhood and start of new season
You figure the conversation Tuesday afternoon with Huntsville Stars pitcher Paul Stewart would stick pretty much to baseball.
You figure that you'll talk about his return to the Stars two years after having his best professional season here.
You figure that you'll talk about his travels since, which included spending last year a heartbeat away from the major leagues while with Boston's Triple-A team in Pawtucket.
And you figure that you'll talk about getting cut last week while in spring training with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
But instead, you talk mostly about Stewart's impending fatherhood, how he and wife Meredith are expecting their first child in about two months, how their grand plans collapsed to spend this season playing close to Stewart's hometown of Raleigh, N.C.
And you talk about, as Stewart put it, "daddy boot camp."
"I changed my first No. 2 diaper," he said proudly. "It was quite an experience. I've got a weak stomach."
Perhaps a moment of silence would be appropriate here, considering the merciless needling Stewart will most certainly endure today from his teammates in the Stars' clubhouse.
But Stewart can handle it.
Hey, it can't be worse than your first No. 2 diaper.
Indeed, maybe even a bases-loaded, nobody out jam isn't as bad as your first No. 2 diaper at daddy boot camp.
"They encourage young dads to take an active role in taking care of the baby," Stewart said. "You hear about how your wife is supposed to do it all. But this gets dads to be hands-on."
So close your eyes and imagine this scene, as Stewart described it:
About 30 first-time dads-to-be are in a class gathering around veteran dads/instructors who have brought their infants to class, the boot camp students volunteering to learn how to change diapers on the poor guinea pigs.
It's an opportunity for new dads to work through the I'm-afraid-I'll-break-him (or her) terror that's a trademark of all maternity wards.
Through it all, the Stewarts have become television junkies watching the popular "A Baby Story" on The Learning Channel, which documents couples in the days leading up to and including the birth.
The daily televised viewing of labor pains also pushed Stewart into allowing himself to be drafted into daddy boot camp.
"I figure with all the stuff she's going through, it's the least I could do," Stewart said. "It turned out to be educational. It was a good learning experience."
The pregnancy itself has been an experience.
Stewart was a free agent after last season and after much thought and prayer, he signed with Tampa Bay because the Devil Rays' Triple-A team is in Durham, N.C. That way, Meredith would have a family support system for when the baby arrived.
But those plans were erased when Stewart was released last week - on March 30, which to the Stewarts is worse than any Friday the 13th.
Two years ago on March 30, just before Stewart's first full season in Huntsville, Meredith was in a car wreck on Memorial Parkway.
"I think next year, we're just going to stay in the house," Stewart said with a laugh.
And maybe change some No. 2 diapers.
<a href=http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~28777~2067307,00.html>San Bernardino Sun</a> 04/06/04
<b><font size=4><font color=blue>Mavs in control in 2004?</font></font></b>
ADELANTO - Their names aren't Fielder, Gwynn, Parra, Palmisano or Weeks, but the 2004 Mavericks wear a label that will look awful good to Mavs fans in light of last season's High Desert nightmare: Proven Winners.
Ten members of last year's Midwest League finalist Beloit Snappers and three players from last season's Pioneer League finalist Helena join six successful holdovers from last season's Mavs.
The returners include California League stolen-base champ Chris Morris and ex-Eisenhower High School standout David Nolasco.
High Desert opens its 14th baseball season 7:15p.m. Thursday at Lancaster. It is Game1 of a four-game series. Right-hander Khalid Ballouli will make the start.
On Tuesday, Froilan Villanueva blasted a three-run home run and Mario Mendez added a two-run shot to highlight the High Desert Mavericks' 23-1 exhibition win over Victor Valley College at Mavericks Stadium. It was the 12th year High Desert played a preseason game against VVC.
Starter Bo Hall and three Mavericks relievers combined on a four-hitter.
The Mavericks play host to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes at 7:05p.m. Monday in the Mavs' 14th home opener at Mavericks Stadium, which debuted on April 22, 1991.
"It would be tough for there not to be an improvement,' Mavericks first-year general manager Bruce Mann said Monday.
"They seem to have a good attitude. The guys who come from Helena and Beloit are from winning teams, where the year before, we had guys coming from one of Beloit's worst.'
The major-league parent Milwaukee Brewers have sent one- time big-league right hander and former Riverside Arlington High School standout Nick Neugebauer to High Desert on an injury rehabilitation assignment.
The 1998 second-round draft choice's two major shoulder surgeries have contributed to his 2-8 record and a limited 61innings in the big leagues. He was sidelined all of 2003, but pitched a trio of one-inning outings this spring.
"He needs to start over at ground zero and build his arm back up,' Brewers general manager Doug Melvin told the The Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal.
Blessed or cursed with what Baseball America called the third-most hitter-friendly ballpark in minor-league baseball, High Desert in 2003 set franchise records for least victories (42), most losses (98) and lowest attendance (126,705). (Only Triple-A Albuquerque's Isotopes Park and Single-A Asheville are kinder to hitters among minor-league ballparks, says Baseball America.)
The Mavericks also were beset with injuries and coaching turnover.
Milwaukee, touting baseball's best farm system, according again to Baseball America, sent pitchers this year with impressive control.
"The Brewers sent us a lot of pitchers from Beloit who don't walk a lot of people and don't give up a lot of home runs, which is real important here,' Mann said.
Mavs right hander Bo Hall went 8-4 with a 2.59 earned run average for Beloit, totaling 76 strikeouts, 29 walks and only three homers allowed in 76 innings. Nick Slack logged 10 saves and a 2.19 ERA for Helena last year.
Ex-Beloit third baseman Jeff Eure is coming off an 11-home run season for the Snappers. Morris led the Cal League with 67 steals and has 276 thefts in his pro career.
Jeremy Frost and Froilan Villanueva both hit 10 homers for the 2003 Mavs.
Nolasco went 3-2 for Double-A Huntsville after earning a pro<-> motion from High Desert last year. Scott Candelaria played at least one game at every position and proved to be a valuable club<-> house leader for High Desert.
Baseball America also ranked Milwaukee as having the game's best farm system but sent its most highly regarded prospects elsewhere to start this season, as they did in 2003.
Prince Fielder (1B), Richie Weeks (2B), Tony Gwynn Jr. (CF), and Manny Parra (LHP) were sent from low-Single A Beloit one step below high- Single A High Desert in the Brewers' farm system directly to Huntsville. Pioneer League MVP Lou Palmisano, a catcher, opens with Beloit.
The Mavs will have two former major-league pitchers in manager Mel Queen and pitching coach John Curtis to help pitchers deal with the hitter-friendly Cal League and, especially, Mavericks Stadium.
"I like that,' said Mann of Mavericks Stadium's reputa<-> tion. "Fans love it.'
High Desert's new hitting coach, Stanton Cameron, was the Cal League home run co- leader in 1997, and hit the championship-clinching home run in Game3 of the league's title series vs. the San Bernardino Stampede.
Queen, 20-17 with 14 saves in seven major-league seasons, is the Mavericks' 13th manager. A second-generation major- leaguer, Queen was 5-8 with 13 saves for the Angels from 1970 through 1972. He managed the 1985 Bakersfield Dodgers to a 65-80 mark in the Cal League and was an interim manager for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987.
This is the final season of the second two-year player development contract between High Desert and Milwaukee. The Mavericks are 173-247 (.412) as a Brewers farm team and have an all-time record of 850-956. High Desert's record has dropped each year with the Brewers.
The Mavericks were 71-69 in 2001, 60-80 in 2002 and last 42-98 last season.
<a href=http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1081429059,13366,>Daily Press</a> 04/08/04
<b><font size=4>Mavericks look for fresh start</font>
Influx of speed an pitching may improve High Desert</b>
ADELANTO — When the focus was on a magic number of losses rather than the race for a playoff spot, then it's safe to say the season was one to forget.
The last thing the High Desert Mavericks want to remember are the 98 defeats and the last-place finish in the California League in 2003.
They hope to put it out of their minds when they step onto the field for the season opener tonight at The Hangar in Lancaster at 6:30 p.m.
"Last year was a long year," High Desert utility player and returner Scott Candelaria said. "I think this year we're definitely going to field a competitive team. We have a ridiculous amount of speed and a whole lot of pitching so I'm excited to come back, win some games and hopefully get into the playoffs and win a title."
After a year filled with as many downs as a team can take, the 2004 Mavs take on the look of team not built for cozy Mavericks Stadium but more for the spacious confines of, say, Comerica Park in Detroit.
The Mavs have speed to burn to go along with a formidable pitching staff. Many of the players on the roster are from the Milwaukee Brewers Low Single-A team in Beloit, Wis. The Snappers went to the Midwest League championship series last year.
"I think we're going to have a very exciting club," Mavericks manager Mel Queen said. "I don't see a lot of power right now, but with this ball park? ... They're very aggressive on the bases. We've got speed. We've got defense. We feel we have good pitching, we just have to make sure they don't start pitching to the ballpark instead of their strengths."
Kennard Bibbs, who led off in the Mavs' 23-1 win over Victor Valley College on Tuesday, hit .301, scored 85 runs, had 40 RBIs and stole 55 bases in 2003. Callix Crabbe, who batted second, stole 29 bases while driving in 46 and scoring 79 runs.
"I think we're going to be a fast team," Crabbe said. "I think we're going to score a lot of runs and steal a lot of bases. We have a good group of pitchers. If we go out there and we hit and run and do the things that we normally do — a few of us have moved up together — that's a part of our game. We put the ball in play and steal a lot of bases. I think if we do that, we'll be all right."
Joining Crabbe and Bibbs from Beloit are Travis Hinton, Jeff Eure and Mario Mendez. Eure provided the Snappers with some pop. He only hit .244, but he hit 11 home runs and drove in 53. He scored 69 runs and stole 29 bases.
The Mavs will start Khalid Ballouli in tonight's opener. Ballouli, while at Beloit, went 5-4 with a 4.15 earned run average. Also making the jump from Beloit are Josh Alliston, Craig Breslow, Bo Hall, Forrest Martin and Eric Henderson.
Hall had the best numbers of the bunch, going 8-4 with a 2.59 ERA and posting 11 saves. Alliston was 4-6 with a 3.33 ERA and recorded 10 saves. Hall had 76 strikeouts in 73 innings while Alliston struck out 75 in 70 1-3 innings.
