Minor League Musings

[Regular Show]

I remember liking the Berg pick at the time, thought he’d move fast and be a average-above average bullpen arm

 

Yeah me too. He was a submarine or sidearmer right? I thought he would move through the system pretty quickly. I'm not surprised they cut Sands, but it's still disappointing.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

That sucks about Berg. He was never the same after his injury in, I wanna say, 2016. He's my favorite college baseball player ever. He was on the mound when UCLA won their only College World Series.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://twitter.com/billazbbphotog/status/978829190056169472?s=21

 

Disappointing velocity.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://www.thecubreporter.com/03282018/rockie-road-cubs-riverview#more

 

TENNESSEE LINEUP:

4. Eddy Julio Martinez, RF: 1-4 (K, 5-3, 1B, 5-3, R)

 

TENNESSEE PITCHERS:

1. Duncan Robinson: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 5/8 GO/AO, 58 pitches (37 strikes)

 

IOWA LINEUP:

8a. Charcer Burks, DH #2: 0-1 (K)

8c. Jonathan Sierra, RF: 0-1 (K)

10. Luis Vazquez, SS: 0-2 (BB, 6-3, 6-3, R)

 

IOWA PITCHERS:

1. Jesus Camargo: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 3/3 GO/AO, 40 pitches (25 strikes)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Luis Diaz has been putting up some nice numbers so far in minor league ST. After his DSL breakout last season, it'll be interesting to see if he starts in Eugene or one of the Mesa teams.

 

C Jhonny Pereda has looked good thus far especially behind the plate. He threw out 4 of 4 attempted base stealers the other day and has been getting a decent amount of hits.

 

There's still time for this to change, but according to AZ Phil's latest roster update, Aramis Ademan is still listed with Myrtle Beach and Christopher Morel is listed with South Bend.

 

Meanwhile, Jonathan Sierra and Nelson Velazquez have returned to where we expected them to be, Mesa/Eugene. Super impressive if Morel can make South Bend - he'd be skipping the AZL and NWL in his stateside debut and age 19 season.

[Hrubes20]

https://twitter.com/billazbbphotog/status/978829190056169472?s=21

 

Disappointing velocity.

 

I haven't heard as much about Abbot yet in the minor league recaps. It may just be a matter of him being a bit behind the others. If he's still throwing 89-91 in a few weeks, I'm gonna be disappointed. I am higher on Abbott than I probably should be, but something in my gut is telling me that he will amount to something.

 

Luis Diaz has been putting up some nice numbers so far in minor league ST. After his DSL breakout last season, it'll be interesting to see if he starts in Eugene or one of the Mesa teams.

 

C Jhonny Pereda has looked good thus far especially behind the plate. He threw out 4 of 4 attempted base stealers the other day and has been getting a decent amount of hits.

 

There's still time for this to change, but according to AZ Phil's latest roster update, Aramis Ademan is still listed with Myrtle Beach and Christopher Morel is listed with South Bend.

 

Meanwhile, Jonathan Sierra and Nelson Velazquez have returned to where we expected them to be, Mesa/Eugene. Super impressive if Morel can make South Bend - he'd be skipping the AZL and NWL in his stateside debut and age 19 season.

 

Wow. That would indeed be impressive. I can't remember the exact injury he had that kept him out of 2017, but I do seem to recall that it was a freak accident of some sort. I may have to google that in a bit.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://twitter.com/billazbbphotog/status/978829190056169472?s=21

 

Disappointing velocity.

 

I haven't heard as much about Abbot yet in the minor league recaps. It may just be a matter of him being a bit behind the others. If he's still throwing 89-91 in a few weeks, I'm gonna be disappointed. I am higher on Abbott than I probably should be, but something in my gut is telling me that he will amount to something.

 

Luis Diaz has been putting up some nice numbers so far in minor league ST. After his DSL breakout last season, it'll be interesting to see if he starts in Eugene or one of the Mesa teams.

 

C Jhonny Pereda has looked good thus far especially behind the plate. He threw out 4 of 4 attempted base stealers the other day and has been getting a decent amount of hits.

