Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers hold on in a slug-fest to get a second win in a row against Phoenix and get to .500 on the season.
Bobby Erbakan and Tanner Yurek both have great games at the plate and might be coming out of their offensive slumps.
The pitching staff, on the other hand, remains a concern.

[BirdWatcher]

Former Brewer A.J. White announces that 1969 will be his last season in the game, as a player at least.
With his great intelligence and popularity there is much speculation that White could end up in a management role after his retirement as a player.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers are hitting like crazy right now. But pitching like crap.
Fortunately the hot offense is enough to give them 3 straight wins and 5 wins in the past 7 games.

[BirdWatcher]

Abel Pennington pitches horribly against the worst team in the WPK and the Brewers four game winning streak comes to an end in an embarrassing way.
In fairness to Pennington, relief pitcher Josh McEwen wasn't much better. McEwen suffers greatly from an inability to get left-handed hitters out, while being very strong against righties.
Also, the Brewers only managed 2 hits against Jose Santos, who struck out 11 in getting his first win of the season. Santos is one of the most popular players in the game and a fine pitcher so there isn't that much disgrace in being dominated by him.
But being outscored 10-0 by this very poor hitting team? That's pretty unforgivable.
The Brewers drop from a 1st place tie with the loss and though they have been playing very well, pitching continues to be their Achilles' heel.

[BirdWatcher]

Huge double-header sweep over the L.A. Spinners, especially given that we faced two of the best starting pitchers- Miguel Chavez in game 1 and Jaime Schardein in game 2- and lost one of our betters starters- Diego Ramirez- to a back injury pretty early in game 2.
Big contributions from some unlikely places, as catcher Joey Townsend went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI in the first game and got the big pinch-hit RBI single in the 11th inning of game 2 which was the game-winner.
And fifth outfielder Andrew Kennedy, who is thought to have great hitting potential but has not done much yet this season, got a rare chance to start in game 2 and helped out with a 3 for 5 day, including a lead-off double in the 11th and later scoring the winning run on the Townsend single.
By taking 3 of 4 from the Spinners in L.A. the Brewers are now just 1/2 game behind Oklahoma City in second place.

[BirdWatcher]

Ruben Souffront is off to a great start even though he hasn't been playing as regularly as might be expected, largely because Pat Rondeau is also off to a great start. Actually, the entire Brewers outfield is playing great, with Ryan Rodgers having now raised his batting average above .300 and leading the team in WAR at 1.1.
Antonio Puente has been slumping a bit though and has not only seen his batting average drop but is stuck on just 2 HR's, which he hit in the first week and a half of the season. (Back-up secondbaseman/firstbaseman Arturo Baca leads the team in HR's at 3 and has earned a good deal more playing time.)

[BirdWatcher]

And then the Brewers get swept in a 3-game series in Denver by the first place Oklahoma City Diamond Kings, culminating in an embarrassing 12-3 loss.
What a difference a year makes! Last year's second-place Brewers team was led by their great pitching staff, who allowed the fewest runs against in the league. This year's Brewers pitching staff is mostly pretty terrible and last in the league in runs against. It's still early and hopefully they can pull it together (or get help from AAA or through trades), but while the offense has been pretty good (and the defense, as always, spectacular) the pitching will have to improve if the Brewers are going to have any hope of winning the MGL this season.

[BirdWatcher]

Early in the 1969 season the Brewers have thus far pretty much owned their old arch-nemesis, the Los Angeles Spinners, having won 7 of 8 games against them (7 in a row now), including sweeping the most recent 4-game series at Brewers Field.
The first two games were nail-biters, with the Brewers squeaking out a pair of 1-run victories (2-1, 4-3). But the Sunday doubleheader was another story altogether. The Brewers took game 1 by a score of 5-2, in spite of losing starting pitcher Diego Ramirez to another back injury. Then, for game 2, they exploded for 15 runs and won a 15-5 laugher.
The Brewers found their power bats a bit in this series, too. Ruben Souffront hit a pair of HR's in the series, as did Antonio Puente, who had been stuck on 2 HR's since the first week of the season. Puente had to work a bit harder for #3, which was an inside-the-park job. Tanner Yurek also hit a big 3-run HR in the second game of the series which made all the difference in the game.

