Cub prospects in the news

[CubsWin]

Travis Wood?

In my opinion, Wood is better than Jokisch and they are quite different style pitchers. Wood has a decent FB, especially for a lefty. He can sit 91-93 on his four-seamer. Jokisch is much more of a crafty, control guy with I believe a FB that sits mostly in the high 80s. Wood was a 2nd round pick who reached AA as a 21 year old. Jokisch was an 11th rounder who is progressing through the system a little over a year behind Wood reaching AA when he was 22.

 

Perhaps a more consistent Chris Rusin?

[Little Slide Rooter]

I'm wondering if Rock Shoulders has a shot at any mid-season top 100 lists. If nothing else, he must be close to forcing his way into our Top 10.

[davell]

I'm wondering if Rock Shoulders has a shot at any mid-season top 100 lists. If nothing else, he must be close to forcing his way into our Top 10.

Well, I gotta admit, I was thinking about Rock's early season start as well. My revelation though, was to ask if we feel comfortable putting him near the back of our top 30 lists yet?

[Little Slide Rooter]

I'm wondering if Rock Shoulders has a shot at any mid-season top 100 lists. If nothing else, he must be close to forcing his way into our Top 10.

Well, I gotta admit, I was thinking about Rock's early season start as well. My revelation though, was to ask if we feel comfortable putting him near the back of our top 30 lists yet?

 

FWIW, in the Midwestern Leauge, he's 3rd in OPS, 2nd in SLG, 10 in OBP, 5 in BA, 2 in HR(3 way tie) and 9 in RBI.

 

He's one of only 3 guys in the MWL in the top 10 in BA, SLG, OBP, and OPS and one of only 2 guys in the top 10 in all of those plus HR. The other; some guy named Byron Buxton.

[davell]

I'm wondering if Rock Shoulders has a shot at any mid-season top 100 lists. If nothing else, he must be close to forcing his way into our Top 10.

Well, I gotta admit, I was thinking about Rock's early season start as well. My revelation though, was to ask if we feel comfortable putting him near the back of our top 30 lists yet?

 

FWIW, in the Midwestern Leauge, he's 3rd in OPS, 2nd in SLG, 10 in OBP, 5 in BA, 2 in HR(3 way tie) and 9 in RBI.

 

He's one of only 3 guys in the MWL in the top 10 in BA, SLG, OBP, and OPS and one of only 2 guys in the top 10 in all of those plus HR. The other; some guy named Byron Buxton.

To all of that: So what? He's 21, even now has a higher K rate than you'd like to see from a 21 year old in A ball and at BEST profiles as an average defensive 1B, so the bat had better be bigtime. Seriously, its a nice start for him, but he's got an extremely long way to go for consideration into top 100 lists.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Yeah. He's done enough in 107 PAs to earn consideration for a promotion from "roster fill" to "prospect," but anything beyond that is way premature.

[TruffleShuffle]

Let's remember that LLF/WSR/SCS gets a chubb over any 29 year old who has a big week in triple A.

[Guest]

I'm wondering if Rock Shoulders has a shot at any mid-season top 100 lists. If nothing else, he must be close to forcing his way into our Top 10.

Well, I gotta admit, I was thinking about Rock's early season start as well. My revelation though, was to ask if we feel comfortable putting him near the back of our top 30 lists yet?

 

FWIW, in the Midwestern Leauge, he's 3rd in OPS, 2nd in SLG, 10 in OBP, 5 in BA, 2 in HR(3 way tie) and 9 in RBI.

 

He's one of only 3 guys in the MWL in the top 10 in BA, SLG, OBP, and OPS and one of only 2 guys in the top 10 in all of those plus HR. The other; some guy named Byron Buxton.

 

SSS.

 

He's not even in my top 30 yet.

[davell]

Contreras is the guy I'm moving up the most spots based on early season results. He's in the 20-25 area for me right now.

[Guest]

Saw this at the PSD forum (posted Saturday).... Ugh.

 

Wow. According to AZ Phil, in EXST today, the mound for the game was in awful condition and Conway's spikes got caught in the mud and he tripped while throwing a pitch. He said that a loud pop could be heard from Conway's arm when the ball was thrown. Both the injury and the fact that the mound might have caused this is ****ing terrible.

