Prospect Spotlight #1 - Felix Pie

[jaxxradio]

Von and I occasionally chat (he was the hitting coach at West Tenn in my first three years as the broadcaster). He told me that Felix is still trying to adjust to the constant change-ups and other breaking balls being thrown to him. Everyone in the PCL knows the kid can destroy a fastball so they are now keeping Felix off balance by mixing in alot of breaking stuff. He's in the process of "getting it." I'm sure he'll be hitting .280 or better by the end of the season.

 

As far as Hill goes, Rothschild has ZERO confidence in this guy and doesn't know how to handle him. The Cubs should be thanking God everyday that they have a major league caliber pitching coach in Alan Dunn, otherwise Hill, Guzzy and Jerome Williams would have been left for dead a long time ago. A.D. has cleaned up more Rothschild messes this year that it's leaving me to wonder why A.D. and Von aren't in the major leagues right now.

[CuseCubFan69]

Von and I occasionally chat (he was the hitting coach at West Tenn in my first three years as the broadcaster). He told me that Felix is still trying to adjust to the constant change-ups and other breaking balls being thrown to him. Everyone in the PCL knows the kid can destroy a fastball so they are now keeping Felix off balance by mixing in alot of breaking stuff. He's in the process of "getting it." I'm sure he'll be hitting .280 or better by the end of the season.

 

As far as Hill goes, Rothschild has ZERO confidence in this guy and doesn't know how to handle him. The Cubs should be thanking God everyday that they have a major league caliber pitching coach in Alan Dunn, otherwise Hill, Guzzy and Jerome Williams would have been left for dead a long time ago. A.D. has cleaned up more Rothschild messes this year that it's leaving me to wonder why A.D. and Von aren't in the major leagues right now.

 

I'd like to see those 2 guys called up and Baker and his staff released. Thanks for the update on Pie/Joshua. If Pie wants to be a complete hitter he'll have to continue working on those change-ups/curves and it's good to hear he is learning. Rothschild hasn't impressed me with his handling of the staff either and I'm surprised that he would feel that way about Hill or any young pitcher, it's not conducive for growth.

[mg420]

why would the cubs get rid of the pitching & hitting coach's? the results speak for themselves. even if baker does stay the rest of the year, maybe if dunn & joshua get the call they can minimize the "dusty effect" on the young players.

[mg420]

Von and I occasionally chat (he was the hitting coach at West Tenn in my first three years as the broadcaster). He told me that Felix is still trying to adjust to the constant change-ups and other breaking balls being thrown to him. Everyone in the PCL knows the kid can destroy a fastball so they are now keeping Felix off balance by mixing in alot of breaking stuff. He's in the process of "getting it." I'm sure he'll be hitting .280 or better by the end of the season.

 

As far as Hill goes, Rothschild has ZERO confidence in this guy and doesn't know how to handle him. The Cubs should be thanking God everyday that they have a major league caliber pitching coach in Alan Dunn, otherwise Hill, Guzzy and Jerome Williams would have been left for dead a long time ago. A.D. has cleaned up more Rothschild messes this year that it's leaving me to wonder why A.D. and Von aren't in the major leagues right now.

 

it makes sense that someone in the majors is screwing with hill's head. his utter dominance at aaa and utter ineptitiude in the majors points to more fine coaching by dusty & his boys. watch hill get traded and go on to win 20 games next year.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

As far as Hill goes, Rothschild has ZERO confidence in this guy and doesn't know how to handle him. The Cubs should be thanking God everyday that they have a major league caliber pitching coach in Alan Dunn, otherwise Hill, Guzzy and Jerome Williams would have been left for dead a long time ago. A.D. has cleaned up more Rothschild messes this year that it's leaving me to wonder why A.D. and Von aren't in the major leagues right now.

 

Wow, thanks for that. I think a bunch of us have gotten a majorly negative impression on Rothschild. I had heard similar things about Williams and how Dunn had to fix some things when Jerome got to AAA (not nibbling and throwing strikes is what Jerome said in an interview). It seemed like something Rotschild should have addressed.

 

I do like how Dunn and Joshua are making a major impact on some of the best young guys in the system right now, so I don't have a problem with them in the minors. If the Cubs could get competent coaches at the big league level, it'd be nice to see guys like Joshua and Dunn play a big role in molding the minor leaguers.

[shawndgoldman]

Wow, thanks for that. I think a bunch of us have gotten a majorly negative impression on Rothschild. I had heard similar things about Williams and how Dunn had to fix some things when Jerome got to AAA (not nibbling and throwing strikes is what Jerome said in an interview). It seemed like something Rotschild should have addressed.

 

I think the this speaks to the more underrated of the two biggest problems in the Cubs organization... Many of us know of and complain about the Cubs' lack of emphasis of OBP and working the count, but there is another, perhaps more dangerous side to that coin - the emphasis placed on pitching for strikeouts, pitch counts and walks be damned. We are at the top of the league in strikeouts by pitchers every single season, but all our pitchers (except Maddux) have totaled high pitch counts/inning as they nibble the corners avoiding the dangers of "aggressive major league hitters". That this is occuring at the same time baseball as a whole is waking up to the importance of OBP and working the count makes this philosophy even more dangerous. One can argue that high pitch counts was one of the major factors leading to the Marlins comeback in the 2003 NLCS, and a major cause of the injuries sustained by our staff since then. Furthermore, most of out pitchers that have come up since Rothschild took over seem to show much worse control in the majors than they did in the minors. (I haven't done an analysis of this, but i'm willing to bet the regression in this category is worse than league-average regression by a significant margin.)

 

Firing Rothschild and birnging in a guy that preaches agressiveness to his staff is an absolute must at this point, given our young rotation and the bevy of prospects that are near being ready for MLB jobs.