Minor Musings from Fitch, week of 3/11

[Athletics36]

just for your info when looking at pitchers in minor lg camp, this week was the 1st time pitchers had thrown curves and other breaking balls. The pitchers in minor camp are expected to come into camp throwing at about 85% and not taxing their arms until camp. Sean and Shark are ahead of these players due to the fact they attended Big lg camp and were expected to come in ready to go.

[Bear Cub]

I did not see Hagerty,Blasko, or Petrick throw any bullpens. That doesnt mean they didnt. I just didnt catch them.

[roadster]

I did not see Hagerty,Blasko, or Petrick throw any bullpens. That doesnt mean they didnt. I just didnt catch them.

 

Thanks.

[Athletics36]

FYI...... with the Cubs having a SS scheduled for monday told Sean he would be moved up to throw monday in one of the games. Was supposed to throw Sat at Fitch and I am sure others will move up for monday as well.... :lol:

[abuck1220]

FYI...... with the Cubs having a SS scheduled for monday told Sean he would be moved up to throw monday in one of the games. Was supposed to throw Sat at Fitch and I am sure others will move up for monday as well.... :lol:

 

any idea which game he'll be throwing in? i'll be there that day, and i'd like to see him pitch.

[Laura]

Ugh, I don't think either of those games is broadcast for the poor souls like me who can't make the trip out this year.

[CubsWin]

Anybody see Prior throw today? According to the Cubs.com report, he had better command of his breaking pitches, threw 45 of his 68 pitches for strikes and sat in the 85-88 mph range with his fastball.

[karenmac]

no, I was at the game in Tucson today - so no luck seeing Prior. There were more than 11700 at TEP - the best crowd of the season (surprise, surprise)

 

Rocky Cherry looked outstanding today, and against some darn good hitters too. Jake Fox again looked stellar offensively and not bad defensively either. He did appear to be getting signals from the bench - not sure how common that is, but I suppose at this level, Jake still has learning to do defensively.

 

We will be at Fitch tomorrow, though, and will let you know how the first "game" goes - I'll do my best to write some notes between the low and high A games. I do know that, between the NWL and the MWL, there's no love lost between the 2 franchises. Hopefully most everyone will be at HoHoKam and the crowds won't be too crazy at Fitch. Will let you know more tomorrow night, provided there's a business center where I can get online.

[don_kessinger_was_good]

With yet another setback for Wood, I think you can go ahead and pencil in Cherry to break camp with the big league Cubs. He's had one shaky outing and five strong ones. He's in.

 

We need Wuertz to get up to speed over the next two weeks, and then I'll feel pretty good about our bullpen regardless if Wood has anything for us. Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Ohman, Wuertz, Cherry and Cotts, I'll take that.

 

For those hanging out at Fitch, let us know when you see Lincoln Holdzkom and what he's looking like. I'm pleased to have him back, I still think he can help the Cubs down the road. More than likely he's another Todd Wellemeyer--just can't get to the strike zone consistently enough to make it, despite good stuff. But, we can hope.

[karenmac]

am guessing that Holdzkom will be with the AA or AAA guys - so might be able to catch him at practice this morning. I think the games for these 2 groups are at the A's complex and not at Fitch this afternoon, though. Will let you know if I see him!

[Laura]

FYI...... with the Cubs having a SS scheduled for monday told Sean he would be moved up to throw monday in one of the games. Was supposed to throw Sat at Fitch and I am sure others will move up for monday as well.... :lol:

 

any idea which game he'll be throwing in? i'll be there that day, and i'd like to see him pitch.

 

In case you miss it -- Vance posted game notes in today's game thread saying that Gallagher would be starting Monday's SS game vs Milwaukee (@MIL). Yovanni Gallardo is slated to start for Milwaukee. Should be fun!

[CaliforniaRaisin]

My cousin saw Blasko throwing off the mound (no reports other than that he was throwing). Pawelek told him he was 95% sure he was headed to Peoria (and he got Mark's auto, then called me and asked if Mark was any good because he had his auto).

