It is opening day across a lot of baseball and that’s also the case for the Appleton, WI based Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. They’ll open up their season with a 6:35pm Central start. As your farmhand for 2012 I’ve been lucky enough to be granted full access to the T-Rats as their known in my neck of the woods, so look for frequent reports on some of the lesser known, but not lesser talented prospects in the Brewers organization.
I’ll be covering all the Minor League teams throughout the season and expect a post or two each week about each team updating you on major things and where the team and players we’re watching are standing.
With that let’s take a look at the Brewers low Single-A affiliate Wisconsin Timber Rattlers roster as well as who we’ll really be keeping an eye on as a “prospect to watch.”
| Pitchers | |||||||||
| # | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | DOB | Status | MLB 40-man |
| 30 | Jacob Barnes | P | R | R | 6′ 2″ | 230 | 04-14-1990 | Active | No |
| 24 | Drew Gagnon | P | R | R | 6′ 4″ | 195 | 06-26-1990 | Active | No |
| 17 | David Goforth | P | R | R | 6′ 0″ | 188 | 10-11-1988 | Active | No |
| 34 | Seth Harvey | P | L | R | 6′ 2″ | 205 | 01-20-1988 | Active | No |
| 28 | Seth Lintz | P | R | R | 6′ 1″ | 170 | 02-07-1990 | Active | No |
| 23 | Matthew Miller | P | R | R | 6′ 6″ | 220 | 01-30-1989 | Active | No |
| 35 | Andrew Moye | P | R | R | 6′ 5″ | 180 | 09-11-1987 | Active | No |
| 22 | Stephen Peterson | P | L | L | 6′ 3″ | 210 | 11-06-1987 | Active | No |
| 18 | Chad Pierce | P | R | R | 6′ 1″ | 215 | 11-20-1987 | Active | No |
| 31 | Kevin Shackelford | P | R | R | 6′ 5″ | 215 | 04-07-1989 | Active | No |
| 14 | Tommy Toledo | P | R | R | 6′ 3″ | 185 | 12-13-1988 | Active | No |
| 36 | Mark Williams | P | R | R | 6′ 4″ | 225 | 08-12-1989 | Active | No |
| 32 | Brandon Williamson | P | R | R | 6′ 2″ | 180 | 04-22-1989 | Active | No |
| Catchers | |||||||||
| # | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | DOB | Status | MLB 40-man |
| 16 | Parker Berberet | C | R | R | 6′ 3″ | 205 | 10-20-1989 | Active | No |
| 12 | Rafael Neda | C | R | R | 6′ 1″ | 215 | 10-12-1988 | Active | No |
| 25 | Tyler Roberts | C | R | R | 6′ 0″ | 226 | 10-25-1990 | Active | No |
| Infielders | |||||||||
| # | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | DOB | Status | MLB 40-man |
| 7 | Carlos George | SS | R | R | 6′ 2″ | 165 | 02-06-1989 | Active | No |
| 10 | Gregory Hopkins | 3B | R | R | 6′ 1″ | 200 | 11-22-1988 | Active | No |
| 2 | Brandon Macias | SS | R | R | 5′ 10″ | 185 | 10-10-1988 | Active | No |
| 13 | Yadiel Rivera | SS | R | R | 6′ 2″ | 175 | 05-02-1992 | Active | No |
| 9 | Jason Rogers | 1B | R | R | 6′ 2″ | 250 | 03-13-1988 | Active | No |
| 4 | Adrian Williams | 2B | R | R | 6′ 0″ | 175 | 01-03-1991 | Active | No |
| Outfielders | |||||||||
| # | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | DOB | Status | MLB 40-man |
| 21 | John Dishon | OF | R | R | 5′ 11″ | 193 | 03-21-1989 | Active | No |
| 15 | Benjamin McMahan | OF | R | R | 6′ 0″ | 201 | 10-14-1989 | Active | No |
| 26 | Chadwin Stang | CF | R | R | 6′ 2″ | 190 | 03-26-1989 | Active | No |
Players I’ll be Watching:
SS – Yadiel Rivera
– He’s the 12th ranked prospect in the entire Brewers organization and the only one to make the top 20 list of Pat Mayo of MLB.com. He’s probably the best arm in the entire minor league system amongst infielders as well as defensively overall the best in the organization. I’ll be watching to see if he can get it done at the plate. That’s really the only thing keeping him at the this level and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him off to Brevard County (High Single-A) sooner rather than later, but we shall see.
C – Parker Berberet
– Getting a catcher out of your own system is a premium luxury that a lot of the big league clubs would love to develop. Because of that I’m going to keep an eye on this guy. Check out his profile pic, the stashe is just unreal and that in and of itself is worthy of being watched, but he also batted .240 in his season at Helena last year. How does he deal with the step up to the next level at and behind the plate is the the biggest question of 2012 for him.
P – Drew Gagnon
– He’s a 2011 3rd round pick out of Long Beach State and outside of Rivera probably the name most Brewers fans would know at this level. With not a lot of quality depth at the Starting Pitcher spot in the Brewers farm system he’s got a prime chance to rise and do so fast. You can’t really take too much form his limited action at Helena last year, but he needs to show great command and keep the speed he had. He’s a power pitcher to say the least and I love watching those guys in person.
P – Chad Pierce
– Call me a sucker if you want, but how can I not keep any eye on a guy from just down the road in Fon du Lac, WI? It’s a great human interest story and he’s a reliever at this point in his journey in the Brewers system. Should he catch fire there’s a good chance he can move up a bit as the Brewers are pretty loaded at the top end of the relievers in the system, but not so much at the lower levels. I fully expect he’ll be around for the entire season barring something strange or catching total fire.
Are there players here you’d like for me to watch closely for you? Things that intrigue you about a certain prospect? I’d be more than happy to report on and watch them when I get down to Fox Cities Stadium this year, which will be frequently to say the least! Leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to get on that for you!
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