Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 6-2-15

[ctcf]

Scheduled Games (All Times Central):

 

Iowa at Albuquerque, 8:05 p.m.

Tennessee at Chattanooga, 6:15 p.m.

Myrtle Beach at Potomac (game suspended yesterday, tied 3-3 in the 10th), 4:00 p.m.

Myrtle Beach at Potomac (regularly scheduled game), TBA

DSL Cubs vs. DSL Red Sox 2, 9:30 a.m.

VSL Cubs at VSL Phillies, 10:30 a.m.

 

Probable Starters:

 

Iowa: RHP Donn Roach (57.2 IP, 2.18 ERA, 4.03 FIp, 22 K, 12 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Frank Batista (53.2 IP, 1.51 ERA, 3.43 FIP, 43 K, 14 BB)

Myrtle Beach: RHP Jonathan Martinez (39 IP, 3.00 ERA, 4.46 FIP, 17 K, 7 BB)

[Sammy Sofa]

OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

 

Shots fired, ct. Shots fired.

[ctcf]

lulz

[Guest]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/billazbbphotog/status/605865060829773824[/tweet]

[ctcf]

*glances at Almora's OPS*

 

*sobs*

[Guest]

Almora did go 3 for 5 with a double today at least.

 

Baez and Alcantara both 2 for 2 to start Iowa's game, Alcantara hit a HR. I kinda want to see Alcantara in the OF every day if Soler has to hit the DL.

[ARCubsFan]

*glances at Almora's OPS*

 

*sobs*

Shouldn't be a shock to anyone. He's just not very good at the plate and all his value is in the field.

[toonsterwu]

I'm not one to defend Almora all that much (liked the pick, thought he got a bit over-hyped early in his career).

 

That said, barring stunningly bad reports, I'm not at all displeased with this year. I'm not exactly jumping for joy ... but it's plainly evident that he is working on his discipline/approach, and thus, I take his offensive numbers with a grain of salt. Add in that, while minor league BABIP's aren't a great tool to use as a main factor to judge with, his is awful low for a guy with decent speed (I really haven't looked any further than the quick glance fangraphs numbers, so maybe there's something behind it). Tools wise, people still seem to suggest that he's the same guy as before - good, but not great, but good across the board.

 

Altogether, looks like a learning season for him, which is perfectly normal for most prospects. He may never put it all together, but I'm not displeased with his season so far.

[ScrubMD]

Baez HR

[Tyrant]

I'm not one to defend Almora all that much (liked the pick, thought he got a bit over-hyped early in his career).

 

That said, barring stunningly bad reports, I'm not at all displeased with this year. I'm not exactly jumping for joy ... but it's plainly evident that he is working on his discipline/approach, and thus, I take his offensive numbers with a grain of salt. Add in that, while minor league BABIP's aren't a great tool to use as a main factor to judge with, his is awful low for a guy with decent speed (I really haven't looked any further than the quick glance fangraphs numbers, so maybe there's something behind it). Tools wise, people still seem to suggest that he's the same guy as before - good, but not great, but good across the board.

 

Altogether, looks like a learning season for him, which is perfectly normal for most prospects. He may never put it all together, but I'm not displeased with his season so far.

 

what was last season then?

[ScrubMD]

Javy does HR again. OPS up to .947.

 

Alcantara 3-4 with a HR and a BB, OPS up to .871

 

Bring them both up!

Edited June 3, 2015 by ScrubMD

[ARCubsFan]

2 HR's for Baez

[sontensei]

Baez is absolutely killing it.

 

4 for 5 2 hrs, avg up to .325? damn kid got his swing back for real

[Guest]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[CubsWin]

I'm not one to defend Almora all that much (liked the pick, thought he got a bit over-hyped early in his career).

 

That said, barring stunningly bad reports, I'm not at all displeased with this year. I'm not exactly jumping for joy ... but it's plainly evident that he is working on his discipline/approach, and thus, I take his offensive numbers with a grain of salt. Add in that, while minor league BABIP's aren't a great tool to use as a main factor to judge with, his is awful low for a guy with decent speed (I really haven't looked any further than the quick glance fangraphs numbers, so maybe there's something behind it). Tools wise, people still seem to suggest that he's the same guy as before - good, but not great, but good across the board.

 

Altogether, looks like a learning season for him, which is perfectly normal for most prospects. He may never put it all together, but I'm not displeased with his season so far.

