Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 5-23-16

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores:

 

Iowa lost 6-1 Box Score

 

C W. Contreras 1/3, R, HR (4), RBI, BB, 2 K

CF A. Almora 1/4, K

1B D. Vogelbach 0/3, BB, 2 K

2B A. Alcántara 2/3

SS M. Kawasaki 1/4, K

SP S. FIfe 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP, 2-4 GO-FO, 44-32 pitches-strikes

RP F. Peña 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 0-2 GO-FO

RP C. Edwards Jr 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1-0 GO-FO

 

Tennessee won 3-2 on a Billy McKinney walk-off single Box Score

 

2B C. Young 3/6, 2 R, 2B (3)

CF J. Hannemann 1/3, R, 2 BB, K, HBP, SB (18), CS (2)

3B J. Candelario 3/6, RBI

C V. Caratini 1/5, BB, 2 K

RF B. McKinney 2/6, RBI, K

LF B. Rademacher 0/2, BB, 2 K

SS C. Penalver 3/5, 2 K

SP B. Markey 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 4-5 GO-FO, 93-61 pitches-strikes

RP S. Peralta 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 3-2 GO-FO

 

Myrtle Beach won 3-1 Box Score

 

CF R. Crawford 2/4, 2 R, 3B (3), HR (2), 2 RBI, K

SS G. Torres 0/4, K

2B I. Happ 1/3, RBI, 2 K

3B J. Vosler 0/3

RF Je. Baez 0/1, 2 BB, SB (17)

SP Z. Hedges 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 8-5 GO-FO, 86-53 pitches-strikes

 

South Bend won 6-3 Box Score

 

2B A. Ely 2/4, 2 R, 2B (7), BB, CS (4)

C PJ Higgins 2/3, R, 2B (11), 2 RBI

CF D. Dewees 0/3, BB

LF E. Jimenez 3/4, 2B (12), RBI, BB

RF E. Martinez 0/5, 2 K

3B J. Hodges 1/3, R, 2B (3), RBI, BB

1B T. Alamo 1/4, R, HR (1), 2 RBI, K

SP C. Sands 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP, 9-5 GO-FO, 89-61 pitches-strikes

RP C. Bloomquist 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 5-0 GO-FO

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Rob Zastryzny has been promoted to Iowa.

[Bear Cub]

The Iowa starting pitching is a disaster.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Eloy with a single and a walk in his first two PAs tonight.

[Regular Show]

Why did R. Zastryzny get promoted to Iowa lol? Like seriously? I guess he could develop into a mop up guy or crappy relief pitcher, but the scouting reports I've read always seemed unimpressive. Whoever the scout was that recommended we take him at the top of the 2nd round in 2013 should be questioned if not fired. I thought it was a bad pick at the time and the results have backed that up.

[Cubswin11]

Why did R. Zastryzny get promoted to Iowa lol? Like seriously? I guess he could develop into a mop up guy or crappy relief pitcher, but the scouting reports I've read always seemed unimpressive. Whoever the scout was that recommended we take him at the top of the 2nd round in 2013 should be questioned if not fired. I thought it was a bad pick at the time and the results have backed that up.

The rotation at Iowa has been awful and there's no real SP prospects there other than Williams. May just be a sink or swim promotion or maybe there's a coach(s)/competition they want him working with there/against.

[CubsWin]

Why did R. Zastryzny get promoted to Iowa lol? Like seriously? I guess he could develop into a mop up guy or crappy relief pitcher, but the scouting reports I've read always seemed unimpressive. Whoever the scout was that recommended we take him at the top of the 2nd round in 2013 should be questioned if not fired. I thought it was a bad pick at the time and the results have backed that up.

His promotion may have been influenced by the amount of injuries to the starters in AAA. Plus, he's 24 and had logged 115.1 IP in AA. There wasn't really anyone in AA they could've promoted instead of him.

