Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 7-21-19

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores:

 

Iowa lost 8-4 Box Score

 

Tennessee lost 7-6 Box Score

 

Myrtle Beach suspended in the 8th inning Box Score

 

South Bend lost game one 4-3 (7 innings) Box Score

 

South Bend won game two 5-1 (7 innings) Box Score

 

Eugene lost 5-2 Box Score

 

AZL Cubs 1 won 7-5 Box Score

 

AZL Cubs 2 won 7-3 Box Score

 

DSL Cubs 1 and 2 had the day off

[We Got The Whole 9]

You have Mort pitching for 2 affiliates

[CubsWin]

You have Mort pitching for 2 affiliates

You've heard of airplanes, haven't you?!

[CaliforniaRaisin]

You have Mort pitching for 2 affiliates

 

I don't know what you're talking about. 8-[

[We Got The Whole 9]

Mort decided to pitch in Eugene and he has a no-hitter going in the 7th

 

Edit: shouldn't have said anything

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Yovanni Cruz: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.

 

Second start of the season. Holding out hope he can get stretched out and get to Eugene or South Bend for a few starts.

[CubsWin]

Mort decided to pitch in Eugene and he has a no-hitter going in the 7th

 

Edit: shouldn't have said anything

I thought this was well-established protocol. Never use the word "no-hitter" during a no-hitter. This one's on you, pal. I'm telling Zach.

[CubsWin]

Yovanni Cruz: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.

 

Second start of the season. Holding out hope he can get stretched out and get to Eugene or South Bend for a few starts.

:beg:

 

I had Cruz ranked 10th in the system going into the year, and then he had to go and be a pitcher. The Cubs must be pretty tight-lipped with their injuries because I asked AZ Phil more than once if he had heard what Yovanny's injury was or whether he'd seen him throwing, and he had nothing. All of a sudden, he's back throwing in games. It's great to see especially after all the setbacks to guys like Estrada, Correa, heck Alzolay, Thompson, Steele and Albertos. At least Little's back.

 

For all the setbacks, the Cubs have had some encouraging progression amongst their pitchers this season:

 

Despite early struggles in AAA, Tyson Miller followed his strong High-A season with an even stronger AA performance.

 

Paul Richan has steadily progressed each month in Myrtle Beach. His BAA and WHIP have improved from .303 and 1.58 in April to .297 and 1.29 in May, and from .224 and 1.11 in June to .173 and 0.79 in July.

 

Riley Thompson has put himself on the prospect map.

 

Cam Sanders is having a mini-breakout in July, drastically cutting his walk rate while maintaining his mid-90s velocity.

 

Jack Patterson has become a thing.

 

Kohl Franklin has had the most notable breakout of any Cubs pitcher in my book.

 

And how dare I forget the little engine that could, Jeffrey Passantino!

 

All in all, I'd say it's been a disappointing year for Cubs minor league pitching. Of course, it's not over yet. They added Jensen, who looked impressive in his last outing. Cruz could continue his comeback. Marquez has had his ups and downs but was dominant in his last outing (not by stat line but if you watched the game, I think you'd agree). Cory Abbott had a terrible June, but he's bouncing back and was outstanding in April and May. If Alzolay returns and pitches well and Little keeps performing as he has been (2.55 ERA, 1.13 WHIP), maybe they can salvage this season...

[CubsWin]

BTW, here's Marquez's last game...

 

In the 1st: 96-98 FB, 87-89 SL. Dominant.

 

In the 2nd: 95-97, T99 FB, 88-90 CH, 87-88 SL. Dominant again.

 

In the 3rd & 4th: Velocities remain consistent. A couple errors allowing runners to advance who eventually scored on outs. 2 of Marquez's 3 walks were the leadoff variety. If those walks had happened later in the inning, neither run scores. The walks weren't wild. He was missing either outside or inside with the FB.

 

In the 5th: Velocities held up. A little less dominant than his first two innings, but still looked really good.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Short hit HR #4 for Iowa, is hitting .279/.390/.515 with a 21% K rate through just 82 PAs there. His 21% K rate in 136 PAs this year remains a pro career best, still doing the defense/power/walks/flyballs thing

This guy's gonna end up the best MIF after Baez in the org, isnt he?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

What are we going to do with all these shortstops???