Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 7-7-23

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. St. Paul, 7:08 pm

Tennessee vs. Birmingham, 6:00 pm

South Bend vs. Peoria, 6:05 pm

Myrtle Beach at Augusta, 6:05 pm

ACL Cubs vs. ACL A's, 8:00 pm

DSL Cubs Blue vs. DSL Cubs Red, 10:00 am

Probable Starters:

Iowa: RHP Hayden Wesneski (9 IP, 1.00 ERA, 5.03 FIP, 9 K, 6 BB)

Tennessee: LHP DJ Herz (39.1 IP, 4.35 ERA, 3.33 FIP, 51 K, 29 BB)

South Bend: RHP Connor Noland (62 IP, 3.19 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 46 K, 10 BB)

Myrtle Beach: RHP Nick Hull (53.1 IP, 3.71 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 53 K, 22 BB)

ACL Cubs: RHP Yenrri Rojas (13 IP, 7.62 ERA, 5.18 FIP, 10 K, 6 BB)

[We Got The Whole 9]

So what's the story on Luis Vazquez? Just looking at his page is interesting. The Cubs brought him stateside as a 17 yo, and he played at A- at 18. Then at 19, the Cubs pushed him all the way up to AAA that year, skipping A+. Am I correct in presuming they needed bodies to fill for injuries and his defense made him the guy, or did they actually see something in him and wanted to challenge him? He did ok at A ball and then he played 25 games at AA and got buried, but instead of sending him to A+, he went to AAA. 2020 happened and he opened 2021 in A+. Did pretty well and they promoted him after just 100 PA, which makes me believe they really liked his chances to hit at AA, He was terrible in 2022 but they didn't send him back to A+ this year and he's had a great year. 

Feels like a sleeper trade chip. What's his defense like?

[Tim]

11 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

So what's the story on Luis Vazquez? Just looking at his page is interesting. The Cubs brought him stateside as a 17 yo, and he played at A- at 18. Then at 19, the Cubs pushed him all the way up to AAA that year, skipping A+. Am I correct in presuming they needed bodies to fill for injuries and his defense made him the guy, or did they actually see something in him and wanted to challenge him? He did ok at A ball and then he played 25 games at AA and got buried, but instead of sending him to A+, he went to AAA. 2020 happened and he opened 2021 in A+. Did pretty well and they promoted him after just 100 PA, which makes me believe they really liked his chances to hit at AA, He was terrible in 2022 but they didn't send him back to A+ this year and he's had a great year. 

Feels like a sleeper trade chip. What's his defense like?

He's got a very strong defensive reputation. He's regularly mentioned as one of the best defenders in the system.

 

(I'm at least 90% confident I'm not confusing him with anyone else!)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

1 hour ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

So what's the story on Luis Vazquez? Just looking at his page is interesting. The Cubs brought him stateside as a 17 yo, and he played at A- at 18. Then at 19, the Cubs pushed him all the way up to AAA that year, skipping A+. Am I correct in presuming they needed bodies to fill for injuries and his defense made him the guy, or did they actually see something in him and wanted to challenge him? He did ok at A ball and then he played 25 games at AA and got buried, but instead of sending him to A+, he went to AAA. 2020 happened and he opened 2021 in A+. Did pretty well and they promoted him after just 100 PA, which makes me believe they really liked his chances to hit at AA, He was terrible in 2022 but they didn't send him back to A+ this year and he's had a great year. 

Feels like a sleeper trade chip. What's his defense like?

You are correct that he was pushed to AAA because they needed bodies. I assume at the time they felt he could handle it maturity-wise. Maybe they thought he wasn’t much of a prospect at the time so there wasn’t too much risk to this (shades of another emergency AAA promotion they did with another low draft pick in David Bote who eventually turned out to be a real prospect and big leaguer).

Tim and you are both right about Vázquez’ defensively - he is the best defensive SS in the system.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Tim]

17 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Ngl I *expected* Hearn’s season to be pretty ugly but still wince everytime I check lately…He has to nominally fall in my Rankings, am pro drafting or trading for some catching talent (still like Melendez even), but overall yada yada yada 

Didn't you still have him ranked around 7th in the system a month ago?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Kevin Alcántara just hit his second homer of the day. This time a grand slam. OPS up to .770, batting average up to .270. I assume his wRC+ is approaching 120,

 

[Outshined_One]

2 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Kevin Alcántara just hit his second homer of the day. This time a grand slam. OPS up to .770, batting average up to .270. I assume his wRC+ is approaching 120,

 

All I ask is we get a power hitting prospect worth a damn in the pipeline for a 2024 callup, and this is what I wanted to see from Alcàntara earlier this year.

I still have hopes for Davis, but things are decidedly grim in the higher levels when it comes to power guys.

[Hrubes20]

17 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Kevin Alcántara just hit his second homer of the day. This time a grand slam. OPS up to .770, batting average up to .270. I assume his wRC+ is approaching 120,

 

Friendly reminder that since the middle of May (164 PAs) he’s been a .300/.360/.507 hitter.