"We have a bunch of good, young pitchers," Queen said. "You play with what you have. They are all here to learn how to play baseball. I've never been a big believer that in A-ball that you try to mold a team that's going to make you look good as a manager. What we're doing here is to improve the ballplayers and win ball games."
<a href=http://www.al.com/sports/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/sports/1081675077176571.xml>The Huntsville Times</a> 04/11/04
<b><font size=2>Stars to keep shining in city</font></b>
Lease agreement all but signed; team extends contract with Brewers
Though nothing has been formally signed, it seems Huntsville Stars owner Miles Prentice made the most of his season-opening visit to the city.
The Stars announced Saturday they will be extending their player-development contract (PDC) with the Milwaukee Brewers through the 2006 season. The Brewers are currently rated the No. 1 minor league system by Baseball America magazine and two of the last three Stars teams have reached the Southern League championship series.
In addition, Prentice and his ownership group merely "need to work out the details,'' according to Prentice, on a multi-year lease with the city of Huntsville to keep the Stars at Joe W. Davis Stadium.
The lease between the Stars and the city expires this week. However, both sides have expressed confidence ever since the end of last season that the Stars would remain here under a new lease, that it was only a matter of finding the time and opportunity to finalize the matter.
"Miles has such a hectic life, with his children involved in athletics and other things, it's just been a matter of timing,'' Stars general manager Bryan Dingo said. "There's never been a concern about doing a new lease. It's just been a matter of them finding good quality time to work this out.''
A letter of intent to sign a new lease has already been filed with the Southern League and, in turn, Minor League Baseball. It is required by rule that all teams have a current lease or such a letter on file to conduct business, Southern League president Don Mincher said.
When Prentice and his fellow investors purchased the Stars in the fall of 2001 from a group of primarily local owners, he assured local fans he wanted to keep the franchise here "forever.''
However, minor league sports are a fluid business; witness the recent announcement that the Greenville Braves, who have been in existence since 1984, are moving the franchise to Pearl, Miss., next season because of Greenville's failure to deliver on a new stadium or substantial improvement to their park.
While a new stadium in Huntsville would be nothing more than a pipe dream, though next year it will become the oldest park in the league, both parties have made significant investments at the stadium. The city has earmarked $330,000 for capital improvements, some of which will be on-going throughout the season, including new seats in the general admission level.
"It's been a tremendous working relationship with Miles and the other partners for the past 21/2 years," Mayor Loretta Spencer said. "I appreciate their confidence in Huntsville."
Prentice, meanwhile, has purchased a new scoreboard with a state-of-the-art video board that will be ready in May.
As he put it Friday night, "Our group isn't spending thousands and thousands of dollars on a new scoreboard to leave.
"We have a very good relationship with the mayor and Terry Hatfield (the mayor's assistant),'' Prentice said. "I want to extend the lease. She wants to extend the lease. We want to stay here.''
Ditto, it seems, the Brewers.
Reid Nichols, the Brewers' director of player development, is in Huntsville this weekend and approached Prentice and Dingo with the suggestion that the two parties agree now to the extension. Baseball's working agreements are set up where renewals would take place in even-numbered years, with most contracts on a two-year basis, some on four-year.
With the pending sale of the Milwaukee Brewers, the parties have opted for a two-year PDC.
"We've been real happy with Bryan and Miles and we're glad we're able to get this done,'' Nichols said. "And we're happy with what the city has been doing at the ballpark. Miles has assured us the city has been more than willing to make improvements.''
"To me, it was a very easy decision,'' Dingo said. "It's been a very good relationship.
"The most important thing, their farm system is rated No. 1 in baseball, and for two straight years we've been absolutely loaded with talent. And the well is not running dry next year. There is still talent below us. They've done a great job in rebuilding the farm system and we're reaping the benefits.''
Currently, the Stars have four players rated among the top 20 prospects at their respective position, pitcher Mike Jones, first baseman Prince Fielder, second baseman Rickie Weeks and outfielder Brad Nelson.
"I know a lot of people still look back 20 years ago to the teams with Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire,'' Dingo said, "but in my mind, the talent here equals what was here 20 years ago and may be better.''
<a href=http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1081861172,6206,>The Daily Press</a> 04/13/04
<b><font size=4>Mavericks' rotation to kick in on Thursday</font></b>
adelanto — The piggyback rides should be coming to an end soon. In the opening series against the Lancaster JetHawks, the High Desert Mavericks limited the pitches of their young staff and gave relievers about the same amount of work as starters.
Thursday, the team plans to stop the piggybacking and settle in to a normal rotation, beginning with Bo Hall (0-0, 2.25) in the series finale against Rancho Cucamonga. Hall will be followed by Khalid Ballouli, Eric Henderson, Forrest Martin and Ryan Costello.
"Things are starting to shape up that way," High Desert pitching coach John Curtis said. "(The pitchers) didn't have enough work coming out to stretch them out to five (innings) right away."
Today and Wednesday, starters will continue to get limited work.
"Then we'll be able to send them out with a reasonably confident feeling that they'll go five innings," Curtis said. "If (the starters) get into trouble, then the bullpen will be formed enough so that we can get them some help."
Bernstein adjusting: Roxy Bernstein pondered the stark contrast between his old job and his new one as he looked out on Mavericks Stadium before calling his first home game Monday night.
"It's not the same as looking out at Pac Bell Park and seeing the water in right center field," Bernstein said with a smile.
Bernstein broadcasted a few games for the San Francisco Giants last season, but he's come to High Desert to get to call games for an entire season.
"It's an opportunity for me to call nine innings a night and be with a team on an everyday basis," Bernstein said. "It's a good opportunity. It's what I need. If I want to be a major league guy I have to call innings."
Bernstein has called full seasons for college baseball teams and independant league squads, but this will be his first full afilliated season.
A native Northern Californian and a graduate of Cal Berkley, the new voice of the Mavs will continue to go back home to broadcast Cal basketball and football in the offseason. He'll also be taking a game off from the Mavs on Friday to call a Cal vs. Stanford baseball game on TV for Fox Sports Net.
Though he eventually wants to move on to a higher level, Bernstein is enjoying his stay in the area so far.
"It's been a fun adjustment," Bernstein said. "I like the area, and the fans have been terrific so far. The community seems supportive of the team, which is great.
<a href=http://www.al.com/sports/huntsvilletimes/mmccarter.ssf?/base/sports/108196474149120.xml>The Huntsville Times</a> 04/14/04
<b><font size=4>Pitch doctor works his spell</font>
Stars listen to Dabney when he's not off hauling mulch</b>
He is a reformed "goofy left-hander'' who now offers such wise homilies that you think they should be needlepointed and hung on the bullpen wall.
He is a perfectionist for whom no detail is too small. He could be heard in spring training, for instance, giving players self-defense instruction should an irate batter charge the mound. Throw one punch if you have to - with the non-pitching hand - and backpedal and wait for the cavalry to arrive.
He is a man with "fish guts all over'' the inside of his well-traveled pick-up truck who is shopping for a comforter to make his apartment a little more homey.
He is, in understatement, "full of energy,'' says the Stars manager, Frank Kremblas.
"He's kind of a combination,'' says pitcher Brian Adams. "He's real relaxed, but once it's business, he's pretty intense. It's a good combination.''
This combination is Fred Dabney, the Huntsville Stars' pitching coach.
The quick info:
Thirty-five years old, a lefty out of Lawton, Okla., an 11-year veteran of the minors who "was out there with my hat on sideways, my head going one way, my body the other.''
A family guy whose wife Inger is a dentist in Venice, Fla. - they have two sons, Dane and Tanner - and whose first interview with this newspaper, if memory serves correct, took place only after Dabney had returned a phone call upon completing a Saturday errand for a truckload of mulch.
Comes to the Milwaukee organization after five years in the Texas Rangers' system.
How good is he?
Five games do not provide a barometer.
This does:
His pitchers can quote him liberally and literally.
Listen to Adams, the Stars reliever:
"He's a perfectionist, but in a good way. He said he expects us to go out and work on things, but he expects us to put up zeroes while we're doing that.''
"He told us to make sure each one of us knows we have the ability to pitch in the big leagues. When we get out there (on the mound), it's time to trust that.''
And, "He gives us the responsibility. He tells us a lot we're our best pitching coach. He just wants to be our second best.''
Twenty minutes later, sitting on a bench in the Stars dugout, Dabney says the exact same thing.
Essentially, it means pitchers should have a feel for their mechanics and the self-discipline to improve their skills.
"My goal is to build big league pitchers and for them to have success while they're up there,'' Dabney says. Then, another statement for the needlepointing:
"Ability alone will get you there. But work ethic and your understanding of what you need to do to have success will keep you there.''
A pitching coach has to be equal parts psychiatrist and kinesiologist. He has to comprehend those two most delicate, fragile, fickle pieces of baseball anatomy, a pitcher's brain and his arm.
He has to cajole and console. He has to know - and he relates this to the rearing of his two children, who respond differently to his parenting - which pitchers need the hugs and reassurance and which need a swift kick to less fragile portions of the anatomy.
"You have to have a relationship with that person and he has to know, has to believe, you have his best interest in mind,'' Dabney says. "That's 90 percent of my battle.''
He has to be able to ad lib and know what to say when.
Remember the pitcher's mound scenes in "Bull Durham?'' Nothing in real life gets quite so silly as a discussion on voodoo-stricken bats and wedding gifts - "candlesticks would be nice'' - but it's not all grave, either.
Dabney has, on more than one occasion, gone to a mound to face a pitcher "with the biggest eyeballs in the world and breathing 100 miles an hour.'' Calmly, Dabney would say, "Hey, you see that cute girl sitting over there by first base?''
During games, he is a consultant for Kremblas. He provides information on the pitchers, but never the verdict on when to yank a pitcher or keep him in the game. "Now I'll even ask him on purpose, just to mess with him,'' Kremblas says. Dabney's not reluctant. He's just a good lieutenant, leaving the decision properly with the manager.
This isn't Dabney's first tour of the Southern League. He pitched at Orlando and Birmingham during his peripatetic career, where he spent time with the White Sox, Cubs and Yankees organizations.
