Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 6-24-16

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores:

 

Iowa lost 7-4 Box Score

 

SS M. Kawasaki 2/5, R, 2 RBI, 2 SB (9), CS (5)

RF M. Zagunis 0/4, 2 K, HBP, SB (2)

DH D. Vogelbach 0/4, BB, 2 K

3B J. Candelario 2/5, 2 2B (7), RBI, 2 K

2B L. Watkins 4/4, 2 R, SB (9)

SP D. Rucinski 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2-6 GO-FO, 97-63 pitches-strikes

RP A. Rivero 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 2-2 GO-FO

 

Tennessee won 4-1 Box Score

 

CF J. Hannemann 2/4, R, 3B (4), K, outfield assist at second base

3B C. Young 0/3, RBI, K

2B I. Happ 2/4, R, K

C V. Caratini 1/4, R, K

RF B. McKinney 1/3, RBI, BB

SS C. Penalver 0/4, 2 K

SP JH Tseng 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 6-4 GO-FO, 81-49 pitches-strikes; batting: 1/2

RP RJ Alvarez 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 0-2 GO-FO

 

Myrtle Beach v won 4-3 Box Score

 

CF R. Crawford 1/4, R, BB, K, SB (13)

SS G. Torres 1/4, R, 2B (15), RBI, BB, K

3B J. Vosler 2/3, 2B (19), RBI, BB, K

DH I. Rice 0/3, BB

2B A. Ely 1/2, 2B (1), RBI

LF C. Burks 2/3, R, 2B (12), RBI, BB, CS (4)

SP E. Leal 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 7-3 GO-FO, 99-63 pitches-strikes

RP R. McNeil 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 0-0 GO-FO

 

South Bend won 4-0 Box Score

 

DH C. Sepulveda 1/4, R, BB

C PJ Higgins 2/3, R, BB, K

CF D. Dewees 0/4, K

LF E. Jimnez 0/3, RBI, BB, K

1B T. Alamo 1/4, R, K

SP P. Morrison 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 10-4 GO-FO, 85-58 pitches-strikes

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

 

Eugene won 6-0 Box Score

 

CF DJ Wilson 2/5, R, K, SB (3)

SS A. Monasterio 2/5, R, 2 RBI, 2 K, E (4, fielding)

LF K. Mitchell 1/3, R, 2 BB, 2 SB (3)

1B C. Pieters 1/4, , 2B (2), RBI, 2 K

3B W. Galindo 1/4, RBI, 2 K, SB (1)

2B Y. Peguero 1/4, R, 2 K

RF R. Garcia 0/1, R, 2 BB, K, HBP

SP B. Hudson 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP, 11-0 GO-FO

 

AZL Cubs won 4-3 Box Score

 

CF J. Gonzalez 2/4, K, SB (1)

C G. Polanco 2/4

1B K. Zamudio 0/4, K

3B R. Mejia 2/4, R, 2B (2)

SS J. Bethencourt 0/3, R, 2 K

SP J. Assad 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 4-2 GO-FO

RP Y. Gomez 4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP, 7-1 GO-FO

 

DSL Cubs 1 won 5-4 Box Score

 

2B O. Nuñez 0/3, R, RBI, BB, SB (2)

SS R. Narea 0/2, R, 2 BB, K, SB (5), 2 E (6, fielding, fielding)

CF J. Gutierrez 1/4, R, K, E (1, fielding)

RF J. Sierra 0/4, R, K

LF J. Jules 1/4, 2B (2), 2 RBI, K, SB (4), outfield assist at second base

SP B. Marquez 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 4-4 GO-FO

 

DSL Cubs 2 won 3-0 Box Score

 

CF Y. Cuevas 0/4, K

SS A. Ademan 0/4, 2 K, E (8, throw)

DH F. Mejia 1/4, R, K

RF A. Rodriguez 1/2, R

2B L. Diaz 0/4, 2 K

SP H. Garcia 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 5-5 GO-FO

[ctcf]

Yessssss

 

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[Cubswin11]

Brailyn Marquez for the DSL Cubs 1 squad: 5 IP / 6 Ks / 1 H / 3 BBs / 0 R

It would be cool if we start developing top/middle of the rotation arms all of the sudden

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Hudson's been solid. 5IP 1H 0R 2BB 4K

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

Blah on the velocity.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

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[CubsWin]

All 8 Cubs affiliates won tonight. That's somewhat of a rarity. Add in the big club's W and it's even more rare...

