Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 8-25-15

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (All Times Central):

 

Iowa vs. Fresno (game one), 12:08 p.m.

Iowa vs. Fresno (game two), 7:08 p.m.

Tennessee at Chattanooga, 6:15 p.m.

Myrtle Beach vs. Winston-Salem, 6:05 p.m.

South Bend at West Michigan, 6:00 p.m.

Eugene vs. Spokane (resumption of game PPD yesterday). 9:05 p.m.

Eugene vs. Spokane (regularly scheduled game), TBA

AZL Cubs at AZL Angels, 9:00 p.m.

 

Probable Starters:

 

Iowa (game one): LHP Drake Britton (78 IP, 5.19 ERA, 5.07 FIP, 41 K, 32 BB)

Iowa (game two): RHP Felipe Paulino (89 IP, 4.65 ERA, 4.32 FIP, 73 K, 40 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Felix Peña (109.2 IP, 4.10 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 125 K, 43 BB)

Myrtle Beach: RHP Jen-Ho Tseng (107 IP, 3.62 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 72 K, 28 BB)

South Bend: RHP Trevor Clifton (91.1 IP, 4.34 ERA, 4.09 FIP, 90 K, 40 BB)

Eugene (regularly scheduled game): RHP Justin Steele (34 IP, 2.65 ERA, 2.75 FIP, 34 K, 12 BB)

[ctcf]

This will almost surely jinx it, but heading into today Javy had a 24.7 K% at Iowa on the year.

[ctcf]

Javy goes 1-3 with no Ks in Game 1. He will be facing Mark Appel in Game 2 tonight.

[Guest]

Have they updated the contact numbers yet?

[ctcf]

Have they updated the contact numbers yet?

 

no clue

[ctcf]

Fun fact: the only time Kris Bryant finished with K% lower than Javy Baez's in the (full season) minors was in low-A ball and that was in 18 games.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Have they updated the contact numbers yet?

 

Nope.

[Cubswin11]

Vogelbach was just pulled after his 1st ab in the 1st, trade maybe?? Not that him alone would likely net much

[Vinestal]

Vogelbach was just pulled after his 1st ab in the 1st, trade maybe?? Not that him alone would likely net much

 

Or oblique re-injury

[Guest]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[Guest]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/IowaCubsGameDay/status/636343926392131584[/tweet]

[Tryptamine]

OK, Jimenez tied and then took the team lead in HRs, I had that wrong yesterday. Still did it in less PAs than the second place guy (Dewees).

 

Anyone else have him as a top 5 system prospect already? Sure it's definitely context aided, BUT I had him as one in May once the Bryant/Russell/Soler group hit the MLs. Torres, Edwards, McKinney, and Jimenez is how I think I would go right now.

 

The only guys I definitely have in front of him are McKinney,Gleyber and Happ. You could make a case for Almora too. I think it's safe to say he's inside the top 5 right now.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

This is very encouraging from Eloy. I'm most impressed by his 17.3% K-rate; I thought that had a chance to be a lot higher.

[Guest]

Oh yeah, Eloy is in my top 5. Has been ever since it was obvious he wouldn't fall flat on his face at Eugene as an 18-year old.

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Oh yeah, Eloy is in my top 5. Has been ever since it was obvious he wouldn't fall flat on his face at Eugene as an 18-year old.

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

He's had an outstanding finish to his season.

[ScrubMD]

Eloy with his 3rd HR of the double-header. I hope he gets a September call-up just so we can look at him and smile.

[mul21]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Oh wow. We are going to have a lot of fun following him.

[davell]

Upside versus proximity to majors, everyone weights those things differently. If Jimenez and/or Cease are brought up as top 5 guys for us, I'm not rolling my eyes at it.

[Guest]

hmm...top of my head list:

 

1. Gleyber
   
2. McKinney
   
3. Eloy
   
4. Happ
   
5. Contreras
   
6. Almora
   
7. Edwards
   
8. Zagunis
   
9. Pierce Johnson

 

Others under consideration (not in order):

 

Tseng

Underwood

Cease

Sands

Steele

Vogelbach

Candelario

[davell]

I feel pretty confident when we roll out our rankings, I'll be the high guy on Pierce and the low guy on McKinney.

[Guest]

I'd roll my eyes at Cease just because I don't like surgery. Admittedly, the guy's got Oswalt-esque upside and is easily a top 10 prospect in this system for me.

 

Bullshitting a top 10:

 

Torres

Edwards

Happ - He and Torres have pretty safe profiles. One is a top 10 pick college bat and the other is an ARL kyiiiiiiiiid playing MIF.

Jimenez

McKinney

Contreras - Their best offensive player in AA this year and plays C. Contreras is a guy who gives me hope that a major trade will happen by the Rule V draft. He's eligible, but he's the kind of player someone might actually be interested in for their bench.

Almora - Sure, fine, whatever.

Cease

Kellogg - Only thing missing from his game is more velocity. Otherwise he's how I'd draw up a pitching prospect.

Tseng - I like him more than Underwood and Johnson, but they're all kinda boring and meh in the grand scheme of things. Tseng strikes me as the one least likely to meh.

You must feel that Edwards will be a very elite reliever to have him that high.

[Guest]

You must feel that Edwards will be a very elite reliever to have him that high.

 

Eh, the top of the system isn't that loaded with ceiling. Neither Torres or Happ really projects to be a star type talent, same for McKinney, and Jimenez is probably 3-4 years away at the earliest. I do think he will be an impact reliever, pitcher, and sooner rather than later. Performance wise he's been the best pitcher in the system this year. Hell, after Schwarber he's been the most dominant performer in the system this year whether hitter or pitcher.

He's walking 19% of the batters he's facing in AAA. He'd get destroyed in the majors.

[Guest]

AAA hitters have a .141/.309/.192 line against Edwards, I bet he'd fare just above 'destroyed' in an MLB bullpen role.

[Guest]

AAA hitters have a .141/.309/.192 line against Edwards, I bet he'd fare just above 'destroyed' in an MLB bullpen role.

If he walked 19% of the hitters he faced...yeah, he'd get destroyed. He's *only* striking out 29.6% of the batters he's facing, so a good portion of that AAA line is based on luck.