"I had a little ability,'' Dabney says. "I was the kind of guy I would have had to have everything happen perfectly for me to make it (to the majors). For the big league club to be super-struggling and I was just dealing in Triple-A.''
That never happened. But this isn't some cliche story of trying now to live vicariously through his players. Pride and work ethic are enough motivation.
"To make a long story short, I wasn't the best professional baseball player,'' Dabney says. "But it made me a better player-development person. My goal now is to be the best pitching coach I can possibly be.''
Or, more precisely, the best second-best pitching coach he can be.
<a href=http://www.indystar.com/articles/2/138179-6432-036.html>Indianapolis Star</a> 04/15/04
<b><font size=4>Talented trio improves Tribe's prospects for 2004</font>
Outfielders Krynzel, Hart, shortstop Hardy reminiscent of team's stellar '74 baseball class.</b>
The future of the Milwaukee Brewers franchise may be in the hands of a "goof group."
That's the slogan that Indianapolis Indians center fielder Dave Krynzel came up with to describe himself, shortstop J.J. Hardy and right fielder Corey Hart. Because baseball is often a maddening exercise in futility and the trio has been asked from day one about being the organization's top prospects, they thrive by maintaining amusing, easygoing lifestyles.
"He's such a goof," Hart said of Hardy, after a spring training workout in Phoenix.
"Corey is a goofball," Hardy said. "Any time you're around Corey, you're having fun and laughing."
The most promising Triple-A prospects the Indians (3-1) have had in years will get serious when they take their positions at Victory Field for today's home opener against Norfolk (1-3).
Baseball America considers the Brewers' minor-league system the best, and ranks Hardy third, Hart seventh and Krynzel ninth among the organization's top prospects. Indians right-hander Ben Hendrickson is listed eighth.
"I've heard all that stuff," Hardy said. "I don't try to think about it too much because that's when you do kind of feel the pressure. All we can do is go out and play."
Hardy, Hart and Krynzel have been together since they signed and are about the same age: Krynzel and Hart are 22, Hardy celebrates that birthday in August. Last year, they were Double-A All-Stars for the Huntsville (Ala.) Stars in the Southern League.
"We know each other so well and we're so comfortable around each other," Hart said. "That's why we play so well, because of that friendship. I know I don't have to go out there and do it all."
Still another batch of prospects awaits in Huntsville. Baseball America ranks the Brewers' top two prospects, second baseman Rickie Weeks and first baseman Prince Fielder (Cecil's son), among baseball's 10 best. Outfielder Brad Nelson (fifth) and right-hander Mike Jones (sixth) are the other Stars among the Brewers' prospect list.
"It is somewhat reminiscent of a team we had 30 years ago that included numerous players who went on to successful major-league careers," Indians president Max Schumacher said. "The 1974 team was perhaps the high mark for outstanding young talent with Ken Griffey, Joel Youngblood, Ed Armbrister, Will McEnaney, Rawley Eastwick, Pat Zachry, Pat Darcy, Tom Carroll and Joaquin Andujar on our roster.
"Including the players who are currently at Huntsville, we come close to matching the '74 crop. Time will tell if they fulfill their considerable promise."
The last time the Indians had such a publicized prospect was in 2000 with right-hander Ben Sheets. He led the United States to Olympic gold in a title-game victory over Cuba and has become the ace of the Brewers rotation.
"Are they going to be superstars? That's hard to say," said Reid Nichols, Brewers director of player development. "But are they going to be good big-league players? Yes, some day."
Nichols sizes up Hardy like he's reading from a scouting report: Sure hands. Decent arm. Always positioned well to throw. Sees things ahead.
He says Hart, who has changed positions twice, from first to third and now to right field, could be like former Atlanta Braves slugger Dale Murphy someday. He'll be steady and hit for power but won't demand the headlines.
"And he's faster than you think he is," Nichols said of the 6-6 Hart. "He was one of our faster 60-yard dash guys."
Krynzel is already considered a gem in center field because of his speed and glove.
"He'll run 'em down in center field," Nichols said.
If the left-handed hitter can improve upon last season's .267 batting average, he'll likely get more opportunities to steal. He had 43 stolen bases in 2003.
"The stadium here is awesome," Krynzel said, scanning Victory Field last week. "You can run out there. Padded walls, that's a good thing. The deeper it goes, the faster I get and then I hit the wall. You'll see me fall down a couple (of) times out there."
<a href=http://www.indystar.com/images/pics2/image-138179-1923.jpg><img src=http://www.indystar.com/images/pics2/image-138179-1923.jpg border=0></a>
Shortstop J.J. Hardy is the third-best prospect in the Brewers' system, which is considered baseball's best by Baseball America.
<a href=http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2004/04/16/local_sports/iq_2826129.txt>The Journal Times</a> 04/16/04
<b><font size=4>Time of his life: Rottino enjoying the chance to play ball</font></b>
BY PETER JACKEL Journal Times He lives on the edge of the seedy section of Beloit, paying $150 a month for his share of the rent.
He awakens every morning on a mattress in the middle of the living room floor.
When he sleepily walks into the kitchen, he can expect to find sparse cupboards, a stack of dirty dishes and perhaps a couple cans of soda and a half-eaten Happy Meal in the refrigerator.
Vinnie Rottino might have been well on his way to earning a comfortable living as a pharmacist by now.
But instead, it has come to this.
The absolute greatest time of his life.
All that matters to Rottino is that his eyes are trained on breaking pitches as a prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers' organization, not on counting off 30 Altace tablets while filling another monthly prescription.
That can and probably will happen later for Rottino, who joined the Beloit Snappers - the Brewers' Class A farm affiliate - earlier this month. The bottom line is, Rottino will not always be 24 years old. The years will eventually rob him of the snap in his swing and the lope in his stride, so why not keep this dream alive for as long as possible? "I'm ecstatic to be playing ball,'' said Rottino, a 1998 St. Catherine's High School graduate. "Every day I get up and I thank God. I really do. I have an opportunity to put on a pro baseball uniform and play ball for money.'' Despite earning first-team NCAA Division III honors as a shortstop for UW-La Crosse in 2002, Rottino was passed over in baseball's free-agent draft. The word was that because of the perceived overall lack of competition at the Division III level, Rottino was not considered a legitimate prospect.
Local coach Jack Schiestle personally wrote a letter to New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner on Rottino's behalf. No reply.
Other inquiries to major league teams by Schiestle fell on indifferent ears.
Rottino, an honor student at both St. Catherine's and UW-La Crosse, reluctantly enrolled at the University of Wisconsin's pharmaceutical school for the fall 2002 semester. Despite not having his heart in the classroom, Rottino earned straight A's and resigned himself to wearing a pharmacist's shirt rather than a baseball jersey.
And then came an unexpected break. In January 2003, Schiestle convinced the Brewers to take a shot on the kid. Schiestle's only bargaining chip was asking the Brewers what they had to lose by giving Rottino a chance.
Rottino fought and scratched to distinguish himself from the numerous other players during spring training. Despite only adequate numbers, he was assigned to the Brewers' Rookie League affiliate at Helena, Mont., where he really hit his stride.
Playing first base, third base, shortstop, the outfield and catcher, Rottino hit .311 (69-for-222) with 42 runs, a home run and 20 RBIs. Perhaps most impressively, he drew 28 walks and struck out only 25 times.
And now he has made the progression to Beloit, with the goal of advancing to the Brewers' Class AA affiliate in Huntsville, Ala., by the end of this season. It remains to be seen whether that happens, but Beloit manager Don Money sees potential.
"He's a hard worker, first of all,'' said Money, a former third baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers. "He can play any position out there. He's our jack-of-all-trades master-of-none player.'' After a slow start, Rottino has proven he can hit the better caliber of pitching he sees at the Class A level. Through the first eight games of this season, Rottino is hitting .316 with two doubles and five RBIs.
"He had a very good stroke in Arizona in spring training and then he got up here and it seemed like he left it out there,'' Money said. "But we shipped it in (his batting stroke) and, the last couple of days, he's been swinging the bat real well for us.'' So what does the future hold for a driven player who seems to have everything but time on his side? After turning 24 on April 7, Rottino is a bit beyond the ideal age for a prospect in the lower reaches of a farm system. About all that's going to establish Rottino among the numerous prospects with whom he's competing is a work ethic and consist productivity.
There's no question about his desire. As for the productivity issue, that will largely be determined this season.
"He's 24, so he's got to open some eyes here so he can get moved,'' Money said. "He's got the makeup. He's got a great makeup for that, so he's just got to do it on the field and go about his business.'' Which is all Rottino ever asked for in the first place.
"Everything is positive right now,'' Rottino said. "I'm not thinking I'm in a dead-end position or anything. I think I'm going to make it to the big leagues some day. I really do.'' In the meantime, Rottino will continue splitting that $600 monthly rent with teammates Drew Andersen, Robbie Deevers and Terry Trofholz. He'll continue sleeping on that mattress. He won't care that he lives close to a rough section of Beloit.
These are the best years of Rottino's life and he's going to savor every day.
"Anytime you have that uniform on, you're a prospect,'' he said. "You have a chance to make the big leagues. That's how I look at it.
"I'm just pretty pumped about being here and I'm excited about the season.''
<a href=http://www.beloitdailynews.com/404/2sna20.htm>Beloit Daily News</a>
<b><font size=4>Snappers rotate starting staff</font></b>
The Beloit Snappers hope seven turns out to be a lucky number for them this spring.
While the conventional starting pitching rotations number four or five, the Snappers have thrown seven different bodies to start off games this year.
It's a brand new method second-year pitching coach Rich Sauveur and the club is using to break in the new hurlers.
``We call it `piggybacking,'+'' Sauveur said. ``It's just a new thing where we have pitchers starting on opposite days.''
So every week, one pitcher will get a start on the mound and be followed up by another from the bullpen. Then the following week those same two pitchers switch roles.
For example, Dana Eveland started the season opener and Greg Moreira came off the bench, each getting a no-decision during the Snappers' 7-6 victory over the Swing of the Quad Cities.
The next week, Moreira pitched a steady 5 1/3 innings in a winning effort against the Peoria Chiefs, while Eveland worked the rest of the game for his first save.
``It's just a thing to develop these kids and make sure they all get enough innings instead of just developing a reliever,'' Sauveur said. ``The starters can get enough innings by getting a starting position and a reliever position each week. I think it's a good idea.''
