It's not yet time for the Caribbean Series, but there are some interesting Brewers doing very well in the winter leagues.

I thought I'd take the ten most interesting names, and provide a link for the Brewers' organization Winter League site.I listed their name, Brewers' 2008 affiliations, and their current team and league (VWL = Venezuela, DWL = Dominican, LMP = Mexican Pacific, PWL = Puerto Rican).

1. Brendan Katin (AAA), Aguilas de Zulia (VWL): 41 G, 141 AB, 36 H, 7 2B, 1 3B, 12 HR; 43 K/11 BB; .255/.346/.574. Clearly Katin has himself confused with the Ryan Braun of the Venezuelan league, slugging the daylight out of the ball in a fairly regular role for Zulia. A fringe bat at best -- Brewerfan.net's #47 player on the Power 50, Katin gets first spot here for his pure swat -- you read that correctly, 20 of his 36 hits were for extra bases.

 2. Brad Nelson (AAA), Gigantes del Cibao (DWL): 21 G, 72 AB, 22 H, 6 2B, 1 3B, 8 HR; 17 K/9 BB; .306/.375/.705. In a part time role with the legendary Gigantes, Nelson is putting together quite a winter. 15 of his 22 hits are for extra bases, and even better is his K/BB ratio -- his strike out rate is fair, and he's maintaining a better than 10% BB ratio in a slugger's paradise. (They used to say that you don't get off of the island by walking).

3. Eduardo Morlan (---), Criollos de Caguas (PWL). 12 G, 14 IP, 15 H, 4 R, 15 K/3 BB; 2.57 ERA, 1.29 WHIP. Under the category of "warm body who throws hard," Morlan is our current Rule V project for 2009, left unprotected by the confident Rays organization, due to a shoulder injury, weight issues, and a particularly victimizing radar gun. Nevertheless, he's striking guys out (15 K in 14 IP), not walking guys (3 BB in 14 IP), and even though that hit total looks high, he's not allowing his baserunners to score very often (4 of 18 baserunners have scored). I'm going to hang my hat on the 5/1 K/BB, and keep this name in the front of my mind -- Morlan looks like the most intriguing arm for the pen in 2009.

4. Case McGehee (---), Tomateros de Culiacen (LMP): 30 G, 129 AB, 43 H, 7 2B, 7 HR; 15 K/5 BB; .333/.356/.550. Scrap heap pick up at the hot corner gets the attention in the third spot, slugging his way at a solid rate (14 of 43 hits for extra bases), and simply hitting the ball like crazy.

5. Chris Narveson (AAA), Naranheros de Hermosillo (LMP): 7 GS, 40.7 IP, 36 H, 19 R, 42 K/9 BB; 3.54 ERA, 1.11 WHIP. One of the AAA safety-valves is performing well in the Mexican Pacific league, keeping his baserunners to a minimum, and sporting a solid ERA and decent runs average. The K-rate has to jump out here -- while he did strike out 125 in 136 IP at Nashville in 2008, the 42 K in 40.7 IP looks fantastic, especially coupled with a K/BB rate better than 4/1.

6. Hernan Iribarren (AAA), Cardenales de Lara (VWL): 30 G, 110 AB, 36 H, 3 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR; 14 K/16 BB; .327/.409/.482. This is good stuff all around. While Iribarren is posting a low "driving" SLG total, his speed is leading him to better XBH totals than he'd otherwise have. And what does all that matter anyway when you're simply combining speed with lots of hits, and an incredible amount of walks? That's right, 16 BB in approximately 130 PA. That's awesome, especially for a guy who drew 28 walks in nearly 400 PA at AAA in 2008.

7. R.J. Swindle (---), Navegantes de Magallanes (VWL): 22 G, 22.3 IP, 18 H, 7 R, 17 K/5 BB; 2.82 ERA, 1.03 WHIP. Does a 50 MPH curveball count as an eephus? Apparently the next Brian Shouse is already working his magic south of the equator, keeping the walks down, striking out a rather surprising percentage of batters, and stranding his runners at a moderate rate (7 of his 23 runners have scored). Even the hits look good. While he's not a warm body who throws hard, he's still a warm body, and sometimes that's just what a bullpen needs.

8. Tony Gwynn, Jr. (AAA), Navegantes del Magallanes (VWL): 26 G, 98 AB, 30 H, 2 2B, 1 3B; 27 K/13 BB; .306/.395/.347. God awful slugging, but let's forget that. Gwynn is doing the one thing he failed to do in his limited MLB experience: walk. That empty batting AVG (.306 AVG, .347 SLG, .041 ISO) is terrible, but I listed him here because 13 walks in approximately 111 PA is exactly what Gwynn needs to do to succeed.

9. Jason Bourgeois (---), Caneros de los Mochis (LMP): 31 G, 130 AB, 44 H, 6 2B, 1 HR; 19 K/9 BB; .339/.394/.408. In the "Say what!??!" category, Bourgeois is under an invitation to Spring Training and Minor League contract set up for the Brewers, having last played for the White Sox organization in Charlotte for 2008. Nothing jumps out here except for the solid K/BB and OBP. A big 'ol empty AVG (.338 AVG, .408 SLG, .070 ISO), but the numbers jump out anyhow with that OBP. File this one under "we'll see."

10. Jorge Julio (---), Leones de Caracas (VWL): 10 G, 9 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 9 K/4 BB; 4.00 ERA, 1.22 WHIP. Nothing spectacular here. But he's striking guys out, at least.

Keep an eye on these guys, especially the young ones as well as the stopgap pieces for our bullpen.