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Interviews Steve Chapman Behind the Microphone Robbie Wooley Corey Hart Lou Palmisano Rickie Weeks / Tony Gwynn Jr Dave Krynzel Dennis Sarfate Prince Fielder Tom Wilhelmsen Manny Parra JJ Hardy Jack Zdurencik Mike Lindskog / Terry Byrom Mike Jones Jim Powell Jason Belcher / Brad Nelson Ben Hendrickson Tommy Tanous Justin Gordon Len Kasper   Minor League Player Search Powered by Baseball America   Major League Player Search Powered by ESPN   Poll Should Tommy John be in the Hall of Fame? 1. Yes 2. No        Current Power 50     Power 50 Archive     Player Tracker     Power 50 Notes   last updated: 07/31/2003 Very little movement in the top 30 this time around in the Power 50, dissapointing not because no one really merited a move either way, but because the trade deadline came and went and we ended up with jack. John Vander Wal? Nothing. Eric Young? Nothing. Mike DeJean? Nothing. Even with the tight trade market, I find it difficult to believe, especially after trading Jamey Wright last season, that there were no takers anywhere. This is a probably a topic for someplace else, but it's not like the minor leaguers appear out of thin air... Two pitchers with major forward momentum are Jeff Housman and Wes Obermueller. Housman continues to light up AA hitters (or fool them at least) and picked up his 3rd victory in 3 tries this evening. He doesn't have anything resembling dominant stuff, but if it works, it works. Obermueller is looking like a really nice fit for Miller Park, and I'll admit to undervaluing him. A sinker-ball pitcher who doesn't walk many guys is what the Brewers need to cure what ails them in the back of the rotation, and Wes looks like that guy... Competition for the last few Power 50 spots is really heated, to the point where I want to expand the list to about 60 guys (59 if you refuse to count JM Gold), but I won't, because it seems somehow more exclusive this way... Power 50 factoid of the week: Nearly 1/5th of Power 50ers are left-handed pitchers.       Brought to you by Nice batch of minor leaguers here - surely a few will make their mark in baseball history. Use the Internet to learn about the history of baseball, from baseball drafts to baseball drills.     Power 50 +/- Rank  Name  Level  Pos  Age  B  T   01 Hardy, J.J.   MLB   SS 30 R R   J.J. is human after all, though if recent drought-and-recoveries by Fielder and Hart are any example, Hardy should come out of the slump with some great numbers to finish the season  02 Nelson, Brad   A   1B 30 L R   What you forget about Brad is that he's as good a contact hitter as he is a power hitter - BA ranked him as the best "Hitter For Average" in the system before the season  03 Fielder, Prince   A   1B 29 L R   Confusing stat of the week: Prince has played in 107 games, yet the Snappers are 57-49  04 Jones, Mike   A   MR 30 R R   Back from the DL, will be on a somewhat limited pitch count early on, but here's to Mike finishing strong  05 Krynzel, Dave   MLB   CF 31 L L   Not to jinx it, but Dave has stolen about 6 bases in a row successfully  06 Parra, Manny   A   MR 30 L L   Manny is 4th in the entire organization in innings pitched (1st in the minors, 2 IP behind Matt Kinney for 3rd), which makes the vision of him being not just dominant, but a dominant workhorse, all that much more smile-inducing  07 Hendrickson, Ben   MLB   SP 32 R R   Without the middle of the season layup, you'd have to think that Ben would be in AAA now 1  08 Martinez, Luis   MLB   SP 33 L L   OBP skyrocketing in Indy... wait, he's a pitcher... ERA plummetting in Indy 1  09 Hart, Corey   MLB   OF 31 R R   That goal of committing less than 30 errors is seeming more realistic every game, so now let's shoot for 25 or fewer  10 Ford, Matt   A   MR 32 S L   The real reason the Brewers DL'ed Matt: He was only 6 innings short of graduating off of the Power 50, and they wanted to see him stay on longer, which is understandable  11 Diggins, Ben   A   MR 33 R R   Will this injury finally prompt the Brewers to look at Ben in a closer's role next spring?  12 Gwynn Jr, Tony   MLB   OF 30 L R   Recent slide with the bat has erased any possibility of TJ making it to Milwaukee by, say, the end of the year  13 Petty, Chad   A   SP 31 L L   Chad somehow has more losses in 10 starts (8) than Brian Mazone did in his 13 starts (7) 1  14 Hall, Billy   MLB   3B 33 R R   Mr. Hall, meet Mr. Cruz... he'll introduce you to Mr. Bench (no, not Johnny) 1  15 Wilhelmsen, Tom   A   SP 29 R R   Stil rehabbing down in Arizona, might be back for the final few weeks of the regular season 1  16 Liriano, Pedro   A   SP 32 R R   Pedro has really been coming on as of late, becoming a steadying force in the rotation in the midst of injuries and promotions 1  17 Cruz, Enrique   A   SS 31 R R   The Brewers have "re-adjusted" their quota of Cruz AB from 150 to 100; why stop there? I think 60 sounds pretty good, if a little high  18 Clark, D.J.   