Minor League Discussion & Boxes 5-29-13

[ScrubMD]

Does Johnson have a ceiling of a 2-3 or is he an ace if all goes right?

If all goes right, he's a 2/3. Back end of the pen type if he can't stay healthy as a starter.

 

Thanks, that's what I thought I remembered.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

brett jackson 0-3 with 3 strikeouts. :x

 

If his second half looks like his first half, you have to look at cutting bait for the 40-man spot.

[davell]

brett jackson 0-3 with 3 strikeouts. :x

 

If his second half looks like his first half, you have to look at cutting bait for the 40-man spot.

Nah, he'd still have some semblance of value. Not much, but he's still tradeable. But it'd be sad seeing him dealt for pennies on the dollar.

[toonsterwu]

is yao-lin wang a prospect? he's had good K rates the last 2-3 years. don't know much about his stuff though. seems like he's been doing most of his work in relief.

 

Debatable. There were some Cubs fans that were really intrigued with him and felt that he was under-appreciated compared to the Latin American prospects he sort of came in with (Liria/Peralta/Cruz/Paulino ... in a respect, time has probably shown them correct, as the only one with any sort of solid hope left is Peralta, who was demoted to fix whatever his problems were). The stuff is ... decent for a righthander. He's hit mid-90's before with his fastball. His curveball is probably the next best offering, an average to slightly above average pitch (I know someone on another site said it flashed plus at times, but I find that debatable ... at the very least, if it flashed plus occasionally, it wasn't consistent enough). The command's solid, changeup is pedestrian.

 

That said, I've seen him throw very flat fastballs before, and I really don't know if I buy the curveball as an out pitch. I have personal bias here and hope I am wrong on my gut feeling on him, but if you scrapped the names and just looked at their scouting reports, you could easily confuse Nick Struck and Yao-lin Wang, and no one is exactly beating the door down for Struck (still think Struck could be mildly intriguing as a pen arm). It's not hard to envision Yao-lin Wang potentially seeing the bigs as a middle relief/long relief guy, but then again ... I think you could probably feel that way about a lot of arms in A ball.

[TruffleShuffle]

I have personal bias here and hope I am wrong on my gut feeling on him, but if you scrapped the names and just looked at their scouting reports, you could easily confuse Nick Struck and Yao-lin Wang, and no one is exactly beating the door down for Struck

 

well there's a difference of nearly 3K per 9IP in their careers, which is pretty significant. like i said, i didn't know much about his stuff, but he at least seemed mildly intriguing because he misses bats.

[davell]

http://www.thecubreporter.com/05292013/junior-lake-back-action-fitch-park#more

 

Lake played today, glad to see him progressing.

[toonsterwu]

(This was meant as a response to Truffle's post 2 above)

 

Fair enough, but I'd argue that part of that is due to Wang coming out of the pen for a large chunk. Struck did have a K rate above 8 in his brief stretch at Daytona as a starter a couple years ago.

 

Stuff wise, both guys have average fastballs that top out 93-95. You might see slightly higher numbers with Wang (more 92-94) than Struck (more 91-93), but I don't know if it's a significant enough difference to wonder how much of it is due to the fact one is starting and one is largely in the pen. I'd argue that Struck, when on, has the better fastball.

 

Both curveballs are largely average. I'll even give that Wang's curveball probably flashes a tick better, but the margin really isn't by much, IMO. I think Struck's change-up is noticeably ahead of Wang's, but then again, Wang hasn't been asked to use it a ton. Command wise, Wang's probably a tick better, but in general, both are strike-throwers with average stuff, so I really am of the opinion that we have to wait and see how Wang's stuff plays in the upper levels.

 

Again, I really hope he proves me wrong. There are some Cubs prospects that I really hope prove me wrong (moreso than the general prospect), and Wang fits in here for personal reasons.

 

As an aside, I really still wonder what would happen if we put Struck in the pen. I wonder if a move to the pen could allow him to focus on one breaking pitch, and I wonder if he might get a bit more giddyup on the fastball. I don't think he's a late inning type in the pen, but I do think he has a better shot at a big league career than as a starter.

[Guest]

I've gotten multiple reports of Struck 87-89 this year. Obviously tough to compare since Wang is relieving, but I think that's a noticeable difference if Yao-Lin is holding his velocity from previous seasons.

[FloridaCubbie]

Hurry up and bump him to Daytona before the monsoons start.

There is about a 12-15 day window left before Daytona is useless.

[Guest]

Zack Cates had a great outing too: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP

 

Alcantara: .280/.346/.476/.822

[ctcf]

Zack Cates had a great outing too: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP

 

Alcantara: .280/.346/.476/.822

 

There's no way he gets bumped up to AAA this year, right?

[Guest]

Zack Cates had a great outing too: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP

 

Alcantara: .280/.346/.476/.822

 

There's no way he gets bumped up to AAA this year, right?

 

Maybe a cup of coffee but otherwise, I hope not. He's 21 all season while, which is young for AA. There is no reason to rush him.

[KingCubsFan]

Alcantara has a pretty big lefty/righty split. Does anyone know what it was in previous years? I wonder if he'd be better off dropping switch hitting.

[Guest]

Career(full season ball only) he's .281/.324/.385/.709 v. LHP and .285/.326/.425/.751 v. RHP. His OPS was identical v. RHP and LHP at Daytona last year.

 

http://minorleaguecentral.com/player?pid=570489&split=3000

[toonsterwu]

I've gotten multiple reports of Struck 87-89 this year. Obviously tough to compare since Wang is relieving, but I think that's a noticeable difference if Yao-Lin is holding his velocity from previous seasons.

 

Hmm ... wasn't aware of that, but could explain why Struck's having problems this year. Struck in A+/AA, though, stuff wise, as a starter, was similar to what Wang is doing in the pen now, though.

[toonsterwu]

Zack Cates had a great outing too: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP

 

Alcantara: .280/.346/.476/.822

 

There's no way he gets bumped up to AAA this year, right?

 

Maybe a cup of coffee but otherwise, I hope not. He's 21 all season while, which is young for AA. There is no reason to rush him.

 

I think he needs to show offensive consistency to get the bump. If he puts up solid numbers in June/July, then move him up to AAA. Until then, hold off.

 

For the life of me, I don't know who the AAA shortstop is right now without checking.

[Guest]

Maysonet

 

EDIT: And Donnie Murphy.

[Guest]

Junior Lake when he's healthy again.

[Guest]

Junior Lake when he's healthy again.

 

Speaking of that...

 

http://www.thecubreporter.com/05292013/junior-lake-back-action-fitch-park

 

Junior Lake (fractured rib cage rehab) saw his first game action since March 6th, playing 3rd base for five innings and getting five AB.

 

Lake batted once in each of the first five innings, going 1-3 with a single and two walks. He also was retired on a 1-3 comebacker to the mound and was called out on strikes. In addition, he was caught stealing after reaching base on the single.