[Brickhouse]

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Nice. Off-speed and breaking balls were "vicious". It's rare to find such a young pitcher with such advanced secondary pitches. Do you think he's likely to add velocity as he fills out? I see he's 6'8".

[Brickhouse]

 

Blah on the velocity.

 

Agreed. Frankly there's multiple arms that interest me more among the SS league players (Albertos, Cease, Marquez) and a few at least as much (Perez, Carerrera, Ocampo). I mean of this bunch if they even pull out one legit first division SP prospect it would be a win because pitchers.

Really? Cool. I have heard reports of what Cease, Albertos, Marquez and Perez throw. What do you know about Carrera's and Ocampo's stuff? Velo? Secondaries?

 

And do you think it matters their level of competition? Hudson is 18 and facing NWL hitters. Is the level of hitters Perez, Carrera and Ocampo are facing as 17 year olds similar?

 

Thanks.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

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Nice. Off-speed and breaking balls were "vicious". It's rare to find such a young pitcher with such advanced secondary pitches. Do you think he's likely to add velocity as he fills out? I see he's 6'8".

 

Yeah, I suspect he will add a couple mph to his average velocity. That obviously sounds a lot more interesting if he's currently working around 90 rather than the 87-88 mentioned in the tweet Tom posted.

[Brickhouse]

There were reports from Mesa a couple months ago that Javier Assad, who started for the AZL Cubs tonight, was hitting mid-90s. I see he threw 5 scoreless innings tonight only giving up 3 hits. I wonder if he will be someone to watch.

[Brickhouse]

Really? Cool. I have heard reports of what Cease, Albertos, Marquez and Perez throw. What do you know about Carrera's and Ocampo's stuff? Velo? Secondaries?

 

And do you think it matters their level of competition? Hudson is 18 and facing NWL hitters. Is the level of hitters Perez, Carrera and Ocampo are facing as 17 year olds similar?

 

Thanks.

 

Hudson's 19, more or less the same age those guys are on track to be in the NWL. There's not enough difference between what those guys are facing now and what Hudson was facing at the same age to really mince over it (if anything, Carrera's seen the most in his baseball life at/through 17).

 

Carrera was with Isaac Paredes on Mexico's 15U national team in 2014, both guys pitched and hit (Carrera in the OF/CF and Paredes obviously as a SS). He's one of the more athletic pitchers in the system basically and has similar velocity to Hudson (t89 last year when signed) and is almost two years younger. Feel for a curveball, high baseball IQ....

 

Ocampo's a physical RH with a Matt Garza-y body type, contrast it with the gangly/loosey goosey type bodies of guys like Leal and Jesus Castillo when they were the same age. Typical FB/slider RH, could/should sit into the low-mid 90s once he's got his feet under him as a pro as long as he stays healthy. Not my favorite type of pitcher but at this stage that's not a thing.

 

Really, the thing to take out is that the Cubs are slowly but surely building a pool of interesting arms and hopefully one emerges. My preference is one of the lefties, but we'll see how that looks in 2018+.

 

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Here's a writeup from a seemingly thoughtful Cubs prospect blog on Hudson's outing last night:

 

https://cubscentral.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/bryan-hudson-an-exercise-in-efficiency/

 

Hudson stands 6’8” tall and has a smooth effortless delivery. Last night, he threw mostly fastballs and changeups, again, only throwing his big breaking curve a few times. Hudson is basically a control master who throws on a downhill plane toward the plate. As a result, from his height, hitters do not get a good angle on the ball. So, he gets a lot of ground balls. Of the 15 outs he got last night, 10 came via the groundball variety, 4 were Ks, and the other out came in a ground ball double play. As I watched the game, I wrote down what type of ground balls he got. Here are some of the descriptions:

 

Weak groundout to third

Weak high chopper to third

Slow roller to second

Weak grounder to 2nd

Weak grounder to short

Etc., etc.

 

....

 

As for his pitches, the fastballs were in the upper 80s, 87-88. He topped out at 89 and 90 a couple of times. To be honest, it did not look like he put much effort into his delivery to get to 87-88, which is good. That adds to his deception. There were a couple of times I noted that hitters in the box looked “uncomfortable” in the box and swinging – almost desperate in their attitude and action.

Thanks for the info, Tom!