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06-03-2005, 02:02 AM
The reports are arriving regularly, and with gusto.
In one recent seven-day stretch in the minors, future clean-up hitter Prince Fielder slammed seven home runs and collected 16 RBI in just seven games at Triple-A Nashville.
And future power-hitting second baseman Rickie Weeks is tearing it up in Nashville, too, to the tune of a .314 batting average, 10 homers, 42 RBI and eight steals.
The reports zip their way to Milwaukee, and this must be what it was like in the early 1950s when word flew around the block that the family down the street had an honest-to-goodness television in its house.
One day ...
"It ain't no secret that our organization was in shambles a couple of years ago," Brewers ace Ben Sheets says. "You look around (the clubhouse), and how many of these guys came up with us? The last couple of years, J.J. (Hardy, Milwaukee shortstop) and Billy (Hall, the Brewers' second baseman). Since I've been here, that's it.
"Now, you're seeing some guys getting to the upper levels of our system. You can talk about guys in A ball or rookie ball all you want, but that ain't close. Most guys don't even make it past Double-A."
Now, as the Brewers tilt toward the .500 mark at the major-league level, attempting to finish with their first winning record since 1992, more pieces are in place than at any time in years -- and not only are the reinforcements nearing, they're creating quite a stir.
Hardy, the club's second-round pick in 2001, is the first of the new wave of impact players expected to arrive. And though he was only batting .180 at midweek, he continues to do what the Brewers have asked him to do -- play solid defense -- as he adjusts to the major leagues.
Waiting in the wings are Fielder, son of former major-leaguer Cecil and Milwaukee's first-round pick in the 2002 draft; Weeks, the Brewers' first-round pick in the 2003 draft; and outfielder David Krynzel, the club's first-round pick in 2000.
Depending on how things go both at the major- and at the minor-league levels, Weeks and Krynzel both could land in the majors sometime during the season's second half, and Fielder might not be far behind.
The decision the Brewers faced going into this season was how quickly they should push these prospects. To general manager Doug Melvin, the answer came readily: Take it easy. Melvin remembers talking with Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski about the subject, and Dombrowski harkened back to the Tigers' devastating 119-loss season in 2003.
"He told me, 'We went that route, going with young guys, figuring 'What do we have to lose,' and it wasn't fun,'" Melvin says. "He saw it knocked the confidence out of some of their players. They began to think they didn't belong."
In one recent seven-day stretch in the minors, future clean-up hitter Prince Fielder slammed seven home runs and collected 16 RBI in just seven games at Triple-A Nashville.
And future power-hitting second baseman Rickie Weeks is tearing it up in Nashville, too, to the tune of a .314 batting average, 10 homers, 42 RBI and eight steals.
The reports zip their way to Milwaukee, and this must be what it was like in the early 1950s when word flew around the block that the family down the street had an honest-to-goodness television in its house.
One day ...
"It ain't no secret that our organization was in shambles a couple of years ago," Brewers ace Ben Sheets says. "You look around (the clubhouse), and how many of these guys came up with us? The last couple of years, J.J. (Hardy, Milwaukee shortstop) and Billy (Hall, the Brewers' second baseman). Since I've been here, that's it.
"Now, you're seeing some guys getting to the upper levels of our system. You can talk about guys in A ball or rookie ball all you want, but that ain't close. Most guys don't even make it past Double-A."
Now, as the Brewers tilt toward the .500 mark at the major-league level, attempting to finish with their first winning record since 1992, more pieces are in place than at any time in years -- and not only are the reinforcements nearing, they're creating quite a stir.
Hardy, the club's second-round pick in 2001, is the first of the new wave of impact players expected to arrive. And though he was only batting .180 at midweek, he continues to do what the Brewers have asked him to do -- play solid defense -- as he adjusts to the major leagues.
Waiting in the wings are Fielder, son of former major-leaguer Cecil and Milwaukee's first-round pick in the 2002 draft; Weeks, the Brewers' first-round pick in the 2003 draft; and outfielder David Krynzel, the club's first-round pick in 2000.
Depending on how things go both at the major- and at the minor-league levels, Weeks and Krynzel both could land in the majors sometime during the season's second half, and Fielder might not be far behind.
The decision the Brewers faced going into this season was how quickly they should push these prospects. To general manager Doug Melvin, the answer came readily: Take it easy. Melvin remembers talking with Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski about the subject, and Dombrowski harkened back to the Tigers' devastating 119-loss season in 2003.
"He told me, 'We went that route, going with young guys, figuring 'What do we have to lose,' and it wasn't fun,'" Melvin says. "He saw it knocked the confidence out of some of their players. They began to think they didn't belong."