He started 2003 in the Arizona League Brewers Rookie club with a statistically unusable stint.

He was quickly promoted to the Beloit Snappers, where he pulled a .349 average on 63 at-bats driving in 16 RBIs with one dinger.

The Brew Crew brought him up for a brief airing at the major league level in 2003, where he got chewed up a bit, with a .167 average on 12 at-bats, before being sent back to the relative safety of the minors.

During the off-season, Weeks had a good showing in the Arizona Fall League, and in the Spring of 2004 he reported to Huntsville. For the Stars of the Double-A Southern League, he turned in a streaky .259 batting average with a .407 slugging percentage, a bit off his general pace and abilities. Pitching in the Southern League wasn't great in 2004, but hurlers discovered Weeks' sweet-tooth for breaking balls, and managed to shut down his preferred blast lanes to turn him into a contact hitter. He hit only 8 dingers in 2004, but he racked up 35 doubles, a career high.

In 2005 Rickie returned to the production trail. He has worked evenly between Milwaukee and Nashville.  With the Sounds, he's had 12 home runs, 9 triples, and 14 doubles and 48 RBIs in a mighty .435 average from 203 at-bats. His Triple-A resume sports an envy-making .655 slugging percentage to date. 

With the Brew Crew he has a more humbled .260 average on 215 at-bats still distributing a nice array of doubles (8), triples (2), home runs (9) and RBIs (29). He strikes out within the norm of big-bat hitters both in Triple-A and the majors.

Weeks has 10 stolen bases in both the majors and minors thus far this season.

He takes a very aggresive batting stance. He was hit by pitches 18 times in 62 games with Beloit in 2004.  Weeks is a gamer, and both you, and the Brewers have to like that. He has the drive and determination to succeed in the majors.  Scouts, industry types and fans all like his gutty play.

Weeks can be a slump-prone, streaky hitter who, when he catches his wave, rides it high and mighty. He has fast hands and great eyes that read and react to heat moving to the inside well, although scouting notes suggest that he needs more work on reading the strike zone better. Given his current .435 average, we think that he's already made the adjustment.

The Brewers keep Weeks under a fair amount of pressure to perform, but he seems to do well with the Big Blue thumb on his back. They're giving him enough acclamation to the big leagues to give him a lot of confidence when he finally arrives and stays.

We wouldn't be surprised to see him finish with Nashville for 2005. We'd be terribly surprised to see him back there again after Spring 2006 rolls around, though.   Given the money involved around him, and his normal rookie struggle for consistency, we don't see him as a big trade opportunity over the winter.

See Also:  MLN FAB50™ 2004;