 

There's still time for this to change, but according to AZ Phil's latest roster update, Aramis Ademan is still listed with Myrtle Beach and Christopher Morel is listed with South Bend.

 

Meanwhile, Jonathan Sierra and Nelson Velazquez have returned to where we expected them to be, Mesa/Eugene. Super impressive if Morel can make South Bend - he'd be skipping the AZL and NWL in his stateside debut and age 19 season.

 

Wow. That would indeed be impressive. I can't remember the exact injury he had that kept him out of 2017, but I do seem to recall that it was a freak accident of some sort. I may have to google that in a bit.

 

Yeah, some household injury.

[Post Count Padder]

That sucks about Berg. He was never the same after his injury in, I wanna say, 2016. He's my favorite college baseball player ever. He was on the mound when UCLA won their only College World Series.

I remember you hyping him up. He got off to a good start to his career and then yeah that injury seemed to impact him a lot.

 

Bummed about Sands too. So Steele is all that's left from that big group of HS arms.

[Regular Show]

That sucks about Berg. He was never the same after his injury in, I wanna say, 2016. He's my favorite college baseball player ever. He was on the mound when UCLA won their only College World Series.

I remember you hyping him up. He got off to a good start to his career and then yeah that injury seemed to impact him a lot.

 

Bummed about Sands too. So Steele is all that's left from that big group of HS arms.

 

Yeah, I mean you're right but we did trade Cease for something useful. I think Cease will eventually become a relief pitcher. Maybe a dominant relief pitcher.

 

I don't have high hopes for Steele.

[Cubswin11]

I know we all want pitching, and maybe there just won’t be bats where we pick, but I’d like to grab 2-3 bats with those 5 picks in the top 100 and/or grab some internationally since we are out of the penalty box. Wouldn’t mind just taking one of those pure bats/1B only type guys this year to start preparing for potential life after Rizzo in a few years.

[Regular Show]

I know we all want pitching, and maybe there just won’t be bats where we pick, but I’d like to grab 2-3 bats with those 5 picks in the top 100 and/or grab some internationally since we are out of the penalty box. Wouldn’t mind just taking one of those pure bats/1B only type guys this year to start preparing for potential life after Rizzo in a few years.

 

Man you're thinking way too far ahead. We don't need to worry about life after Rizzo for awhile lol.

 

Also, pure bats/1B only types are a pretty risky demographic for draft picks. Seth Beer is one of those type of prospects if you're into that kind of thing though.

[Cubswin11]

I know we all want pitching, and maybe there just won’t be bats where we pick, but I’d like to grab 2-3 bats with those 5 picks in the top 100 and/or grab some internationally since we are out of the penalty box. Wouldn’t mind just taking one of those pure bats/1B only type guys this year to start preparing for potential life after Rizzo in a few years.

 

Man you're thinking way too far ahead. We don't need to worry about life after Rizzo for awhile lol.

 

Also, pure bats/1B only types are a pretty risky demographic for draft picks. Seth Beer is one of those type of prospects if you're into that kind of thing though.

I know it may be a bit early but with those 5 picks I’d be fine trying now. A quick google search and watching some YouTube videos I like what I see on this guy.

[craig]

Az Phil with two significant transaction: Morel down to extended (no surprise, but disappointed anyway) and Oscar de la Cruz UP to Tennessee. That's very rare to move up a level. Think that probably is doubly good news: probably reflects that Oscar has impressed in camp, and probably also that the Myrtle guys have stayed healthy and impressed enough that there was pressure, and moving Oscar UP was a better solution than moving Lange or somebody DOWN.

 

Think that move clarifies those two rotations, by my guessing:

 

*Tennessee: Alzolay, De la Cruz, Hatch, Clifton, and Robinson. (Would seem to leave Rucker out, by my guesstimation.)

 

*Myrtle: Lange, Thompson, Moreno, Paulino, Hudson. (I'm very curious how Moreno might look, by the way. Hopeful that he's going to be a breakout guy....)