A   LF 33 L R   A few months later, D.J. continues his 1100+ OPS quest in High Desert 1  19 Palmisano, Lou   A   C 30 R R   5 errors in 32 games as a backstop isn't too great, so at least there will be something to work on for next season 1  20 Moss, Steve   A   CF 29 R R   It's sad when you're the 20th best prospect in the system and you're the 3rd or 4th best CF... some people's luck  21 Belcher, Jason   A   RF 31 L R   Jason was quietly on his way towards winning the minor league batting average crown, but it wasn't meant to be  22 Johnson, Kade   A   C 34 R R   Kade is now merely 13 batting average points behind the mighty Mike Kremblas in their Huntsville catching duel  23 Zoccolillo, Peter   AAA   RF 36 L R   What becomes of Zocco next season when the AA swarming hoard reaches Indianapolis?  24 Chavez, Ozzie   AA   IF 29 S R   At least Ozzie doesn't have any other SS prospects nipping at his heels, so a return to High Desert next season won't be all bad  25 Machado, Alejandro   A   2B 31 S R   Well, at least the defense has been pretty good 1  26 Ballouli, Khalid   A   SP 33 R R   Not sure why Khalid is not back in the starting rotation by now, but he should be there, or in High Desert 1  27 Carpenter, Calvin   A   SP 30 R R   Not really understanding where all these walks are coming from... has anyone checked his vision lately?  28 Varner, Noochie   MLB   RF 32 R R   It may not be an incorrect assumption to think that Noochie may not move up with everyone else to AAA next season  29 Adams, Mike   MLB   CL 34 R R   I think Mike is back to being the Huntsville closer, though with that staff, you never really know who is going to pitch when  30 Sarfate, Dennis   MLB   MR 32 R R   Dennis still can't find that game in-game out consistency you'd like to see  31 Childers, Matt   A   MR 34 R R   Matt joins brother Jason yet again in what might be a precursor to another late season callup 2  32 Ramirez, Carlos   A   SP 28 L L   Last few starts haven't been as awesome as the first few, but it's hard to argue with the sum of the parts thus far 1  33 Gold, J.M.   A   SP 33 R R   You do have to wonder why J.M. is still on the 40-man roster 1  34 Pember, David   A   SP 35 S R   Another guy who might be moved into the pen next year, in this case just because of the sheer number of starters moving to AAA in 2004 4  35 Housman, Jeff   A   MR 31 L L   The BB:K ratio continues to get uglier in AA as the ERA gets lower  36 Crabbe, Callix   A   UT 30 S R   If Callix can get his OPS up to 775 or so by the end of the season, I will worship him  37 Eveland, Dana   MLB   SP 29 L L   Dana is attempting to out-Parra Parra this Pioneer League campaign, and I'm sure we'd all like to see him try to do it again in Beloit next season 3  38 Obermueller, Wes   A   MR 36 R R   A sinker-ball pitcher in The Keg does sound like an awefully good idea 4  39 Murray, Josh   A   3B 28 R R   A free-fall in progress, Josh just needs to start over next season 4  40 Gemoll, Brandon   A   1B 32 L L   In a perfect world, Brandon would learn to take walks and jack some balls at the same time, but not at the moment 3  41 Morris, Chris   A   CF 33 S R   Simply put, the OBP needs to be at least .360 before Chris becomes worthwhile for the Brewers to keep moving up 2  42 Barnes, Justin   A   MR 30 R R   It's pretty safe to say that Justin's bat is officially now in the crapper 1  43 Fermaint, Charlie   A   CF 27 R R   I'm not sure why Charlie was switched from second base to the OF, but since the Brewers could use a second base prospect or two... 1  44 Vanden Berg, John   A   C 33 R R   Just a few more walks to reach that magical 1:10 BB: ratio 2  45 Mannon, Adam   A   RF 29 R R   Maybe not a stretch that we'll see Adam in Beloit to begin next season 2  46 Ramirez, Manny   A   1B 30 R R   Just promote Manny to Beloit already 4  47 Thomas, Eric M.   A   SP 32 R R   I'm going to call a do-over on Mega's career with the Brewers and as of next week, he'll be off the Power 50 until next season 1  48 Bibbs, Kennard   A   RF 33 L L   Like Morris, OBP needs to stay above the .360 mark, which may mean more walks over the long term 1  49 Nance, Shane   A   MR 35 L L   According to Bill James, there is no real gap between the majors and AAA - tell that to Mr. Nance, please? new  50 Foster, John   AAA   MR 35 L L   Finally gaining some statistical seperation in AAA, where I would have personally left him until now Players removed this week: Johnny Raburn...

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