Brewer Daily News for November 21st, 2013

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Thursday edition of Brewer Daily News. With the Rule 5 Draft coming up next month, yesterday the Milwaukee Brewers had to select any players they wished to protect from being draft eligible. With that, the Brew Crew added four new faces to the 40-man roster.

unter Morris is ranked seventh in the Brewers’ top prospects. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The Brewers added first baseman Hunter Morris, outfielder Jason Rogers and right-handed pitchers Kevin Shackelford and Brooks Hall to the 40-man roster. Morris in particular was in a fight in early 2013 for a spot at first base once all the available options were injured, but spent the season in Triple-A Nashville.

During his first season with the Nashville Sounds, Morris hit .247/.310/.457 with 24 homers and 73 RBIs in 134 games. He’ll look to play a role in the Brewers’ infield probably sometime within the latter half of next season.

"“I think he understood there are adjustments to be made,” Brewers’ assistant GM Gord Ash said. “I think he made good progress defensively. Obviously, he still hit with decent power, but he didn’t have some of the peripherals that surrounded that like he did the year before.” – via Brewers.com"

As for Rogers, he played in the Arizona Fall League after a solid season with Double-A Huntsville. During the regular season he hit .270/.346/.468 with 22 home runs and 87 RBIs in 133 games. In the Fall League, Rogers was electric, hitting well over .300 with the Surprise Saguaros. Currently Rogers is playing in the Dominican Winter League.

Both Shackelford and Hall saw promotions from Advanced A Brevard County to Double-A this year. Out of the two, Shackelford made the more appearances with twenty and had an ERA of 0.92 in 29.1 innings. Hall made appearances in 17 games (13 starts) and had an ERA of 4.01 in 60.2 innings pitched.

Aorund the web, Michael Terrill of Rant Sports talks about how re-signing Corey Hart would be great for the team. At Brew Crew Ball, Noah Jarosh talks about a weird rumor with the Brewers and Mets.