 

I'll get more news from him in a bit - he called me and asked who to look for in the minor league camp so I told him.

[karenmac]

Hi all!

 

So, we were able to get to the Saturday 3/17 minor league games at Fitch. Just as a heads-up, while all of the places I'd seen info published say these are a 2pm start, they actually start at 1pm in AZ. Luckily we were "early" enough that we didn't miss any of the action

 

Saturday felt like a blast furnace in Mesa, it was the earliest day that it hit 100 since 1988. Luckily, some of the wonderful grounds crew people came along and put up tarps in the bleachers, allowing for some shade (that helped a *lot*) With that in mind, please forgive me if I don't remember all the details, but will do my best!

 

Lo-A and Hi-A were playing at Fitch on Saturday, with AA and AAA on the road at the Oakland complex. I spent most of my time watching high-A, mostly because I was too hot to give up my place in the shade!

 

Here were the lineups for Jody (and yes, I realize they had 10 people batting - not sure what was up with that, but hey, it's spring training)

 

1 - Mark Reed (caught) replaced by Blake Lalli in the 6th

2 - Jonathan Mota (SS) replace by Guzman (not Angel) in the 5th

3 - Tyler Colvin (CF)

4 - Yusef Carter (RF)

5 - Adduci

6 - Elvin Puello (3rd)

7 - Kyle Reynolds (DH)

8 - Jesus Valdez (LF) replaced by A. Joseph in the 7th

9 - Alberto Garcia (1st)

10 - Ryan Lilly (2nd)

 

Samarjida started, wearing #44, and looked dynamite over a couple of innings. Ceda came in, and while he was a big guy who threw *very* hard, I was disappointed in his lack of location in the 4th and 5th innings. Scott Koerber came in with 1 down in the 5th, then Mike Billek pitched the 8th and 9th. Also saw Todd Blackford, Jesse Estrada, and Ryan Norwood on the bench for the hi-A guys.

 

Colvin, while still thin, was darn impressive, and I can see why it looks like we're not going to see him in Peoria. Ditto with Samarjida - he looked *much* better than he did when I saw him in Peoria last summer. Koerber looked like Hawaii was good for him - got a chance to speak with him briefly and he said it was a darn good gig - he only pitched once a week and got to spend the rest of the time on the beach. Nothing quite like an expense paid trip to Hawaii!

 

Saw the last couple innings of the Lo-A game - so not sure who started, but can at least tell you who was on the bench!

Heredia

Rosario

Tirado

Lopez

Cabreja

Anderson

Canzler

Lewis

Landsford

Johnston

Camp

Canepa

Matulia

McCormick

Farina

Gilbert

Clevinger

 

Got a chance to see the AA and AAA guys practice on Sunday morning, but will have to take a look at my pictures to remember who was practicing with who. Should get a chance to get those uploaded and posted tonight sometime.

[craig]

Thanks for notes, Karen. A poster at bleacherbums was at Fitch on Thursday and had some observations.

 

He said that Veal, Pawelek, Huseby, Ceda, Atkins, Petrick, and Julio Castillo were all in the same pitching group, what he referred to as the "A" group.

 

He observed that Huseby is huge and threw really hard, although he was wild and they were tinkering with his delivery. He said on the occassion where he threw one right, it looked like his fastball might have some good movement and natural sink/tail. He said that Castillo threw every bit as hard as Huseby. If Castillo throws that hard, I'm guessing he's a guy we should keep our eye on, whether he starts at Boise or Peoria or wherever this year. He observed that Pawelek kept the ball down well, and his delivery might have some deception.

[NCCubFan]

Just as a heads-up, while all of the places I'd seen info published say these are a 2pm start, they actually start at 1pm in AZ.

