Jump to content
North Side Baseball

Minor League Musings

Little Slide Rooter
 Share
CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
The development of RHRP Eury Ramos has been mentioned earlier in this thread as he transformed himself physically and pushed his velocity 93-96, T97 in 2018 to consistently upper-90s this spring. Bain was the headline story yesterday, but Ramos threw a perfect inning with 2 Ks on 9 pitches (7 strikes).

 

UDFA Ben Leeper, who has also been clocked in the upper-90s but sits more mid-90s, closed out the game with a scoreless inning, 1 hit, no walks, 2 Ks on 13 pitches (11 strikes).

 

Myrtle Beach may have themselves a pen this year, though both of them are 23 years old.

 

Eury was 97-99 again: https://www.thecubreporter.com/comment/269383#comment-269383

 

K-DUB: Eury Ramos FB was 97-99.
  • Replies 3.7k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Cubs pitching prospect Max Bain has sort of become Cubs Prospect Twitter’s darling between his story and social media engagement. AZ Phil had him throwing high 90s and dominating low-A level hitters in one of his recent reports. How likely do you think it is that he tastes the high minors this season, especially given his age (24 by year’s end)? How remote are his chances of starting long-term?

 

Eric A Longenhagen: AZ Phil is tireless and thorough and people should trust what he says. I start on Cubs today (if I’m not hauling ass to Long Beach) in a couple hours, and have been told they suddenly have several guys bumping mid-90s and above.

 

Nice juicy answer here, even if Bain isn’t really addressed. Looking forward to see who these velocity jumpers are and which ones successfully translate it to games

 

Hey, Eric! I know I should just be patient for the Cubs list, but can you preview how you might grade their SS candidates behind Preciado, including some helium guys like Ed Howard, Cristian Hernandez, and Kevin Made? Thanks!

 

Eric A Longenhagen: Pretty sure they’ll all be stuffed. Hernandez will just be where he was on the Int’l list, Made I saw a bunch of last fall and really liked him, will at least be a 40+ maybe a 45. They’re as deep with teenage MIFs as any org, including CLeveland

 

The bolded parts there are really great news (obviously you better have good news on teenage MIFs when that’s the demographic you targeted while trading away a top 10 big league SP).

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted

https://www.thecubreporter.com/04232021/amaya-walks-it-sloan-park

 

Miguel Amaya hit a triple and a walk-off home run.

 

Erich Uelmen is still starting. Robert Stock is dominating:

 

But RHRP Robert Stock was the highlight of the day pitching-wise, throwing two shutout innings and striking out four (swinging). He threw 28 pitches (75% strikes!) including 12 FB and 16 SL, and all 12 FB were 99 MPH or better (five at 99, four at 100, and three 101 MPH).
CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted

 

Some interesting stuff in here. Looks like Ed Howard, Yeison Santana, Luis Verdugo and catchers Ethan Hearn and Pablo Aliendo have made Myrtle Beach:

 

For instance, Howard and fellow middle infielders Yeison Santana (another piece of the Darvish deal) and Luis Robert Verdugo have earned spots at Low A Myrtle Beach with their play in Minor League Spring Training. In turn, that pushes Strumpf to High A South Bend, where he could be joined by Jensen.

 

...

 

The only one of the four prospects in the Darvish trade who has appeared in a pro game, Santana finished fourth in the Rookie-level Arizona League batting race at .346 in 2019. The Cubs targeted him in the deal because they liked his bat-to-ball skills and high baseball IQ, and they're enthused after their first in-person experience with him.

 

"He's been really impressive with his approach and ability to use the whole field," Dorey said. "He also has some sneaky power to his pull side and he can definitely play shortstop."

 

Catchers Ed Hearn and Pablo Aliendo have impressed in Minor League camp and grabbed spots on the Myrtle Beach roster. The top-rated high school catcher in the 2019 Draft, Hearn has made some mechanical adjustments at the plate to improve his timing and stay more on plane to the ball. A 19-year-old Venezuelan who has yet to make his U.S. debut, Aliendo has attracted attention with his strength, athleticism and receiving ability.

 

Keegan Thompson is working 92-95 with a new cutter at the ATS. And there’s more Max Bain hype in there.

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted

High-A: https://www.thecubreporter.com/04262021/cubs-cruise-past-timber-rattlers-sloan-park

 

Chase Strumpf with 2 hits including a triple. Yonathan Perlaza had two singles. Ryan Jensen continues to struggle with his control:

 

Cubs 2019 1st round draft pick RHP Ryan Jensen got the start for the Cubs and once again was unable to get through his second inning of work, throwing 34 pitches in just 1.1 IP (only 44% strikes) and walking three. His FB velo was 95-98 and his SL velo was 89-90 in his first inning, but the FB velo was down to 93-95 and the SL velo was down to 87-88 by the time he left the game with one out in the top of the 2nd.
CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
What, Myrtle and South Bend swapped levels? I must have missed that.

 

Yeah, it was part of all the minor league changes this offseason. The Cubs old shortseason team in Eugene also moved to high-A (along with a few other NWL teams).

