Cub prospects in the news

[El Duderino]

Comment From Mitch

Javier Baez ETA? Is next September reasonable?

 

Mike Newman:

Next September is absolutely positively NOT reasonable. However, a contact of mine did see him recently and came away thinking Baez was going to hit and had a better chance to stick at SS than he was being given credit for.

 

Comment From Guest

How quickly can Javier Baez progress through the minors?

 

Mike Newman:

Based on his start, I'm thinking a full year in A+, followed by a year in AA/AAA. ETA for me is sometime in 2015 if he keeps raking like this.

 

Comment From Kyle

Is Josh Vitters ready to be a contributor at the big league level?

 

Mike Newman:

it's great to see him hit and he's still pretty young all things considered. The question is can he play defense at the big league level and will the bat be good enough to offset any deficiencies. it's not like he has much blocking him in Chicago so he's likely to receive an opportunity soon, but he could be one of those guys whose defense and lack of walks really suppresses his WAR totals

 

Comment From Johnny-Five

Do you still like Christian Villanueva as much as you did in January?

 

Mike Newman:

He's a guy I definitely want to see again when he hits Double-A next year to follow up. I have heard he gained a little weight and it has slowed him down a bit. If that's the case, he's going to need to manage that better to max out his ceiling. That would really be my main concern right now.

 

Comment From Johnny-Five

Vitters or Villanueva? Who has a better chance to be an above-average ML 3B?

 

Mike Newman:

Villanueva. He will play above average defense and hit a bit. Vitters value will be driven by the bat

 

Comment From Lane

Who do you take? Vizcaino or Delgado?

 

Mike Newman:

Delgado. I've been very out front that I've never thought Vizcaino was a viable SP in the end.

[rawaction]

I can see Baez with a similar path to Castro from here on out. May or may not get time at Daytona this year, but definitely starting at High A next year. Maybe give him 100-150 PAs in AA (provided he's still hitting) next year, maybe some AFL?, but then start him in AA in 2014. If he continues to hit in AA to start 2014, really no reason he can't be in the majors in late May-to-mid June 20-14 at 21 years old.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, or not digging deep enough in the right ones, but is there any word in regards to Juan Carlos Paniqua?

[Guest]

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, or not digging deep enough in the right ones, but is there any word in regards to Juan Carlos Paniqua?

 

Arizona Phil said he saw him in Mesa. Just an FYI, most non-Cuban IFAs sign contracts that doesn't allow them to play the year they signed (it is assumed Paniagua and Frandy de la Rosa signed 2013 contracts).

[Little Slide Rooter]

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, or not digging deep enough in the right ones, but is there any word in regards to Juan Carlos Paniqua?

 

Arizona Phil said he saw him in Mesa. Just an FYI, most non-Cuban IFAs sign contracts that doesn't allow them to play the year they signed (it is assumed Paniagua and Frandy de la Rosa signed 2013 contracts).

 

Thanks. I'd completely forgotten about thay de la Rosa fellow.

[El Duderino]

As expected, Torreyes made the BA Hot Sheet:

 

No. 10 RONALD TORREYES, 2B CUBS

Team: high Class A Daytona (Florida State)

Age: 19

Why He's Here: .483/.545/.828 (14-for-29), 7 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 13 RBIs, 3 BB, 0 SO, 1-for-1 SB

The Scoop: When Torreyes was hitting .184/.250/.259 at the end of May, it looked like the Reds had sold high on Torreyes by trading him to the Cubs in December in the Sean Marshall deal. Yet even while Torreyes was struggling, his contact rate still was superb. Whether it was a change in skill or just better luck, Torreyes has been one of the best hitters in the Florida State League the last two months, and he's batted .342/.402/.515 in 52 games since June 1. He may look like he'd be more at home atop a racehorse than atop a big league lineup, but don't underestimate Torreyes' ability to square up a baseball. He's one of the few players in the game who has not only more walks (25) than strikeouts (23), but also more extra-base hits (29) than whiffs. He's an unusual prospect, but he's also one of the most fun to follow.

[davell]

I can't post from my cell, but there were some good Cub related questions(Tim....) among KLaw's chat yesterday. Kyle and Tim getting their Vitters' on. Great stuff on Vizcaino too, who KLaw is in love with as much or more than he hates Szczur.

[El Duderino]

Tony (Chicago)

Does Vizcaino have any chance of still being a starting pitcher? Or is he destined for the bullpen?

 

Klaw

(1:26 PM)

I see him as a starter. Cubs do too.

[Guest]

Tony (Chicago)

Does Vizcaino have any chance of still being a starting pitcher? Or is he destined for the bullpen?

