2010 Instructional League

[toonsterwu]

AzPhil has his first Instructional League report.

 

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2010/09/23/golden-rules-instructs

 

Didn't realize Wilson Contreras was playing 3rd now.

 

Looking forward to reading about Ben Wells down there.

 

Didn't realize Hayden Simpson was going to miss instructs.

[davell]

With guys like Contreras, Amaya, Zapata, Hernandez, Arcila, Paulino, Peralta, and Santana making the trip over here for instructs, does this pretty much assure them of starting next season at Arizona(or possibly Boise)?

[toonsterwu]

I'd imagine the majority of them will be in XST, barring unforeseen circumstances. There might be one or two that get sent back.

[Guest]

Looking forward to reading about Ben Wells down there.

 

And Jin-Yeong Kim.

[Outshined_One]

Looking forward to reading about Ben Wells down there.

 

And Jin-Yeong Kim.

 

+1

 

There are a bunch of interesting guys from the DSL in instructs, to boot. I'm looking forward to seeing what AZ Phil has to say about guys like Zapata, Hernandez, Amaya, et al.

[toonsterwu]

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2010/09/24/ha-gives-cubs-reason-smile

 

AzPhil posts his 2nd update.

 

So ... let's try something different. Part of the comments section in his 2 posts over on TCR talked about guys making a leap forward. So ... who from this year's current Instructs list (it's in the links) could make said leap? Obviously, we don't know, but just to get some conversation going as we follow the news.

 

I'm wondering, if Justin Bour improves his power stroke and takes strides similar to what Guyer did last offseason.

[davell]

I'll take a stab and say LeMahieu starts hitting for some power over the next season and becomes our next Mark DeRosa type guy as soon as 2012.

 

Not sure what the main thing they are working on with Robinson Lopez, but he definitely could have a breakout next season.

[Outshined_One]

My big sleeper next season is OF Delbis Arcila. I'm really intrigued with him, considering he's a 6'3 190 lb left handed hitter at 17 years old who had a pretty good run in the DSL this year.

[davell]

I'll wait until we hear some sort of news from AZPhil on any of the Dominican League guys, but right now Marco Hernandez, Gioskar Amaya, Delbis Arcila, Willson Contreras and Oliver Zapata all hold quite a bit of intrigue with me. All of them are young and all of them seem to have something going for them. Whether it's Arcila's size, Hernandez and Amaya's production, Contreras' signing bonus, or Zapata's power coming from a very small package, they all make me want to hear alot more about them.......

[Outshined_One]

I'll wait until we hear some sort of news from AZPhil on any of the Dominican League guys, but right now Marco Hernandez, Gioskar Amaya, Delbis Arcila, Willson Contreras and Oliver Zapata all hold quite a bit of intrigue with me. All of them are young and all of them seem to have something going for them. Whether it's Arcila's size, Hernandez and Amaya's production, Contreras' signing bonus, or Zapata's power coming from a very small package, they all make me want to hear alot more about them.......

 

What I liked about Arcila the most out of those guys was the fact that he was at least a year younger than everyone listed. He's the youngest guy at instructs and the fact that the Cubs think highly enough of him to invite him is surprising to me.

[davell]

Jin-Yeoung Kim made his debut today, striking out 3 and giving up a double in 2 innings of work. 3 groundouts and no flyouts from him. He mixed in a 91 MPH 2 seamer with a curve and a changeup in throwing 20 strikes out of 28 pitches.

[Guest]

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2010/09/25/kubs-korean-konnection-keeps-klickin

 

Hope Geiger isn't hurt too badly.

[davell]

Not sure whether either of them would be at instructs anyway this year, but did we ever find out the extent of Antigua and Jung's arm injuries at the end of the season?

[Outshined_One]

Latest Report

 

18-year old switch-hitting Dominican OF Oliver "Viva" Zapata had three more hits today and was on base four times, raising his Instructs slash-line to a likely unsustainable 857/889/1.143. (He hit 241/333/661 in 71 games & 301 PA for DSL Cubs #1 during the 2010 regular season). Zapata is a stocky, roly-poly kid (5'8, 200), who looks more like a catcher or a college fullback than an outfielder. But he runs surprisingly well for a player with his body type, he is a good bunter, and he has a nice compact swing from both sides of the plate. He has committed several errors and misplays in the outfield already, however, like errors on successive plays last week, and turning what should have been a line-drive out into a triple leading-off the top of the 9th today. He played both CF and 2B in the DSL, but I've only seen him in the outfield so far.

 

. . .

 

Dustin Geiger returned to action today after leaving Saturday’s game when he was hit on the left hand by a pitch, and Logan Watkins is expected to be in the lineup within the next couple of days after being sidelined for the past week with back spasms.

[Outshined_One]

Also, AZ Phil made some interesting comments in the posts of his last article...

 

Dae-Eun Rhee had an eye-popping pro debut at Instructs in 2007. His slider/splitter was Bugs Bunny unhittable, and the scouts who were seeing him for the first time were projecting him as possibly a big league closer down the line just because of that pitch. But then Rhee had TJS in 2008, and when he came back at Instructs last year he wasn't throwing the splitter, and he wasn't throwing it in Minor League Camp this past March, either. Instead he was throwing a straight-change and a curve. I don't know if he has completely junked the slider-splitter, but if he has he probably isn't anything more than a run-of-the-mill minor league pitching prospect. His fastball tops out at about 89 and it probably isn't going to get him to the big leagues.