Bertz Knoxville Smokies

Bertz

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Has Ademan been at SB all spring, or was he just making a spot start? Like Adam Morgan's a major leaguer and he pitched so it's clearly not weird for guys to move up/down a level based on where playing time is available on a given day. But If Ademan opens at SB that would feel like the final nail in his prospect coffin.
CubsWin Myrtle Beach Pelicans

CubsWin

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
Has Ademan been at SB all spring, or was he just making a spot start? Like Adam Morgan's a major leaguer and he pitched so it's clearly not weird for guys to move up/down a level based on where playing time is available on a given day. But If Ademan opens at SB that would feel like the final nail in his prospect coffin.

On AZ Phil's depth chart, Ademan was listed as the AA SS until a few days ago. He's now listed as the High-A 2B. That sounds like a decision (and demotion has been made).

 

On that same depth chart, Luis Verdugo, who is still considered by some to be the Cubs best defensive SS prospect, is listed as a 3B in Low-A. All of this is fungible, of course. Howard will undoubtedly get the majority of starts at SS in Myrtle Beach, but I'm sure Verdugo will spend some time there as well with spot starts and rare late-inning shifts.

 

I also asked Phil about Cristian Hernandez's status and likelihood of playing in Mesa this year (currently he's listed on Phil's Dominican roster). He said Covid rules will prohibit much, if any, movement from the DSL to stateside. But Phil's not certain what the Cubs might do with him once the full season teams ship out in a few days.

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted

https://www.thecubreporter.com/04272021/pelicans-know-way-beat-san-jose

 

Lot of interesting names in the box score for Myrtle Beach (low-A):

 

2B Yeison Santana 0/4, K

SS Ed Howard IV 1/4, 3 K, 1B

DH #2 Jordan Nwogu 1/3, BB, K, 1B

LF Yohendirck Piñango 2/3, BB, K, 2B, 1B

3B Luis Verdugo 0/2, BB, K

C Ethan Hearn 0/3

SP Manuel Espinoza 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR

RP Richard Gallardo: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

 

This was the last minor league ST game. The minor league season starts next Tuesday.

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Has Ademan been at SB all spring, or was he just making a spot start? Like Adam Morgan's a major leaguer and he pitched so it's clearly not weird for guys to move up/down a level based on where playing time is available on a given day. But If Ademan opens at SB that would feel like the final nail in his prospect coffin.

On AZ Phil's depth chart, Ademan was listed as the AA SS until a few days ago. He's now listed as the High-A 2B. That sounds like a decision (and demotion has been made).

 

On that same depth chart, Luis Verdugo, who is still considered by some to be the Cubs best defensive SS prospect, is listed as a 3B in Low-A. All of this is fungible, of course. Howard will undoubtedly get the majority of starts at SS in Myrtle Beach, but I'm sure Verdugo will spend some time there as well with spot starts and rare late-inning shifts.

 

I also asked Phil about Cristian Hernandez's status and likelihood of playing in Mesa this year (currently he's listed on Phil's Dominican roster). He said Covid rules will prohibit much, if any, movement from the DSL to stateside. But Phil's not certain what the Cubs might do with him once the full season teams ship out in a few days.

 

His whole response was interesting:

 

Arizona Phil[/url]"]K-DUB: As of right now there will be two DSL Cubs teams and two AZL Cubs teams. Whether or not the games will be "official" and when the seasons will start is still TBD.

 

Right now the 15 MLB organizations operating in Arizona are all over the place as far as when Extended Spring Training games will start (some teams will be starting to play EXST games next week, and others won't start until June).

 

Because of CoViD-19 protocols and quarantines, players will probably not move back & forth between the Dominican Academy and Arizona in 2021, so any Cubs Dominican Academy player assigned to Extended Spring Training in Arizona will have to be AZL ready, and I don't know how the Cubs feel about Cristian Hernandez's readiness for AZL,

Bertz Knoxville Smokies

Bertz

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

 

I thought this was really interesting, especially contrasting to what the Cubs did during the first half of the Theo/Jed era.

 

The Cubs took a horsefeathers load of back end looking SPs with command and a nice breaking ball, but who were light in velocity. Unfortunately, none of these guys added velo, so they all stalled out at Tenn or Iowa. The Indians basically did the same thing, but successfully added that velo to a handful of guys, and ended up with Clevinger/Bieber/etc.

 

Also, earlier this winter Jed lamented being too careful with guys and not pushing them a little more on the player development front. So it appears that they had the right idea, but only went halfway, which is why they essentially went 0 for half a decade on the pitching front.

 

On the hitting front, the Cubs have obviously acquitted themselves quite well, but it's still interesting to contrast with the Rays. The Cubs clearly also prioritized plate discipline, but went the direction of trying to improve the contact of power guys rather than improve the power of contact guys.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
The North Side Baseball Caretaker Fund
The North Side Baseball Caretaker Fund

You all care about this site. The next step is caring for it. We’re asking you to caretake this site so it can remain the premier Cubs community on the internet. Included with caretaking is ad-free browsing of North Side Baseball.

Become a Caretaker

  • Member Statistics

    6,793
    Total Members
    13,056
    Most Online
    Kevin OBrien
    Newest Member
    Kevin OBrien
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...