Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers are clawing their way back to .500 with a 5-game winning streak on the road (admittedly against very weak teams) with a great deal of the credit due to the hot-hitting and fine fielding and base-running of Ruben "Streak" Souffront. (As you can see below, Souffront just had a 4 for 4 game after going 5 for 5 just a few days earlier.) Souffront seems to finally be putting together the kind of season that Brewers management always thought him capable of. And with Antonio Puente (..275/.356/.522, 2.9 WAR, 11 HR, 41 RBI) recently getting hot and youngster Pat Rondeau (.314/.333/..402, 1.2 WAR, 9 doubles, 3 triples, 11 SB's) continuing to have a fine rookie campaign, the Brewers outfield is looking very solid at this stage of things.

[BirdWatcher]

Earlier this week the annual new player draft was held and the Brewers had the 5th pick in the first round. With that pick they choose a talented young centerfielder named Joe McPhillips. McPhillips is a very gifted defensive outfielder with good speed, great plate discipline, and quite a bit of offensive upside. While he has a very reserved personality he also has the reputation of being a very hard worker. The Brewers are thrilled to have him join the organization.
This first pick overall belonged to the Detroit Falcons and they selected a very talented lefthanded starting pitcher named Edgar Lira.
Another name that made headlines was 18-year old centerfielder Curtis Horah, who is a cousin to current WPK pitcher Dan Simmons. Horah was selected just ahead of McPhillips by the Boston Berserkers. In a surprise move, the Berserkers brought Horah up to the big-league club after just one game at AAA. (This is a created player and I will need to perfect the craft as it was not my intention for Horah to be such a good prospect and certainly not my intention for him to be thought immediately WPK worthy.)

[BirdWatcher]

Due to the loss of pitcher Joey Brown to free agency in the off-season, the Brewers also had a 1st round supplemental pick (#29 overall) and with that pick they choose lefty reliever Jeremy Walker.
In the second round the Brewers took another centerfielder, Josh Schaeffer, though there are those in the organization who doubt the wisdom of this pick and question Schaeffer's work ethic.
A player who intrigues some in the organization due to a feeling that he might develop a decent power bat and also has a very strong work ethic (though there are some questions about his baseball smarts) is 5th round pick, thirdbaseman Josh Hernandez.

Overall, the Brewers did almost nothing to improve their pitching prospects, as they did not draft a single starter and only two relievers. They did grab 6 catchers, though none who look like legitimate starters, 5 centerfielders, several of whom have some major league potential, 3 rightfielders, 3 thirdbasemen, and 3 firstbasemen. The thought in the front office at this point is that with a strong current outfield corps and quite a few solid prospects in the minors, the possibility is strong that the Brewers will need to trade from this strength to acquire starting pitching in the next few years.

[BirdWatcher]

Solid week for the Brewers and very nice week for leftfielder Antonio Puente, who was named the MGL Player-of-the-Week.

Also, Ruben Souffront continues to play great and is pretty much guaranteed the starting rightfield job for the Brewers in 1968 (and hopefully for many years thereafter!)

[BirdWatcher]

Ruben "Streak" Souffront continues his breakout season with a 3 for 5, 2 run scored, 2 RBI day in a big come from behind Brewers victory over the Baltimore Lords. Souffront hit double number 9 and triple number 5 in the game as well as picking up his 15th stolen base.

[BirdWatcher]

And the Brewers take a close one to win 3 of 4 against Baltimore and get back to .500!

[BirdWatcher]

Bad news for the 9th place Detroit Falcons today as they find out that their best player, and one of the premiere sluggers in the WPK, Jamison Bash, will be out of action possibly until near the end of the regular season. Not that there was any chance the Falcons were going to contend this season anyway, but this certainly adds, well, injury to insult.

