Minor League Discussion & Boxes 5-17-11

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores

 

Iowa lost 11-5 Box Score

 

CF F. Perez 1/5, 2B (9)

LF L. Montanez 0/4, BB, K, OF assist at third base

RF B. Snyder 1/4, R, K

3B M. Smith 2/3, 2 R, 2B (9), 3B (2), BB, E (2, fielding)

1B B. LaHair 2/4, R, HR (10), 4 RBI

SP J. Jackson 3 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 3-2 GO-FO; batting: 1/1, R, HR (1), RBI

 

Tennessee won 6-2 Box Score

 

CF JH Ha 1/5, 3B (1), RBI

SS M. Gonzalez 2/4, R, 2B (10), BB

3B DJ LeMahieu 3/5, R, 2B (13), 2 K

LF R. Ridling 1/5, R, 2 RBI

1B J. Vitters 3/5, R, 2B (8), K

C L. Flores 2/3, R, 2B (1), RBI, BB

SP R. Whitenack 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 11-2 GO-FO, E (1, pickoff)

RP J. Beliveau 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1-1 GO-FO

RP R. Dolis 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 0-1 GO-FO

 

Daytona lost 6-5 Box Score

 

SS J. Lake 3/5, 2 R, K, SB (14)

2B M. Cerda 2/4, R, 2B (7), RBI, BB

LF E. Crawford 2/4, 2B (8), RBI

1B J. Bour 0/4, RBI, 2 K

3B D. Harrington 0/4, K

CF R. Silva 2/4, 2 R, HR (1), RBI

SP J. Lorick 4 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 5-3 GO-FO

RP E. Figueroa 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 1-2 GO-FO

 

Peoria lost 3-1 Box Score

 

1B R. Cuneo 0/2, 2 BB, 2 K, SB (1)

C M. Gibbs 0/2, BB, 2 K

3B A. Alcantara 1/3, R, K

LF A. Giansanti 1/3, 2B (7)

CF KM Na 1/3, 2 K

SP R. Wells 3.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 5-3 GO-FO

RP A. Kirk 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 6-6 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 1-3

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Iowa: RHP Jay Jackson (1-2, 6.39 ERA, 25.1 IP, 12 K, 11 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Robert Whitenack (3-0, 3.13 ERA, 23 IP, 12 K, 6 BB; overall: 6-0, 2.15 ERA, 46 IP, 37 K, 7 BB)

Daytona: LHP Jeff Lorick (2-0, 1.61 ERA, 29 IP, 19 K, 8 BB)

Peoria: RHP Randy Wells (rehab)

[Guest]

Rubi Silva with a 9th inning home run for Daytona.

[Little Slide Rooter]

What's going on with Jay? 7 ER 3 BB 1 K in 3 IP. Lorick was also bad, giving up 6 ER in 4 IP.

[Guest]

Jeffry Antigua sent back to extended spring training.

 

Austin Kirk will follow Randy Wells for Peoria.

[davell]

Nate, if you read this, what's happened to Antigua? He had the best stuff(or close anyway) of anyone at Peoria last year. To see him struggle like this seems odd to me.

 

As far as Jay goes, I would think it's one of 2 things with him: Either he's hurt(obvious one) or he's just in a mental funk from missing out(by being hurt earlier) on a shot at the big league rotation once Cashner and Wells went down. His attitude has come into question a few times now and this could certainly be playing a part in his struggles.

[Little Slide Rooter]

All around good day for the Smokies so far.

 

Whitenack 7 IP 3 H 0 ER 2 BB 5 K

Ha 1-4 3B

LaMahieu 2-4 2B

Vitters 2-4 2B

 

And whose this catcher, Luis Flores. Ive never heard of the guy.

[TruffleShuffle]

Nate, if you read this, what's happened to Antigua? He had the best stuff(or close anyway) of anyone at Peoria last year. To see him struggle like this seems odd to me.

 

i know he had some shoulder problems... doesn't seem like he's recovered well from those.

 

another very good outing from whitenack - 7 ip, 3 h, 0 r, 2 bb, 5 k, 11 go/2 fo, 96 pitches/61 strikes.

 

jae-hoon ha is 1-5 with a triple - no strikeouts though. lemahieu is 2-4 and hitting .349 on the year, though it's about as empty a .349 as you can have.

 

kirk was good - 5.1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 bb, 3 k, 6 go/6 fo. era down to 1.56 on the year.

[davell]

Nate, if you read this, what's happened to Antigua? He had the best stuff(or close anyway) of anyone at Peoria last year. To see him struggle like this seems odd to me.

 

i know he had some shoulder problems... doesn't seem like he's recovered well from those.

 

another very good outing from whitenack - 7 ip, 3 h, 0 r, 2 bb, 5 k, 11 go/2 fo, 96 pitches/61 strikes.

 

jae-hoon ha is 1-5 with a triple - no strikeouts though. lemahieu is 2-4 and hitting .349 on the year, though it's about as empty a .349 as you can have.

 

kirk has been good - 4.1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 bb, 2 k, 4 go/6 fo. era down to 1.60 on the year.

 

 

Wasn't that during the middle of last season? I thought he came back and pitched decently after that? Obviously, it could be related though.