 

Su-Min Jung has similar stuff as Jin-Yeong Kim, but just based upon the one game I saw him pitch, Kim is more polished and poised, and has better command. He can throw all of his pitches for strikes. And it's not like Kim "pitches-to-contact," either, because he got eight or nine swings & misses (including Michael Choice, who is one of the best hitting prospects I have seen down here in a while) during the course of his outing yesterday.

 

Kim just seems to be more mature and more polished than one would expect an 18-year old to be. I would compare him more to how I remember Jae-Kuk Ryu when I first saw him at Fitch Park, rather than to Su-Min Jung at a similar point in development. But I do like Jung and think he could develop into an MLB pitcher. It's just that Kim is probably a tick better, mainly because of the polish and the command.

[davell]

I wonder if Kim is polished enough to start next season out at Peoria? I guess it's possible anyway.

 

I also wonder if Rhee will EVER throw that pitch again? I was pretty disappointed when I read Phil's comments on him, because he appears to be "just a guy" without that pitch......I was going to have him down pretty low on my end of the season top 30 list anyway, but hearing this may actually allow him to fall off completely.

[Guest]

That's actually a good development (though I had heard it already during the season). I would imagine the Cubs would let Rhee throw his splitter in 2011 now that he's a full regular season away from the TJS. Not sure why Phil calls it a split/slider - I always thought it was a split/change.

 

I'm pretty sure Yeong will start at Peoria.

[TruffleShuffle]

is he writing about rhee from seeing him in spring training or right now (at instructs)? if his stuff was lousy now it doesn't surprise me at all; he got hammered pretty much every outing toward the end of the year.

[davell]

is he writing about rhee from seeing him in spring training or right now (at instructs)? if his stuff was lousy now it doesn't surprise me at all; he got hammered pretty much every outing toward the end of the year.

 

I took it that was Phil's opinion of Rhee at minor league camp back in March. I hope that he comes back and can throw that pitch this year. Maybe he didn't think his arm could take it this past season?

[Guest]

He's talking about last spring.

 

I doubt Rhee got a choice on whether he got to throw the split or not. That was a Cubs decision.

[Outshined_One]

Cubs are apparently stretching Aaron Kurcz out at Instructs, although it probably won't be something long-term. AZ Phil's latest report.

 

The Cubs were in control early, as starter Aaron Kurcz (Cubs 2010 10th round pick out of the College of Southern Nevada) threw three shutout innings, allowing just one broken-bat single and no walks while striking out three. The 20-year old RHP started his college career at the Air Force Academy, before resigning after his freshman year and enrolling at CSN, where he was a teammate of the Washington Nationals #1 draft pick (and 2010 overall #1 pick) Bryce Harper. Kurcz had the misfortune of allowing a walk-off HR in the JUCO World Series that eliminated Southern Nevada, but then he had a very impressive debut pro season after signing with the Cubs, going 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA and 0.95 WHIP, with 48 strikeouts in just 27.1 IP combined between AZL Cubs and Boise.

 

Although Kurcz likely projects as a closer or 8th inning set-up guy at the MLB level (he features a mid-90’s heater and a hard-breaking slider), he has been used as a starter so far at Instructs (two GS), as the Cubs are apparently doing with him what they sometimes do with pitchers they project as late-inning relievers, and that is use them as starting pitchers at the lower levels of the minor leagues to force them to use (and hopefully develop) their secondary pitches, and to accumulate as many innings as possible as soon as possible.

[davell]

Some more interesting notes from AZPhil in the talkback portion of his latest update. Junior Lake probably wasn't invited to instructs simply because he doesn't take instruction well. Obviously, it's Phil's take on things, but it kind of makes sense.

 

Marco Hernandez has slightly above average speed, adequate range, decent arm and is a slap hitter for the most part. He mentions Alcantara has a plus arm, plus range and has some pop, so he's the better prospect between the two.

 

Arcila has below average speed and a below average arm. He has a line drive stroke with solid plate discipline for his age. He'll probably wind up in LF or at 1B, assuming he starts to hit for some power. Since he's only 17, he definitely has time to develop.

[toonsterwu]

That's as positive a report as I've heard on Alcantara's bat ("some pop"). Here's hoping that develops.

[Outshined_One]

Some more interesting notes from AZPhil in the talkback portion of his latest update.

 

I found this quote interesting:

 

The main reason Santana, Zapata, Amaya, et al were invited to the Cubs AZ Instructs is part of the exchange program the Cubs implemented last year, where a few of the more-promising Cubs Latin American DSL kids get to go to the AZ Instructional League, and then a few U. S. kids go the Dominican Instructional League after the AZ Instructional League is over. It's not because Santana, Zapata, Anmaya, et al are better prospects than Alcantara or Morelli, because they're probably not, but they are considered the most-promising prospects among the 2010 DSL Cubs.

 

Also, his report on Alcantara is promising. I'm really curious to see if he's ranked in BA's NWL Top 20, which seems pretty likely, given that report.

[davell]

I'm hopeful to see Kirk, Alcantara, and Kurcz on the NWL list later today. I don't think Szczur had enough at bats to qualify or I'd think he'd make it too. I guess Greathouse would have a chance too, now that I think about it. I keep getting this league and MWL confused, but the NWL only has 8 teams in it, while the MWL has 14. So, if we're going to put lots of guys on a list, my guess is it's this one.