It's the first time Sauveur has ever tried this approach, and he does not know for how long the club will continue to utilize it.
Sauveur thinks this year's staff is ideal for the rotation system.
``The nucleus of the staff is more balanced this year,'' said Sauveur. ``I'm not afraid to put anybody out there in any given situation. I think everybody out there can throw strikes.
``I'm real pleased with these guys. We'll see what happens,'' he said.
Last season's staff boasted some of the Milwaukee Brewers' more highly-touted prospects in hard-throwing right-handers Dennis Sarfate and Tom Wilhelmsen and southpaw Manny Parra.
While perhaps not as heralded as that group, Sauveur believes his current staff has the stuff to succeed.
``We've got a good mix from everybody,'' Sauveur said. ``We've got guys that are breaking ball pitchers and guys that have decent fastballs like Mr. Eveland. He's hitting 91 (miles per hour). I like that.
``But they've got to remember that they have to pitch instead of try to throw,'' he said.
So far the starting pitching has overshadowed the relievers.
Through 11 games in a starting role, Beloit's hurlers have posted a stellar 2.04 earned run average with 37 strikeouts and a 2-3 record in 57 1/3 innings.
The entire staff ERA is at 3.06 in 100 innings pitched.
Luis Pena, the lone holdover from last year's club, is 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA in 10 2/3 innings.
In the long run, Sauveur expects the Snappers to become more consistent on defense supporting what should be a quality pitching staff.
``We've got a good staff, and we've got good fielders behind them,'' Sauveur said. ``We just haven't played to our caliber as of yet. I really think that.
``We're not going to be a power-hitting team,'' he said. ``But I think we've got a good fielding team.''
<a href=http://www.beloitdailynews.com/404/palm21.htm>Beloit Daily News</a> 04/21/04
<b><font size=4>`Sweetness'</font>
Snapper catcher Palmisano already living up to his hype</b>
Over the individual lockers in the Beloit Snappers clubhouse, everyone has a name tag over his space.
Catcher Lou Palmisano's simply reads, ``Sweetness.''
While the Midwest League season is just two weeks old, Palmisano has already lived up to his billing.
The Milwaukee Brewers' 2003 third-round draft pick, and last season's Pioneer League Most Valuable Player, has shown that he is a constant line drive threat on offense and a stable force behind the plate.
He also defies the rules your prototypical catcher _ he's very mobile and well-rounded in so many aspects of the game.
In the league, Palmisano ranks in the top 15 in batting average (14th, .316), runs batted in (tied for ninth, 9), runs scored (tied for 13th, 8) and on-base percentage (10th, .458).
Palmisano easily leads the league by getting hit by a pitch five times. Clearly he does everything to get aboard.
``In any situation, all I try and do is relax,'' said Palmisano, who briefly led the league in on-base percentage last week. ``If I get a pitch to hit, I get a pitch to hit. If not, then I'll take a walk. I'm doing whatever I can. That's all I can try and do.''
But that's just the offense.
What the Snappers care more about is what he brings to the defense. In 11 games Palmisano has yet to commit an error.
And so far the Snappers coaching staff is very impressed, particularly pitching coach Rich Sauveur.
``I love watching him. I've enjoyed it so far,'' Sauveur said. ``He's doing an outstanding job. If I didn't like it, I would have already started calling the pitches.''
This season has been pretty much under Palmisano's control. And the most comfortable thing for him is he's working with a staff that is virtually the same from last year's Helena team in the Pioneer League.
``This pitching staff's great,'' he said. ``It's probably one of the best pitching staffs I've ever been around. Great starters, great middle relief, great closers.
``You can throw any guy in any kind of situation.''
He also likes the staff's accuracy.
``Our pitchers hit their spots really well,'' Palmisano said. ``They have great command and great control. That's why they get the job done.''
Palmisano played in every game of the season up until Tuesday night, getting a rare rest on the road against the Lansing Lugnuts.
That routine will probably be how Palmisano's entire season goes. He has gotten a brief rest on the knees a couple times, moving to the designated hitter position while Tim Marks handles the backstop.
Palmisano is used to donning his catching gear every day.
``I've been catching since I was 9,'' Palmisano said. ``I do nothing out of the ordinary. I just do my job, help the pitchers out, keep the balls in front of me and call a good game. You control the infield and try and be a leader on the field.''
He makes it sound so easy. But as expected, Palmisano is human and he has made a few mistakes in the pitch calls. To Sauveur, the only way Palmisano will get better is if he learns from the occasional slip-ups.
One example was during the Snappers' 9-5 victory over Peoria on April 14.
With a 9-1 lead, Palmisano signaled starting pitcher Greg Moreira to throw the Chiefs' Anthony Monegan a curve and a fast ball to lead off the sixth inning.
Moreira fell behind 2-0, so he left a heater right over the heart of the plate, and Monegan ripped a double. Two batters later, Peoria's Cody Haerther drove him in with a double, and Moreira was replaced by Dana Eveland.
``When you have a seven-run lead, you go out there and you challenge them with your best stuff,'' Sauveur said. ``What's the worst thing that can happen? You've got a six-run lead.
``So, he understood me. It's the little things like that,'' Sauveur said. ``He's learning from his mistakes.''
NOTES: Palmisano is ranked 11th on the Brewers' top 30 prospect chart, according to Baseball America, which also dubbed him as the top junior college player taken in the 2003 draft. Palmisano attended Broward Junior College (Fla.).
<a href=http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brew/apr04/224262.asp>JSONLINE</a>
<b><font size=4>Brewers prospect suspended</font>
Pitcher out for season after drug violation</b>
Milwaukee Brewers farm director Reid Nichols announced Thursday that minor-league pitching prospect Tom Wilhelmsen had been suspended for the entire 2004 season for violating the organization's alcohol and drug policy.
Because of privacy laws, Nichols said he was unable to reveal Wilhelmsen's specific violation. But he did say the Brewers' drug policy mirrored that of Major League Baseball.
Under MLB's minor-league drug program, players undergo year-round, unannounced testing for banned substances such as steroids, ephedra and androstenedione, as well as "drugs of abuse" such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Players in violation of that policy are suspended for 15 games on the first offense, with subsequent offenses resulting in longer suspensions.
If the Brewers' policy mirrors that of MLB, Wilhelmsen would not have been suspended for a year on his first offense. The 19-year-old right-hander was sent home before the end of his 2003 season at Class A Beloit but the Brewers said at the time that he had an ailing elbow.
"It was a hard thing to do," Nichols said. "Something like this always is. It has been in the background for a while.
"Right now, we just want Tom to get his life together and not worry about baseball."
Wilhelmsen was a seventh-round selection in the 2002 June draft out of Magnet High School in Tucson, Ariz. He signed too late to pitch in rookie ball that year but quickly established himself as one of the top pitchers in the Midwest League during the first half of the 2003 season.
In 15 starts with Beloit, Wilhelmsen was 5-5 with a 2.76 earned run average, with 27 walks and 63 strikeouts in 88 innings. Many scouts rated his stuff among the best in the league, and Wilhelmsen was ranked the No. 14 prospect in the Brewers' organization by Baseball America magazine.
Nichols said Wilhelmsen would not be allowed to play this season and would be re-evaluated afterward to determine his eligibility for 2005.
"The dream of these kids is to play in the major leagues and this has gotten in the way of his dream," Nichols said. "I think his career is still salvageable but he has to get past these personal issues."
Nichols said Wilhelmsen was not allowed to participate in the Brewers' minor-league spring training camp in Phoenix. He said Wilhelmsen did come for a brief visit at the start of camp but was not allowed to suit up.
"We had an agreement with him," Nichols said. "The reason he wasn't allowed to come to spring training was he didn't meet all the criteria in our agreement.
"Things seemed to be heading in the right direction and we let him come in a little early. The problem ended up being bigger than he thought it was and we thought it was. It got to the point where we have to deal with it."
In late March, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays suspended their top minor-league prospect, outfielder Josh Hamilton, for a year for unspecified multiple violations of MLB's drug policy. Hamilton was subject to the MLB policy because he was on Tampa Bay's 40-man roster.
Under baseball's Joint Drug Treatment and Prevention Program, a player can be suspended for up to a year after a fourth violation. That policy covers drugs of abuse, not steroids, which fall under a different, more lenient testing program.
<a href=http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mil/news/mil_news.jsp?ymd=20040423&content_id=727682&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp>MLB Brewers</a> 04/23/04
<b><font size=4>Prospect suspended</font></b>
Saenz attended the same Tucson, Ariz. high school as Tom Wilhelmsen, a right-handed pitcher who was suspended for the 2004 season for violating the Brewers' drug and alcohol policy.
"It's shocking," said Saenz, who was reunited with Wilhelmsen last season at Single-A Beloit. "He's somebody you want to play with. He gets the job done."
Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said confidentiality rules prevented him from discussing specifics, but confirmed that Wilhelmsen, 19, had been placed on the suspended list and would enter a rehabilitation program.
The Brewers' policy complies with Major League Baseball's minor league drug policy, which calls for year-round testing for a number of substances including performance-enhancing drugs as well as so-called "drugs of abuse." First offenses draw a 15-day suspension, with subsequent violations leading to more significant suspensions.
"He had his chances," Melvin said.
Wilhelmsen was 5-5 with a 2.76 ERA in 15 starts last season and Baseball America ranked him the 14th-best prospect in the Brewers' No. 1-rated minor league system. He was shut down before the end of last season with elbow soreness, and Melvin said the decision to send him home had nothing to do with a substance violation.
"We really can't say much about it," Melvin said. "Our interest is in helping the kid and getting him better. We have a program in place, now it's his job to follow the program."
<a href=http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mil/news/mil_news.jsp?ymd=20040424&content_id=728346&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp>MLB Brewers</a> 04/24/04
<b>Adjustment time</b>
Triple-A Indianapolis had the International League's third-best offense going into the weekend, but Hardy has not quite joined the hit parade.
In his first 52 at-bats at the Triple-A level, Hardy had a team-best 11 RBIs but sported a .212 batting average.
"I was hitting in the No. 8 hole at the beginning and I was 0-for-however many times I hit there," said Hardy, who was in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday preparing for a game against the Yankees affiliate. "Then I was moved up to the two-hole and that was much better."