[BirdWatcher]

So my main concern about top prospect Bobby Erbakan is that every season he eventually gets to a point where his mood is angry. In the past I've mostly chalked this up to being unhappy about playing on teams with very poor win-loss records. But he also usually seems unhappy or angry about his role on the team. And I have no idea what that is about. He's always a starter, always in the lineup. Maybe he thinks he should be a centerfielder and not a firstbaseman. But his path to the Brewers at this point is definitely as a firstbaseman. And it looks like he can be a pretty premiere player at that position (even if just slightly under-powered in the HR department.)

Up to now I have often found myself promoting him before I really wanted to just to lift his spirits. And so far it seems to have worked. He has performed well at all levels. So, now I have to decide: how quickly do I bring him up to the major league level. It doesn't look like he's ready yet, but it might be exactly what he needs. I was already planning on letting him get some action with the Brewers after roster expansion on September 1st. But now I'm thinking maybe I just need to trade A.J. White and be done with it and bring Erbakan up to platoon with lefty hitting Erik Shelton.
Don't want to ruin my top prospect. But thus far it seems like he is more likely to be ruined him by keeping him somewhere where his mood is horrible. Then again, it gives me pause. Is he just going to be a perpetually unhappy and/or angry guy? It worries me.

[BirdWatcher]

A really fine start by young righty Abel Pennington combined with a timely two-run HR off the bat of outfielder Zack Banks gives the Brewers a narrow 2-0 victory over Charlotte (a bad team, but with their staff ace Jaime Schardein (9-4, 2.36), one of the best pitchers in the league on the mound) to push the Brewers back over .500 again.

[BirdWatcher]

I am loving this kid Pat Rondeau! While his offensive numbers have dropped off a bit in the past few weeks, he remains a terrific defensive centerfielder and is really talented on the base paths. And then, breaking out of a slump, he goes 3 for 5 with 2 triples to help propel the Brewers to a 5-0 victory over Brooklyn. Not that starting pitcher Daniel Torres really needed all that offense. He threw a 2-hit CG shutout, striking out 7 batters and amazingly (for a guy whose control is usually his biggest issue) walking not a one.

[BirdWatcher]

And what about Ruben Souffront?
Oh, he's just leading the MGL in batting average at .349, while playing great defense (including 5 outfield assists), and is tied for 3rd in stolen bases with 17.

[BirdWatcher]

AAA Chester Big Stick thirdbaseman Willie Chavez has been on fire of late. He isn't really considered a serious prospect but he likely has earned a call-up to the Brewers in September and could play his way into a platoon situation with Hector Uribe next year (the Brewers have no plans to keep veteran Steve Cutrer who is eligible for free agency at the end of the season.)

[BirdWatcher]

Bad news out of Los Angeles today as one of the good guys of the game, Spinners veteran starting pitcher Tony Velasco, suffers a season-ending, and at his age probably career ending, elbow injury. Things are not looking as rosy as usual for the MGL champs of the past two years running, as along with this painful loss they now find themselves in fourth place after having dropped 6 of their last 10 games.

[BirdWatcher]

After fighting their way back over .500 recently the Brewers end June on a very low note, dropping 4 in a row culminating in a humiliating 1-0, 1-hit performance against a very poor Detroit team and their rather pedestrian starting pitcher in front of the Denver fans.
Rumors are that the Denver manager gathered his team together after the game and delivered a fiery tongue lashing.

[BirdWatcher]

Denver Brewers June 1967 Team Report:

The Brewers go 15-15 for the month of June, both entering and leaving the month with 4-game losing streaks and having their best stretch the first full week of the month, when they reeled off 5 straight wins (after having lost 5 straight, going back to the end of May.)
As we enter July, the Brewers continue to have the most stolen bases of any team in the MGL, are second in team bullpen ERA, and third in team defensive efficiency and runs allowed. They are middle of the pack in team batting average and on-base percentage. They are sixth in runs scored, 7th in starters ERA and dead last in HR's as a team.

