Minor League Musings

[Bear Cub]

Az Phils depth chart shows Carrera, Colorado,Ocampo, Y. Perez, Ramos, Guerrero, Marquez, and Garcia all in Mesa now. (All young pitchers)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

First BA Prospect Hot Sheet: http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/prospect-hot-sheet-april-14/?amphtml=1

 

2. Ian Happ, 2b, Cubs (22)

 

Triple-A Iowa (Pacific Coast)

Why He’s Here: 5 HRs

 

After homering five times in 29 big league spring training games, Happ, another of the Cubs’ pack of talented hitters, has equaled that mark in his first eight minor league games. That total included longballs in three straight games. (JN)

 

5. Jeimer Candelario, 3b, Cubs (23)

 

Iowa (Pacific Coast)

Why He’s Here: 10 XBHs

 

Where or whether he’ll play in Chicago is anyone’s guess, so all he can do is produce. Ten extra-base hits (six doubles, two triples and two homers) is an excellent way to begin the season. (JN)

[David]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

TT, please school this guy.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

You would think that Jesse "are the 6-6 Cubs just mediocre" Rogers would be all over the 400 point gap in OPS between Happ and Torres.

[We Got The Whole 9]

So on the MLBN they were discussing the Astros use of Chris Devenski as a power reliever who can go multiple innings in the middle of a game and bridge the gap to the back of the pen. Devenski has not carried a K% above 25 since the low minors but this year he is at an astronomical 52%, pitching 12 innings so far. Obviously that will drop substantially but if he has found a niche and his stuff plays and let's say, it settles around 35 or so, that's still fantastic. So it got me wondering if the Cubs have a player capable of being that guy.

 

Monty is a flexible guy who can get 4-5 outs but he's not really a power pitcher. I don't think that player is on the MLB roster The guys are all groomed to be 1 inning pitchers. But down in Iowa, Pierce is rocking a 45% and he's clearly capable of pitching multiple innings. It's 5 innings, but again, there's room to regress and still remain quite good.

 

Does anyone see Johnson playing a significant role in Chicago down the stretch ala CJ last year? I'm a little fuzzy about it but when he was drafted, I feel like there was a lot of talk that he could move to the Majors quickly if he went the reliever route and stuck to the FB/CU combo. As is common, struggling to develop the 3rd pitch has prevented him from reaching his SP potential but his stuff is playing very well and missing bats in the pen. He's still walking a lot of guys but so did CJ before his promotion.

 

Thoughts?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So on the MLBN they were discussing the Astros use of Chris Devenski as a power reliever who can go multiple innings in the middle of a game and bridge the gap to the back of the pen. Devenski has not carried a K% above 25 since the low minors but this year he is at an astronomical 52%, pitching 12 innings so far. Obviously that will drop substantially but if he has found a niche and his stuff plays and let's say, it settles around 35 or so, that's still fantastic. So it got me wondering if the Cubs have a player capable of being that guy.

 

Monty is a flexible guy who can get 4-5 outs but he's not really a power pitcher. I don't think that player is on the MLB roster The guys are all groomed to be 1 inning pitchers. But down in Iowa, Pierce is rocking a 45% and he's clearly capable of pitching multiple innings. It's 5 innings, but again, there's room to regress and still remain quite good.

 

Does anyone see Johnson playing a significant role in Chicago down the stretch ala CJ last year? I'm a little fuzzy about it but when he was drafted, I feel like there was a lot of talk that he could move to the Majors quickly if he went the reliever route and stuck to the FB/CU combo. As is common, struggling to develop the 3rd pitch has prevented him from reaching his SP potential but his stuff is playing very well and missing bats in the pen. He's still walking a lot of guys but so did CJ before his promotion.

 

Thoughts?

 

You kinda allude to it, but the answer to this question is Edwards. If you're excluding anyone on the current roster, then there's no one this year who is going to make that type of impact.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Yeah I just don't see them heaping a workload on CJ like that

[JennieGarthAlgar]

Grimm

Strop

Edwards

Uehera

Rondon

Davis

 

I mean, if these guys are right then we really shouldnt need anyone to go multiple innings often.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Grimm

Strop

Edwards

Uehera

Rondon

Davis

 

I mean, if these guys are right then we really shouldnt need anyone to go multiple innings often.

Not really saying it's a need. I was just musing.

[Cubswin11]

Don't know if this was posted anywhere....

 

Eddie Butler was a bust in Colorado. The once highly-regarded righty went 6-16 with a 6.50 ERA in parts of three tumultuous seasons. He wasn’t much better during his stints in the high minors, putting up subpar numbers in both 2015 and 2016.

 

Skeptical that he’d ever put it together, the team that drafted him 48th overall in 2012 bade Butler farewell. On the first day of February, the Rockies sent him to the Cubs for James Farris and an international bonus slot.

