Minor League Discussion & Boxes 7-26-12

[El Duderino]

almora with his first pro strikeout. soler flies out to left

[Guest]

Jae Hoon Ha was taken off the field on a stretcher after crashing into the outfield wall.

Ugh.

[Geech]

Brett Jackson has been one of the season's biggest disappointments for me.

[Cubswin11]

Brett Jackson has been one of the season's biggest disappointments for me.

Vitters has jumped him in my personal prospect rankings. Vitters at least appears to be improving on his weaknesses (being more selective, taking walks, power has been good enough and depending on who you listen to his defense may or may not be improving at 3B) and it's obvious there is no sign Jackson is improving his striking out problem

[Guest]

@BoiseHawksRadio Yakima 0, .@boisehawks 0 (End 6th) - Hawks manage their second hit of the game and fifth between both squads. Arias goes a solid 6 innings.

 

@BoiseHawksRadio It appeared as if Arias was going to continue before he plunks Shaun Cooper. One of several tonight bean balls tonight. Arias is ejected.

 

‏@BoiseHawksRadio @BoiseHawks Arias is ejected after beaning Cooper in retaliation for HBP on Cadelario. Hamann comes in to replace him on the bump.

 

@BoiseHawksRadio @BoiseHawks Correction: Contreras instead of Candelario. Sorry for the typo!

 

@BoiseHawksRadio.@BoiseHawks Holy smoke things are getting ugly at Memorial Stadium. Benches almost clear after Contreras bowls over other catcher and (1/2)

 

‏@BoiseHawksRadio .@boisehawks has choice words for Yakima dugout. He is promtply ejected from the game & replaced by Lance Rymel. (2/2)

 

@BoiseHawksRadio Contreras was knocked withstood two collisions the other night at home plate & took offense to being HBP in the 1st inning. Downhill since.

 

@BoiseHawksRadio @allintrevor Emotions got the best of Contreras after being thrown out at home. He had choice words for the Bears dugout and was tossed.

[cubbyvirus00]

Holy Brett Jackson.....what a disappointment

[Vinestal]

I asked Maples what happened to starting in July because the month was almost over his reply was:

Dillon Maples (@dsmaples)

7/27/12 3:10 AM

@Vinestal I started my throwing program then. My first start is this Monday

[Little Slide Rooter]

Just when his OPS was in danger of dipping below .700, in his last 10 games Junior Lake is hitting .333/.385/.583 with 3 HR.

[C.C.]

So much for the Vitters, Jackson, Rizzo taking us to the next level. Vitters and Jackson have been dismal.

[Guest]

I asked Maples what happened to starting in July because the month was almost over his reply was:

Dillon Maples (@dsmaples)

7/27/12 3:10 AM

@Vinestal I started my throwing program then. My first start is this Monday

Excellent!

[USSoccer]

So much for the Vitters, Jackson, Rizzo taking us to the next level. Vitters and Jackson have been dismal.

 

What's this about Vitters being dismal now? If anything, he's surpassed expectations.

[Guest]

So much for the Vitters, Jackson, Rizzo taking us to the next level. Vitters and Jackson have been dismal.

 

What's this about Vitters being dismal now? If anything, he's surpassed expectations.

 

What odd timing on Vitters - he was a HR shy of the cycle yesterday.

[Little Slide Rooter]

At .303/.354/.515, Vitters has been kind of the opposite of dismal. Even Brett Jackson continues to keep his OPS above .800, and could still end up a Chris Young or Drew Stubbs type of hitter, which is fine and dandy by me, assuming you're not counting on him to be your cornerstone, which we're not.

[sneakypower]

Jay Jackson's numbers in relief are legitimately encouraging:

 

33-2/3 IP, 27 H, 14 BB, 37 K

2.14 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

[Little Slide Rooter]

Daury Torrez continues to impress. Now 5-1 with a 0.99 ERA and 44/4 BB/K. I know it's DSL, but even I can evaluate players well enough to know that at any level, good stats>bad stats.

 

Also, The DSL Cubs 2 lost 2-1. Doesnt sound particularly notable, but considering that the Cubs had 14 hits and took 5 walks, and the Phillies 10 hits and 4 walks, there must have been a lot of stranding going on.