 

I agree on picking him in the 2nd round not working out at all. At the time, reports were that when the Cubs saw him, he was throwing mid-90s and looked nasty. That didn't continue though once he joined the Cubs. He's been very hittable. What's worse is the Cubs could've taken LHP prep arm Cody Reed, Prep 3B Ryan McMahon, C Andrew Knapp or another more highly touted college lefty Kevin Ziomek who has done much, much better than Zas thus far.

[CubsWin]

Why did R. Zastryzny get promoted to Iowa lol? Like seriously? I guess he could develop into a mop up guy or crappy relief pitcher, but the scouting reports I've read always seemed unimpressive. Whoever the scout was that recommended we take him at the top of the 2nd round in 2013 should be questioned if not fired. I thought it was a bad pick at the time and the results have backed that up.

The rotation at Iowa has been awful and there's no real SP prospects there other than Williams. May just be a sink or swim promotion or maybe there's a coach(s)/competition they want him working with there/against.

And Williams just went on the 7-day DL after being removed in the middle of his last start.

[CubsWin]

Dylan Cease continues to lack consistency, but that's to be expected given his age, control being the last to return after TJS and the fact the Cubs have him working on his curve and change in-game. Here's AZ Phil's write-up...

 

RHP Dylan Cease followed Brooks to the hill and worked three innings (63 pitches - 63% strikes), allowing three runs (all three earned) on five hits (two doubles and three singles) and two walks, with four strikeouts, and a 2/3 GO/AO. He also committed a two-base throwing error attempting to pick a runner off 1st base.

 

Cease's fastball velocity sat consistently at 96-98 MPH, but he touched 99 twice and 100 once in the top of the third when he struck out the side (his only 1-2-3 inning). He also threw about a dozen curves (79-81 MPH) and about a half-dozen change-ups (82-84 MPH). He had trouble commanding his change-up (he bounced most of them), he hung a couple of curves that were hammered for line-drive hits, and he had trouble keeping his fastball at knee level (which is when it's virtually unhittable), leaving too many of his high-velocity offerings belt-high.

 

Dylan Cease combined 2016 Cactus League EXST line (thru 5/23):

6 games

2.95 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, .242 OppBA

18.1 IP, 16 H, 6 R (6 ER), 9 BB, 26 K, 1 HBP, 0 HR, 2 WP, 2 PO, 1 BALK, 2 GIDP, 17/7 GO/AO, 307 pitches (61% strikes), 16.7 PITCHES-PER-INNING

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[CubsWin]

Contreras hits his 4th HR of the year.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Eloy is now 2-3 with a walk and a double.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

And another single for Eloy.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Carl Edwards tonight: 1IP 0H 0R 1BB 3K

 

Felix Pena on the year: 22.1IP 10H 7BB 29K 1.61 ERA

[ctcf]

I think Eloy might be good at baseball, guys.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

wow did Pena sneak up on me with that bullpen dominance

 

Edwards is really rounding into form, have to put pretty decent odds that he'll come up for Fedorowicz once Heyward is good to go.

[Cubswin11]

Anyone have a scouting report on Pena? What kind of pitches/velo does he have?

[Tim]

Patton has been even more dominant than Edwards.

[davell]

Anyone have a scouting report on Pena? What kind of pitches/velo does he have?

 

He's a FB/SL guy. He was typically throwing 90ish as a starter, while trying to add in a change that never developed. Out of the pen though, he's throwing 95-96. AZPhil thought he was definitely getting protected this off season. He's older, but he's definitely got a shot as a middle reliever. I'd say he's a decent bet to log a few major league innings this year for us at some point.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Iowa starting pitching is a disaster.

 

That's really not worth losing sleep over. It would be one thing if they were actual prospects, but other than Williams who's been decent and the mostly injured Johnson, they're a bunch of AAAA filler.

 

It'a no secret that our upper levels in general are devoid of starting pitching. But it seems as though our idea of developing pitchers is to have Bosio repair other team's failures. And it seems to be working out pretty well.