 

Butler is now showing signs of putting it all together. In four starts for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate, the Iowa Cubs, the second-chance hurler has a 1.46 ERA over 24-and-two-thirds innings of work.

 

Going downhill has played a big role in his resurgence.

 

“Since I got here, (pitching coach) Chris Bosio has been getting me back to what was my norm,” Butler told me this spring. “We’re working on me staying better over the rubber and getting a stronger front side. That should correlate to getting out front and driving the ball downhill, which I struggled with the last two years.”

 

According to Butler, the Rockies wanted him to get more consistency with his four-seam fastball, so that he could go down and away for a strike whenever he needed to. The result was deleterious to his go-to offering.

 

“The last two years I was mainly four-seam, and that’s not where I need to be,” said Butler. “I’m a two-seam guy. They told me I couldn’t really command the glove side of the plate — everything I was throwing was arm side — and focusing my attention on that took away from what I’d been doing. My extension went away, and I struggled. It’s tough to be consistent, trying to do one thing when your body wants you to do another.”

 

According to Jaron Madison, the Cubs’ director player development, Butler’s body is doing all the right things. So are his deliveries.

 

“He’s done a really good job of getting back to his two-seamer and his more natural slot,” Madison told me earlier this week. “The life on his pitches has improved significantly, and the quality of the strikes has improved as well. He’s in a really good place, both mechanically and mentally.”

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/sunday-notes-whitleys-cattle-cubs-butler-gausmans-analogy-yard-goats-more/

[jumbo]

Don't know if this was posted anywhere....

 

Eddie Butler was a bust in Colorado. The once highly-regarded righty went 6-16 with a 6.50 ERA in parts of three tumultuous seasons. He wasn’t much better during his stints in the high minors, putting up subpar numbers in both 2015 and 2016.

 

Skeptical that he’d ever put it together, the team that drafted him 48th overall in 2012 bade Butler farewell. On the first day of February, the Rockies sent him to the Cubs for James Farris and an international bonus slot.

 

Butler is now showing signs of putting it all together. In four starts for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate, the Iowa Cubs, the second-chance hurler has a 1.46 ERA over 24-and-two-thirds innings of work.

 

Going downhill has played a big role in his resurgence.

 

“Since I got here, (pitching coach) Chris Bosio has been getting me back to what was my norm,” Butler told me this spring. “We’re working on me staying better over the rubber and getting a stronger front side. That should correlate to getting out front and driving the ball downhill, which I struggled with the last two years.”

 

According to Butler, the Rockies wanted him to get more consistency with his four-seam fastball, so that he could go down and away for a strike whenever he needed to. The result was deleterious to his go-to offering.

 

“The last two years I was mainly four-seam, and that’s not where I need to be,” said Butler. “I’m a two-seam guy. They told me I couldn’t really command the glove side of the plate — everything I was throwing was arm side — and focusing my attention on that took away from what I’d been doing. My extension went away, and I struggled. It’s tough to be consistent, trying to do one thing when your body wants you to do another.”

 

According to Jaron Madison, the Cubs’ director player development, Butler’s body is doing all the right things. So are his deliveries.

 

“He’s done a really good job of getting back to his two-seamer and his more natural slot,” Madison told me earlier this week. “The life on his pitches has improved significantly, and the quality of the strikes has improved as well. He’s in a really good place, both mechanically and mentally.”

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/sunday-notes-whitleys-cattle-cubs-butler-gausmans-analogy-yard-goats-more/

 

 

New market inefficiency: don't change pitchers

 

Arrieta was told not to pitch the way that got him to the pros. Butler, who was the Oriole who was the best minor leaguer to touch a baseball again? Not just pitchers - Castro had some deprogramming that he eventually had to ignore.

 

In all seriousness this seems like a pretty easy thing to do, but just like people make comments about tanking being easy, it's not. I'm sure what Colorado was doing with Butler was something that happens to every prospect to some degree. Why was it too much for him? Why did the Cubs approach make more sense? Sure, he was doing something that felt more natural, but it seems to mean that the caliber of coaching and the effort to monitor and understand the player is what is making the difference.

[Post Count Padder]

DJ Wilson does not like beach balls

 

http://deadspin.com/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-try-again-and-again-and-a-1794602850?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

[We Got The Whole 9]

11 tries... #thatsnotcub

[SpongeWorthy]

I finished the verducci book last night and that Butler write up sounds like it was lifted straight from the arrieta chapter

[CubinNY]

Don't know if this was posted anywhere....

 

Eddie Butler was a bust in Colorado. The once highly-regarded righty went 6-16 with a 6.50 ERA in parts of three tumultuous seasons. He wasn’t much better during his stints in the high minors, putting up subpar numbers in both 2015 and 2016.

 

Skeptical that he’d ever put it together, the team that drafted him 48th overall in 2012 bade Butler farewell. On the first day of February, the Rockies sent him to the Cubs for James Farris and an international bonus slot.