[rawaction]

Jay Jackson's numbers in relief are legitimately encouraging:

 

33-2/3 IP, 27 H, 14 BB, 37 K

2.14 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

 

Yep, you're talking about throwing 89-91 as a starter vs. throwing (from what I hear) mid 90s in relief. Assuming that's 94-96, that's 5 mph increase. Obviously, it's making a huge difference. Not sure it matters with him in this organization, but I'm sure someone will take notice and you'll see him in an ML bullpen in 2013 at some point.

[Guest]

Daury Torrez continues to impress. Now 5-1 with a 0.99 ERA and 44/4 BB/K. I know it's DSL, but even I can evaluate players well enough to know that at any level, good stats>bad stats.

 

Also, The DSL Cubs 2 lost 2-1. Doesnt sound particularly notable, but considering that the Cubs had 14 hits and took 5 walks, and the Phillies 10 hits and 4 walks, there must have been a lot of stranding going on.

I'm annoyed how late it takes DSL Cubs 2 to update box scores (their box hasn't been up at 11 pm Pacific the last two nights).

 

Torre has surrendered more home runs than walks (5 to 4).

[toonsterwu]

Jay Jackson's numbers in relief are legitimately encouraging:

 

33-2/3 IP, 27 H, 14 BB, 37 K

2.14 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

 

Yep, you're talking about throwing 89-91 as a starter vs. throwing (from what I hear) mid 90s in relief. Assuming that's 94-96, that's 5 mph increase. Obviously, it's making a huge difference. Not sure it matters with him in this organization, but I'm sure someone will take notice and you'll see him in an ML bullpen in 2013 at some point.

 

He's topping out mid-90's, but the better news is that his slider has supposedly been "found" again. I've always thought he had some late-inning potential. The Cubs are going to have to make some tough Rule 5 decisions on pen arms. I think Jay's probably on the outside looking-in (left available that is), and I think there's a chance he might get taken.

[toonsterwu]

vitters is a home run short of the cycle. brett jackson has seen 20 pitches in 3 plate appearances (good) but 2 of them ended in strikeouts (bad).

 

I wonder if there's some truth to what JJ Cooper (I think) said a few weeks back, something along the lines that Brett might've taken this "discipline" thing too far, becoming too patient for his skill level, as he doesn't have the hand-eye or bat control to get certain pitches in deep counts. I'm paraphrasing there, but the way Cooper made it sound, it sounded like Brett should be trying to go after good pitches earlier in the count.

[rawaction]

vitters is a home run short of the cycle. brett jackson has seen 20 pitches in 3 plate appearances (good) but 2 of them ended in strikeouts (bad).

 

I wonder if there's some truth to what JJ Cooper (I think) said a few weeks back, something along the lines that Brett might've taken this "discipline" thing too far, becoming too patient for his skill level, as he doesn't have the hand-eye or bat control to get certain pitches in deep counts. I'm paraphrasing there, but the way Cooper made it sound, it sounded like Brett should be trying to go after good pitches earlier in the count.

 

I don't know. I know the "s" word is bad to say, but it SEEMS like he's striking out a lot without taking many pitches. Especially when he was going at his worst about a month ago, I would look at the pitch-by-pitch and he had several 3-4 pitch strike outs. Could be he's taking a lot of 1st pitch strikes and getting himself too far behind in the count, kinda proving Cooper right. But there's really no way to spin the Ks positively at this point. I'm one of Jackson's biggest fans, but it's pretty bad right now.

[jersey cubs fan]

vitters is a home run short of the cycle. brett jackson has seen 20 pitches in 3 plate appearances (good) but 2 of them ended in strikeouts (bad).

 

I wonder if there's some truth to what JJ Cooper (I think) said a few weeks back, something along the lines that Brett might've taken this "discipline" thing too far, becoming too patient for his skill level, as he doesn't have the hand-eye or bat control to get certain pitches in deep counts. I'm paraphrasing there, but the way Cooper made it sound, it sounded like Brett should be trying to go after good pitches earlier in the count.

