No, the Brewers did not just draft right-handed pitchers; there are a few position players salting the draft haul. One of the more intriguing of the bunch is East Carolina catcher Corey Kemp. Kemp hit .341/.444/.628 for the Pirates and was named second-team All-America for his trouble. Hits well and plays catcher? Sounds good to me.

BCB: Are you in Arizona now?

CK: Yes I am.

BCB: I hear the weather is brutal.

CK: True, thank God we practice in the morning.

BCB: So, did you know the Brewers were interested in drafting you before they did?

CK: Yes I did. [Brewers’ scout] Dan Nellum was in contact a lot.

BCB: What other teams talked to you?

CK: The Reds, Cardinals, and Cubs were the most interested.

BCB: Were you surprised at where you were drafted? Were you expecting to go higher or lower?

CK: I wasn’t sure really, I was told anywhere from [round] 8 to 20. I was happy to go in the 14th.

BCB: Did you know they were interested in your teammate, [42nd-round pick, shortstop] Ryan Wood, too?

CK: Yeah, probably more so than me.

BCB: Oh, really? Did they discover you while scouting him?

CK: Yeah, Ryan is a stud; no one knows how he fell so far. Not real sure really.

BCB: Signability? Do you think he'll sign?

CK: Might be, be but he said he would sign anywhere before the 15th [round]. He was my two-year roommate.

BCB: So you're pretty good buddies with him then?

CK: Great friends.

BCB: So if the Brewers are willing to give him top 15-round money, he might be interested?

CK: I'm pretty sure.

BCB: How's his defense at short? You think he'll be able to stick there?

CK: For sure. Cannon for an arm.

BCB: How are you defensively behind the plate?

CK: I'm okay, I suppose; I still have a lot to learn.

BCB: Did you just recently take up catching?

CK: Full-time, last year.

BCB: What did you play before that?

CK: Third base, but I was back and forth for about five years, just never really focused on catching till this year.

BCB: What are your strengths as a player?

CK: Work ethic and love for the game. I also believe I bring positive energy to a team.

BCB: Do you know yet whether you'll go to Helena when their season begins?

CK: Not real sure; we'll find out in the next day or two.

BCB: Do you know anyone in the organization?

CK: Sam Narron, who is in AAA, is from ECU, and I’ve talked to him on a few occasions. Great guy.

BCB: I'm rooting for him to make it back to the big leagues, just because the one game he was up with Texas a few years ago was so terrible.

CK: Yeah, he had a tough outing, but that happens. That's baseball.

BCB: As an African-American, does the presence of so many young black talents on the big league club make you more comfortable in the organization than you might otherwise be?

CK: I mean, that's great to see. I don't know if that makes me more comfortable--I've always been the minority on every team; mostly I was the only black kid.

BCB: Did you ever see being the only black kid on the team as a problem?

CK: No, not really. I didn't really ever focus on it, but I definitely always noticed.

BCB: Is that a problem to be fixed, or is just one of those things?

CK: I’m not sure. Baseball can get very expensive to play competitively; some summer teams charge $1000 to play in the summer.

BCB: How did you get into baseball?

CK: Most of my family is from St. Louis, so as a young kid I spent summers in St. Louis dressing in Cardinal red. Went to my first game and didn't eat for three hours, which was a record for me, and I begged my dad to sign me up. From that, game on.

BCB: Oh so you're a Cardinals fan? Well, better than the Cubs, I suppose.

CK: (laughs) Yeah, that's true.

BCB: Is there a Major Leaguer you pattern your game after?

CK: I really love watching Manny [Ramirez] and Big Albert [Pujols] hit, and I love to watch Yadier Molina and [Brian] McCann catch.

BCB: Molina is primarily known for his defense, while McCann is mostly known for offense. Who do you identify with more?

CK: That's why I love to watch both--mixing the two makes the perfect catcher, and McCann's defensive skills are underrated.

BCB: So when you make it to the big leagues, we'll call you McYadi, yeah?

CK: Sure, great comparison. (laughs)

BCB: Do you have any favorite baseball books?

CK: Moneyball was interesting. That and Ball Four.

BCB: What did you take away as the message of Moneyball?