 

Klaw

(1:26 PM)

I see him as a starter. Cubs do too.

 

Yea. Law loves him, and, IIRC, he's the one who theorized that Vizcaino's health issues may very well be behind them since they were all related to the bad elbow that they finally bit the bullet and operated on this year.

[Guest]

Also from that chat...

 

Don (Indiana)

 

are the cubs happier with vizcaino for maholm and dempster for 2 A level players or would they have rather had delgado for dempster?

Klaw (1:09 PM)

 

I think they're happy with this outcome. I prefer Vizcaino, even with the injury risk, to Delgado.

Klaw (1:09 PM)

 

I shouldn't say injury risk - just the fact that he's currently recovering from surgery.

[Cubswin11]

Tony (Chicago)

Does Vizcaino have any chance of still being a starting pitcher? Or is he destined for the bullpen?

 

Klaw

(1:26 PM)

I see him as a starter. Cubs do too.

 

Yea. Law loves him, and, IIRC, he's the one who theorized that Vizcaino's health issues may very well be behind them since they were all related to the bad elbow that they finally bit the bullet and operated on this year.

He was the one who said that. Basically said it's kinda a myth he has injury issues/history of bad health. It was one surgery and that's it and that basically it was "only" TJS and the success rate on pitchers coming back and being as good or better than before is so high that he still likes him a lot.

[El Duderino]

Diego (Portland): Great to see Torreyes' bat coming around. How does his glove rate, and is Altuve a fair comp for what we might expect to see from him?

 

Ben Badler: He's a good defender at second base. There are some similarities to Altuve, but there just really aren't any comps for a guy who's maybe 5-6, makes contact like he's hitting off a tee and can do some decent damage when he connects too. At the same age, Torreyes is more advanced than Altuve was, both offensively and defensively.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Everyone jumping on the Torreyes bandwagon can cram in, but I've got a Barry Bonds-style personal area and no one better mess it up.

[davell]

Hey! I've got shotgun here. I'm positive I started running off at the mouth about him being a borderline top 100 guy before anyone elae could snipe me.

[Clem Fandango]

Didn't know where else to ask this, but out of curiosity, is there a place that shows/does anyone know how many of Brett Jackson's strikeouts have been called strikes vs. swinging strikes? And/or how many of them have come in a full count?

[Guest]

Ask BA[/url]"]Daytona righthander Matt Loosen's numbers are staggeringly good this year. Is he a prospect despite being a little old for high Class A, or are his numbers fluky? What's the story on fellow Cubs righthander Trey McNutt this year? And finally, are there any young Cubs arms to be excited about?

 

Dale Roberts

Calvert City, Ky.

 

Loosen turned in a pair of nondescript seasons in the Cubs system after signing for $30,000 as a 23rd-round pick from Jacksonville in 2010, leaving no hints that he'd break out this year. Even after getting roughed up in his last two starts, he tops the high Class A Florida State League in wins (10) and opponent average (.190), and he has an overall record of 10-4, 3.33 with a 96-37 K-BB ratio in 100 innings.

 

Loosen is a prospect in the sense that he has a chance to get to the big leagues, but he's not a top prospect. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder works mostly with an average fastball and he can run it up to 94 mph on occasion. His curveball is better than his slider, though both are effective, while his changeup lacks consistency. He throws a decent amount of strikes but his control and command still need improvement.

 

At 23, Loosen is old for his level and needs to get tested by more advanced hitters. He projects more as a middle reliever than a starter, and if we slapped a BA grade on him, it would be 45/High.

 

As for McNutt, whom we ranked as Chicago's best pitching prospect entering the season, he has hit a wall. Though he flashed a pair of plus-plus pitches and showed promise as a potential No. 2 starter at two Class A stops in 2010, he hasn't been the same guy since.

 

Now relegated to the bullpen during his third stint in Double-A, he just hasn't shown the same stuff with any consistency. He no longer misses many bats and his command, never his strong suit, has backslid as well. He now looks like a definite reliever, and he's going to have to snap out of his funk to get a big league opportunity.

 

The Cubs lack quality pitching at the upper levels of their farm system, which is why they drafted high school arms Paul Blackburn, Duane Underwood, Ryan McNeil and Anthony Prieto in the first five rounds in June and traded for four pitchers (most notably Arodys Vizcaino) in July. Of the guys who were in the system at the start of the year, the best young arms (21 and under) are Dillon Maples (who didn't make his pro debut until July 29 after tweaking his elbow), Tony Zych and Jose Rosario.

[davell]

I guess there's not a place out there with that info, I was hoping someone had it too. I asked Callis a couple of Torreyes questions this morning. He does NOT see him as a top 10 guy in our system, one potential plus tool and so small.....(As Toonster lets out an "I told you so".) Also said Altuve is the dream on what he becomes.