Who's Hoppy? Let's look at the top 5 in WAR for the Brewers. 1- Antonio Puente, 3.3 WAR. Puente (.267/.346/.490) finished the month pretty cold at the plate but continues to be the best overall player on the team. He has collected 12 doubles, 2 triples, 13 HR's. As the cleanup hitter he has driven in 51 runs. He also has 6 stolen bases while being caught stealing 3 times. In addition, he should be a strong candidate for the gold glove award in LF.
2- Chad Brown, 3.2 WAR. The 20-year old shortstop has taken a huge step forward this year, both in the field and at the plate. Brown (322/.350/.424), who should be a strong gold glove candidate, leads the team in doubles with 16, triples with 6, and runs scored with 42. He does also have 6 stolen bases, but unfortunately has also been caught stealing 10 times, so there is room for improvement there.
3- Ruben Souffront, 2.6 WAR. Ruben (.344/.358/.470) had a wonderful June and at one point was leading the MGL in batting average at .355. While he has dropped a bit since, his season continues to be the breakthrough (and breakout) the team has been hoping for.
4- Tanner Yurek, 2.4 WAR. Tanner has seen his offensive numbers drop quite a bit since earlier in the season, but is still a very valuable player. He provides above-average defense at secondbase, has a great eye at the plate, is second on the team in HR's at 9, and also has hit 12 doubles and 1 triple, has scored 28 runs and driven in 27.
5- Steve Alonso, 2.3 WAR. Alonso (8-5, 2.86) has emerged as the ace of the pitching staff, especially with the loss of Alex Burley early on to a season-ending injury. Alonso has a 1.11 WHIP and has held opponents to a .217 batting average. He does struggle with control and has walked 32 batters but he has also has struck out 86, best on the club.

Who's Hungover? And the bottom 5 in WAR: 1- Tony Silmon, -0.7 WAR. The backup catcher, who is pretty solid defensively (though weak armed) has been so ineffective at the plate as to negate his defensive positives. Silmon (.112/.140/.169) has collected a pair of doubles and 1 HR, but has also walked just 3 times while striking out 16 times.
2- Armando Cruz, -0.5 WAR. The young hard-throwing reliever, who had such a fine 1966 season, has seen his overall numbers really hurt by a few very bad outings. Cruz (0-4, 7 saves, 4.91 ERA), due to his challenges with wildness has a WHIP of 1.56, has walked 16 batters while striking out 28 (25.2 IP) and allowed 4 HR's. Still, the team remains high on his potential and isn't terribly concerned about this set-back.
3- Kyle Green, -0.5. Probably shouldn't even count this one as Kyle has barely pitched for the Brewers and while his numbers haven't been good most of this is based upon what he did in a Milwaukee Cadets uniform earlier in the season.
4- Jose Bravo, -0.3. Bravo is the super-utility man for the Brewers, as he is a superb defensive secondbaseman but also a well above average shortstop, thirdbaseman, and rightfielder. Actually, although he is seldom asked to display it, he is a pretty decent centerfielder also. He is not on the team for his bat. But usually he is just good enough in that area (and he's a fine base-runner) as to finish in the black in terms of WAR. This year though he is hitting .164/.227/.257 with 12 walks and 28 strikeouts and while he has stolen a pair of bases, he's been caught trying 3 times. To his credit though, when he does come through it is often big, as he has 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 3 HR's among his just 23 hits.
5- Bill Roache, -0.3. Roache, admittedly, has been a bit better since returning from an extended stint at AAA and has even been forced to start a few games recently, with not terrible results. Overall he is 1-1 with a 4.71 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, has walked 6 and struck out 10 and allowed 4 HR's.

What's Brewing Around the League? In the Shoeless Joe League, Jacksonville is once again on top at 44-29 though at the moment they are sharing that perch with the Philadelphia Mud Hens (also 44-29.) In third is Washington at 43-35 (3 1/2 games off the leaders) and Milwaukee holds fourth place at 42-35 (4 gb.) The Moonlight Graham League sees the Phoenix Speed Devils in first with a 47-29 record, 1 game ahead of Portland at 47-31, 4 games ahead of L.A. now (43-33) and 4 1/2 ahead of Baltimore (44-35.)
Jacksonville's talented leftfielder Travis Johnson once again leads the world in batting average at .370. The top homerun guy in all of the WPK is Baltimore's slugging rightfielder, Bob "Turf" Hernandez with 23. Young speedster Leo Gavilla of Columbus leads all players with stolen bases at 24.

