Minor League Discussion & Boxes 6-27-12

[craig]

Szczur is 22. I don't think age is a factor. And with three additional option years, I don't think options are a factor either. If three-and-a-half years isn't enough for him to get good enough to stick, nobody will care when he's DFA'd. But if he's going to end up useful, 3.5 seasons is more than plenty of time. There is no reason to accelerate his pace or to take any notice of the remaining options when considering if or when he should get promoted.

 

Baez hasn't gotten an extra-base hit in thirteen days.

 

A stat I love for hitters is HR/K. For a guy like Jackson, nobody will care how often he K's if he hits enough HR's to give a decent HR/K rate. Don't need a huge BABIP to hit for average if your HR/K rate is decent. 1/7 is fine, anything above 1/5 is great, and a guy like Rizzo (23HR/52K) where it's better than 1:3 naturally hits way over .300.

 

Over his last 10 starts, Rhee has a nice round 1:2. 8 HR/16K's. Hitters normally have good average and good OPS on balls in play. But the overalls get depressed by AB's when the ball does NOT go in play. But in Rhee's case, opponents are batting .333 on balls NOT in play, and OPS'ing 1.333 on balls NOT in play, over his last 10 starts. Facing Rhee makes the whole Southern League better than PCL Rizzo.

[ctcf]

Vitters with an RBI double

[Little Slide Rooter]

I guess I'm a bit perplexed as to why Josh Vitters is playing 1B tonight. One of the few guys in Iowa who can be referred to as a prospect, defense is something they've been working on yet he's playing one of the few positions we likely wont be in need of any time soon.

 

It's not really a big deal to get the right combination of guys in the lineup every now and then. All the reports were he made strides defensively last year, and he played 1B in 25% of his games.

 

I'm not bothered by it, but if they want to have him learn an alternate position, wouldn't a corner OF spot make more sense? I'm not saying that Rizzo's a lock, but we're a lot more likely to need help out there in the near future.

[craig]

Austin Kirk, by contrast, has a 1:55 HR/K ratio on the season. No wonder he's having a great year.

 

1 HR, very few walks, very low WHIP. 2.26 ERA. I have no idea how he does it, and perhaps it's all luck. Particularly weird is that he has a very low GO/AO split. So I don't understand how a guy with supposedly no stuff and a minus fastball is living as a flyball pitcher and a non-nibbling strike-thrower, but yet only one guy all season has been able to square up one of his no-stuff non-nibble strikes. I guess it's all luck. But at some point I wonder whether there might be something in his stuff that is effectively better than his reputation. He's faster than we think? His non-fast fastball actually has very nice movement, and combined with his cutter somehow it works, even without leading to groundouts or K's?

[El Duderino]

@Kevin_Goldstein

 

The fascination just baffles me. 4th OF, maybe Reed Johnson type. RT @RWKrupp: @Kevin_Goldstein Why do Cubs fans love Szczur?

[Little Slide Rooter]

@Kevin_Goldstein

 

The fascination just baffles me. 4th OF, maybe Reed Johnson type. RT @RWKrupp: @Kevin_Goldstein Why do Cubs fans love Szczur?

 

So we've got Juan Pierre and now Reed Johnson. Can we get Todd Hollandsworth next?

[craig]

Vitters has a HR/K ratio of 12/45. That is very good. If he can sustain or improve that even further, he's going to hit for good average. When you're hitting over .200 on balls not in play, you can't help but hit for good average.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Austin Kirk was good. Chris Rusin and Dae Eun Rhee were not.

[Little Slide Rooter]

So I combed the last 3 days worth of minor league threads, as well as the transactions thread. Even Wrigley Rat has yet to catch this, but Alberto Cabrera is now on the Iowa roster, so that's pretty cool.

[davell]

Goldstein is in full troll mode tonight. He called Szczur a second division starter yesterday, now he's a 4th OF not ready for AA.

[TruffleShuffle]

calling szczur a second division starter is a very defensible position.

 

anyway, rhee has been pretty damn bad lately. disappointing. the smokies are doing their best cubs impression, down 11-0 and being outhit 20-2.

[TruffleShuffle]

7 extra base hits allowed by rusin in 4 innings. not exactly a strong argument for being called up to the big club.

[El Duderino]

Alberto Cabrera gives up a HR to Mike Hessman in his Iowa debut.

[Wrigley Rat]

So I combed the last 3 days worth of minor league threads, as well as the transactions thread. Even Wrigley Rat has yet to catch this, but Alberto Cabrera is now on the Iowa roster, so that's pretty cool.

Just activated today. I'm glad to see him at Iowa.

[El Duderino]

Alberto Cabrera gives up a HR to Mike Hessman in his Iowa debut.

 

Although he did strike out 5 and walk none.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Vitters adds a triple to make it 2-for-4 with 5 TB. Jackson's coming up in the 9th for his first PA, and Vitters should get his fifth.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

And Jackson, given his best chance to make it through a whole game without striking out, strikes out. At least it was looking?

[Guest]

BJax is making me sad.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Alberto Cabrera gives up a HR to Mike Hessman in his Iowa debut.

 

Although he did strike out 5 and walk none.

 

And Beliveau Kd 3 in 1 inning with 0 R 1 H 0 BB. Yet we get to watch Scott Maine, Casey Coleman, and that guy we got off waivers from the Indians.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

And Vitters finishes his day with an 8-pitch walk.

 

That's it, screw it, he's a better prospect than Jackson right now.

[ctcf]

Holy crap, Vitters

[TruffleShuffle]

And Vitters finishes his day with an 8-pitch walk.

 

That's it, screw it, he's a better prospect than Jackson right now.

 

and candelario is the best prospect in the system.

Edited June 28, 2012 by TruffleShuffle

[Little Slide Rooter]

And Jackson, given his best chance to make it through a whole game without striking out, strikes out. At least it was looking?

 

They say that when a prospect seems to be struggling, it's because they're going to be called up soon, and are just trying to work on something in particular. Perhaps Jackson's working on not getting his bat dinged up.

[El Duderino]

And Vitters finishes his day with an 8-pitch walk.

 

That's it, screw it, he's a better prospect than Jackson right now.

 

and candelario is the best prospect in the system.

 

candelario went 0/3 today, so he's down on the list at this point.

[craig]

SS David Bote hits a 3-run HR in his second pro AB.