Minor League Discussion & Boxes 5-23-11

[Shilzzz]

Can we count HBP in plate discipline for Vitters today? :)

Well, he didn't swing at it...

 

in 3 plate appearances thus far today, vitters has seen 5 pitches, swung at 4 of them and was hit by the other one. Not writing him off or anything, but seeing that didn't make me happy.

 

when does he finally get written off?

i understand he has good zone coverage, but an extended big league career that doesn't make.

it seems silly to consider him to ever be a productive starting option outside of the greyhound leagues

[TruffleShuffle]

when does he finally get written off?

i understand he has good zone coverage, but an extended big league career that doesn't make.

it seems silly to consider him to ever be a productive starting option outside of the greyhound leagues

 

as for your question, probably when he's a lot older than 21 years old.

 

he's missed a fair amount of time to injury and is still playing at AA as a 21 year old, which means he's very young for the level. and he's struck out 10 times in 41 games. the difference seems to be that other prospects (ha, lemahieu, starlin castro) have done good things with their plus contact skills, while vitters seems to have them act as a negative. his K rate is way down from previous years and his power is up a little from last season. hopefully there is some progression here.

[seattlecub]

Can we count HBP in plate discipline for Vitters today? :)

Well, he didn't swing at it...

 

in 3 plate appearances thus far today, vitters has seen 5 pitches, swung at 4 of them and was hit by the other one. Not writing him off or anything, but seeing that didn't make me happy.

 

when does he finally get written off?

i understand he has good zone coverage, but an extended big league career that doesn't make.

it seems silly to consider him to ever be a productive starting option outside of the greyhound leagues

 

I would say he gets written off sometime yet in the future, because while good zone coverage doesn't MAKE an extended big league career, his contact ability can, if he can learn to at least be more selective about which pitches to swing at. and while he might never be miguel cabrera, his contact ability will earn him more benefit of the doubt and thus more chances to succeed (and fail) than, say, ryan harvey, who Crash Davis might say couldn't hit water if he fell off a boat.

 

That said, my expectations have become tempered over the past couple of years, and I'm not exactly confident he will develop into an above average big leaguer. and he will certainly need to produce at some point. However, I'm hopeful that he's at least trying to develop more selectivity at the plate, and if he is (or does) the attempt will almost certainly coincide for awhile with unpleasant results, b/c that is what happens when humans try to produce while incorporating new information/methods/approaches/etc.

[TruffleShuffle]

szczur was 3-5 (all singles) with a SB and now has 10 SB in his last 10 games.

 

gaub's command is still not good, but he's much less of a disaster than last year and boy he misses a lot of bats. kind of hoping he gets a chance with the big club to see how he translates to the big leagues. love the K ability and think he can pitch around the walks - big question for me is whether his command will be so poor that he'll miss badly within the strike zone and get battered a la jeff samardzija. gaub gave up few hits in lower levels but has been more hittable the last year-plus at iowa.

[javy knows my name]

szczur was 3-5 (all singles) with a SB and now has 10 SB in his last 10 games.

 

gaub's command is still not good, but he's much less of a disaster than last year and boy he misses a lot of bats. kind of hoping he gets a chance with the big club to see how he translates to the big leagues. love the K ability and think he can pitch around the walks - big question for me is whether his command will be so poor that he'll miss badly within the strike zone and get battered a la jeff samardzija. gaub gave up few hits in lower levels but has been more hittable the last year-plus at iowa.

 

He was initially believed to be the best prospect to come over for DeRosa, was he not? Or was he just apparently the most ready to contribute to the big-league club?

[Guest]

szczur was 3-5 (all singles) with a SB and now has 10 SB in his last 10 games.

 

gaub's command is still not good, but he's much less of a disaster than last year and boy he misses a lot of bats. kind of hoping he gets a chance with the big club to see how he translates to the big leagues. love the K ability and think he can pitch around the walks - big question for me is whether his command will be so poor that he'll miss badly within the strike zone and get battered a la jeff samardzija. gaub gave up few hits in lower levels but has been more hittable the last year-plus at iowa.

 

He was initially believed to be the best prospect to come over for DeRosa, was he not? Or was he just apparently the most ready to contribute to the big-league club?

 

That was Stevens, although Gaub was less of a wildcard than Archer.

[Guest]

Clearwater and Jupiter are tied 1-1 in the 23rd inning: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t450&t=g_box&gid=2011_05_23_clrafa_jupafa_1

 

Still in progress. Clearwater scored in the 3rd. Jupiter scored in the 6th. I bet there are fewer than 20 people there now.

[NCCubFan]

Clearwater and Jupiter are tied 1-1 in the 23rd inning: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t450&t=g_box&gid=2011_05_23_clrafa_jupafa_1

 

Still in progress. Clearwater scored in the 3rd. Jupiter scored in the 6th. I bet there are fewer than 20 people there now.