How big of an adjustment is there from Double-A, where Hardy batted .279 last season with a career-high 12 home runs and 62 RBIs?
"It's a big jump up when it comes to ballparks, fans and defense," Hardy said. "And the pitchers are different because you've got a lot of soft throwers who like to hit their spots. In Double-A, you've got a lot more guys who are just hard throwers. It's taking a little time to adjust."
<b>Back on track</b>
Jones, the sixth-best prospect in the Brewers' farm system according to Baseball America, finished last season on the disabled list with an elbow injury but appears back on track at Huntsville. He struck out eight and allowed a run on four hits in five innings of Friday's 5-0 loss to West Tenn.
Jones was particularly pleased with his curveball.
"Absolutely," Jones told the Huntsville Times. "I would not have my curveball if I wasn't 100 percent healthy."
The Huntsville offense, led by Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks, has been struggling. It was the fourth time the Stars had been shut out in their last 10 games.
<b>Good story gets better</b>
The Brewers are experimenting with minor league right-hander Tim Bausher as a starter.
Bausher, a hard thrower whose professional career began in the Independent Leagues, had a 3.33 ERA and three saves in 19 relief appearances at Beloit last season. He had been alternating starts with Dennis Sarfate at Huntsville this year until Saenz's departure created an opening. Bausher was slated to make his second start of the season against West Tenn on Saturday.
In one start and one relief appearance, Bausher was 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA and nine strikeouts in seven innings of work. To make the conversion to starting, he will have to work on honing a changeup to go with his plus fastball and good curve.
<a href=http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mil/news/mil_news.jsp?ymd=20040426&content_id=729692&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp>MLB Brewers</a> 04/26/04
<b><font size=4>Jones poised for a comeback</font>
Prospect looks to overcome an injury-riddled season</b>
Mike Jones was on the fast track to the Major Leagues. The 6-foot-4 right-hander with a smooth delivery and exploding fastball was cruising through the minors.
The Brewers' first-round draft pick in 2001 (12th overall), he posted impressive numbers in his short work at Rookie Ogden in 2001 and was equally impressive at Single-A Beloit in 2002. His strikeout rate was high, his ERA was low and he had great command of his pitches. But an elbow injury incurred at Double-A Huntsville in 2003 brought his progress to a screeching halt.
"I was very disappointed. It was extremely frustrating at first," Jones said. "I thought, 'Why me?' "
After a number of doctors and specialists examined his arm, the club decided it was best to avoid surgery on the strained ligament in Jones' elbow, instead taking the rehabilitation route. In the off-season, Jones followed a rigorous rehab schedule to naturally strengthen his injured elbow without undergoing the dreaded "Tommy John" surgery. Jones actually began throwing after a few weeks off during the winter months, and his arm continues to get stronger every day.
"My arm is about 85 percent right now," Jones said in a February interview. "It is slowly progressing, but I don't want to push it too hard."
Two months later, he appears ready to push. Jones started for Huntsville on Friday night, striking out eight and allowing a run on four hits in five innings of a 5-0 loss. He was particularly pleased with his curveball, and said afterward that, "I would not have my curveball if I wasn't 100 percent healthy."
In his first three starts, Jones was 0-2 but had a respectable 4.50 ERA and 10 strikeouts versus eight walks in 14 innings.
The organization is holding its breath. The phrase "Tommy John surgery" is enough to make any person associated with baseball cringe. Most close to the situation seem to think that the injury occurred due to a problem with his mechanics, and Jones is hopeful that tweaking his delivery will relieve his elbow of any unnecessary strain.
"The injury actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise," he said. "I was able to sit back and really focus on mechanics so hopefully I can keep this from happening again."
Jones has not always had aspirations to be a pitcher. He originally started playing catcher in little league up until his high school years, but Brewer fans are probably not going to be seeing Jones put on the catcher's gear any time soon.
"I always wanted to play catcher because they always seemed to be in control of the game and involved in every play," Jones said. "But coaches started to notice my arm strength and my high school coach basically told me, 'You are going to pitch,' so I gave up catching and started my pitching career."
Armed with an exploding four-seam fastball and a steadily improving curveball, Jones has the demeanor of a 30-something veteran pitcher, occasionally mixing in a change or a two-seam fastball.
"My four-seam fastball is my go-to pitch," Jones said. "I've relied on my fastball throughout my career to get hitters out, but my curveball is really improving and is not too far behind my fastball."
The Brewers are hoping that Jones can stay healthy and continue to progress as he had before the setback. He posted a 7-2 mark with a 2.40 ERA in 17 games with Huntsville last season prior to the injury, and has drawn comparisons to Chicago Cubs ace Mark Prior because of his similar effortless delivery that causes his fastball to deceptively jump on hitters.
Although he has developed his own pitching style through repetition and countless hours working with numerous pitching coaches, Jones has also had other predecessors who have influenced his pitching. He grew up watching the Atlanta Braves pitching staff during his younger years, carefully monitoring the different styles of John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery and Greg Maddux.
"The Braves were always on TV so I would watch them almost every night," Jones said. "Each night, a new guy would go out there with his own unique style. ... One guy would throw hard and the other guy would have pinpoint control, but they were all great pitchers that I could learn a lot from."
Jones continues to work on developing his off-speed pitches to make himself a more complete pitcher. He has all of the tools to be a number one or two starter in the Major Leagues, but the biggest question remains: How will his injured elbow respond this season?
"I have taken every step to make sure my arm is strong. I don't see any reason that I shouldn't be ready to go to start the season at 100 percent," said Jones. "I am looking forward to getting back out there."
<a href=http://www.indystar.com/articles/9/141915-1269-036.html>Indianapolis Star</a> 04/28/04
<b><font size=4>Japanese ball different game, infielder finds</font>
Tribe's Sheldon struggled with culture of game in 2 years there.</b>
Indianapolis Indians infielder Scott Sheldon spent two seasons in "baseball prison" -- his term for playing professionally in Japan.
Since returning to the United States this season to play at Victory Field, the 35-year-old minor-leaguer has often been asked about the differences between the countries. He always gives the same answer.
"How big is the ocean from here to Japan?" he said.
In other words, it's vast.
"I kind of relate it to our societies," said Sheldon, who was guaranteed a salary three times that of the major leagues' $300,000 minimum to play for Japan's Orix Blue Wave. "Our society here is democratic, where your boss says something and you can go up and ask him a question. Over there, their society is more of a dictatorship. Whatever the boss says, that goes and it trickles down to the trainer.
"You get over there and you find out that everything you know over here doesn't apply over there."
Sheldon and best-selling author Robert Whiting, who has written several books on Japanese baseball, recently discussed the subject at Victory Field. Whiting was a guest of the Japanese-America Society of Indiana, Inc.
"They practice from dawn to dusk on some teams," said Whiting, whose latest book, "The Meaning of Ichiro," breaks down the wave of Japanese talent in the majors and how the American game has changed with such stars as Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.
"In America, (spring training) is sort of a vacation. In Japan, it's sort of like military training."
In Japan, there is one way to do everything, both Sheldon and Whiting said. That means "voluntary" workouts that players consider mandatory beginning in January.
Spring training is two months beginning in February. Workouts begin with a three-mile run.
Practice is more important than the games, and extensive meetings are held before and after every game.
Game strategies are in stark contrast to America, they said. Japanese teams try everything to score the first run of a game, even asking a cleanup hitter to bunt a runner into scoring position with one out.
Ties are acceptable after three extra innings, Whiting said, because it demonstrates both teams' strength of character. He recalls a race in 1989 when a team won the pennant with fewer victories but more ties than another contender.
Unlike in the U.S., where games are criticized for lasting three hours, longer games are ideal in Japan, Sheldon said. Fans endure screaming tests to prove their mettle to belong in fan clubs.
Sheldon hit .256 with 26 homers, 59 RBIs and a career-high 155 strikeouts for Orix in 2002. Last season, he played just 60 games, hitting .253 with eight homers and 24 RBIs.
"We work hard over here. We just do it more efficiently," Sheldon said.
"They work hard and their philosophy is, if 100 swings are good, then 500 are better. They believe if you have this talent and you practice, practice, practice, you can become a great player. We believe you've got to have some talent and if you practice, you'll get a little better."
Because of the strenuous regimen in Japan, Sheldon concurs with the popular criticism that players there wear down before the end of the season.
"They definitely run out of gas," he said. "It happens about two months into the season."
Whiting told of how former major-league manager Bobby Valentine went to Japan in 1995.
"The first day of camp, he let everybody go at 1 p.m.," the author said. "He came back and found they were secretly practicing because they were embarrassed because all the other teams were practicing throughout the day."
Sheldon said he was unaware of what he signed on for, such as extensive postgame meetings called "hansei-kai," which means self-reflection conference. They often lasted an hour and always focused on the negative, what players did wrong.
"I would tell the interpreter not to interpret," he said, for fear of being labeled a "crazy American."
American clubhouses have everything, Sheldon said, whereas in Japan everything is usually on order for many weeks when a player runs out of equipment.
"When they come over here, it's like Club Med," he said.
Sheldon, announced before at-bats as "Scott-o Sheldon-san," doesn't regret going to Japan because he was well compensated. And the culture was interesting for his family, he said.
"I remember my young son Max would go out in the summer when all the Japanese kids played baseball," Sheldon said. "It was amazing how baseball would cover the language barrier. The kids all figured out a system to where they would tell him by pointing with hand signals what team he was on and when it was time to go hit. It was wonderful."
Whiting marvels at the impact Ichiro has had on America. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Whiting remembers growing up unaware of sushi. Now it's served at Mariners games. Japanese fans also scream "Gambare!" which means "Come on, do your best!"
Because fans in Japan are so enamored of their countrymen in America, Whiting said they will watch telecasts of New York Yankees games at 9 a.m. to see Hideki Matsui and then tune in to see Ichiro with the Mariners at noon.
<a href=http://www.indystar.com/images/pics2/image-141915-1766.jpg><img src=http://www.indystar.com/images/pics2/image-141915-1766.jpg border=0></a>
Scott Sheldon is playing for the Indians after spending two seasons with the Orix Blue Wave of Japan's Pacific League. He said while he was paid well there, the differences in how they approached the game presented problems.