 

 

Also, this:

 

http://www.shadowsofwrigley.com/2013/04/29/jeimer-candelario-is-better-than-his-numbers-scouting-report-video-2/

 

Jeimer Candelario is a master of the strike zone. He’s walking at a 15.9% clip so far, and he’s striking out exactly as often as he walks. Which is to say, he’s not striking out at an alarming rate. In fact, the whole Midwest League is striking out in over 20% of their plate appearances, so Candelario is actually well better than league average there this year.

 

Watching Candelario take his at bats has been a joy. He has a very advanced feel for the zone, he recognizes pitches well and adjusts well mid-swing if he is initially fooled. On one of his six doubles this season, I saw him get fooled by a changeup, almost pause mid-swing, and stay back before lacing it down the right-field line. It was like a revelation there on the field, the best – by far – adjustment I’ve seen at the level. For any batter at the level, it would have been impressive. But Jeimer Candelario is just 19 years old and will be for the full year, and seeing someone so young make adjustments like that is remarkable. His approach is already better than scores of past Cubs prospects who made it to the majors.

 

About That “Poor” Defense of His…

I haven’t seen a play out of Candelario this season that makes me think he wont stick at 3B long term. He’s not extraordinarily athletic, and as he puts on muscle he will only get slower, but his range is OK and he’s very smooth within his range. His hands are soft, he’s made a few nice diving plays, and he charges the ball well. He looks very comfortable there and has obviously worked extremely hard on his defense in the past year. The only thing that could improve are his reactions to slowly hit balls he has to charge (he gets a very late jump on those) and his arm. His throwing motion is not very efficient, and as a result he cannot fire the ball across the diamond. I attribute that mostly to his mechanics, and I’d imagine the arm strength can be improved with good coaching.

 

Much more at link.

[Guest]

The best part of that link was the suggestion that Candelario can stick at 3B. EDIT: I see you added that in!

 

I want to like him a lot, and he is still very young, but the .268 AVG and .107 IsoP in 400+ PA in the states is bumming me out.

[mul21]

The best part of that link was the suggestion that Candelario can stick at 3B. EDIT: I see you added that in!

 

I want to like him a lot, and he is still very young, but the .268 AVG and .107 IsoP in 400+ PA in the states is bumming me out.

 

Is some of that IsoP issue going to be adjustment to pro ball in the states combined with the tendency of the MWL to suppress power numbers a bit?

[Guest]

Saw this at the PSD forum (posted Saturday).... Ugh.

 

Wow. According to AZ Phil, in EXST today, the mound for the game was in awful condition and Conway's spikes got caught in the mud and he tripped while throwing a pitch. He said that a loud pop could be heard from Conway's arm when the ball was thrown. Both the injury and the fact that the mound might have caused this is ****ing terrible.

 

Yeah, I posted about it in the 5/4 game thread. That an injury could be caused by neglect from another team's groundscrew is pretty horrible. I'm not sure what the Cubs could do but I'm sure they expressed their disgust to the Brewers.

[Guest]

The best part of that link was the suggestion that Candelario can stick at 3B. EDIT: I see you added that in!

 

I want to like him a lot, and he is still very young, but the .268 AVG and .107 IsoP in 400+ PA in the states is bumming me out.

 

Is some of that IsoP issue going to be adjustment to pro ball in the states combined with the tendency of the MWL to suppress power numbers a bit?

 

Surprisingly, the NWL was a pitcher's league last year too (I don't remember that in the past).

[Guest]

The best part of that link was the suggestion that Candelario can stick at 3B. EDIT: I see you added that in!

 

I want to like him a lot, and he is still very young, but the .268 AVG and .107 IsoP in 400+ PA in the states is bumming me out.

 

Is some of that IsoP issue going to be adjustment to pro ball in the states combined with the tendency of the MWL to suppress power numbers a bit?

 

Well most of the PAs came in Boise, which doesn't normally have that problem of suppressing power.

 

There could certainly be an adjustment period, and the light can certainly flick on and he can start driving the ball better. It's just a downer for me when the guy with such a fantastic approach isn't showing much hit tool or game power, especially since he's not adding any value on defense or the basepaths.

[Guest]

Saw this at the PSD forum (posted Saturday).... Ugh.

 

Wow. According to AZ Phil, in EXST today, the mound for the game was in awful condition and Conway's spikes got caught in the mud and he tripped while throwing a pitch. He said that a loud pop could be heard from Conway's arm when the ball was thrown. Both the injury and the fact that the mound might have caused this is ****ing terrible.

