The Cubs completed their end of the Ben Grieve trade on Friday by sending left-handed pitcher Andy Pratt to the Brewers. The just-turned-25-year old Pratt becomes the latest in a long line of former-Rangers that General Manager Doug Melvin has brought to Milwaukee. Pratt was originally drafted by Texas in the ninth round of the 1998 draft and the Brewers will become his fourth organization when he starts for Huntsville on Sunday. In those eight years, the diminutive southpaw has followed a baffling career path, at times flashing signs of brilliance and at others looking overmatched or downright lost on the mound.

    <p>It is a high risk, high reward proposition, as Melvin frames it, and one that involves a talented southpaw with an up-and-down career that can be described as anything but consistent or boring.</p>
    <p>Pratt grew up outside Phoenix where he attended Chico Valley High School and played under father Tom, now a pitching coach with Cubs' organization.  He earned All-State honors as a pitcher in each of his four prep seasons and received Honorable Mention for the USA Today State Player of the Year Award.  The winner was Ben Diggins, a Bradshaw Mountain first-baseman and right-hander who went on to star at the University of Arizona before being selected in the first round of the 2000 draft, and who is now pitching for the Brewers' organization.</p>
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