<a href=http://www.beloitdailynews.com/404/snap29.htm>Beloit Daily News</a> 04/29/04
<b><font size=4>Sturdy lumber</font>
Snappers hitting in the clutch</b>
The Snappers would have preferred a four-game sweep and an above-.500 record heading into Wednesday's off-day.
As things stand, Beloit can at least take pride in winning four of its last five, sitting with a 9-10 record and standing two games out of first place in the Western Division of the Midwest League.
Most of Beloit's recent success can be attributed to its budding offense.
The 3-1 series win against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the final game of a four-game set with the Lansing Lugnuts clearly showed the Snappers have improved immensely at hitting in the clutch.
``We've been talking about it since spring training, about them being able to get situational hitting done,'' hitting coach Tony Diggs said. ``When there's a guy on third base with less than two outs, we want to drive him in. When there's a guy on second base with no outs, we want to get him over to third to give us a chance to score on that.''
Surprisingly most of Beloit's damage has come with two outs.
In the past five games, 18 of the Snappers' 27 runs have crossed the plate with opposing pitchers needing just one more out to get out of a jam.
On most of those occasions, the Snappers were battling back for the lead. They had a five-run fifth inning to take a 6-4 lead in Monday's 7-6 win over Wisconsin. They also scored four runs (three with two outs) in the seventh inning of last Saturday's victory against the Timber Rattlers.
Centerfielder Terry Trofholz thinks the timely hitting was just a matter of the Snapper players finding a comfort zone.
``Early in the year you're nervous,'' Trofholz said. ``Guys are jumping at balls and swinging at pitches, just trying to make contact. As the year goes on you try and get more comfortable because you see more pitches.''
``Our guys have shown good selectivity,'' Diggs said. ``They're looking for strikes and they're hitting strikes. We've been swinging the bats pretty well collectively.''
Part of that comes from the Snapper players fighting for a longer at-bat, rather than hacking away at the first pitch.
During Sunday's 8-6 victory, Snappers shortstop Gilberto Acosta had a third-inning at-bat in which he fouled away at least six pitches to lead off the inning. He did not wind up with a hit, but he really made Timber Rattlers starter Thomas Oldham earn his out.
``That was a great at-bat for him,'' Diggs said. ``He fought off pitch after pitch after pitch and put the ball in play. He was selective, but aggressive as well.''
The Snappers go back on the road, beginning today with a 6 p.m. contest against the Clinton LumberKings. After that four-game series, the Snappers travel to the Timber Rattlers' home turf before coming back to Pohlman Field on May 7 to take on the Kane County Cougars.
Beloit hopes its blunders from the first road trip are long gone. And judging by the Snappers' recent homestand, they are getting some good production from all areas of the batting order.
Vinny Rottino is tied with Cedar Rapids' Brandon Wood and Kane County's Edward Kim for the league lead in RBIs with 15. He is also tied with Snappers catcher Lou Palmisano for seventh in batting average at .333.
Palmisano is second in the MWL in on-base percentage (.455) and eighth in RBIs (12). He and Trofholz have each scored 13 runs (eighth in MWL).
``We struggled over the road trip with situational hitting, but we're a lot more comfortable now,'' Trofholz said.
NOTES: Clinton is currently tied for the Western Division lead alongside Cedar Rapids with an 11-8 record. South Bend leads the Eastern Division at a 15-4 mark.
<a href=http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brew/apr04/225934.asp>JSONLINE</font></a> 04/29/04
<b><font size=4>Krynzel breaks foot, to miss 8-12 weeks</font>
Speedy outfielder was in Class AAA</b>
The Milwaukee Brewers lost one of their top minor-league prospects for an extended period of time when Class AAA Indianapolis centerfielder David Krynzel suffered a broken foot Wednesday night in a game in Louisville.
Krynzel, 22, the Brewers' first-round draft pick in 2000, fouled a pitch off his right foot and suffered a non-displaced fracture. He is expected to be on the disabled list for the next eight to 12 weeks, which would span more than half the season.
"This was a big year for Dave," Brewers farm director Reid Nichols said. "This will hurt him. It'll set him back quite a bit.
"You always miss an impact player like that when he gets hurt. But he's an athlete; I'm sure he'll rebound from it."
The Brewers were looking for a rebound year from Krynzel after a prolonged second-half slump dropped his final 2003 batting average to .267 at Class AA Huntsville. He stole 43 bases but also struck out 119 times in 457 at-bats.
A superior defensive centerfielder with above-average speed, Krynzel was batting above .300 with Indianapolis until a recent skid. In 16 games, he was hitting .263 with a .373 on-base percentage, two home runs, six RBI and three stolen bases.
Krynzel is rated the No. 9 prospect in the Brewers' farm system by Baseball America magazine.
Nichols said it was too early to consider promoting Class AA Huntsville centerfielder Tony Gwynn Jr., a second-round pick in the 2003 draft. Also a standout defensive player, Gwynn batted .280 in 61 games at Class A Beloit last year after signing.
"Tony needs to stay in Huntsville all year," Nichols said. "He's going to be a good player but we don't want to rush him.
"We have Jon Nunnally, Jeff Liefer and Chris Magruder at Indy, so we're OK in the outfield. Huntsville has doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday. After that, we'll look at getting Indy some help."
<a href=http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mil/news/mil_news.jsp?ymd=20040429&content_id=732192&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp>MLB Brewers</a> 04/29/04
<b><font size=4>Palmisano catching on quickly</font>
Prospect focused and ready to move up the ladder</b>
Lou Palmisano would have finished his rookie season for the Helena Brewers tops in the Pioneer League in on-base and slugging percentages as well as batting average had he stepped to the plate just three more times before suffering a late-season ankle injury.
The unlucky break left the catching prospect -- dubbed "Sweet Lou" by his teammates -- with some sour grapes.
"I remember sitting in the hotel room after my surgery checking online to see where the other batters were," he said. "I thought I had it locked up. Then on the last day of the season I check and somebody had like 205 at bats, and I just thought, 'Come on.'"
Despite the disappointment, Palmisano was at 100 percent for the start of Spring Training and is settling in nicely with the Single-A Beloit Snappers. Playing the unfamiliar role of spectator to close out his first professional season and offseason rehab made him motivated to make an impact in 2004.
As a third-round draft pick last June out of Broward County Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Palmisano surpassed expectations as a rookie with Helena, being named the Pioneer League's Most Valuable Player. He put up great numbers at the plate and behind it, posting a .391 batting average with just a handful of errors. Palmisano said his season surprised him more than anyone. He wasn't ready for the attention that came with it.
"There is even more of a spotlight on me," he said. "I'm not focusing on getting MVP again, I just want to be a productive factor and have a healthy year."
Brewers farm director Reid Nichols may put some of Palmisano's jitters to rest. Though Palmisano had an excellent season, Nichols said there are much more important things than awards.
"We don't expect him to be an MVP every year," Nichols said. "What's important is that he stays healthy. Lou has a lot of talent, and that will speak for itself."
Though his success comes as a shock to him, anyone looking at his childhood competition may not be quite so surprised. Palmisano's brother, Nicholas, was drafted by the Pirates in the 33rd round of the 2003 draft but did not sign. Growing up very close in age provided Lou with a good development partner, some fierce competition and constant support.
"We were competitive in everything," Palmisano said. "I always had a partner. We backed each other up. We really were always best friends and a lot of who I am today is because of him."
Growing up, Palmisano spent a lot of time watching catchers. He has played behind the plate his whole life, which allowed him to monitor all the pro catchers and pick up aspects of their game he thought would work best.
Whatever he picked up seems to be working for the 21-year-old prospect. He's not a hot commodity playing in a position where the Brewers have a short list of available candidates.
"I don't really focus on what the other catchers are doing or what numbers they are putting up now," he said. "I can't affect anybody's game but my own, so that is where my attention is."
That continued focus comes easy to Palmisano, since playing baseball has always been his dream.
"I want to get up in the morning and know I'm doing what I love every day," he said. "I want to play at Miller Park. That's the dream of a lot of kids, and if I keep working I can make it a reality."
Palmisano's "Sweet Lou" nickname seems pretty fitting. The moniker has followed him for years.
"Freshman year in college, my buddy used to call me 'Sweet Lou' all the time," Palmisano said. "Then I started playing pro and moved to Helena and I didn't hear it for a while. Then all of a sudden one day my teammate Jeremy Frost said it out of nowhere and it's stuck with me here. Now I get it all the time the guys just yell. 'Let's go, Sweet.'"
'Sweet Lou' has made it this far, and Palmisano hopes the nickname follows him all the way to the Majors.
<a href=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=neyer_rob&id=1792897>ESPN</a> 04/30/04
<b><font size=4>Down, but definitely not out</font></b>
When Kim Berger talks about her son, she looks like the happiest woman in the world. "The day Garrett was born," she says with a big smile, "the pediatrician saw his shoulders and said, 'This kid is going to be a pitcher.' "
That doctor knew his stuff. Those shoulders just got bigger and bigger and bigger -- 17 years later, that baby stood six feet, three inches tall and weighed 260 pounds -- and Garrett Berger was one hell of a pitcher.
But wait, we're getting ahead of the story ... Growing up on the outskirts of Indianapolis, Garrett fell in love with the Chicago Cubs. At 11, he started taking pitching lessons. For a while, though, it wasn't apparent that Berger's future was on the mound. For one thing, he didn't look like a pitcher. His big sisters, both of them great athletes, called Garrett "Chunk" because he looked like the fat kid in "The Goonies." And for another, he really didn't throw all that hard. As a high-school freshman, Berger's fastball got into the 80s, but his coach saw that body and thought it was more suited to catching pitches than throwing them. So he caught, mostly.
Still, Berger kept pitching when he could. Kept taking lessons. Kept growing, too. And so the summer before his senior year, he got invited to Long Beach for the Area Code Games, the top showcase in the country for amateur talent. There were at least 50 scouts in the stands, maybe even 75, and what they saw when Garrett Berger pitched was a huge kid, barely 17 years old, who could throw a baseball 94 miles an hour. The sort of kid that every scout dreams about after his head hits the pillow at the Motel 6.
