Jeremy Jeffress

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<a href=http://www.addictsports.com/baseball/showthread.php?p=467212#post467212 target=_blank>Prep right-hander team's top pick</a>

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<b>Jeffress at a glance</b>

Age: 18
Height: 6-0 Weight: 175
School: Halifax County (Va.) HS
Hometown: South Boston, Va.
Senior season: 6G, 5-1, 0.19 ERA, 37 IP, 12 H, 13 BB, 71 Ks
Scouting report: A power pitcher who throws his fastball in the 90- to 95-mph range, with a slider at 77-83 mph and a changeup that needs work. A superior athlete who led his high school basketball team in scoring and three-pointers as a point guard, and ran the 60-yard dash in 6.76 seconds. His delivery and leg kick have evoked comparisons to Dwight Gooden at the same age.

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<a href=http://www.addictsports.com/baseball/showthread.php?p=467221#post467221 target=_blank>Brewers quick to sign draft picks</a>

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<b><font size=4>Picture of a pitcher</font>
Brewers impressed with Jeffress' arm, athleticism</b>

When Jeremy Jeffress was 5, his parents signed him up to play T-ball, like all the other neighborhood kids in rural South Boston, Va. But on the day of his first game, Jeremy sat in the dugout and cried.

"The coach had problems trying to figure out why this kid was crying," said his father, Fred. "You know what the problem was? He didn't think you were supposed to hit off the tee. He wanted somebody to throw it to him."

Even at that young age, Jeffress wanted to play the game right. Over the years, he discovered pitching, not hitting, was his special talent, and it paid off when the Milwaukee Brewers made him their first-round pick in the June draft.

Jeffress, 18, got his first look Friday at Miller Park as a large contingent of club officials and staff watched him throw in the bullpen before the Brewers took batting practice. He hadn't thrown in two weeks, so Jeffress was told to stick to fastballs and take it easy.

Even under that controlled atmosphere, Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux liked what he saw.

"He has a nice, simple delivery," Maddux said. "The ball comes out of his hand, nice and easy. And the ball has a little hop at the end."

It's that little hop that got scouts interested in Jeffress, who throws harder than one might expect from a 6-foot, 180-pound pitcher. Jeffress regularly threw his fastball in the low to mid-90-mph range during high school and mixed in an effective slider.

After the draft, the Brewers checked deeper into Jeffress' statistics and, as it turned out, he pitched more as a senior than the six games originally advertised. He went 9-1 with a 0.44 earned run average, striking out 121 hitters in 63 2/3 innings.

Jeffress, who received a $1.55 million signing bonus, will return home to Virginia today, then head to Arizona on Monday to join the rookie-league camp there.

"It's exciting," he said. "I'm ready to go. I love the game of baseball, and I play it to the fullest."

It has been a whirlwind week for Jeffress, who was drafted Tuesday, reached a final agreement Thursday and found himself in a major-league ballpark a day later.

"It's unusual to be sitting here doing this a couple of days after the draft," general manager Doug Melvin said. "It usually doesn't happen that fast."

Asked how long he thought Jeffress had first-round potential, Brewers area scout Tim McIlvaine said, "The first time I saw him. He comes right at you."

"He has an above-average fastball and he's not afraid to challenge you. And, whether he realizes it or not, you can see him make adjustments on the mound. He's really been awesome this year. He's going to be an asset to the Milwaukee Brewers organization."

Beyond his strong arm, the Brewers liked the athleticism of Jeffress, who was such a good basketball player at Halifax County High School that his number has been retired.

Fred Jeffress figured he had a baseball player on his hands the very first time he took his young son to the local Wal-Mart.

"He was just a little bitty guy but he saw a bat and a ball and asked me to buy it for him," recalled the proud papa, who made the trip to Milwaukee with wife Yolanda. "He went home and laid the ball on the ground and hit it with the bat, and then he'd run all the way around the cars and the house and come back smiling.

"He would do that every time. Everything was a home run to him."

Now, it's his job to prevent home runs.

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<b><font size=4>Jeffress visits Miller Park</font>
First-round pick throws off bullpen mound in front of team brass</b>

MILWAUKEE -- A small army accompanied Jeremy Jeffress to the bullpen at Miller Park on Friday afternoon, where Jeffress, an 18-year-old kid from a small town in southern Virginia in the midst of a whirlwind week, threw off a mound for the first time in about 10 days.
His parents, Freddie and Yolanda, were there, but so were Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, manager Ned Yost and pitching coach Mike Maddux, anxious for their first look at the Brewers' most recent No. 1 draft pick.

No pressure, kid.

"Get used to it," Yost said later. "This ain't high school baseball any more. He's stepping into a new world."

Jeffress sounded ready for the challenge.

"It was very exciting to see a big-league ballpark, coming right out of high school," Jeffress said. "It was an honor."

Jeffress passed a physical on Friday and formally signed his first pro contract. The Brewers selected Jeffress with the 16th overall pick in the First-Year Player Draft and reportedly gave him a $1.55 million signing bonus.

The team also amended Jeffress' record in his senior season. After reporting for days he went 5-1 for South Halifax Senior High School, it turns out Jeffress was 9-1 with a 0.44 ERA, striking out 121 batters in 63 2/3 innings.

It did not take long for Tim McIlvaine, son of former Mets general manager Joe McIlvaine and a first-year scout for the Brewers, to recognize Jeffress as first-round talent.

"[I liked him] the first time I saw him," McIlvaine said. "He comes right at you with an above-average fastball. He's aggressive. Throughout the course of this year we've seen him get better with the curveball, the changeup. You can see him, whether he knows it or not, making in-game adjustments on the mound. He's just been awesome this year."

Jeffress was to return home to South Boston, Va., on Saturday and will then travel on Monday to Phoenix, where he will begin his pro career with the Brewers' rookie Arizona League affiliate.

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<b><font size=4>Act II</font></b>

Even though it was more than 100 degrees with little shade, Melvin, Yost and the Brewers delegation didn't leave the game after Sheets departed. They stayed to watch the next pitcher, right-hander Jeremy Jeffress, the Brewers' first-round draft pick in June.

"There was heat in more ways than one," said Yost, referring to Jeffress' fastball.

Yost said Jeffress' first five pitches were clocked at 100, 99, 100, 101 and 99 mph. Jeffress went 2 2/3 innings, allowing no hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

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Back to the future (http://www.addictsports.com/baseball/showthread.php?p=508826#post508826)

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Player: Jeremy Jeffress
Date: 05/25/2007
Action: Transferred
From Team: Arizona Brewers
To Team: West Virginia Power

[645]

Player: Jeremy Jeffress
Date: 08/30/2007
Action: Placed on Restricted List
From Team: West Virginia Power
To Team: West Virginia Power

[645]

Player: Jeremy Jeffress
Date: 05/15/2008
Action: Activated from Suspended List
From Team: West Virginia Power
To Team: Brevard County Manatees