[BirdWatcher]

Good week for the Brewers best firstbase prospect, Steve Hobza, for the AA Nashville Red Wings.
(Hobza's not a premium prospect, but is expected to develop into an average WPK firstbaseman. Provided that Bobby Erbakan develops into the star firstbaseman he is expected to, Hobza likely doesn't have a future in Brewer's purple. He might be useful trade bait in the next year or so.)

[BirdWatcher]

As the Brewers have dominated the Spinners in 1969, so too have the first place Oklahoma City Diamond Kings dominated the Brewers. Even more so, in fact. The Diamond Kings sweep the Brewers in a 4 game series in OKC and have now taken 7 of 7 from the Brewers this season.
The Brewers bats go stone cold as they manage just 1 run in the 4 games, getting shut-out 7-0, 3-0, and 3-0 in the final 3 games.
The Brewers drop back down to 4th place in the MGL and are just 4 games above .500.

[BirdWatcher]

Ruben Souffront's fine season continues. He leads the Brewers to a 6-2 victory over Portland, the second win over the reigning MGL champs in a row. Not only does Ruben score the first run for the Brewers, after collecting a single, going to third on an Arturo Baca single (Baca was cut down trying for the double), and coming home on a sac fly off the bat of Jared Stephenson, but his 2-out Grand Slam in the 5th inning was by far the biggest hit of the game.
With Pat Rondeau coming back to earth somewhat of late and Antonio Puente continuing to struggle putting the bat on the ball, it seems likely that Ruben will be seeing increased time in rightfield and in the middle of the lineup.

[stevem810]

Not much in the way of stats, but, Ruben is hitting for more power and has his best BB/K ratio, ever. He is positioning himself for a good rebound year and maybe his best season, ever.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

Not much in the way of stats, but, Ruben is hitting for more power and has his best BB/K ratio, ever. He is positioning himself for a good rebound year and maybe his best season, ever.

Right, and that improving plate discipline is probably the part I have been happiest about and hoping it is a trend and not an early season anomaly. He is still far more prone to strikeout than to walk but he has improved on both as you can see below.
Also hoping that the early power he is showing is an indication of his development in that area and again not just a fluke. You can see below that his isolated power stat is far better than ever in his career so far this year.
He also continues to have great success on the base paths and has 13 stolen bases to only 3 times caught trying.

[BirdWatcher]

The Los Angeles Spinners get very bad news as they learn that starting pitcher Jaime Schardein, a two-time Pitcher-of-the-Year and three-time All-Star, is lost for the season with a torn labrum.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers get a big come-from-behind win against Portland with some 2-out heroics in both the 8th and 9th innings. In the 8th inning, Tanner Yurek got the rally started with a 2-out single and Ruben Souffront followed with a triple to drive him in. Antonio Puente then hit HR number 5 on the season to tie the game.
Then, in the 9th, after Pat Rondeau led off with a double and Jared Stephenson was intentionally walked, Brett Wood laid down a successful sacrifice bunt to move the runners up. Arturo Baca then hit a ground out to third that froze the runners. But Chad Brown looped a little single into leftfield to win the game for the home team.

This the day after Abel Pennington (2-2, 4.50) pitched his best game of the season- 8 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 3 K, O BB- in a 4-1 victory over the Wild Things.
The Brewers end May on a high note and enter June with some momentum as they try to chase down the first place Oklahoma City Diamond Kings.

[BirdWatcher]

Great start by lefty Daniel Torres, especially given that his one weakness is usually poor control and he got the CG shut-out victory without walking a single batter.
Back-up catcher Joey Townsend (.254/.329/.324) continues to surprise with his solid play, considering he is not that highly thought of, both in terms of offensive talent and character (low work ethic and intelligence).
Perhaps the biggest play of the game was Antonio Puente throwing the Sting's 9th inning lead-off hitter Bill Ginther out at second trying to stretch a single into a double. After that it was smooth sailing to the victory.

