Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 8-15-19

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores:

 

Iowa lost 5-0 Box Score

 

Tennessee won 5-4 (12 innings) on a walk-off Jared Young single Box Score

 

Myrtle Beach won 11-2 Box Score

 

South Bend lost 2-1 Box Score

 

Eugene in progress Box Score

 

AZL Cubs 1 lost 5-4 Box Score

 

AZL Cubs 2 won 5-3 Box Score

 

DSL Cubs 1 lost 13-8 Box Score

 

DSL Cubs 2 lost 10-9 Box Score

[CubsWin]

Riley Thompson has been suspended indefinitely by the Cubs. Hope it's not domestic violence related, but whatever it is, it can't be good.

[UK]

Riley Thompson has been suspended indefinitely by the Cubs. Hope it's not domestic violence related, but whatever it is, it can't be good.

 

I'm assuming it has to do with the foreign substance found on his glove.

[Hrubes20]

Fun facts

 

Nick Hoerner in AA at 22: 263/.333/.400 with 3 HRs, 19 XBHs, and a .93 GO/AO in 228 PAs

 

Isaac Paredes in AA at 20: .286/.371/.418 with 10 HRs, 34 XBHs, and a .85 GO/AO in 472 PAs

 

.300/.391/.500, 10.1% BB, 11.6% K in 69 PAs prior to breaking hand

 

.241/.301/.323, 6.8% BB, 8.9% K in 180 PAs afterwards

 

We have to wait until next year to find out if it was league adjustments, the hand, or a combination of both that led to his drop in production. Those hand and wrist injuries are buggers for hitters. I'll always remember how anemic Derrek Lee's bat was when he came back from the hand/wrist injury in 2006. It took until 2017 for him to get back to being himself.

 

Riley Thompson has been suspended indefinitely by the Cubs. Hope it's not domestic violence related, but whatever it is, it can't be good.

 

I'm assuming it has to do with the foreign substance found on his glove.

 

Yikes. Suspended for that? Seems a bit harsh to me.

[Hrubes20]

The upside basically still seems like an IF Almora who maybe - being in his early-mid 20s in a juiced league - hits some HRs for cheap

 

Like, the current form of Almora that is the worst or second worst hitter in baseball over the past year?

[We Got The Whole 9]

Like, the current form of Almora that is the worst or second worst hitter in baseball over the past year?

 

Like the prospect Almora who would miss games to nagging injuries, made contact but not show much in the way of secondary skills, got most of his hype on being a Theo First Rounder, hit his best early and in leagues wherever everyone else hit too, but otherwise really just needed time to develop. So the mediocre starter we hoped Almora to be before he collapsed

 

I do think Hoerner's a marginally better prospect than that, stronger and he's hitting flyballs this year that can translate. Still, just looks like the ceiling is a second division starter whose most valuable attributes to the Cubs are in his prospect ranking, proximity to the MLs compared to their more talented prospects, and contract status

 

Your M.O. seems to be to downplay every prospect getting national recognition and to attempt to unearth the hidden gems in the system so you can prop yourself up when/if they become names. You go on and on about prospect K rates and Nico has just one in his last 65 PAs but not a mention. Hes hitting very well in a tough league and hes suffered injuries but not actually of the 'nagging' variety, IMO; those to me are muscle pulls, strains, etc, not actual breaks in bones from getting hit by balls. Almora took a 2nd tour through AA to finally crack the 7% walk threshold; the first time through he took 2 in 140 PA, albeit at the ripe age of 21. But nobody in their right mind would compare their level of patience/ discipline. Nico is a year removed from being drafted and his numbers are likely to blow up in a juiced league.

 

You want us to care about Faustino Carrera reaching 300 innings but make no mention of him being in his 4th season in the system at 20 years old; something you've basically used as your platform for tearing down the Marquez hype... and Marquez reached that height first btw. No mention of it being of particular note.

 

I mean, come on.

[Hrubes20]

Damn. Abbott is on fire lately. 12 Ks tonight in 6.2 innings. He punched out 10 last time out in 7 innings, and 9 in 7 innings the start before that.

[Bertz]

 

I would guess, as someone in the comments says, indefinitely here is literally "we're still figuring out how long you're suspended for" and less "you're going away for a long time, pal."

[CubsWin]

Damn. Abbott is on fire lately. 12 Ks tonight in 6.2 innings. He punched out 10 last time out in 7 innings, and 9 in 7 innings the start before that.

Yeah, he's a real prospect. BOR ceiling but in his 3rd pro season now he's had just one bad month (this past June), so he's been very steady and consistent while progressing quickly thru the org as a college arm and 2nd round pick. He seems to be better at the end of each season than he was at the start of it so he's got the smarts to make adjustments which he'll need heading to the homer happy PCL.

[CubsWin]

 

I would guess, as someone in the comments says, indefinitely here is literally "we're still figuring out how long you're suspended for" and less "you're going away for a long time, pal."

As a guy who cares deeply about fairness, justice and ethics in the real world, I like it when the team I root for penalizes their own for trying to gain an unfair, unearned and unethical advantage. I feel like there are teams out there that would be pissed that he got caught and give him a stern talking to about how to do it better in the future.

[CubsWin]

Yovanny Cruz sitting 94 with his FB tonight thus far.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Brendon Little: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

[Tim]

Brendon Little: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Wait.

 

What?