Manatees Come and Go
 Nick Green was once a top pitching prospect in the Los Angeles Angels minor league system. |
The minor league camps close today, meaning we should know within the next day or two who will be assigned to the Brevard County Manatees.
MLB.com reports that Nick Green will be assigned to Brevard as a closer. Green was once a top pitching prospect in the Angels’ minor league system, known for his “plus” changeup.
Some of you may know that I’ve followed the Angels’ minor leagues for many years, and run another site FutureAngels.com, so I’m very familiar with Nick.
Green was a full-time starter for Triple-A Salt Lake in 2008, posting a 5.32 ERA in 159 innings. Salt Lake is a high-elevation ballpark, as are several other parks in the PCL’s Pacific Conference, so most pitchers see their ERA suffer when they go to Salt Lake. He was claimed by the Brewers on waivers in February 2009, when the Angels tried to move him off the 40-man roster. A neck injury set him back last year, although he did manage to appear in seven games for Double-A Huntsville and Triple-A Nashville.
I filmed Green pitching for the Angels’ Double-A Arkansas affiliate in June 2007. Click here to watch the video. You need Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection to watch.
I’m waiting to learn the fate of 2009 Manatees catcher Martin Maldonado. The Brewers kept him with the parent club to help with the pitching staff, but he was reassigned to minor league camp yesterday. Maldonado is another Angels alumnus.
The Brewers picked up another Angel farmhand last week. The Angels released catcher Ben Johnson, but Milwaukee promptly signed him and sent him to Triple-A Nashville. Johnson is on the Sounds’ opening day roster.
 The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that 2009 Manatees second baseman Eric Farris will skip Double-A and begin 2010 with Triple-A Nashville. |
According to this post on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel web site, 2009 Manatees’ second baseman Eric Farris has made the leap all the way to Triple-A.
Most of the 2009 Manatees top prospects seem to be going to Double-A Huntsville. The article reports that Mark Rogers, Amaury Rivas, Michael Bowman and Alex Periard will open 2010 with the Stars. It also says that Evan Anundsen will begin the year on the disabled list with a slight shoulder problem. Lee Haydel and Caleb Gindl also report to Huntsville.
I’ll post more on Manatees assignments as they become available. We should also have news to announce in the next day or two about SpaceCoastBaseball.com webcasting some of the Manatees games.
Space Coast Baseball 
GREAT blog. I’ll be sure to make some trips back here on a regular basis to see how the Brewers prospects are doing. There is little to no talk on the Brewers minor league teams here in Milwaukee so all I ever have to go on is stats, which isn’t always the whole story.
http://benross.mlblogs.com
Thanks, please be sure to also visit the main site at http://www.spacecoastbaseball.com where I’ll have video and photos.
A couple of Brewer fan sites that cover the minors are:
Brew Crew Ball http://www.brewcrewball.com/
BrewerFan.Net http://www.brewerfan.net/