Minor League Discussion & Boxes 6-2-13

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (All Times Central)

 

Iowa lost 5-3 Box Score

 

2B L. Watkins 1/4, RBI, 2 K

CF D. Sappelt 2/4, R, SB (1), outfield assist at home

LF B. Jackson 0/2, RBI, BB

RF B. Bogusevic 1/4, 2 K

3B I. Stewart 0/4, 3 K

SP C. Rusin 7 IP, 12 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 8-3 GO-FO, 90-69 pitches-strikes; batting: 1/2, R

RP M. Bowden 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 1-0 GO-FO

 

Tennessee PPD - Inclement Weather

 

Daytona won 5-0 (7 innings, completed early due to rain) Box Score

 

CF T. Saunders 0/3, R, BB, K, 2 SB (17)

3B B. Carhart 2/3, 2 R, BB

SS Ja. Baez 2/4, R, RBI - .281/.322/.519/.841

RF J. Soler 1/4, 2 RBI, K

1B D. Geiger 1/4, R, 2B (15)

C C. Krist 0/2, BB, K

2B W. Darvill 0/2, RBI, K

LF T. Easterling 0/2, BB, 2 K

SP A. Kirk 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, 3-4 GO-FO, CG

 

Kane County won 3-2 (10 innings) Box Score

 

CF A. Almora 3/4, R, 2B (6), BB, CS (2)

DH D. Vogelbach 2/4, 2 R, 2B (11), HR (8), RBI, BB, K

3B J. Candelario 3/5

1B R. Shoulders 0/3, RBI, 2 BB, 2 K

SS M. Hernandez 1/4, SB (8)

2B G. Amaya 1/4, 2 K

C W. Contreras 0/4, K

SP M. Heesch 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 4-4 GO-FO

 

DSL Cubs have the day off

 

VSL Cubs won 6-2 Box Score

 

SS B. Flete 0/3, RBI, BB

LF M. Hodwalker 0/3, K

3B R. Alcala 2/4, R, SB (2), E (6, throw)

C J. Pereda 2/4, R

RF R. Marcano 3/4, 2 R, 2 2B (5), RBI

SP J. Castillo 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 5-1 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 3-1

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Iowa: LHP Chris Rusin (66 IP, 3.59 FIP, 3.55 ERA, 37 K, 14 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Kyle Hendricks (58.1 IP, 2.72 FIP, 2.47 ERA, 48 K, 13 BB)

Daytona: LHP Austin Kirk (48 IP, 5.35 FIP, 5.25 ERA, 35 K, 22 BB)

Kane County: LHP Michael Heesch (48 IP, 2.99 FIP, 4.13 ERA, 31 K, 11 BB)

[Guest]

@BruceMiles2112: #Cubs not discussing moving either Baez or Soler up at this time, per McLeod.

 

@BruceMiles2112: McLeod calls Dustin Geiger a pleasant surprise in system (Daytona) and says he flies under Baez-Soler radar. #Cubs

[Ryno12]

Almora BB!

[wekim81]

looks like a 3rd inning Vogelbomb (8th of the year) too.

[Guest]

looks like a 3rd inning Vogelbomb (8th of the year) too.

 

Sounds like it was just a monster shot. It hit the Leinenkugel sign.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Baez and Soler with RBI singles in the first for Daytona.

[ScrubMD]

Almora finishes the day 3/4 with a double and a walk. Thumbs up.

[VVMattVV]

looks like a 3rd inning Vogelbomb (8th of the year) too.

 

Sounds like it was just a monster shot. It hit the Leinenkugel sign.

 

I was at the game, he hit it pretty hard.

 

Vogelbach also took second on what looked like a long single to left center, tagged up on a fly to RF that wasn't real deep and scored on a passed ball that didn't get that far away from the catcher. He didn't look as slow as I figured he would.

 

Almora's walk was a nice PA, but he seemed aggressive in his other ABs. I didn't see his double in the 10th, but one of his singles was a hard hit ball to the SS that should have been an out if not for a bad throw.

[Quakers]

I see that Rock's average now stands at .259.

[Guest]

Baez season line now is .281/.322/.519/.841.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

And all of the sudden he's killing it as a 20-year old at A+ in the worst hitter's league in MiLB.

[Guest]

Baez season line now is .281/.322/.519/.841.

