Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 7-22-23

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. Indianapolis, 6:08 pm

Tennessee vs. Mississippi (game one), 4:30 pm

Tennessee vs. Mississippi (game two), TBD

South Bend vs. West Michigan, 6:05 pm

Myrtle Beach vs. Columbia, 5:35 pm

ACL Cubs vs ACL Giants Black, 12:30 pm

DSL Cubs Blue at DSL Royals Gold, 10:00 am

DSL Cubs Red vs DSL Pirates Gold, 10:00 am

Probable Starters:

Iowa: RHP Hayden Wesneski

South Bend: RHP Michael Arias

Myrtle Beach: LHP Drew Gray

[Jason Ross]

Per Sharma, Alcantara's leg injury appears to be a "knee contusion" and the Cubs have avoided serious injury.  

[Hrubes20]

Derniche Valdez back in the lineup in the DSL today. Good to see.

[JBears79]

9 hours ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Per Sharma, Alcantara's leg injury appears to be a "knee contusion" and the Cubs have avoided serious injury.  

good news hopefully he isnt sidelined too long

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Here's a fun chart, teenagers in High-A with at least 80 PA

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Arias stumbled in the 4th so yet again, a good start unraveled by his last inning. But there’s definitely something extremely exciting in there: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Wesneski in his brief July stint at Iowa: 3 appearances, 11 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 19/2 K/BB, 1 HR

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Like Roederer, another fun possible-CF breaking out at AA.

[muntjack]

2 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Wesneski in his brief July stint at Iowa: 3 appearances, 11 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 19/2 K/BB, 1 HR

I can think of a couple of guys he could replace. 

[craig]

Any updated perceptions regarding Ballesteros defensively?  Just from box-score glancing, it doesn't seem like there is an obviously inordinate frequency of passed balls or wild pitches that jump out at me in his box-score games. Nor that opposing teams run-wild and either attempt or succeed on an inordinate number of steal attempts.  

It would be super cool if he panned out as a good hitter, but his defense ended up being solid.  

[JD94]

40 minutes ago, craig said:

Any updated perceptions regarding Ballesteros defensively?  Just from box-score glancing, it doesn't seem like there is an obviously inordinate frequency of passed balls or wild pitches that jump out at me in his box-score games. Nor that opposing teams run-wild and either attempt or succeed on an inordinate number of steal attempts.  

It would be super cool if he panned out as a good hitter, but his defense ended up being solid.  

Sahadav Sharma had an article just this morning that included this quote about Ballesteros defensively: 

“The question has always been whether he can stick at catcher. Looking at his body type, observers would think that’s an easy no. But the Cubs see a really good mover who is agile and has a surprisingly solid movement profile. It’s a bat-first situation, but assuming he can’t stick behind the plate isn’t a safe bet just yet.”

[craig]

Thanks, JD!  Perfect timing, and that's encouraging.  

His body type obviously isn't going to change.  But anybody who follows college football knows that there are some super-motivated guys who sometimes get way more toned over the course of a couple of years.  That would be super cool if he makes it as a catcher.  

[JBears79]

13 hours ago, JD94 said:

Sahadav Sharma had an article just this morning that included this quote about Ballesteros defensively: 

“The question has always been whether he can stick at catcher. Looking at his body type, observers would think that’s an easy no. But the Cubs see a really good mover who is agile and has a surprisingly solid movement profile. It’s a bat-first situation, but assuming he can’t stick behind the plate isn’t a safe bet just yet.”

The way Hawkins was talking about him earlier in the year makes me think that the Cubs are extremely high on him and think the bat is special.