Bill Mitchell's Minor League Ramblings

Minor League Ramblings For the week of :
March 18, 2002

Minor League Ramblings is produced by Bill Mitchell for Minor League Watch.

Neugie's first game of 2002
March 20, 2002

One of baseball's most highly-touted pitching prospects, Nick Neugebauer, made his long-awaited 2002 season debut today for the Milwaukee Brewers in a major league spring training game against the Chicago White Sox at Maryvale Park in Phoenix. The 21-year-old right-hander's first spring appearance had been delayed as he continues to recover from last September's shoulder surgery.

Nick Neugebauer throwing in the bullpen before the game

Neugebauer looked sharp and felt great in pre-game warm-ups, snapping his mid- to upper-90s fastball into the glove of catcher Raul Casanova. Taking the mound before a crowd of just over 3,000 fans, Neugebauer looked confident and ready to go.

While his velocity was good, he was just missing with many of his pitches in the first inning. Neugebauer walked leadoff hitter Willie Harris, who advanced to third base on a stolen base and an errant throw by catcher Casanova.

Royce Clayton then poked a single to right field and promptly stole second base. Chicago's second run came in when the third hitter, left fielder Carlos Lee, hit a ball from which third baseman Ronnie Belliard danced out of the way for the second error of the inning.

Paul Konerko, Jeff Liefer and Aaron Rowand all followed with singles before Joe Crede hit a deep fly ball to right field, plating Konerko. Milwaukee right fielder Izzy Alcantara threw out Rowand trying to advance to second base on the fly ball, completing a double play for the first two outs of the inning.

White Sox catcher Mark Johnson hit a hard ball down the first base line that skipped just over the glove of Milwaukee first baseman Lenny Harris for a double. Chicago pitcher Dan Wright was then retired on a ground ball to shortstop to end the inning, with the White Sox having scored five times.

Neugebauer looked much stronger in the second inning, throwing mostly breaking balls. Willie Harris hit a foul fly ball on a 3-2 count which left fielder Ryan Thompson pulled in. Clayton also worked the count to 3-2 before fanning on a wicked breaking ball. Neugebauer walked Lee on a 3-2 pitch that just missed the strike zone.

By then, Neugebauer had reached 51 pitches. Milwaukee manager Davey Lopes decided that was enough for the day, and called on reliever Andrew Lorraine.

Neugebauer was not satisfied with his performance, especially considering the way he had thrown in the bullpen. In addition, he was disappointed that he had to come out of the game before getting the opportunity to bat.

The most important point is that Neugebauer's arm felt great after the game. His velocity was good, with the fastball clocked around 94 to 96 MPH.

Neugebauer will pitch again on Monday against San Diego.

--- Bill Mitchell