Ozzie Ball

Gerst is back! He pinch hit for Estill in the 9th going 1-1 with a double and then played right field. That's good to see he was having a very good year.

Anyone know what's happened to Kent Gerst? He hasn't played in almost 2 weeks now.

Morel appears to have been promoted to Kannapolis, he went 0-3 in the 2nd game of their double header.

Some quotes from Jordan Danks in one of Merkin's articles, anyone else get the impression that he wants to sign soon.

Steven has been assigned to the Bristol Sox of the Appalachian League.

Steven Upchurch, RHP Born: 09/14/1989 Place: Mobile, AL Height: 6'5" Weight: 190lbs Throws: Right Bats: Right Acquired: 12th round pick, #360 overall in the 2008 First Year Player Draft. PGCrosschecker Scouting Report: SCOUTING REPORT (3/1): Upchurch has barely started to fill out his lanky, 6-foot-5, 190-pound frame. He throws from an effortless, over-the-top release point with outstanding downhill angle to the plate. Upchurch throws mostly in the 90-92 mph range and gets good running action on his fastball when he heeps it down in the zone. He’ll add velocity as he fills out his body. His curveball and changeup are both potential plus pitches that he shows very good present feel for, though he needs to quicken his arm speed when throwing his curve. His arm action is pretty ideal for a slider as well. One of the things that Upchurch does best, aside from project through the roof, is attack hitters. He’s a very aggressive pitcher with a plan on the mound and the ability to throw strikes with all his pitches. As a high school junior, he went 5-4, 2.21 with 83 strikeouts in 59 innings. More innings and more strength could make him something special in the future.—DAVID RAWNSLEY UPDATE (5/15): Upchurch went 13-0 as a high school senior and pitched Faith Academy to the Alabama Independent Schools Association state title. He was selected MVP of the final series, but more his bat as he went 7-for-8 with six RBIs and launched a 400-foot home run. He was touched up for 13 hits in a series-opening 7-6 win. That outing was somewhat indicative of the way he pitched this spring as he didn’t dominate better competition, even with a lively fastball that was clocked at 90-91 mph and topped at 93. He secondary stuff was adequate, but overall he did not show scouts the dominating stuff and command they expected to see after ranking behind only Destin Hood among Alabama high school prospects entering 2008. His loss in stature may pave the way for him to move on to Auburn.—ALLAN SIMPSON Perfect Game Scouting Report from the 2008 National Pre Draft Showcase: Steven Upchurch is a 2008 RHP with a 6'5'', 190 lb. frame from Mobile, AL who attends Faith Academy. Upchurch is a tall projectable RHP who reaches the low 90's and showed the same at the Pre-Draft. He showed good arm speed on a running fastball that sat 88-91. His change was excellent with plus sink and bore. We have seen his breaking stuff better, but this is very understandable since he was pitching with a broken bone in his pitching hand. He showed his toughness and competiveness battling through having a broken hand and has a bright future. He has signed with Auburn. Small report from Baseball America: Upchurch (Faith Academy, Mobile, Ala.) has three potential plus offerings in his 75-77 mph changeup, 74 mph curve and 89-91 mph fastball that showed plus sink at times. High School: Upchurch is a 6-4, 180 lbs. RHP from Faith Academy. Baseball America's top high school prospect for the state of Alabama and 34th overall, he has been an AISA All-Star and an Alabama Baseball Coaches Association All-Star. Having helped his team to a AISA Region 1 Championship and a second-place finish in AISA Class AAA in both 2005 and 2007, he is the number one rated pitcher in Alabama by Perfect Game and was ranked 38th at the MLB East Coast Showcase. A member of the 2006 USA Junior Olympic Baseball Championship, he is a member of the Junior National Honor Society. He is the son of Alan and Brenda Upchurch. MiLB.com Page

QUOTE (TCQ @ Jun 30, 2008 -> 05:42 PM) Love the Brandon Short Plug right there... Why? 9 games, no matter how good those 9 games have been, is no where near enough to anoint a 28th rounder a 2012 starting outfielder. Unless someone has seen a scouting report or two that say he's a beast that slipped due to signability issues (which I don't believe is the case) then it really isn't a good pick at all.

Signing bonuses (from Baseball America). Kevin Dubler- $105,000 Ryan Strauss- $30,000

Garret Johnson's had a very nice start to the season, 12.1 IP, 19K, sub 1.00 WHIP, 0.73 ERA. He's not that old either at 20 (21 in September). Just looking at his MiLB.com page and he's huge, 6'10", 205 lbs. Anyone know anything about him, stuff-wise?

Here's a quote from Bobby Thigpen on Silverio: "The guy's got some talent and the tools," Thigpen said. "Projection-wise it's hard to say, but if he continues to work and improve, he should be in Chicago. "Like any 17-year-old, he's going to struggle some at-bats, but overall he's done a good job so far. He just needs to maintain it and continue to do what he needs to do." - http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/ar...b&fext=.jsp So by scenario's rationale if Silverio isn't 17, Mr. Thigpen is either lying or pulseless.