I think that's the effect of no DST in Arizona. If they did observe DST it would have been 2 P.M.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

According to AZ Phil, Jeff Samardzijapitched against the A's high-A minor leaguers on Thursday to the tune of 4 IP, 0 R, 6 H (3 IF singles, 1 broken-bat blooper), 1 K/0 BB and 9 GO to 2 FO. He had great command of a sinker and a slider and only threw 44 pitches in his 4 innings.

[craig]

Phil also reported on Today's (Saturday) AA/AAA action. Gallagher superb for 4, Marshall really bad.

[Laura]

Gallagher!

 

For Truffle:

 

Offensively, the only bright spots for Iowa were a HR by RF Josh Kroeger (ex-AZ) over the high right-field fence and a 2-4 day for 2B Eric Patterson (a triple and a single).

[E.J.]

According to AZ Phil, Jeff Samardzijapitched against the A's high-A minor leaguers on Thursday to the tune of 4 IP, 0 R, 6 H (3 IF singles, 1 broken-bat blooper), 1 K/0 BB and 9 GO to 2 FO. He had great command of a sinker and a slider and only threw 44 pitches in his 4 innings.

 

11 pitches an inning? Now that's definitely something I like to see. Also love to see the ground ball to fly ball ratio. I really am excited about Samardzija as a prospect. I would like to know how his secondary pitches are coming along.

[Brian]

According to AZ Phil, Jeff Samardzijapitched against the A's high-A minor leaguers on Thursday to the tune of 4 IP, 0 R, 6 H (3 IF singles, 1 broken-bat blooper), 1 K/0 BB and 9 GO to 2 FO. He had great command of a sinker and a slider and only threw 44 pitches in his 4 innings.

 

That's quite sexy. I think Jeff will be the first benefit of the Wilken era, as well as the first major leaguer.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Phil also reported on Today's (Saturday) AA/AAA action. Gallagher superb for 4, Marshall really bad.

 

Thanks. I keep forgeting to check in there daily. :oops:

 

http://mvn.com/mlb-cubs/2007/03/24/miller-hammers-nail-into-5th-chair/#more-256 <-- link to Saturday's bit.

[TruffleShuffle]

Gallagher!

 

For Truffle:

 

Offensively, the only bright spots for Iowa were a HR by RF Josh Kroeger (ex-AZ) over the high right-field fence and a 2-4 day for 2B Eric Patterson (a triple and a single).

 

well i think we can safely say that sending him down to the minors was a huge mistake

[craig]

A poster at bleacherbums has a friend who is a veteran Baltimore Orioles scout, and who has spent a lot of time scouting the Cubs. (He scouted Guzman in winter ball and said Baltimore liked him a lot and had made two firm offers, but Hendry wasn't shopping.)

 

http://wc4.worldcrossing.com/webx?7@@.1de17c84/2317

 

Post 2292, author DaveP

 

A lot of interesting stuff. But this scout really loves the Cubs farm, especially Samardzija. Dave said the scout raved about him for 15 minutes, and compared his promise to that of minor league Kerry Wood. Said his slider is unhittable, but that he telegraphs it, a problem he thinks is correctible.

 

He was very enthused about Colvin and Veal. Positives about Ceda and Lansford and Cedeno. Scout believed that the pitch selectivity is being seriously emphasized, and scout believed that Hendry was pushing that.

 

Anyway, very gush comments. "One interesting comment. The Cubs have as many prospects with star potential as they ever had in their hayday of a few years ago, and a much deeper pool to choose from. They went from a mediocre system at the beginning of the last year to an excellent one today, largely due to the addition of Samardja, Colvin, Ceda and Lansford."

[TruffleShuffle]

Best piece of info from that whole thing:

 

He has taken the new Cub philosophy to heart, and is concentrating on pitch selectivity, with pretty good success. (The entire organization is stressing working the count, and Jake thinks it is being forced by Hendry even more than Piniella.)

 

 

please, please, please be true

[craig]

abuck, you know we're all really eager to get your scouting reports on guys that you saw in camp.