[El Duderino]

I guess there's not a place out there with that info, I was hoping someone had it too. I asked Callis a couple of Torreyes questions this morning. He does NOT see him as a top 10 guy in our system, one potential plus tool and so small.....(As Toonster lets out an "I told you so".) Also said Altuve is the dream on what he becomes.

 

With Jackson, Vitters, and Castillo losing prospect status, it's kind of hard to find 6 other guys that are obviously better than Torreyes (assuming everyone's top 4 is pretty obvious at this point).

[davell]

By the sounds of things Vitters probably won't get the AB's to lose his status. If you count him still, my guess for the rest of BA's top 10 are Villanueva, Candelario, Johnson, Vogelbach, and Alcantara. They'll still be really high on Maples too, is my guess. Amaya could possibly sneak into their top 10 as well.

[El Duderino]

By the sounds of things Vitters probably won't get the AB's to lose his status. If you count him still, my guess for the rest of BA's top 10 are Villanueva, Candelario, Johnson, Vogelbach, and Alcantara. They'll still be really high on Maples too, is my guess. Amaya could possibly sneak into their top 10 as well.

 

Vitters might not get the ABs, but won't he be on the 25-man long enough to lose his status anyway? Not sure how BA does it.

[Guest]

By the sounds of things Vitters probably won't get the AB's to lose his status. If you count him still, my guess for the rest of BA's top 10 are Villanueva, Candelario, Johnson, Vogelbach, and Alcantara. They'll still be really high on Maples too, is my guess. Amaya could possibly sneak into their top 10 as well.

 

Vitters might not get the ABs, but won't he be on the 25-man long enough to lose his status anyway? Not sure how BA does it.

 

BA doesn't consider service time, but it won't matter since MLB doesn't count September for service time in rookies. Jackson and Vitters need to get 130 at bats to lose their rookie eligibility.

[El Duderino]

By the sounds of things Vitters probably won't get the AB's to lose his status. If you count him still, my guess for the rest of BA's top 10 are Villanueva, Candelario, Johnson, Vogelbach, and Alcantara. They'll still be really high on Maples too, is my guess. Amaya could possibly sneak into their top 10 as well.

 

Vitters might not get the ABs, but won't he be on the 25-man long enough to lose his status anyway? Not sure how BA does it.

 

BA doesn't consider service time, but it won't matter since MLB doesn't count September for service time in rookies. Jackson and Vitters need to get 130 at bats to lose their rookie eligibility.

 

Yeah, that should have been obvious to me. D'oh.

[El Duderino]

I guess this counts: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120807&content_id=36271262&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb

[Guest]

Vizcaino will continue his rehab in Mesa, Ariz., at the Cubs complex.

 

"I'm going to be ready next year in Spring Training," Vizcaino said.

 

He's able to throw every other day, and threw on flat ground Tuesday.

[Guest]

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/12533/cubs-pleased-with-solers-progress-in-arl?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

After 5 ½ weeks of life in the U.S., the Cubs have been pleased with Soler’s progress, although with a long stretch of inactivity as he waited for his contract situation to be resolved, the right-handed hitter is still rounding into top form after workouts in Mesa, Ariz., and 13 games (50 at-bats) in the Arizona Rookie League.

 

“As far as the assimilation, and not having a ton of experience with the (high-level) Cuban players, it’s going as well as it can because of the person he is and the fact that he is very engaging,” said Jason McLeod, the Cubs senior vice president of scouting and player development. “He’s soaking up as much as he can on and off the field and is getting along with all of his teammates.”

 

After missing three games this weekend with a minor medical issue, Soler is back in action with the Cubs’ Mesa team and is continuing to refine his game. He went 1-for-4 with an RBI on Tuesday night against the Angels’ rookie league team and is now batting .260 overall with two home runs and 10 RBIs.

 

Impressive to see has been Soler's perfect 8-for-8 mark in steals, including two more on Tuesday and three in the opener of a doubleheader on Aug. 1.

 

“On the baseball side of things it’s taken him a little while to get his timing back,” said McLeod, who was in Arizona on Tuesday observing the Mesa club. “He went so long without seeing live pitching while getting his documentation order. He’s been playing a couple of weeks, and he’s not all the way back from last November (while playing in the winter league), but surely he is on his way.”

 

McLeod admitted that a promotion could happen soon, although he gave no indication where the outfielder might be playing next. The logical route would be for him to go to short-season Boise in the Northwest League, with an outside chance he could eventually end up at Peoria before the end of the Midwest League season on Sept. 3.