 

Yeah, I posted about it in the 5/4 game thread. That an injury could be caused by neglect from another team's groundscrew is pretty horrible. I'm not sure what the Cubs could do but I'm sure they expressed their disgust to the Brewers.

 

Huge bummer. No updates yet?

[Guest]

Saw this at the PSD forum (posted Saturday).... Ugh.

 

Wow. According to AZ Phil, in EXST today, the mound for the game was in awful condition and Conway's spikes got caught in the mud and he tripped while throwing a pitch. He said that a loud pop could be heard from Conway's arm when the ball was thrown. Both the injury and the fact that the mound might have caused this is ****ing terrible.

 

Yeah, I posted about it in the 5/4 game thread. That an injury could be caused by neglect from another team's groundscrew is pretty horrible. I'm not sure what the Cubs could do but I'm sure they expressed their disgust to the Brewers.

 

Huge bummer. No updates yet?

 

Probably going to take a week or so for us to find out if he needed surgery or not.

 

It's a shame because that was probably his last start before he got bumped up to Kane County.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

It's a shame because that was probably his last start before he got bumped up to Kane County.

 

This [expletive] sucks. Was really excited about Conway.

[Guest]

BA Prospect Notebook[/url]"]Jorge Soler, rf, Cubs. We hadn’t heard much from Soler since his five-game suspension for charging an opposing team’s dugout armed with a bat on April 10. The 21-year-old returned to high Class A Daytona’s lineup on April 18 and has taken time to get back in a rhythm at the plate. After putting up four multi-hit efforts in six games before the suspension, Soler had hit just .182 (10-for-55) in 15 games since coming back heading into last night’s contest at St. Lucie. On Monday, he finally returned to the impact form we expect to see, going 2-for-4 with a homer and a triple, his first two-hit game since April 9

[Guest]

Second time this week Soler has ended up in the BA's Prospect Notebook. I wonder how high he'll be in the Hot Sheet tomorrow:

 

BA Prospect Notebook[/url]"]Jorge Soler, of, Cubs: Yes, there was an awful incident where Soler went running towards an opponent’s dugout with a bat. And yes, he was also scolded for failing to run out a couple of ground balls. But even as he makes some wrong steps in his adjustment to pro ball in the U.S., Soler is also showing plenty of signs of becoming the cornerstone player the Cubs were hoping for when they signed him to a $30-million deal.

 

Soler homered and doubled twice last night for high Class A Daytona. It was his third home run in the past five games. Soler’s raw power is among the best in the minors, but he isn’t a swing for the fences slugger. Soler strikes out in only 17 percent of his at-bats and he’s walking almost as often as he strikes out.

 

If you want, you can look at the negative incidents and write him off as a player with makeup concerns. It’s more probable that he’s a 21-year-old struggling a little with a very massive adjustment from life in Cuba to life in the U.S. And those struggles sure aren’t hurting his on-field production. Long-term, he’s still an elite prospect.

[Guest]

Looks like Ben Badler and JJ Cooper will talk a bit more at length about the Paniagua situation on their weekly podcast which comes out tomorrow:

 

@jjcoop36: We answered this on the podcast which we'll post tomorrow. RT @raisinman101: Would love to get Ben's thoughts on Juan Paniagua's visa...

[nick23]

3 or 4 Vogelbach questions in Law's chat today. He called Vogelbach an unathletic one step and dive 1st baseman who will be nothing more than a DH. At one point he did say he "can really hit though". People were trying to call him out on the unathletic part but he's not moving off that stance.

[Cubswin11]

3 or 4 Vogelbach questions in Law's chat today. He called Vogelbach an unathletic one step and dive 1st baseman who will be nothing more than a DH. At one point he did say he "can really hit though". People were trying to call him out on the unathletic part but he's not moving off that stance.

Probably because he's right and that's true

[wekim81]

It's a shame because that was probably his last start before he got bumped up to Kane County.

 

This [expletive] sucks. Was really excited about Conway.

Trib had a thing in the paper today that Conway has a stress fracture and is gone for the year. GD Brewers.

[shnsajax]

Once we trade Vogelbach hitting is the only thing that will matter. How athletic he is at first has little relevance.