LHP Zach Braddock:

Simply put, Zach Braddock has had a amazing season.  Last week Braddock threw 2 innings, allowed 0 ER and had 2 K's, which is pretty standard for him. He is the prospect of the week based more on seasonal achievements, though.  Playing at Brevard County and Huntsville this season, Braddock has a 0.93 ERA, .81 WHOP and 58 K's in 38 1/3 innings.  He has held hitters to a .176 average and has shown amazing control with a 6 to 1 K/BB ratio.

Braddock was an 18th round selection out of junior college in the 2005 player draft.  As we have mentioned in past, Braddock is the great grandson of the "Cinderella Man" former heavy weight champion James Braddock.  He features a low 90's fastball and an excellent sweeping slider.  He is also developing a change up.  Braddock has always put up huge strike out totals with a K rate of 11.5 per nine innings in his minor league career.  The one major downside with Braddock is that he has had to be shut down several times in his minor league career due to arm problems.  This has led to the Brewers limiting Braddock's innings this season by pitching him in short outings out of the bullpen after working him as a starter most of his career.

Zach Braddock is definitely one of the Brewers' top minor league arms.  If the Brewers believe Braddock's arm can hold up to the workload of being in the rotation, he could be a number 2 or 3 starter. The Brewers could also keep Braddock in the pen, where he could easily be a quality setup man or a closer in the near future. If the Brewers decide to go the bullpen route, Zach Braddock could be up as soon as the middle of next year.

Three Up

OF Drew Anderson:  When you're a 28 year old LF with modest HR power playing in AA, the word "prospect" probably isn't all that applicable. Still, Anderson is having a nice year and that continued last week, when he went 10-21 with 2 walks, a double and a couple home runs.

LHP Chris Capuano:  Cappy is not a prospect anymore and he is not pitching particularly well at the moment either. He is pitching in live games, though, and no pitching depth can be ignored given the current state of Brewers pitching. He will be a free agent after the season, so the Brewers will have to monitor his progress and decide if he's worth a shot in spring training.

OF Lee Haydel:  The speedster taken in the last year that teams could draft and follow junior college players had an 11 game hitting streak at the end of last week. He also had 2 doubles and 2 steals last week.

Three Down

RHP Nick Bucci: Bucci has had nice season and established himself as someone to watch in the system, but has struggled lately. He was torched in three of his last four starts giving up 17 ER in 17 1/3 innings over that span.

RHP Maverick Lasker:  The man with the coolest name in the system allowed 3 runs in 4 IP last week after allowing 4 runs in 3 IP the week before. Of course this week he was promoted two levels to Wisconsin and pitched 7 shutout innings in his debut there, so Maverick is going to be just fine.

RHP Rob Wooten:  Wooten, a college closer who had thus far breezed through the Brewers system, has finally hit a bit of a wall.  Last week he allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits and  2 walks in 3 innings of of work.  His Huntsville ERA has risen to 4.68.