Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 6-13-19

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores:

 

Iowa won 3-2 Box Score

 

Tennessee won 4-3 (10 innings) Box Score

 

Myrtle Beach won 1-0 Box Score

 

South Bend won 5-1 Box Score

 

DSL Cubs 1 won 6-3 Box Score

 

DSL Cubs 2 won 6-5 Box Score

[Tryptamine]

Well this is about as exciting a pitching day as the farm has had in a very long time.

[CubsWin]

Well this is about as exciting a pitching day as the farm has had in a very long time.

Indeed, sir. Alzolay, Miller and Marquez should be fun to watch. And TBD might be the best guy they have in Myrtle Beach, too.

[CubsWin]

Speaking of Myrtle Beach, what the hell is up with Alex Lange?

 

He starts out with 4 terrible games in April: 9 IP, 27 H, 7 BB, 10 K, 21.00 ERA, 3.78 WHIP (.600 babip)

 

He then throws a no-hit, shutout thru 5 innings walking 4 and striking out 7.

 

Then it's 4 more bad starts in a row for the rest of May: 20.2 IP, 21 H, 12 BB, 18 Ks, 6.10 ERA, 1.89 WHIP (.290 babip)

 

And now, over his last 2 starts: 13 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 16 K, 2.77 ERA, 0.92 WHIP (.258 babip)

 

Is he just that inconsistent? Are the Cubs asking him to work on certain pitches in his bad games? Is he just getting lucky in his good starts? Was he just terribly unlucky in April? I don't know what to make of him.

 

In watching Albertos' last appearance, the announcers said he wasn't throwing his plus change up as much because he's trying to work on FB command. How prevalent is that technique? Do the Cubs routinely restrict a pitcher from throwing their best pitch in order to work on their weaknesses, and then say "okay, go get 'em in this start" to see where you're at? I mean it sounds like something they would do. I'm sure lots of teams would do that, but does that explain what is happening with Lange?

 

I'm at a loss with this guy...

[CubsWin]

I can't breakdown what a pitcher is doing in his delivery, but watching Albertos last night, it seemed clear to me that it's all release point with this guy. He's a lot closer to finding it consistently than he was a year ago for sure, but he still struggles to maintain it. Once/If he ever gets consistent with it, look out, though. The stuff that prospect experts found so exciting 18 months earlier is still there.

 

His curve ball seems different from what it was earlier in Eugene. This thing is like a wiffle ball. I don't know whether that's good or bad, but it's dives and breaks are impressive. He throws what looks like a 2-seamer with arm side run at 91-92 and a straighter, 4-seamer at 94-95 which he is able to keep low in the zone and get ground balls off of. The change up is still plus and, according to the South Bend announcers, the reason why the Cubs signed him.

 

He often seemed to be releasing the ball late, be it with his wiffle curve which would sail wildly into the left handed batter's box or with his two-seamer which would miss buy 6-8 inches causing the catcher to lurch to his right. Sometimes he'd even bounce it. Less often he would miss inside with some pitches to right-handed batters.

 

But when his release point was right, this guy looked good. Really good. That wiffle curve would start at the right-handed batter's head and break down and in for a strike. For lefties, it looked way high and outside and then they'd swing at the last minute with the ball breaking in at their ankles. His curve isn't hard to identify, but it seemed almost impossible to hit. He embarrassed a lot of hitters with it last night. If he gets his release point cemented in and can throw it for strikes, that's a helluva pitch going forward.

 

A consistent release point would obviously help all his pitches. His 2-seamer would start off the plate and then catch the outside corner more regularly. The great action on his change would wind up in the zone more often. He'd have an impressive 4-pitch arsenal going forward, but it all hinges on continued improvement in that one area.

 

He's remade his wind up. That seems to have allowed him to narrow his release point to where he's not incredibly wild. He looks a lot more comfortable and confident as a result. Now it's the fine tuning. He's 20. He's got time. Can he do it? If he does, he may be right back up to where he was. The best pitching prospect in the Cubs organization.

[Hrubes20]

Colin Rea now listed as the starter for Iowa. Boo.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Colin Rea now listed as the starter for Iowa. Boo.

 

I was moderately excited but then I checked and Adbert is listed as the probable starter tomorrow.