 

I don't know. I know the "s" word is bad to say, but it SEEMS like he's striking out a lot without taking many pitches. Especially when he was going at his worth about a month ago, I would look at the pitch-by-pitch and he had several 3-4 pitch strike outs. Could be he's taking a lot of 1st pitch strikes and getting himself too far behind in the count, kinda proving Cooper right. But there's really no way to spin the Ks positively at this point. I'm one of Jackson's biggest fans, but it's pretty bad right now.

 

The scouting reports at the time of his draft said his biggest weakness was making contact. I do believe the patience issue has negatively affected his K rate; however, the biggest part of the problem has to be he simply swings and misses too much.

[toonsterwu]

Brett Jackson is just an odd, odd package to me. Not a "hacker", but an aggressive swinger. A guy with a swing loop/issue, but it's supposedly, by most accounts, not major. A guy who doesn't have elite bat speed, but has good bat speed. A guy who has shown the ability to hammer breaking balls before ... but has struggled with breaking balls and fastballs at different stretches this year. A guy who has a solid eye ... but it's perhaps ... too good?

 

There's really no apparent reason why he should be striking out this much. Just an odd, odd package. Callis noted once that he was a bit too mechanical with his swings, which might jive a bit with Cooper's comments in helping explain his insanely high K rate this year (that is, the mechanical swing/limited hand-eye bat control hampers his ability to do stuff on borderline pitches in deep counts, pitches that he swings at because he's got a decent enough eye to know they are borderline enough that it could go either way). That said, when he's been bad, he's been awful this year.

 

The one tiny positive thing, at least, compared to when he was drafted, is that there's less concern about how his power plays in a corner OF role. He should be fine, power wise, if moved to a corner role (actually, two positives ... his defense in CF might actually, sort of be underrated now. It's not plus, but keep hearing it's very solid). Let's just hope he can hit enough to make it matter.

[toonsterwu]

The one positive about Ha's injury (and I never want to see anyone hurt) is that there should be zero reason for Szczur to stay in A+ anymore. He should be in AA.

[toonsterwu]

So much for the Vitters, Jackson, Rizzo taking us to the next level. Vitters and Jackson have been dismal.

 

What's this about Vitters being dismal now? If anything, he's surpassed expectations.

 

What odd timing on Vitters - he was a HR shy of the cycle yesterday.

 

I still wonder how much legitimate HR power Vitters will have at the next level. That said, the one encouraging point is that he's hit homers in some of the tougher PCL HR parks this year.

 

The bigger issue is still defense. I've long defended his ability to be a ... passable ... hot corner guy ... but some people that saw him this year swear that he's headed for LF (well, they actually said corner OF ... but I wouldn't put him in RF ... particularly in Wrigley). If the HR power never materializes as more than average, that's a pretty pedestrian LF (average ISOP this year has been what, .170ish at last check), but ... it'd be solid at 3rd base (average ISOP was around .150 at last check).

[Little Slide Rooter]

Jay Jackson's numbers in relief are legitimately encouraging:

 

33-2/3 IP, 27 H, 14 BB, 37 K

2.14 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

 

Yep, you're talking about throwing 89-91 as a starter vs. throwing (from what I hear) mid 90s in relief. Assuming that's 94-96, that's 5 mph increase. Obviously, it's making a huge difference. Not sure it matters with him in this organization, but I'm sure someone will take notice and you'll see him in an ML bullpen in 2013 at some point.

 

He's topping out mid-90's, but the better news is that his slider has supposedly been "found" again. I've always thought he had some late-inning potential. The Cubs are going to have to make some tough Rule 5 decisions on pen arms. I think Jay's probably on the outside looking-in (left available that is), and I think there's a chance he might get taken.

 

Potential 2013 internal bullpen options include Russell, Cabrera, Beliveau, Dolis, and maybe Parker and Mateo. Who knows where Marmol will end up. Beyond them, there are plenty of 40 man spots occupied by relievers that could go to Jackson. Dempster, Castillo, Camp, Corpas, Germano, and Volstad are all candidates to be relieved of their 40 man spots in the offseason. Struck, Raley, and maybe Hatley are the only Rule 5 eligible pitchers I can think of worthy of protection. I'm not saying that protecting him is a must, but it's a possibility.