 

what was last season then?

A learning season. It's okay to have more than one when you're 20 and 21.

[Little Slide Rooter]

For some reason, MiLb first pitch app wouldn't update the Iowa game last night, but mother of God, that was some good [expletive].

 

Add Villanueva's 2-5 with an HR to Mendy and Javy's monster day.

 

And I'm beginning to wonder if there's anything to this Donn Roach fellow. Doesn't seem to strike out or walk much of anyone, but he seems to be getting the job done. Possible back end fodder if needed?

[KingCubsFan]

Javier Baez doesn't have the perfect swing. Not yet, at least. Iowa manager Marty Pevey says the only reason for him to even have a leg kick is to generate power, but he has so much pop in his bat that he doesn't need to complicate his approach with additional motions.

 

On Tuesday night, Baez removed the leg kick from his game and proved his skipper right by still slugging a fastball so deep there was no doubt it was leaving the yard.

 

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150603&content_id=128267264&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm not one to defend Almora all that much (liked the pick, thought he got a bit over-hyped early in his career).

 

That said, barring stunningly bad reports, I'm not at all displeased with this year. I'm not exactly jumping for joy ... but it's plainly evident that he is working on his discipline/approach, and thus, I take his offensive numbers with a grain of salt. Add in that, while minor league BABIP's aren't a great tool to use as a main factor to judge with, his is awful low for a guy with decent speed (I really haven't looked any further than the quick glance fangraphs numbers, so maybe there's something behind it). Tools wise, people still seem to suggest that he's the same guy as before - good, but not great, but good across the board.

 

Altogether, looks like a learning season for him, which is perfectly normal for most prospects. He may never put it all together, but I'm not displeased with his season so far.

Methinks thou doth protest too much. He can have all the learning seasons in the world but bad production is bad. If you don't worry about that you don't care if a Cubs prospect loses value, and I'm sure that's not true.

[Guest]

Javier Baez doesn't have the perfect swing. Not yet, at least. Iowa manager Marty Pevey says the only reason for him to even have a leg kick is to generate power, but he has so much pop in his bat that he doesn't need to complicate his approach with additional motions.

 

On Tuesday night, Baez removed the leg kick from his game and proved his skipper right by still slugging a fastball so deep there was no doubt it was leaving the yard.

 

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150603&content_id=128267264&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

 

The minor caveat here is that Iowa is playing in the Albuquerque fun house so balls will fly no matter what, but the anecdote as a whole is pretty encouraging.

 

Video of the 2nd HR for anyone curious what it looks like(or who didn't click the above link, like me): http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=142676683&sid=milb

[Guest]

Having never played "real" baseball, I've always wondered how much extra power a leg kick would even add for someone who is actually really strong.

 

I can see it helping some little dude who is selling out to swing as hard as possible, but how much does it do for someone really strong?

[Guest]

Based on this video, it looks like he's been doing it for at least a few days, too, and not just with two strikes

 

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=142676683&sid=t451

[Guest]

Having never played "real" baseball, I've always wondered how much extra power a leg kick would even add for someone who is actually really strong.

 

I can see it helping some little dude who is selling out to swing as hard as possible, but how much does it do for someone really strong?

 

I'll preface with the fact that I'm not much of a mechanics aficionado.

 

My understanding and experience is that more than anything, the leg kick is a timing exercise. That's not completely separate from generating extra power, but it's not quite the same either. I'm struggling to think of a really good example to compare, but the idea is that the leg kick adds moving pieces to the swing, but can result in more power when all the moving pieces match up right. In the case of Baez, he gets so much power from insane bat speed that the leg kick is taking him from 450 foot power to 500 foot power(to speak in broad terms). Ditching the leg kick might mean less power, but it's probably a net plus if he can be more consistent in timing his swing without the extra movement of the leg kick.

 

That's all super simplified because I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that's directionally correct even if I misspoke in a spot or two.

[Guest]

Yeah, I was always told the leg kick was a timing mechanism.

[Sammy Sofa]

I heard that if he kicks twice they feed him a delicious carrot.

[Guest]

Depends to some extent if it is just a leg kick or if he is striding, as well. If he's just picking up the leg and putting it back down, then it's just a timing mechanism. If he's striding and transferring his weight, then it can be used to add power.