 

*South Bend: Albertos, Little, Abbott, Uelmen, Assad. (Would seem to leave Camargo as 6th man, by my valuation....) Not sure how effective some of those guys will actually be (who knows how wild Little might be.....), but that too looks like a really interesting and decent rotation. I can see why they didn't want to relieve Myrtle clutter by sending a Myrtle guy down to join the South Bend rotation, and thought bumping de la Cruz up instead might be better plan....

 

Other roster note is that Ademan is still there on Myrtle group. May still drop him, but not many days left, and certainly no great pressure from AA-guys to drop down and bump him, just roster-fill org vets there. So no reason to bump Ademan unless they think it would be for his own good.

[craig]

Phil with another article, a fantastic one.

*Little and Lange were both great today.

*Brady Clark was also good, 97 fastball and hard slider.

*Simmons pitched, much to my surprise.

 

https://www.thecubreporter.com/03292018/little-and-lange-dominate-riverview

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Phil with another article, a fantastic one.

*Little and Lange were both great today.

*Brady Clark was also good, 97 fastball and hard slider.

*Simmons pitched, much to my surprise.

 

https://www.thecubreporter.com/03292018/little-and-lange-dominate-riverview

 

My goodness, Little had himself a game. 76% strikes, no walks, had his fastball, curve and change working.

 

Ademan hit a HR too.

[craig]

If I could pick one aggressive assignment this year it would be Ademan to start in High A. The seeds have been planted for an elite prospect, he's held up his end so far, and I'm not even sure he has anything to gain by playing for South Bend...

 

Thanks for thoughts/analysis on Lange.

 

On Ademan, he was a .647-OPS guy with a .267 OBP at South Bend last year. So if he's ready to rock at Myrtle, great; not for me to question the Cubs scouting eval and development analysis for him.

 

But, it's not like he's proven he can hit Midwest-League pitching yet.

 

Obviously those crummy South Bend numbers are easy to dismiss based on small-sample size. But that likewise reflects that he's got little sample beyond short-season.

 

So not sure it would hurt to play it conservative. If he's already too good for Midwest League, then you should be able to start him there, have him dominate, and promote him later. No harm done. Have good window of club control for Javy and Russell, so no urgency for Ademan to rush.

 

When you rush a guy, then it's harder to process *IF* he struggles. Anything bad can be excused on basis of "not that bad given how young and inexperienced he is....". Hopefully he'll do excellent, and there will be no need to make excuses.

[craig]

I agree, he's a good prospect and he might be fine at Myrtle. His development is the priority here. Baez, Russell at the majors, not relevant; Upshaw or Peguero, I don't care about their roster-fill careers, nor about Pelicans W-L record. What's good for Ademan shouldn't be distracted by any of that stuff.

 

Overall it probably doesn't matter at all. If he's good, he'll probably be good at either level. If he's not that good, he'll probably not be that good at either level. He'll learn stuff and improve at either level; he'll be plenty-challenged at either level and won't be bored at either level.

 

Some side-effect advantages of doing Myrtle:

1. *IF* he's able to put up good hitting numbers, it will look somewhat more exciting at the higher level.

2. I wonder if there isn't some team-building aspect? Both A-teams are likely to have terrible player-rosters. But at Myrtle, at least Galindo and Wilson give two guys who might become major-leaguers. Don't expect there are any major-league players at South Bend. Who knows, maybe Ademan, Galindo, Wilson, Lange, Thompson, Moreno, and Paulino can become great pals and move up the system and get used to winning together, all the way to Wrigley.

[craig]

... he'll be plenty-challenged at either level and won't be bored at either level.....

 

I think this is where we disagree. If he's in Low A for long it's probably not a good thing since he's already been there plus it further throws off the possibility of hitting an elite benchmark in playing AA ball at 20. I also just don't find that level of ball to be informative, much of the challenge is guys just getting used to the travel and the unenjoyable everyday grind of minor league life. .....