Anthony Carter's lack of strikeouts for WS is a little worrying, 4 in 16 innings I think it is now. And impressive stuff from Silverio also, and Hudson, I really liked the Daniel Hudson pick.

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Jun 21, 2008 -> 03:50 PM) Just ask Oney Guillen. He's made sure of that. What about his other son, Ozney. I read somewhere Kenny said he could be a 1st rounder out of high school but I wasn't sure if it was a tongue-in-cheek comment or a serious one.

Murillo Gouvea, who got the win for Bristol may be one to watch. 19 year old kid, had 56 strikeouts in 43.2 innings for one of the DSL teams last year, that could be an indication of pretty good stuff, his walk total was huge though. He struck out 4 batters in 3 shutout innings yesterday giving up a hit and a walk.

Some more signing bonuses (all from Baseball America) Daniel Hudson- $180,000 Kenny Williams Jr.- $150,000 Stephen Sauer- $72,500

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 18, 2008 -> 01:52 PM) Gerst: 0-3, BB, 2 K, CS Gerst stole a base he wasn't caught stealing.

Kevin Skogley and Lucas Harrell are starting for Great Falls and Bristol.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 04:58 PM) This from the Great Falls Tribune this morning... Newly signed pitchers Dan Hudson and Dexter Carter, who will be arriving in Great Falls any day now. Hudson was 5-6 with a 4.76 earned-run average this spring. The righthander led the Colonial Athletic Conference in strikeouts (107 in 92 innings). In three seasons, Hudson amassed 295 strikeouts in 292 innings, which ranks second all-time at ODU. The 6-3, 200-pounder was a second-team all-CAA choice this spring after making the first team a year ago. Carter, meanwhile, is a 6-6, 198-pounder who was 3-4 with an 8.76 ERA. In two years at Old Dominion Carter fanned 100 hitters in 107 innings. Manager Chris Cron said first baseman Doug Thennis of Texas Tech (27th round) is slated to join Voyagers soon. The veteran manager is also hopeful that Wichita State outfielder Ken Williams Jr., the son of the Chisox general manager, will soon sign and be dispatched to Great Falls. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs...317/1006/SPORTS Awesome, they were two of my favourite picks.

We've signed Drew O'Neil also for $260,000 according to Baseball America.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 9, 2008 -> 02:10 PM) Really? I thought he had pretty clean mechanics and people thought he could handle throwing that hard because he is so big and has relatively clean mechanics. Bureau was saying his mechanics weren't great and could lead to future injuries if I remember correctly. That was the first and only time I've seen anyone say that about him though.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 8, 2008 -> 08:38 PM) Agreed on Griffith. He's repeating Bristol, that keeps him out of any top prospect list for me, even in this system. He pitched 8.2 innings with Bristol last year, it's a bit of a reach to say he's repeating.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 8, 2008 -> 04:06 AM) Just because it says pitcher on the draft tracker doesn't mean that the org. is actually going to use him as a pitcher. No when they draft him they decide which position they want him as, they'll say something like "Long, Kyle and can we have him listed as a pitcher". You're not going to get him specifically listed as a pitcher and then use him as a hitter.

Long was drafted as a pitcher so if he signs I'd assume he'll be on the mound.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 7, 2008 -> 07:14 AM) I wouldn't give Long first round money, he's too big of a question mark, IMO. However, if we did, I wouldn't be too upset cause we need the talent. Why not, what else would would happen with that money? It'll just stay in Jerry's pocket. If you were the owner I could understand that comment but as a fan how could you not want them to improve the farm even if that does mean giving a lot of money to a potentially high risk guy.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 7, 2008 -> 05:14 AM) I can't see Long signing for anything but first round money and there is no way the Sox are going to offer him up 1.5 to 2 mill (hell, Beckham may not get much more than 2-3 mill (in fact I would be surprsied if he got much more, if any more than that). This quote from Doug Laumann, the team's director of amateur scouting is somewhat encouraging, not necessarily for the signing of Long but other guys certainly: "We feel like we did a great job and our scouts and supervisors were very diligent with what they did," he said. "We took some guys that had high ceilings that might be a little tough to sign down the road, but we need to do things like that, just in case our situation changes sometime in the summer." They intentionally took some tougher sign guys so you've got to assume they intend to sign them. Laumann also touched on Long a little although didn't say anything about how aggressive they were going to be with negotiations: "He's an interesting, physical young man," Laumann said of Long. "A big, strong, 6-foot-7, 275 pounds. He looks like a prototypical offensive lineman in the NFL. I saw him last summer, and he was extraordinarily talented. He didn't have a particularly good high school season. "You know you get to certain point in the Draft where, I think, he didn't live up to the expectations that the industry thought he did, and we felt like maybe over the next two to three months we can see what we can do with him, and see what mechanical and physical things happen to him."

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 7, 2008 -> 02:27 AM) Next years White Sox top prospects: 1.) Gordon Beckham 2.) Aaron Poreda 3.) Jordan Danks 4.) Nevin Griffith 5.) Lance Broadway Got to get Shelby in there.