That same summer, Garrett was at Bank One Ballpark for a Diamondbacks game. Kim Berger's face lights up again as she tells the story ... "He's so great. He's just this big kid. We're in the upper deck, and Garrett decides he has to get the wave going. So he's running back and forth yelling at everybody, and Jay Lehr (his private pitching coach) says to me, 'Look at him. Next year that idiot could be a millionaire.' "
A million or two dollars, of course, being roughly the going rate for teenagers who throw 95 and aren't done growing yet. But first Berger had to get through his last season of high-school baseball. And when Garrett's mom talks about that senior season, she's far from the happiest woman in the world.
"In Indiana," she remembers, "Opening Day's in April, and it's about 40 degrees. That first game, his head coach had him throwing 40 percent sliders. He should have been throwing more fastballs. That was his pitch. And as the season progressed, his arm started hurting."
On one occasion, when Garrett's father asked the manager why he was letting Garrett throw so many pitches, the response was terse: "I'm trying to win a ball game here."
The worst was yet to come. After throwing 155 pitches in one game, Berger wanted out. Nobody was warming up in the bullpen. So finally he removed himself from the game, claiming his "leg hurt." When Berger reached the bench, his pitching coach threw a plastic pitch counter at him and scoffed, "There's your pitch count." His head coach benched him for the next two games.
Kim Berger, who worked at Garrett's high school, had seen enough, and got a meeting with the baseball coaches and the school's administration. This was her son's dream they were fooling around with. "How can a coach, with a dream in his hand, take that away just because he's uneducated?" she still wonders. "Inside my heart, I was so angry. I felt like I'd thrown my kid to the wolves."
Kim had educated herself. She showed up armed with articles, studies, statistics, and recommendations, one of which was that no high-school pitcher should ever throw more than 120 pitches in a game. She also made it clear -- with as much grace as she could muster -- that her son had big plans for the future, and she wasn't going to let the ambitions of a high-school baseball coach get in the way of those plans. That dream.
It's true that Garrett was never again asked to throw 150-plus pitches in a game, but it's also true that his coaches didn't make any special efforts to protect that talented right arm, and what efforts they did make were grudging. Indeed, Kim later was told that the head coach had been telling scouts that Garrett's arm was hurting him. Why would he do that? Kim thinks it was simple pique; nobody would tell him how to run his ball club.
On June 5, 2001, Graduation Day at Carmel High School, Garrett Berger was drafted by the Florida Marlins with their first pick, the 60th overall. On August 12, he signed with the Marlins for $795,000 (not quite a million dollars, but then throwing 155 pitches can cost a young man a lot of money). Shortly thereafter, he blew out his elbow while pitching in the instructional league. Berger had a torn ligament and a fractured bone: the same injury, basically, that cost John Smoltz the entire 2000 season. Kim Berger is convinced that her son's injury is directly related to all those sliders, all those pitches he threw for the greater glory of Carmel High.
Berger missed the entire 2002 season, returned in the spring of 2003 and was throwing 96, but suffered a setback and missed most of last season, too. In January, the Marlins released him. Berger quickly signed with the Brewers, and right now he's in extended spring training down in Arizona, once again throwing in the mid 90s.
Garrett Berger is just one kid who dreamed of pitching at Wrigley Field, and Kim Berger is just one mom who wants to see her son's dream come true. But how many other moms have had to watch their sons' dreams destroyed by the willful ignorance of baseball coaches? A pretty safe guess is "too many," and we can only assume that too many dreams are still being destroyed this very spring, in high-school games all over the country.
Every time Garrett throws, he calls his mom with a full report. Monday, things went well in an intra-squad game. Today, he's supposed to pitch in a real game. Tomorrow ... well, who knows? Maybe tomorrow he'll be trying to blow his fastball past Sammy Sosa. Sometimes dreams come true, eventually.
<a href=http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mil/news/mil_news.jsp?ymd=20040430&content_id=732674&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp>MLB Brewers</a> 04/30/04
<b><font size=4>Krynzel to miss three months</font></b>
Triple-A Indianapolis on Thursday lost its center fielder for 12 weeks and its first baseman for 13 minutes.
The 13-minute delay came before the start of the fourth inning in Indy's eventual 9-0 loss to Louisville, when first baseman Jeff Liefer was locked in a clubhouse restroom.
Liefer, who has been crushing International league pitching so far, eventually returned. Center fielder Dave Krynzel, a former No. 1 draft pick rated the Brewers' ninth-best prospect by Baseball America, will not.
Krynzel fouled a ball off his right foot Wednesday night and is expected to miss eight to 12 weeks with a non-displaced fracture. Krynzel, who slumped during the second half last year and struggled through much of Spring Training, was batting .263 with three steals but had struck out a team-high 19 times.
Veteran Jon Nunnally took Krynzel's place in center field and will see the bulk of starts in Krynzel's absence unless the Brewers make a roster move.
Liefer, meanwhile, took his misfortune with a sense of humor, and was a guest on a national sports talk show. Through 17 games he was hitting .328 with three homers, a team-best 15 RBIs and only five strikeouts.
Liefer unloaded on the Toledo Mud Hens Friday night, collecting three hits and six RBIs in an 8-6 win. Liefer's RBI total tied the all-time single game Indianapolis record set at Victory Field by Roberto Petagine and Tony Tarasco, both in 1998. Liefer smashed a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning and connected on a three-run double in the second as Indianapolis built a 7-0 lead.
<a href=http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brew/may04/226586.asp>JSONLINE</a> 05/01/04
<b><font size=4>Another ailing prospect</font>
Pitcher Jones has new elbow trouble</b>
For the second time in three days, the Milwaukee Brewers have placed a promising prospect - and a former No. 1 draft pick - on the minor-league disabled list.
Right-hander Mike Jones, the Brewers' top pick in 2001, was placed on the DL with Class AA Huntsville on Saturday after undergoing a series of tests Friday to determine the cause of soreness in his elbow.
"They did an extensive study with an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging test)," general manager Doug Melvin said. "They put dye in the elbow to see if there was anything wrong.
"The MRI didn't show any damage. We're just going to shut him down."
On Thursday, David Krynzel, the No. 1 pick in 2000, was placed on the DL with a fractured right foot. Krynzel, who was playing for Class AAA Indianapolis when he fouled a pitch off the foot, is expected to be sidelined eight to 12 weeks.
Jones, who turned 21 on April 23, was sidelined after 17 starts last season due to elbow problems and received conflicting diagnoses. It was initially feared that there was a slight tear of the ulnar collateral ligament, but the problem was later termed a Grade 1 sprain.
Jones, who received a $2.075 million signing bonus out of high school, worked on a rehabilitation program over the winter and was deemed healthy enough to open the season with Huntsville. He struck out eight batters in five innings during a start April 23 but reported pain the next day.
"We thought he'd pitch five or six games there and then go to Triple-A," Melvin said.
Jim Rooney, the Brewers' minor-league pitching coordinator, will travel to Huntsville to try to refine the right-hander's throwing mechanics. This spring, Jones attributed some of his problems to rushing his delivery.
Melvin said the Brewers would resist any urge to rush Jones back to the mound.
"We're probably overcautious with some guys, because pitching is so rare," Melvin said. "It gets frustrating sometimes, but it's part of the business. We're not the only club with injuries."
<b>Injury updates</b>
Melvin said left-hander Manny Parra, hampered by shoulder problems, could be ready to join Class A High Desert soon. Parra has been throwing in extended spring training in Arizona.
Melvin also said right-hander Nick Neugebauer, who opened the season with High Desert after missing nearly two years with shoulder problems, is back in Arizona and throwing "an inning here and there."
<a href=http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mil/news/mil_news.jsp?ymd=20040501&content_id=733462&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp>MLB Brewers</a> 05/01/04
<b><font size=4>Notes: Prospects' injuries mount</font>
Mike Jones the latest to suffer health issues</b>
MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers' bad luck with pitching prospects continued this week, when the team learned that Double-A right-hander Mike Jones would have to go on the disabled list with a sore elbow.
Jones, a former No. 1 draft pick rated the Brewers' sixth-best prospect by Baseball America, complained of elbow discomfort and was in Milwaukee on Friday to visit Brewers physician Dr. William Raasch. Jones underwent an arthrogram, during which a special dye was injected into Jones' arm before a magnetic resonance imaging scan.
The MRI did not reveal any tears or structural damage in Jones' arm, according to Brewers general manager Doug Melvin. Jones was also shut down at the end of last season with elbow discomfort, but did not require surgery.
Jones will return to Double-A Huntsville to work on his pitching motion with minor league pitching coordinator Jim Rooney. Rooney is also a former No. 1 draft pick who suffered injuries early in his career, and the Brewers hired him in part to help young pitchers avoid arm troubles.
"He's going to go back and work on some mechanical changes," Melvin said. "Maybe that will help."
Jones, who turned 21 on April 23, notched eight strikeouts in five innings in his last start for Double-A Huntsville and declared himself "100 percent healthy." Melvin said the team originally planned to give him two or three more starts at Huntsville before promoting Jones to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Jones was 7-2 in 17 starts at Huntsville last season with a 2.40 ERA before he was shut down with a similar injury. Some feared he was headed for "Tommy John" surgery, but the team opted for rest and a rehabilitation program.
BA rated Jones the 84th best prospect in baseball this spring. He was the 12th overall pick in the 2001 First-Year Player Draft and signed for $2.075 million.
<b>Health woes:</b> Despite positive signs out of pitchers like Ben Hendrickson, Mike Adams and Chris Saenz, who dazzled in a spot start for the Brewers last week, Milwaukee has had some tough luck with pitching prospects this year.
Some of the problems have bordered on the bizarre. Left-hander Luis Martinez was cleared of wrongdoing in his involvement in a shooting in the Dominican Republic, but was eventually placed on waivers. Right-hander Tom Wilhelmsen was suspended for the entire 2004 season after violating the club's substance abuse policy.
Others have been the result of conventional injuries. Left-hander Manny Parra, rated the team's fourth-best prospect by BA, is on the DL with an elbow injury. Right-hander Nick Neugebauer, coming off several years of shoulder problems, has struggled to put together consecutive healthy outings, and is pitching "an inning here and there" at extended Spring Training in Phoenix, Melvin said.
"Guys can have good arms, but they break down," said Melvin. "It gets frustrating after a while, but it's part of the business. We're not the only club that goes through this."
The team also lost one of its best position prospects this week, when center fielder Dave Krynzel fractured his right foot on a foul ball. Krynzel is expected to miss 8-12 weeks.
