The posting has been a little light lately, as I'm in the middle of a summer class and spending a lot of weekends on the road. We'll get back to more regular posts after this next week. In the meantime, here is the Prospect of the Week for 6/8 to 6/14:

RHP Wily Peralta:

Ever wish that the Brewers had a Carlos Marmol to call their very own? You know, the monster velocity, power slider and multi-inning ability? With a little bit of luck, in a few years they just might, if Wily Peralta keeps having weeks like this one. In 8 innings (covering two appearances), Peralta allowed 1 earned run and 9 hits while posting an absurd 14:1 K:BB ratio. Keeping with the Timber Rattlers tandem approach, he started one game and closed another, though most people seem to think that his future ultimately lies in the bullpen down the road.

Peralta was signed as a 16 year old out of the Dominican Republic in 2005 and posted some mediocre numbers in 2006 before being shut down and eventually having Tommy John surgery. He came back strong in 2008 pitching at Short Season Helena, where he struck out 36 and only walked 8 in 29 innings before throwing 5 forgettable innings in low A West Virginia at the very end of the year.  According to Baseball America, Peralta features a fastball that sits in the mid 90's but can hit 97-98 at times and his slider is quickly improving.

Everyone from Baseball America to John Sickels seems to think Peralta is likely ticketed for the pen down the road. There is a chance, though, if he can upgrade his changeup to a solid pitch, that he might be able to stick as a starter. Right now, the T-Rats are starting him every other time out and undoubtedly just working on building up his inning count in the minors. If he the team decides to keep the 20 year old in the rotation long term, he'll probably move pretty slowly. A move to the pen would probably speed up the timetable to the majors considerably. Either way, Peralta is one of the growing stable of young power arms sitting in the Brewers low minors that offer hope for a homegrown pitching staff sometime down the road.

Three Up

LHP Evan Fredrickson: We (and others) have been hard on Fredrickson this year, but he was pretty good in his 9 innings last week. He allowed 9 hits, 2 earned runs and struck out 6, but the big headline was that he walked no batters in those 9 innings, which is a major step forward for him.

LHP Zach Braddock: Braddock is still working in relief at Brevard County, and doing an outstanding job. He struck out 6 and walked none in 3 2/3 scoreless innings last week. It will be interesting to see how long Braddock stays in his current role with this current team.

OF Caleb Gindl: Gindl seems determined to keep hitting for power, even if he is playing in the Florida State League. In his 8 hits last week, 3 went for doubles and 2 were round trippers. He also took a couple of walks, stole a couple of bases and hit for an overall line of (.308/.357/.654).

Three Down

RHP Omar Aguilar: It seems like a very long time ago that Omar Aguilar's name was bandied about as a potential reliever for the major league club this year. In 3 2/3 innings last week he gave up 7 hits and walked 3 while allowing 5 ER. The biggest difference for Aguilar is the batting average against, which is up to .298 from .191 in AA last season.

1B Chris Errecart: Errecart was 2 for 16 with 8 strikeouts, no extra base hits and no walks last week. Bill Hall and JJ Hardy probably think that's a bad week.

3B Kevin Melillo: Melillo was 2 for 17 with a double and 3 walks last week. He's 27 and playing in AA, so calling him a "prospect" is a bit of a reach, but did you really want to hear another rant about Jeremy Jeffress' walks?