Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 6-25-19

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores:

 

Iowa won 5-1 Box Score

 

Tennessee won 8-6 Box Score

 

Myrtle Beach won 4-3 Box Score

 

South Bend won 10-4 Box Score

 

Eugene lost 4-0 Box Score

 

AZL Cubs 1 won 10-5 Box Score

 

AZL Cubs 2won 4-0 Box Score

 

DSL Cubs 1 won 6-1 Box Score

 

DSL Cubs 2 won 6-2 Box Score

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[Bertz]

Cole Roederer looks to be figuring out the Midwest league. 4/4 with two doubles and a dong today, 3/5 with two doubles Sunday, and 2/4 with a double Saturday

[Bertz]

Annnnndddddd add a triple

 

[CubsWin]

18-year-old right-hander out of Mexico, Manuel Espinoza, who was signed as an IFA 2 years ago (the same class as Luis Verdugo & Reivaj Garcia) for $400,000 (with $300,000 of that going to his Mexican team) didn't play last year. But he has impressed in his 1st two pro outings this year:

 

9 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K. (He went 5 scoreless tonight with 3 hits.)

 

He's 6'0", 175 lbs. and the youngest pitcher currently on the AZL Cubs 2 roster. (There are 4 pitchers on AZL Cubs 1 that are younger - in order of youngest to oldest - Joel Machado, who has yet to pitch, Richard Gallardo, Misael Garcia and Jorge Remon.)

 

No idea on Espinoza's stuff. I've put in a question to AZ Phil on that. No reason to think he's a legit prospect yet, but definitely someone to keep an eye on.

[CubsWin]

This year's 2nd rounder Chase Strumpf and 14th rounder Ryan Reynolds (son of Shane Reynolds) made their pro debuts tonight. Strumpf went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. He played 2B. Reynolds played 3B and went 2-for-5 with a 2-run HR, no walks and 3 Ks.

[CubsWin]

Cole Roederer said, "Enough!"

 

After going 1-for-21 (.047) in his previous 6 games, he's hit safely in 10 of his last 14 at bats (.714) with 5 doubles, a triple, a HR, 5 runs scored and 6 driven in. In those 3 games he raised his SLG from .326 to .409 and his AVG from .209 to .247.

 

It'd be really nice if this is a sign he's taken a step forward in his development and not just a hot streak. As is common for a 19-year-old in the MWL, he's been streaky all year, so we'll see. If it is development, that would give the Cubs an impressive group of 19 and 20-year-olds at that level going forward.

 

Brennan Davis, 19, has a shot at being the Cubs top prospect by the end of the season if he is able to maintain what he's done so far. Christopher Morel leads the team in HRs with 4. He just turned 20 yesterday. He's hitting .294 over his last 10 games but more importantly has walked 3 times in that span. Roederer, 19, is heating up. Marquez, 20, arguably has the highest ceiling of any Cubs pitching prospect. That's four.

 

A little less interesting is Jose Albertos, 20, who left his last outing with a blister on June 16th and hasn't pitched since, but has a really impressive 3 pitch mix, and if he finds his release point more consistently could rocket back up into the Cubs top 10. 2017 5th rounder, Nelson Velazquez, has the tools but lacks approach/discipline at the plate. He reminds me a lot of toolsy former Cubs prospect Jeffrey Baez, but he's a year younger than Baez was at this level. And lastly, 20-year-old lefty, Faustino Carrera and his excellent change up has acquitted himself quite well against MWL hitters. That's seven.

 

Not bad.

 

One 20-year-old in South Bend who did not make this list is 2015 bonus baby ($2.5 million) Jonathan Sierra. What a disappointment he's been at every level. At the time of his signing, many experts had him much lower and were surprised by the size of the signing bonus the Cubs gave him. Theo bet on his athleticism but it looks like the outside experts were right on this one.

[CubsWin]

Time for a promotion for Riley Thompson...

 

59 IP, 53 H, 5 HR, 15 BB, 56 K, 2.29 ERA, 1.15 WHIP.

 

He'll turn 23 in two weeks.

[Regular Show]

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[Cubswin11]

I’m fine with a combined 0 WAR out of Descalso, Russell, Cargo and Almora filling out the bench. Thanks for asking.

[CubsWin]

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Truly, truly incredible.

 

"All those years and you never played organized baseball?

 

Well... I sorta got sidetracked."

-The Natural

[Little Slide Rooter]

As long as the not-so dynamic duo of Russell and DeScalso continue to combine to form the biggest black hole in baseball and Zo continues to sulk at home or church or wherever he does his sulking, I see no reason not to give Robel a look-see.

[UK]

As long as the not-so dynamic duo of Russell and DeScalso continue to combine to form the biggest black hole in baseball and Zo continues to sulk at home or church or wherever he does his sulking, I see no reason not to give Robel a look-see.

 

I can only assume you have never gone through a divorce with kids involved.

[Bertz]