 

As far as LeMahieu goes though, i gotta disagree with the empty .349 comment. At least compared to last year. He had 554 at bats last year with 24 doubles, 5 triples, and 2 homers. This year, in 142 at bats, he has 12 doubles, a triple, and 2 homers already. The doubles rate is WAAAAY up and it looks like he may be able to come close to double digit homers as well. To me, that'd be quite an improvement for him. I think he's our best 2B option in the system(hopefully he can stick there).

[CubsWin]

lemahieu is 2-4 and hitting .349 on the year, though it's about as empty a .349 as you can have.

Granted his OBP is only about .030 higher, but his K/BB ratio is solid at 9:5. And he's slugging close to .490 with 13 doubles and 2 HRs so far. Last year, he had 554 ABs in which he hit 24 doubles, 5 triples and 2 HRs. If he finished with the same amount of ABs this year, he'd be on pace for 50 doubles, 4 triples, 8 HRs and 94 RBI. He's doing this as a 22 year old in AA.

 

Just curious as to why you'd call it an empty .349?

[TruffleShuffle]

i saw that he was hitting .350 and still had an ops below .900, which kind of requires one to not be walking or hitting for much power. i guess his doubles power is up, though who knows if that's because of "camp colvin" or just more line drives into the gaps and down the line.

[CubsWin]

i saw that he was hitting .350 and still had an ops below .900, which kind of requires one to not be walking or hitting for much power. i guess his doubles power is up, though who knows if that's because of "camp colvin" or just more line drives into the gaps and down the line.

He's not walking a lot, but he's also not striking out a lot either. His doubles are way up, but his HRs are up to. He just had such poor HR power previously that its not as noticeable. LeMaheiu's on pace to hit 4 times as many HRs as he did last season.

 

I don't know what difference it makes whether he's doing it because of "Camp Colvin" or some other reason, the fact is he's doing it. He's raised his SLG over a 100 points from last season. I'm in wait and see mode as to whether he will maintain that over the course of a season, but when your IsoP is near .150, whatever your AVG is, it's not empty.

[Guest]

Nate, if you read this, what's happened to Antigua? He had the best stuff(or close anyway) of anyone at Peoria last year. To see him struggle like this seems odd to me.

 

i know he had some shoulder problems... doesn't seem like he's recovered well from those.

 

another very good outing from whitenack - 7 ip, 3 h, 0 r, 2 bb, 5 k, 11 go/2 fo, 96 pitches/61 strikes.

 

jae-hoon ha is 1-5 with a triple - no strikeouts though. lemahieu is 2-4 and hitting .349 on the year, though it's about as empty a .349 as you can have.

 

kirk has been good - 4.1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 bb, 2 k, 4 go/6 fo. era down to 1.60 on the year.

 

 

Wasn't that during the middle of last season? I thought he came back and pitched decently after that? Obviously, it could be related though.

 

As far as LeMahieu goes though, i gotta disagree with the empty .349 comment. At least compared to last year. He had 554 at bats last year with 24 doubles, 5 triples, and 2 homers. This year, in 142 at bats, he has 12 doubles, a triple, and 2 homers already. The doubles rate is WAAAAY up and it looks like he may be able to come close to double digit homers as well. To me, that'd be quite an improvement for him. I think he's our best 2B option in the system(hopefully he can stick there).

 

Antigua got shut down at the end of the season (like Jung) though Nate said both would have made it back to Peoria if it wasn't the end of the season.

[KingCubsFan]

Jackson is clearly hurt. Just get an MRI and get the surgery done, already.

[craig]

Jackson is clearly hurt. Just get an MRI and get the surgery done, already.

 

From some discussions yesterday...

 

Jay Jackson, was terrible for most of last summer too. So whatever it was he had going for him 2-3 years back it's gone now. I assume it's the arm that's shot.

 

On Lemahieu empty average, I agree that his average looks somewhat empty. But now I'm wondering.

 

He's got a .143 IsoP, which isn't weak for a middle infielder. (Not that weak for a big-league 3B, either, if he could IsoP like that in the majors...)

 

16 XBH in 39 games is actually very good, and prorates to 66.5 XBH/162 games. Here are some career XBH/162 game averages for some familiar cubs, none of whom I perceived as being grossly power-deficient.

Shawon Dunston: 45 XBH/162 games

Todd Walker: 52 XBH/162 games

Michael Barrett: 53 XBH/162 games

Ryne Sandberg: 57 XBH/162 games.

 

Obviously doubles are not HR's, so Sandberg averaging 21 HR/162 games is different than DJ for whom almost all of his XBH are doubles. Sandberg hit as many as 30 HR twice, so Lem isn't at all similar in that regard. (Or defense, of course). But if a guy is hitting 60 XBH per season, or close, even if they are mostly doubles, that isn't all that empty in my book. I wouldn't fuss about a .300BA/60XBH guy at 2B or at 3B.

 

His .143 IsoP is double his .072 IsoP from last year. Substantial progress, despite a significant jump, and despite being still only 22. Being that young, and perhaps still getting stronger or perhaps still getting used to the strength that he has now, it's possible that there will be more XBH growth still ahead.