CK: Just that this is a business now, and that there is a whole other side to the game that is very statistical.

BCB: Do you get into statistical analysis at all?

CK: Nah, I just play the game as hard as possible.

BCB: Fans can’t ask for anything more. We appreciate the time, and we’ll be cheering for you.

CK: Thanks.

So, in this morning's Mug I included this stat, to get people thinking a bit about the Brewers' catching situation:

The Brewers have what I consider to be a disturbing trend going on with their catchers, dating back to last season, but also visible during the Damian Miller era: They play their starting catchers a lot, often to the point of impacting their performance. Last year, despite being unavailable for some significant stretches of time, Estrada caught more innings than all but 7 NL catchers. He caught nearly everyday despite being nearly unable to move in August and September.

Make no mistake, Jason Kendall is catching a lot this season too. Consider this list: the top 10 NL Catchers by percentage of team innings caught.

Jason Kendall, 88.6%
Brian McCann, 88.1%
Russell Martin, 86.7%
Geovany Soto, 85.2%
Yadier Molina, 79.3%
Bengie Molina, 76.0%
Paul Bako, 71.8%
Chris Snyder, 70.0%
Josh Bard, 70.0%
J.R. Towles, 64.0%

An important note regarding this list: Brian McCann is 24. Martin and Soto are 25. In fact, there's only three catchers on this list over 30: Bako (37), Kendall (34) and Bard (30).

There were only five catchers in the National League who caught 1000 innings last season. Kendall is on pace to catch 1282. That's more than any NL backstop caught in 2007, and it'd be the second highest total of his career. Again, he's 34 years old and has already caught over 14,000 innings. Maybe this would all be irrelevant if he was hitting. But as I mentioned above, there's a visible decline in play. His OPS is down over 150 points in May. And he's still got 4 full months of catching nearly every day ahead of him.

At the same time, he has a capable backup. Mike Rivera battled it out in spring training and beat out an established major league catcher (Eric Munson) and a fan favorite (Vinny Rottino) to earn the right to wear his catcher's gear just 8 times and get just 25 plate appearances in the opening 47 games. It's hard to imagine he's having any luck staying sharp when he's playing less than once per week. But he's still 7-for-24, hitting 27 points better than Kendall.

I don't think one can make an argument that Rivera should play every day, or even that a 50/50 split is in order. I like Kendall's contributions to this team, and I've bought into the hype on his defensive skills and game-calling abilities. I have one simple recommendation that I think would keep Kendall stronger and healthier, keep Rivera getting consistent plate appearances and give the team the best chance to win:

When Manny Parra starts, Mike Rivera should too. This is win-win all around. It gives Kendall consistent rest, Rivera consistent plate appearances, and it gives Parra a familiar catcher to throw to as he works to improve his game at the big league level. Parra has a 4.09 ERA this season when pitching to Rivera, and a 4.50 ERA when pitching to Kendall. Plus, Rivera caught Parra's perfect game in AAA last season.

What do you think?

Here's the game stuff, let's get past it so I can get to breaking news:

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

Now, this morning's big news: According to the JS blog, the Brewers are about to announce they've signed Ryan Braun to the longest and largest contract in team history. It's mostly speculation at this point, but a news conference is scheduled for 10 am to make it official.

It turns out David Riske hyperextended his elbow in last night's game. He's day-to-day.

Greener on the Other Side has crunched the numbers and thinks Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks' stats will improve in the coming weeks.

On injuries:

Red Sox P Clay Buchholz is headed to the DL with a broken nail. Seriously.
Pirates C Ryan Doumit has been placed on the DL with a broken thumb.
Mets P Scott Schoeneweis spent the overnight hours Wednesday in the hospital with what turned out to be the flu.
Cubs PH/OF Daryle Ward may have a herniated disc in his back.

The baseball community as a whole is still trying to figure out exactly what happened to Andruw Jones, but Sons of Steve Garvey has uncovered a restraining order that may have something to do with it.

Yadier Molina will not be suspended for his tirade and his decision to strip out of his catcher's gear and leave it littered all over the field over the weekend. That's an interesting precedent for MLB to set.

Oh, and The Ultimate Warrior has a Twitter account.

That's all for today. Drink up.