 

I know arbitrary end points are Kyle's favorite, but Baez's last 3 weeks:

 

.349/.396/.602 15.4% K's

[RammyFanny]

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130601&content_id=49360138&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

[Little Slide Rooter]

Very encouraging stuff lately:

-Almora bursting out of the gate, sans the injury scare

-Baez and Candelerio turning on the afterburners after rough starts; Villanueva too to a lesser extent

-Soler and Johnson's consistency the whole way through

-Alcantara's strong rebound after a rough stretch

-mostly consistent seasons from Vogelbach, Hendricks, Szczur, Rosscup, Cabrera, and some others.

-and of course, the draft a few days away.

-whatever else we add once the truck backs up to Wrigley.

-even Dunston tearing through EXST, though it's been a few since I've caught any reports.

I feel as good about our farm system as I have since I've started following it (didn't follow very closely back when Prior, Z, C Patt, Choi, Cruz et al were coming up, only that we had these all studs coming up in the near future)

[jersey cubs fan]

DH D. Vogelbach 2/4, 2 R, 2B (11), HR (8), RBI, BB, K

 

Cool beans. Vogelbach seems to be doing well. He's somebody who is going to have to just keep hitting and hitting to retain (or gain) value as a prospect. I haven't been paying too close attention to him but everything seems to be good.

...

 

Big boy has a sub 800 OPS, behind 25 other guys in the Midwest League?

Poop

[jersey cubs fan]

looks like a 3rd inning Vogelbomb (8th of the year) too.

 

Sounds like it was just a monster shot. It hit the Leinenkugel sign.

 

I was at the game, he hit it pretty hard.

 

Vogelbach also took second on what looked like a long single to left center, tagged up on a fly to RF that wasn't real deep and scored on a passed ball that didn't get that far away from the catcher. He didn't look as slow as I figured he would.

 

Almora's walk was a nice PA, but he seemed aggressive in his other ABs. I didn't see his double in the 10th, but one of his singles was a hard hit ball to the SS that should have been an out if not for a bad throw.

 

That kind of surprising straight line speed is not uncommon among your fatty types. It's the lateral movement that's an issue.

[craig]

.....

Big boy has a sub 800 OPS, behind 25 other guys in the Midwest League? ...

 

Yeah, .284/.346/.448/.794 isn't really that great of a line for a DH-1B type and who isn't young for a top prospect in low-A.

 

He needs to be more than a .448-slugger.

 

There's nothing worrisome in his splits or in any scouting reports on his hitting. And nothing flukish about his BABIP (.310 or something like that?)

 

Seems his scouting is not as a slugger, scouting always emphasize line-drive whole-field approach. But at some point I think he's going to need to somehow learn to get a little more loft on his balls so that he gets more HR's. Being line-drive has it's plusses, and hard line-drive HR's are fun to watch. But if he's going to make it, he's going to need to increase his productive power somehow. If some of the hard-hit line-drive singles and line-outs got a little more lift and turned into HR's, that would help a lot.

 

I kind of have the feeling he's due for a hot week, though. A good hot streak could make those nothing-special stats look a lot more interesting.

[KingCubsFan]

April and May were the first months Vogelbach ever had to play in cold weather. I'd expect the power to pick up over the next few months.

[jersey cubs fan]

I kind of have the feeling he's due for a hot week, though. A good hot streak could make those nothing-special stats look a lot more interesting.

 

Yeah, I was more surprised with how unimpressive his numbers were than getting critical about them. Last year he hit 10 HR in 168 A- PA. This year it's just 8 in 237. Certainly he's capable of a hot streak, especially if the weather cooperates. But I was hoping he'd be something like a top 5 OPS guy for his league this year to allow people to look past his flaws. Ultimately I'd like him to be a big part of a trade for a better player. But if he's got a couple dozen guys in his league outproducing him that is going to be tough.

[Guest]

He started the year really slowly on the power front, but has picked up lately. I suspect we'll see very solid power numbers from him as the year progresses. That's one part of his game I'm not concerned about at all.

[jersey cubs fan]

He started the year really slowly on the power front, but has picked up lately. I suspect we'll see very solid power numbers from him as the year progresses. That's one part of his game I'm not concerned about at all.

 

My concern is rooted in the fact that "solid" power probably isn't enough from him. He pretty much has to be a near elite bat and his eliteness is going to have to come from the power.

[Guest]

He started the year really slowly on the power front, but has picked up lately. I suspect we'll see very solid power numbers from him as the year progresses. That's one part of his game I'm not concerned about at all.

 

My concern is rooted in the fact that "solid" power probably isn't enough from him. He pretty much has to be a near elite bat and his eliteness is going to have to come from the power.

I think he can be an elite bat on both power & contact. When I say "very solid", I'm guessing he ends the year with 20-25 HR in the midwest league. And he'll do it with 10% BB / 15% K ratios.