A little rainy day project extended

Last Sunday, there was this post about Major Leaguers and minor leaguers with Wisconsin ties.

I stupidly glided right by a few obvious ones.

Eric Hinske of Menasha is with the Pirates

Jarrod Washburn of La Crosse is with the Mariners.

Brewer farmhand Vinny Rottino is from Racine and he is with Huntsville.

Korey Feiner ('08), a native of Sun Prairie, is -- as was mentioned in a comment way below -- on the DL for the Carolina Mudcats in the Southern League.

Anybody else?

He's one of ours

Jordan Zimmerman is making his major league debut tonight for the 1-10 Washington Nationals. I'm just going to put aside the whole UW-Stevens Point thing for the Auburndale, Wisconsin native and say congratulations.

Here is the article from the Nationals website for his big night.

Monday's game between the Nationals and Braves will be worth watching. Why? Washington right-hander Jordan Zimmermann will make his Major League debut.

Zimmermann was named the Nationals' fifth starter during Spring Training with the understanding he would pitch with Triple-A Syracuse until his services were needed 11 games into Washington's schedule.

Zimmerman, 22, made one start with the Chiefs, tossing 5 1/3 innings on April 9 against Rochester. Zimmermann went 1-1 with a 3.14 ERA in five games (three starts) this spring, and he held opponents scoreless in four of his five outings.

"You are always excited to see one of your bright prospects," acting general manager Mike Rizzo said. "I feel he will come with a good game plan. I don't think he will be intimidated by a Major League stadium or Major League hitters. I'm looking forward to him having a successful outing and really kick-start his Major League career."

Zimmermann entered this season rated the Nationals' No. 1 prospect by Baseball America. After 39 Minor League games, he owns a 15-5 career record with a 2.81 ERA.

This reminded me that I found another one of ours in my search around the stat pages yesterday.

Greg Reinhard, for whom I will put aside the whole UW-Whitewater thing, is a native of Marinette, WI and is out there in Iowa playing for the Cubs.

If anyone else knows of Wisconsin natives out there in affiliated minor league ball, drop a line on this thread. I'll do a post on that later this week.

Badger State in the draft

Baseball America is doing a state-by-state preview of the upcoming MLB entry draft. It is behind the subscriber wall, but the title and the lede probably tell you all you need to know.

Badger State probably won't have any early-round picks

Wisconsin has been good for at least one early-round pick in each of the last four drafts, from Erik Cordier (Royals, second round in 2004) to Greg Reinhard (Rays, sixth in 2005) to Tony Butler (Mariners, third in 2006) to Ryan Zimmermann (Nationals, second in 2007) and Andrew Paulauskas (Marlins, seventh in 2007). But the Badger State is barren this time around and may not have a single player chosen in the first 15 rounds.

St. Norbert shortstop Adam Frost is considered the top draft prospect in the state by BA. Here is the write up on a Fox Cities High Schooler who may go:

The best high school prospect in the state is righthander Phil Schreiber [Kaukauna HS]. He repeats his mechanics well and has a sturdy frame, but he's also just 6 feet and 185 pounds and operates at 86-88 mph with his fastball. He showed more velocity last summer in showcases. He'll flash a hard slider but he often gets under it, costing him velocity and break. Schreiber will attend Iowa if he doesn't turn pro.