Minor League Discussion & Boxes 7-21-2009

[YearofDaCubs]

From poster at my other board:

 

"I went to the ballgame last night...

 

Ryno wasnt there and Nate Samson wasnt either because of the Castillo trial.

 

Word was they may miss the next 5 days.

 

Andrew Cashner topped out at 98 but worked 95-96.

 

I saw a good changeup and a decent curveball as well."

 

Good news on the velocity. Not a lot of guys who work at 95-96. Obviously that was an excellent game for him, so most likely he doesn't wok that fast every time. But that's awfully good, for a guy who's mostly throwing strikes and hasn't allowed a HR since his first week.

Nice. At this point he has to be ranked our 2nd best prospect.

[Guest]

From poster at my other board:

 

"I went to the ballgame last night...

 

Ryno wasnt there and Nate Samson wasnt either because of the Castillo trial.

 

Word was they may miss the next 5 days.

 

Andrew Cashner topped out at 98 but worked 95-96.

 

I saw a good changeup and a decent curveball as well."

 

Good news on the velocity. Not a lot of guys who work at 95-96. Obviously that was an excellent game for him, so most likely he doesn't wok that fast every time. But that's awfully good, for a guy who's mostly throwing strikes and hasn't allowed a HR since his first week.

 

Wow, great news on the velocity. I figured he was mostly 92-94 as a starter.

 

Ryno is expected to miss 5 games because he'll head to the HOF ceremony after a few days at Castillo's trial.

[Vanilla Ice]

Was the gun a little hot?

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah most of the scouting reports i've seen suggest that cashner is low to mid 90s as a starter and high 90s as a reliever. plus doesn't the tennessee gun run notoriously high?

[Ryno is God 23]

I am sure he can reach back and hit 95 when he needs to but would expect a a consistent low 90s.

[Guest]

The gun at yesterday's game was reading 90-94 and Tennessee's radar readings are supposed to be a bit slow. If I am remembering correctly, the guy craig was quoting has access to the actual readings from the gun Smokies pitchers use behind home plate while they are charting.

[RyneSandberg]

The gun at yesterday's game was reading 90-94 and Tennessee's radar readings are supposed to be a bit slow. If I am remembering correctly, the guy craig was quoting has access to the actual readings from the gun Smokies pitchers use behind home plate while they are charting.

I can attest to that, the gun at smokies park is 3-4 mph slow

[Outshined_One]

Nice. At this point he has to be ranked our 2nd best prospect.

 

Jay Jackson would take issue with that.

[Guest]

Nice. At this point he has to be ranked our 2nd best prospect.

 

Jay Jackson would take issue with that.

Starlin Castro. Even with the walk rate.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Jackson and Castro can get in line as far as I'm concerned. Castro needs more peripherals, and Cashner's stuff wins out over Jackson's age/innings so far.

[JeffH]

Nice. At this point he has to be ranked our 2nd best prospect.

 

Jay Jackson would take issue with that.

 

Cashner is a better prospect than Vitters.

[CubColtPacer]

Nice. At this point he has to be ranked our 2nd best prospect.

 

Jay Jackson would take issue with that.

 

Cashner is a better prospect than Vitters.

 

I wouldn't say so yet, but I think he's closer to Vitters than he is to anyone behind him. I definitely think there's an argument to be made there..I'd just like to see a few more longer outings from Cashner before I feel good enough about his starting abilities to push him to the level of Vitters.

[Outshined_One]

Nice. At this point he has to be ranked our 2nd best prospect.

 

Jay Jackson would take issue with that.

 

Cashner is a better prospect than Vitters.

 

I know people take issue with how the Cubs develop position players, but Vitters' bat and strike zone recognition are leagues better than anyone we've had in the system for awhile now. Considering he's got a very good chance of sticking at 3B, there's a reason why he's a Top 30 prospect in baseball right now.

 

Cashner's done a great job, but he needs to prove he can stick in the rotation.

[jersey cubs fan]

I know people take issue with how the Cubs develop position players, but Vitters' bat and strike zone recognition are leagues better than anyone we've had in the system for awhile now.

 

Choi was better at the strike zone recognition, no? Theriot and Soto had more recognition as well I think, no? He's got a 49/9 k/bb ratio this year, how exactly does he have strike zone recognition that's better than anyone we've had in the system for awhile?

[TruffleShuffle]

i think vitters is a better pure hitter than anyone who's been in the system for a while; his strike zone recognition is most certainly not. if anything he's been described as a guy whose contact skills are so good that he can hit a lot of pitches out of the strike zone that most players cannot hit.

[Outshined_One]

i think vitters is a better pure hitter than anyone who's been in the system for a while; his strike zone recognition is most certainly not. if anything he's been described as a guy whose contact skills are so good that he can hit a lot of pitches out of the strike zone that most players cannot hit.

 

I really like his contact skills, but he jumps all over pitches in the strike zone and does a good job of laying off of pitches outside the zone. He's not the kind of guy who'll swing at crap at his ankles or neck very often. His biggest problem is that he needs to learn how to lay off of pitchers' pitches in the zone.