[BirdWatcher]

One of the most anticipated days on the WPK annual calendar has arrived: draft day! We get to find out today what young amateur players, possible future WPK stars, get chosen by WPK teams for development as professional ballplayers.

Many consider the young German knuckleballer, Lienhart Brown, the most talented prospect in the draft. Another talented starting pitcher likely to be taken early in the first round is Aaron McNally. Likely the most sought-after position player is 18-year old shortstop Oscar Pereida, who combines excellent defense with plus offensive potential.

The Brewers, due to the free agent signing of Will Smart, lost their first round draft pick to Baltimore and do not have a pick in the supplemental first round. Therefore, the Brewers first pick in this year's draft isn't until the 16th pick of the second round, which would be the 51st pick of the draft. The team has perhaps put even more effort into scouting for this draft then in the past, knowing that the best prospects, the most obviously talented prospects, will be long gone by the time they make their first pick. So the focus is on finding some diamond in the rough, or some potentially useful player who has for whatever reason flown under the radar of other scouting staffs.

[BirdWatcher]

Among the players the Brewers are targeting as having some potential and still possibly being available at #51 overall, is 21-year old El Paso College centerfielder Nate Harper. Harper's great speed and defense, along with a patient approach at the plate and some extra-base power, make him, if not a prospect for a starting role in the WPK, someone who could make a good role player. The team likes his strong work habits but some have reservations about his baseball smarts.
The Brewers are also thought to be much higher on 18-year old high school shortstop Bryan Calvert then other organizations and believe he might fall to the second or even third round. He requires a good deal of development yet and would be a somewhat risky choice, but the thought is that his hitting potential is above average with some power potential beyond what is normally expected for a player at his position. He is also thought to be a great clubhouse leader.
Among starting pitchers, the Brewers have some hope that 21-year old Marty O'Brien, out of Worcester College, could fall to late in the second round. O'Brien has the potential for three plus pitches and while he isn't expected to have great stuff, movement, or control, it is expected he might be solid enough all around to be a useful back-of-the-rotation starter and given his strong work habits and great intelligence there is also the thought that he may well exceed expectations in spite of his advanced age as a prospect.

[BirdWatcher]

And as predicted, the Charlotte Sting did indeed choose knuckleballer Lienhart Brown with the first pick of the 1969 amateur draft.
The Brooklyn Aces followed with the second pick and chose starting pitcher Aaron McNally. With an early emphasis on starting pitching (El Paso chose Dan Bottom with the 3rd pick and Seattle chose Joe McCracken with the 4th), Oscar Pereida wasn't chosen until the fifth pick- by the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings- but was the first position player taken in the draft.
As mentioned above, the Brewers did not have a 1st round pick this year. None of the 3 players mentioned above (not in this post, prior post), who the Brewers were hoping might still be available when the team was up in the 2nd round, fell that far in the draft. In fact, Bryan Calvert went to Washington as the 12th overall pick in the draft.
Nate Harper and Marty O'Brien didn't go until the supplemental portion of the 1st round or early in the 2nd round, but the Brewers were foiled from drafting either of them.

As it turned out the Brewers first pick, #51 overall, was 18-year old rightfielder Chase Belanger. There are some concerns about Belanger's sometimes abrasive personality, but the thought was that he was the most talented player available at that stage of the draft as he has above average batting skills with power potential and a cannon for an arm. (He is projected to be just average in terms of outfield range.)
With their first 4 picks (I have only made it to the 5th round thus far- will likely finish the draft tonight), the Brewers ended up taking 3 outfielders and 1 relief pitcher. These happen to be positions where the Brewers are already fairly stacked in terms of prospects, but the organizational philosophy was to take the best talent available, with some consideration of intangibles factored in.

(I will post some screenshots later tonight. Not in front of game right now.)

[stevem810]

When I looked at Calvert I was thinking, "no way this guy will be there for the Brew Crew". ;-)

Looking forward to seeing Chase.