 

Yeah, I really don't get how a hitting prospect can ever get bored. Particularly one like Ademan, whose personal qualities and desire to be excellent are supposed to be strong. He hit .244 at South Bend, maybe he could hit .280 or .300 or something. How can you be bored with that, even if you're hitting .300, when you're making out 70% of the time? If you can hit .300, wouldn't you want to get better and hit .350; and if you could it .350, wouldn't you want to get better and hit .400? Even if you're K'ing 15% of the time, wouldn't a motivated guy want to cut that to 10%? Given the low success rates for even the best hitters, I just can't understand how an aspiring prospect hitter can ever be too bored to want to get better! And assuming you want to get better enough to prompt a promotion, I'd think the motivation to play hard and play well should remain strong.

[CubsWin]

Welp, Cory Mazzoni is back. Dodgers tried to sneak him through waivers and the Cubs claimed him.

 

I wonder if he had even packed his bags yet. At least the trip from Sloan Park to the Dodgers spring training complex in Glendale is just 30 miles. Well, 60 miles round trip...

[craig]

Welp, Cory Mazzoni is back. Dodgers tried to sneak him through waivers and the Cubs claimed him.

 

I wonder if he had even packed his bags yet. At least the trip from Sloan Park to the Dodgers spring training complex in Glendale is just 30 miles. Well, 60 miles round trip...

 

That Cubs waived him with zero 40-man pressure, but then reclaimed him again back onto the 40, is interesting. Apparently like him enough to use a vacant 40-man spot. But apparently not enough to have minded losing him, and apparently figured it would be nicer to keep as many back-of-40 spots free as possible. Certainly possible that at some point later, they'll want to call up Giminez, or Farrell, or Coghlan, or Anthony Bass, or somebody non-40. And perhaps they figured somebody might get waived, but as it turned out nobody better than Mazzoni did?

 

*IF* he pitches effectively, had he been on a non-roster deal, then if they needed those spots for Giminez/Coghlan/Farrell, for example, they wouldn't have needed to waive and expose him. But now, *IF* he was to pitch really well but need to get non-rostered, perhaps somebody would claim him?

 

I just find it interesting to see some of these small decisions that they make, presumably a super-small decision that will never ever make any difference or matter at all.

 

Still, you never know. Mazzoni was once a 2nd-round pick, and had a 48K/3BB split last year in a post-injury season. Probably fluke, but if not, or if 2nd-year-back-pitchers-pitch-better were to happen, you might possibly have an anti-awful fill-in candidate?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

Pretty underwhelming stuff from Underwood.

[davell]

 

Pretty underwhelming stuff from Underwood.

 

4/5 starter kit for Rucker though. I guess even if he's not in the rotation to start the year out, he'll reach his innings limit somehow......

[craig]

Rucker's breaking stuff hasn't always gotten very enthusiastic reviews. 55 on breaking ball and 50 on change seems relatively favorable, actually.

 

By the way, Az Phil speculated that Robinson might actually get bumped up to IOwa; would clear rotation spot for Rucker, and 5th spot at Iowa seems open. (Tseng, Mills, Underwood, Farrell. If Robinson does NOT move up, would #5 be Bass or Roth or Hedges or whom?

[davell]

Morel and Guerra both got sent down to EXST. I'll take it as an absolute positive, that Morel made them take that hard of a look at him.....

 

Guerra is a bit disappointing though. With his pedigree, I expected full season ball for him.

[craig]

Morel and Guerra both got sent down to EXST. I'll take it as an absolute positive, that Morel made them take that hard of a look at him.....

 

Guerra is a bit disappointing though. With his pedigree, I expected full season ball for him.

 

Did we get $$ on Guerra? $10K? $20K?

 

I think for a new guy in new country, going through full Mesa experience would seem to make sense, depending on what his life and language experience is. I think they have lots of English classes, plus of course lots of Cubs Way instruction and stuff. Much more teaching and practice, lots of fields, etc.. Once in full-season, lots of long bus rides gobble up time that can be spend on instruction in Arizona. I sometimes wonder how much instruction guys really get once they reach full-season?