<a href=http://www.al.com/sports/huntsvilletimes/mmccarter.ssf?/base/sports/1083692786282990.xml>Huntsville Times</a> 05/04/04
<b><font size=4><font color=red>He's got Pop in his bat</font></font>
Stars' Gwynn gets boost from dad's career as well as pressure</b>
Among the astounding things you can learn about the greatest hitter of a generation: He was a nerd.
"My dad is definitely a nerd.''
That's just one of the nuggets you can mine from conversations with Tony Gwynn Sr., a hitter with mind-boggling consistency, and his son, Tony Jr.
They share the same name, the same bat - a size 33-inch, 301/2-ounce Louisville Slugger B-267, a fresh supply of which has just arrived for the younger Gwynn, in big-league quality maple, not the cheap stuff the minor leaguers usually get - and even the same distinctive voice.
Both are genuinely nice guys. Both were accomplished basketball players; Senior even played collegiately. Both played baseball at San Diego State, where Big Tony now coaches, and from where he offers some long-distance insight into his son, the Huntsville Stars' 21-year-old center fielder.
Little Tony - his dad calls him Anthony, but mom Alicia goes with Little Tony, so that's good enough for us - doesn't share his father's koala bear physique.
On the other hand, 43-year-old Big Tony, a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer, has 3,141 more hits in the majors than his offspring; he merely had a career average of .338, with 19 seasons batting higher than .300, eight batting titles and 15 All-Star appearances.
Oh, yeah.
One more thing they share, as we stitch together this conversation.
They're each other's biggest fan.
Question: A nerd?
Big Tony: "He's a lot different than I am. He's a lot more outgoing than I was. I was a nerd at his age. He has this outgoing personality. My first day (as coach at San Diego) State, he was a sophomore. We were walking to the administration office and he knew everybody. The weight room guy. The equipment guy. It was 'Hey, Don.' 'Hey, John.' 'Hey, Sally.' "
Question: So, what's it like being Tony Gwynn's kid?
Little Tony: "It was fun. I didn't spend much time with my father (in baseball) until I was like 9. At that time, I was able to protect myself when I went to the field.
"What more can you ask for than to be in the big league clubhouse every day in the summer and work out with big leaguers every day.''
Big Tony: "The good news ... is that you kind of experience what being a big-leaguer is all about. He's been in big league clubhouses. He'll not be in awe if he ever gets there.
"The negative, people expect him to be like his dad and expect him to do like his dad did. Same with Prince (Fielder, Stars first baseman and son of ex-big league slugger Cecil Fielder). If you're in their shoes, that part of the story gets old."
Question: How's the rest of the family?
Big Tony: "My wife, I'll be the first to say, raised my two kids. That's one of the neat things about retiring, to be home every day.
"My daughter, Anisha, is 18. She's just like (Little Tony). She played basketball growing up. She's started a singing career now. She sang 'God Bless America' at a Padres game and the national anthem at one of our games. I don't know where it comes from. My voice is awful.''
Question: How was the 14-game hitting streak, and how's the adjustment to Double-A?
Little Tony: "I didn't really know it until about 10 games in and somebody was messing around saying, 'You've got a nice little streak going.' It didn't feel like (a long streak) because there weren't many multiple hit games there.
"I'm starting to realize how pitchers are going to pitch to me. I'm more comfortable at the plate. (But) I've got a long ways to go. I need to work on being more consistent at the plate. I've improved a lot since the first two weeks of the season.
"I knew it was going to be an adjustment. I wasn't expecting to get off to a hot start. I'm still working. In another couple of weeks, I'll be good.''
Big Tony: "His mechanics, in his mind, are kind of complicated. But they're simple. He gets out on his front foot. He tells me when things are going wrong and we try to troubleshoot on the fly. I just tell him to trust his mechanics. This is a good time to work at his craft. If you can hit in Double-A, you can hit in the big leagues.''
Question: How good can Little Tony be?
Big Tony: "His game is better rounded than mine. I could hit. I didn't do everything as well. His game, he doesn't have to hit to have an impact. Defensively, he can go get it. He's as good as anybody I played with. If he gets on base, he makes things happen.''
Question: How much basketball did you play against each other?
Little Tony: "Probably the last time we played was my junior year in high school, before his knees couldn't hold him up. He was still pretty good.''
Big Tony: "We went at it one-on-one 'til he beat me, then I quit. He was probably a sophomore in high school. I couldn't guard him. Up 'til then, I could kind of beat up on him a little bit. But he got to where he was too quick. He was knocking down jumpers and rubbing it in my nose.
"My son, I call him 'the comedy king.' He would rag me from the first time he beat me on the basketball court. Rag me like no other. I told him basketball was one thing, baseball was another. (Laughing) He couldn't beat me there.''
<a href=http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mil/news/mil_news.jsp?ymd=20040505&content_id=736467&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp>MLB Brewers</a> 05/05/04
<b><font size=4>Last call</font></b>
Catcher Kade Johnson and right-handed pitcher Ben Hendrickson earned the Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Month awards for April. Johnson, 25, hit .364 with four home runs and nine RBIs at Double-A Huntsville. He also had a .705 slugging percentage and a .417 on base percentage in 13 games for the Stars. ... Hendrickson, 23, was 3-0 with a 1.66 ERA in four starts for Triple-A Indianapolis. He walked just three batters in 21 2/3 innings while striking out 18. Hendrickson allowed opposing hitters to bat just .211 in April. ... Outfielder Ryan Knox was promoted to Indianapolis from Huntsville to replace injured center fielder Dave Krynzel. Knox played 36 games for Indianapolis last season and batted .275. ... Keith Ginter turned 28 on Wednesday and celebrated with a first-inning home run against the Reds.
<a href=http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brew/may04/228200.asp>JSONLINE</a> 05/08/04
<b><font size=4>Calling all arms</font></b>
Class AA Huntsville pulled out a 4-2, 12-inning victory over Jacksonville on Friday despite having to use outfielder Johnny Raburn on the mound over the final two innings.
Short two relievers because of injuries, the Stars sent Raburn to the mound in the 11th with the score tied, 2-2. Raburn allowed three hits and struck out one in picking up the victory.
Prince Fielder settled the issue with a two-run single in the 12th. Earlier in the day, Fielder was named the hitter of the week in the Southern League for batting .360 with four home runs, nine RBI and five runs scored.
The Brewers continue to keep an eye on Class AAA Indianapolis right-hander Ben Hendrickson, who pitched seven strong innings Friday (four hits, one run) while getting a no-decision. Through six starts, Hendrickson is 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 322/3 innings.
<a href=http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brew/may04/228279.asp>JSONLINE</a> 05/09/04
<b><font size=4>Back in action</font></b>
Left-hander Manny Parra, rated one of the top pitching prospects in the Brewers' organization, made his first appearance of the season Saturday at Class A High Desert. Parra had remained in extended spring training after suffering shoulder problems.
<a href=http://www.beloitdailynews.com/504/snap10.htm>Beloit Daily News</a> 05/10/04
<b><font size=2>Versatile Vinny</font>
Snapper steps in wherever needed</b>
Vinny Rottino has been a man of many positions for the Beloit Snappers this spring.
``He's our jack-of-all-trades,'' Snappers Manager Don Money said Sunday.
The Racine, Wis., native wouldn't have it any other way.
``If I'm going to make it to the big leagues it's going to be as a utility player, being able to play everywhere,'' Rottino said after going 4-for-6 in a double-header split with the Kane County Cougars Sunday at Pohlman Field. ``I'm very happy with my role.''
The versatile infielder//outfielder//catcher leads Beloit in batting with a .342 average. He also leads in slugging percentage (.550), hits (38), total bases (61), triples (three) and RBIs (21). He is tied for the home run lead (3) and second in at-bats (111), despite not having a position he can call his own.
Sunday, he was the designated hitter in the opener, going 2-for-3 as Beloit won 10-2. He played left field in the 8-0 loss in the nightcap, again going 2-for-3 with a triple and a double.
``(Rottino) plays left field, right, first base, third and he played them all well,'' Money said. ``You try to find room for him in your lineup because he's one of your older guys (24) and he's singing the bat so well. He might be in right (Monday) or maybe he'll DH again.''
It doesn't matter to Rottino, who expects to play catcher, too, before the season's over.
``When I got signed I'd never caught before, but they sent me to extended spring training last year to learn how to catch,'' he said. ``I caught about 10 games at Helena last year. I haven't had the opportunity yet this year, but I'm always ready.''
This season wasn't the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder's first experience at Pohlman Field. He played there as a member of Racine Legion Post 310.
``I remember hitting one off the wall here back in high school,'' he said with a laugh.
Rottino, a Racine St. Catherine High School grad, went on to earn NCAA Division III All-America status at UW-La Crosse. He signed with the Milwaukee Brewers as an undrafted free agent in February last year and in rookie ball at Helena, Mont., he hit .311 in 222 at-bats.
With the Snappers, Money has used him as high as third in the batting order, but he generally is No. 5.
``Personally, I love the five-hole because the guys in front of me get on at a pretty consistent rate,'' he said. ``I'm always up with guys in scoring position.''
That was the case in the opener Sunday as Beloit collected 11 hits and Rottino drove in three runs.
``I'm seeing the ball pretty well and the weather is improving,'' Rottino said. ``It seemed like it was 30 degrees forever. I had to explain to (teammates) that they were going to be begging for days like today in July and August when it's 95 degrees and the humidity is up.''
/B+In Sunday's opener, Carlos Corporan matched Rottino with three runs batted in, belting his first home run of the season. Lou Palmisano and Terry Trofholz each went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Carlos Villanueva (2-4) got the win with six strong innings, allowing seven hits, but only two runs and one walk. He struck out four. Tim Dillard worked a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts.
Other than Rottino's two extra-back knocks and a single by Adam Heether, the Beloit offense was silenced by Kane County left-hander Steven Bondurant in the nightcap.
``We came out in the second game and were as flat as we were high in the first game,'' Money said.
The Cougars scored six runs in the second inning and two in the third. Snappers starter Greg Kloosterman (1-4) did not last past the second inning, allowing six runs on six hits and three walks.
<b>NOTES:</b> Saturday, Adam Heether belted two homers and dr