Rotation Guesses

[CubInOK]

Phil mentions Skulina going down from Tennessee to Daytona group. He had a relatively ineffective outing. Not sure what the "promotions/demotions" really mean in camp; obviously normally guys are going down. Vogelbach isn't really likely to start with Iowa; we didn't really expect Torrez to start with Tennessee, etc.. So lots more coming.

 

Phil mentions Conway actually getting moved up a group, from SB to MB. Contra-normal. I imagine could just be populating the work groups better. Perhaps he's looking so controlled and polished that he's just flat-out earned a promotion and seems ready for Daytona. Or perhaps some rotation vs relief issue? Norwood and enough guys have emerged who are preferred SB starters, so perhaps they thought they might need him for rotation there, but now they don't anymore, so if he's not going to be pitching rotation anyway, why not bump him up a level for relief? Beats me.

 

Everything changes a lot once the season starts anyway.

When did we trade all of these guys to Cincinnati?

[craig]

:) :). Man, it's going to take me a while!

[craig]

Phil reports Steele and Sands each with one-inning work. I assume that implies both will be held back.

Interestingly, Phil hasn't seen Underwood or edwards go longer, either.

 

Zack Hedges has, could be a South Bend candidate.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

would have been really surprised if Sands or Steele went to full-season right away. don't think any hs pitcher has done that under theo

[craig]

would have been really surprised if Sands or Steele went to full-season right away. don't think any hs pitcher has done that under theo

 

Tseng went full-season right away last year, and he was younger then than either Steele or Sands are now, almost half a year younger than Sands.

 

I recall totally assuming he'd be a short-season guy, and being totally stunned when he did make Kane County. So I'm not at all suggesting his astonishing placement last year being at all normal. Perhaps speaks to what remarkable command Tseng already had as a teenager.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

true, but tseng is a slightly different case given his background

[Guest]

There's also not that many true comparables in that regard, the closest 3 are probably Underwood, Blackburn, and Clifton. None of them were all that good in Mesa for their first season, so there was little reason or pressure to put them in full season ball.

[craig]

Not a rotation thing, but McKirahan got cut.

[craig]

Phil has a variety of roster reassigns. Rotation wise, Edwards to AA, Stinnett to South Bend. Black also to AA, although remains to be seen whether as starter or reliever.

 

Player-wise, Eloy and Mitchell both down to XST, McKinney down to MB.

 

With Eloy and Mitchell (and Galindo) on the player side, and Sands and Steele pitching, XST will have some interesting talent. We'll see whether those all wait for Boise, or perhaps some come up sooner if they are doing well.

 

As noted earlier, Zagunis seems posed for pretty much OF work at MB. A guy who talked to Madison earlier said that Zagunis would play mostly CF, but with Hanneman also there my guess is Hannemann will get more CF and Zagunis will get some but probably more corner. We'll see whether Hannemann can hit at all, but an OF with Zagunis, McKinney, and Hannemann could be very productive offensively. Catcher will probably split between Caratini and Contreras, so Zagunis probably won't play there unless they decide they want him to, but Caratini/Contreras could be a pretty solid catcher duo offensively. Not sure what they'll have on infield, but perhaps Candelario might be finally ready to step up and be somewhat A-ball productive. Prospects are what count, of course, and vets like Candelario and Contreras aren't much anymore, but they'll still heavily influence whether MB scores a lot and has a dominant season or not.

[toonsterwu]

somewhat of a side note, but I find somewhat odd that you view Jeimer, at age 21, as a "vet" (while younger than some of his potential teammates).

 

To be honest, I still consider both of them "prospects". With how some catchers develop later, plus Contreras making the switch from IF to C, and showing some defensive chops, I'm not ready to write him off at age 22/23 from developing into some sort of mildly useful asset down the line. I mean, gun to my head, I doubt he'd ever be more than a backup in a best case scenario, but I can think of a lot of catchers in years past that were clear non-prospects compared to Contreras (Tony Richie comes to mind, amongst others).

 

As for Candelario, he's still got a very intriguing offensive upside, and he's only 21 entering High A. Do I "buy" Candelario right now? Not particularly, but I do expect him to have a much better year than last year in A+. With a little luck, I could envision a breakout offensive year for him.

[craig]

somewhat of a side note, but I find somewhat odd that you view Jeimer, at age 21, as a "vet" (while younger than some of his potential teammates).

 

To be honest, I still consider both of them "prospects". With how some catchers develop later, plus Contreras making the switch from IF to C, and showing some defensive chops, I'm not ready to write him off at age 22/23 from developing into some sort of mildly useful asset down the line. I mean, gun to my head, I doubt he'd ever be more than a backup in a best case scenario, but I can think of a lot of catchers in years past that were clear non-prospects compared to Contreras (Tony Richie comes to mind, amongst others).

 

As for Candelario, he's still got a very intriguing offensive upside, and he's only 21 entering High A. Do I "buy" Candelario right now? Not particularly, but I do expect him to have a much better year than last year in A+. With a little luck, I could envision a breakout offensive year for him.

 

Toonster, I think future improvement is partly a factor of age, but also of experience. A guy who's 21 and been whipping low-level college competition, he's probably got more adjusting left versus pro competition than a guy who's already been facing pro pitching for four years. Candelario may be only 21, but with three full years of American pro experience, I think he's pretty experienced with what pro pitching is like. And at least during the three years of seeing it, he's shown no facility to respond and adapt and become successful at hitting it. Maybe something will finally click in his 1100th AB or something, hopefully. But often if a guy can't hit or figure anything out during 1000 AB, there's probably a reason and his ability to see/recognize/react/drive probably won't transform all that dramatically during his next 1000.

[craig]

http://www.thecubreporter.com/04042015/cubs-pelicans-pitchers-give-bees-66ers-sinking-feeling#more

Submitted by Arizona Phil

on Sat, 04/04/2015 - 9:36pm Permalink

The starting pitching rotations for the four full season affiliates appear to be:

 

IOWA:

Eric Jokisch

Pierce Johnson

Donn Roach

Carlos Pimentel

Yoanner Negrin

Drake Britton (once he is "stretched-out")

NOTE: Dallas Beeler will start the season on the Cubs MLB 15-day DL.

 

TENNESSEE:

C. J. Edwards

Corey Black

Rob Zastryzny

Ivan Pineyro

Felix Pena

 

MYRTLE BEACH:

Daury Torrez

Tyler Skulina

Duane Underwood

Jen-Ho Tseng

Paul Blackburn

PIGGY-BACK: Jonathan Martinez

 

SOUTH BEND:

Jake Stinnett

Jeremy Null

Erick Leal

Trevor Clifton

James Norwood

Zach Hedges

NOTE: Which five of the six will start and which one will "piggy-back" is still to be decided. Also, Ryan Williams and Ryan McNeil are stretched-out as starters, but neither will likely be in the SB rotation to start the season.

[Guest]

Is Beeler the ONLY pitcher (minor leagues) that will start on the DL? That's somewhat astonishing if true.

[Guest]

@billazbbphotog: Strong outing on last day of spring by Paul Blackburn for #Cubs High-A team. 5.2 shutout innings, 2 H. Took no-hitter into 5th.