Jupiter won 2-1 in the bottom of the 23rd.

[NCCubFan]

Montanez was a last minute scratch from the lineup. Speculation in Iowa that he's getting called up.

I think it's a given that an outfielder will be called up before tomorrow's game. Calling up a pitcher to replace Byrd on the roster was a move for one game, to provide bullpen depth behind Russell. It would be an interesting story if it is Montanez: Former Cubs' #1 draft pick makes Cubs' debut more than a decade after being drafted after first spending time in the ex-Cubs' rest home in Baltimore. :D

[TruffleShuffle]

Clearwater and Jupiter are tied 1-1 in the 23rd inning: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t450&t=g_box&gid=2011_05_23_clrafa_jupafa_1

 

Still in progress. Clearwater scored in the 3rd. Jupiter scored in the 6th. I bet there are fewer than 20 people there now.

Jupiter won 2-1 in the bottom of the 23rd.

 

i think it's funny that clearwater got four scoreless innings from two position players (though one of them was joe savery, who was drafted as a pitcher and made it to AAA before flaming out), then randomly put another pitcher into the game and he gave up a run. what were they holding that pitcher back for? according to his game log he threw one inning the previous day but otherwise hadn't pitched since may 17th.

 

looks to me like jupiter made it through the game without using a position player or a starter, which is impressive. larussa or dusty would've been out of bullpen arms by the 10th inning.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Montanez was a last minute scratch from the lineup. Speculation in Iowa that he's getting called up.

I think it's a given that an outfielder will be called up before tomorrow's game. Calling up a pitcher to replace Byrd on the roster was a move for one game, to provide bullpen depth behind Russell. It would be an interesting story if it is Montanez: Former Cubs' #1 draft pick makes Cubs' debut more than a decade after being drafted after first spending time in the ex-Cubs' rest home in Baltimore. :D

 

I dont mind calling up Montanez. Or LaHair or Snyder, who are all pretty much interchangeable, but I wonder of that 1 bad slide came between Brett Jackson and a callup. I wonder if their will be any correspoinding roster moves for Iowa, Tennessee, and Daytona, or if Iowa will jutst stick with an extra pitcher.

[Rob]

Montanez was a last minute scratch from the lineup. Speculation in Iowa that he's getting called up.

I think it's a given that an outfielder will be called up before tomorrow's game. Calling up a pitcher to replace Byrd on the roster was a move for one game, to provide bullpen depth behind Russell. It would be an interesting story if it is Montanez: Former Cubs' #1 draft pick makes Cubs' debut more than a decade after being drafted after first spending time in the ex-Cubs' rest home in Baltimore. :D

 

I dont mind calling up Montanez. Or LaHair or Snyder, who are all pretty much interchangeable, but I wonder of that 1 bad slide came between Brett Jackson and a callup. I wonder if their will be any correspoinding roster moves for Iowa, Tennessee, and Daytona, or if Iowa will jutst stick with an extra pitcher.

 

There's no reason to call up Brett Jackson this early. If we did, he'd qualify for Super 2 status and assuming he develops into a pretty good player, that can end up costing the club upwards of $10 mil or even $15 mil over the course of his club-controlled years. Since adding him a month early likely wont make the difference of us making the playoffs this year, it would be a very bad idea to just throw that money down the drain.

[TruffleShuffle]

didn't we do the same thing with castro last year?

[CubsWin]

didn't we do the same thing with castro last year?

Yep, that was around two weeks ago last year I believe.

[SouthSideRyan]

Montanez was a last minute scratch from the lineup. Speculation in Iowa that he's getting called up.

I think it's a given that an outfielder will be called up before tomorrow's game. Calling up a pitcher to replace Byrd on the roster was a move for one game, to provide bullpen depth behind Russell. It would be an interesting story if it is Montanez: Former Cubs' #1 draft pick makes Cubs' debut more than a decade after being drafted after first spending time in the ex-Cubs' rest home in Baltimore. :D

 

I dont mind calling up Montanez. Or LaHair or Snyder, who are all pretty much interchangeable, but I wonder of that 1 bad slide came between Brett Jackson and a callup. I wonder if their will be any correspoinding roster moves for Iowa, Tennessee, and Daytona, or if Iowa will jutst stick with an extra pitcher.

 

There's no reason to call up Brett Jackson this early. If we did, he'd qualify for Super 2 status and assuming he develops into a pretty good player, that can end up costing the club upwards of $10 mil or even $15 mil over the course of his club-controlled years. Since adding him a month early likely wont make the difference of us making the playoffs this year, it would be a very bad idea to just throw that money down the drain.

 

How long do you expect Byrd to be out?

[Guest]

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2011/05/23/inoa-hits-cycle-talking-stick

 

Brian Inoa hit for the cycle yesterday.