 

Butler is now showing signs of putting it all together. In four starts for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate, the Iowa Cubs, the second-chance hurler has a 1.46 ERA over 24-and-two-thirds innings of work.

 

Going downhill has played a big role in his resurgence.

 

“Since I got here, (pitching coach) Chris Bosio has been getting me back to what was my norm,” Butler told me this spring. “We’re working on me staying better over the rubber and getting a stronger front side. That should correlate to getting out front and driving the ball downhill, which I struggled with the last two years.”

 

According to Butler, the Rockies wanted him to get more consistency with his four-seam fastball, so that he could go down and away for a strike whenever he needed to. The result was deleterious to his go-to offering.

 

“The last two years I was mainly four-seam, and that’s not where I need to be,” said Butler. “I’m a two-seam guy. They told me I couldn’t really command the glove side of the plate — everything I was throwing was arm side — and focusing my attention on that took away from what I’d been doing. My extension went away, and I struggled. It’s tough to be consistent, trying to do one thing when your body wants you to do another.”

 

According to Jaron Madison, the Cubs’ director player development, Butler’s body is doing all the right things. So are his deliveries.

 

“He’s done a really good job of getting back to his two-seamer and his more natural slot,” Madison told me earlier this week. “The life on his pitches has improved significantly, and the quality of the strikes has improved as well. He’s in a really good place, both mechanically and mentally.”

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/sunday-notes-whitleys-cattle-cubs-butler-gausmans-analogy-yard-goats-more/

 

 

New market inefficiency: don't change pitchers

 

Arrieta was told not to pitch the way that got him to the pros. Butler, who was the Oriole who was the best minor leaguer to touch a baseball again? Not just pitchers - Castro had some deprogramming that he eventually had to ignore.

 

In all seriousness this seems like a pretty easy thing to do, but just like people make comments about tanking being easy, it's not. I'm sure what Colorado was doing with Butler was something that happens to every prospect to some degree. Why was it too much for him? Why did the Cubs approach make more sense? Sure, he was doing something that felt more natural, but it seems to mean that the caliber of coaching and the effort to monitor and understand the player is what is making the difference.

I think Bosio is really good at looking at mechanics and sorting out problems. If I remember correctly, he talks with all the pitchers a lot to see what they like to do and tries to work with that instead of molding them to one philosophy. The Cubs have been fortunate to have such good pitching coaches the last decade.

[Cubswin11]

I think Bosio is really good at looking at mechanics and sorting out problems.If I remember correctly, he talks with all the pitchers a lot to see what they like to do and tries to work with that instead of molding them to one philosophy. The Cubs have been fortunate to have such good pitching coaches the last decade.

You mean pitchers, the most unique/volatile/unpredictable asset in sports, shouldn't be treated as and molded into a one size fits all approach and should all be groomed to their own unique, underlying abilities and shortcomings?!?!?!

 

It's maddening but also great we are on the right side of it, that the one size fits all approach seems to be so prevalent in the game. Then there's Bosio (I know it's more complicated than this) sitting over there just going, "hey there's a reason you were drafted/made it to MLB, why don't you just go back to what got you here and feel most comfortable using."

[CaliforniaRaisin]

This week's BA Prospect Hot Sheet: http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/prospect-hot-sheet-april-28/

 

12. Mark Zagunis, of, Cubs (24)

Triple-A Iowa (Pacific Coast)

 

Why He’s Here: 8-for-18, 4 HR, 11 RBIs

 

Zagunis has had a season in a week, with most of his 2017 damage done in the past seven days. He evokes Kevin Youkilis to Cubs officials for his plate discipline (15 walks, 16 strikeouts so far) and has developing power.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/calikusiolek/status/861700635510558720[/tweet]

 

[tweet]https://twitter.com/calikusiolek/status/861701406914256896[/tweet]

[We Got The Whole 9]

I found it interesting that Pirates P Mitch Keller (evokes images of Dazed and Confused, for me) says the organization has set a certain % of pitches that they want to be off-speed in every start for their prospects. Is this common practice?

 

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

[davell]

 

Alzolay gets a BA article, plus Hatch gets talked about as well.

[CubsWin]

 

Alzolay gets a BA article, plus Hatch gets talked about as well.

Thanks, Dave. I noticed how quickly he was working the last game. I had the same thought. It's the no huddle defense!

[davell]

 

BA article on Albertos.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Scott Kingery had 8 HR in roughly 900 minor league PA coming into this season. He's hit 17 in 227 this year. That's some crazy horsefeathers.

[Tryptamine]

Scott Kingery had 8 HR in roughly 900 minor league PA coming into this season. He's hit 17 in 227 this year. That's some crazy horsefeathers.

 

He's obviously made some significant changes, but he's also in Reading which is just about as good of a HR park as there is in the minors.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Victor Caratini was the minor league player of the month for May and Duncan Robinson the pitcher of the month.