The Streak Souffront Saga: As mentioned above in Who's Hoppy, Ruben continues to shine. At this point Ruben is 4th in the MGL in batting average, 3rd in stolen bases with 19 (8 times caught stealing), and tied for 5th in the MGL in triples (along with teammate Pat Rondeau and one other player, all at 5).

Brewers' Power Ranking: #9 (though admittedly that was before the recent losing streak) (#1 PHO, #2 JAC, #3 POR, #4 PHI, #5 BAL)
Brewers' Record: 38-40, .487, 7th place MGL, 10 gb PHO.

[BirdWatcher]

And every time it looks like the kid, Pat Rondeau, may be tumbling back to reality in his rookie season, he does something like this. 3 for 5, with a double and a triple, 2 runs scored, and his 16th stolen base (only been caught twice!) to help key a narrow 6-4 victory over Detroit to start the month of July.
Have I mentioned how much I love this kid?! (Yeah, pretty sure I have.)

[BirdWatcher]

Nice week for Bobby Erbakan down at AAA Chester. Perhaps he's heard the rumors about a potential call-up to the Brewers prior to the September roster expansion and wants to build a case for this idea.

[BirdWatcher]

The Denver Brewers today affirmed their commitment to the youth movement when the traded veteran firstbaseman A.J. White to the San Antonio Keys and promoted top prospect Bobby Erbakan from AAA to platoon with fellow youngster Erik Shelton at firstbase.
In the trade the Brewers sent a few minor leaguers who were not expected to ever have a place on the major league squad and received a veteran lefthanded starting pitcher, Ricky Diaz, for the back-end of the beleaguered rotation as well as a few minor league players with at least hints of potential to some day have some sort of role on the Brewers.
Denver fans were unhappy with the trade as A.J. White was a longtime fan favorite. But the reality was that with his defensive skills having completely eroded and hit production at the plate having also taken a nose-dive, and with him being eligible for free agency at the end of the season, it was a loss that was inevitable and team management decided to try to make the best of it now.
Diaz is also free agent eligible at the end of the season, but the thought is that at least there is the possibility that the team will have an interest in trying to sign him beyond 1967 and if not, since he is a Type A player, we could get a compensatory draft pick.

[BirdWatcher]

Along with great defensive catcher Kevin Curtis (pictured above) the Brewers got 18-year old 1B/OF Jonathan Koch, who projects to be a pretty decent hitter who won't walk much or hit for much power but who also shouldn't strike out, is very good defensively and also pretty good in the outfield (7/7/6) and has a reputation as a good teammate. They also received 21-year old infielder Oscar Vargas, who at the least will provide great defense in the minors and could one day contribute a bit in a back-up role at the majors in spite of his struggles to put bat to ball. (He should develop somewhat above average discipline at the plate at the very least and could end up with a bit of pop in his bat. He might not make contact often, but it could be interesting when he does.)

[BirdWatcher]

And then sometimes you lose this kind of game.
Your best starter on the mound, at home. Their starter- a kid pitching his first major league game. A kid who probably has no right even being here. A kid with very little potential.
Looks like a probable win.
But not so fast. Your starter pitches well, the kid pitches better. And the 0-0 tie in the 7th inning is broken up by a solo homerun. And who hits the dinger? Well, of course, the kid pitcher who in addition to his not-a-prospect status as a pitcher, hasn't shown any great skill with the bat either.
Just one of the those days.
(And, in the WPK universe, this might be the day that the kid, John Miller, talks about for the rest of his life as his greatest day as a baseball player.)
(Okay, granted the kid is actually 26 years old, so not a terribly young rookie. Still.)