Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 8-15-23

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. Louisville, 6:38 pm

Tennessee vs. Rocket City, 6:00 pm

South Bend at West Michigan, 5:35 pm

Myrtle Beach at Columbia, 6:05 pm

ACL Cubs vs. ACL Reds, 8:00 pm

DSL Cubs Blue vs. DSL Red Sox Blue, 9:30 am

DSL Cubs Red at DSL Pirates Black (completion of game suspended 7/17), 9:00 am

DSL Cubs Red at DSL Pirates Black, TBD

Probable Starters:

Iowa: RHP Nick Neidert (86.1 IP, 5.32 ERA, 5.34 FIP, 67 K, 31 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Kohl Franklin (64 IP, 4.78 ERA, 6.46 FIP, 59 K, 32 BB)

South Bend: RHP Tyler Santana (71.2 IP, 4.52 ERA, 4.34 FIP, 66 K, 32 BB)

Myrtle Beach: RHP Koen Moreno (57 IP, 2.84 ERA, 5.50 FIP, 64 K, 49 BB)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

This is the second promotion of the year for Leonel. The first was the rare in-season promotion from the DSL to ACL.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://twitter.com/sbcubs/status/1691585715023311000?s=46&t=W37ISIrjUHdGm-Y3K3j6Aw
 

Ballesteros homer

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Shaw is 2 for 2 with 2 SB

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Woof, Kohl 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Looks like Schanuel's extraordinary BBK from college is translating quite well to pro ball.

 

16:6 overall and 11:5 so far at AA. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

PCA walk off HR

[CaliforniaRaisin]

1 minute ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

PCA walk off HR

https://twitter.com/ballskwok/status/1691637504057696448?s=46&t=W37ISIrjUHdGm-Y3K3j6Aw

[Tim]

1 minute ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

https://twitter.com/ballskwok/status/1691637504057696448?s=46&t=W37ISIrjUHdGm-Y3K3j6Aw

That's easy power for a guy that size

 

[We Got The Whole 9]

DFA Barnhart and Young and call up PCA and Horton. Let's go, the team needs a jolt!

[Tryptamine]

At this point Shaw has put a pretty big gap between himself and the #4 prospect in the system. 

[CubinNY]

12 hours ago, Tim said:

That's easy power for a guy that size

 

If there are 10 better prospects in MLB than him, the game is in good hands. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

4 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Here’s a question: Given what we’ve seem out of college guys like Neto and Schanuel, neither from a major program, is Shaw  *blowing up* expectations yet? In 2023 from a 3 year starting impact college bat who also hit in the CCBL…I submit maybe not? Lotta GBs at South Bend, 51.4% entering today. For reference Bryant was in the low 30% during his debut including 17% in his own brief ACL stop 

It's been 10 full season games, and anything can happen in that short a timeframe, so I wouldn't make grand proclamations based on it(the convo elsewhere about dumping Happ or Suzuki b/c of his start is silly).  But I struggle to take him hitting .415/.442./707 with a sub-15% K rate(good for a .506 wOBA and 217 wRC+) as anything but unexpectedly good.  With those results and no big swing and miss issues, any of the nitpicks you can make(namely swing selection, which you could interpret through a BB% or GB% lens) are impossible to draw conclusions from because the current level isn't forcing him to adjust given the cartoonish production.  

 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Bryant was pretty much built to hit flyballs. That was his MO from the get-go. The reality is that even in this day-and-age not every hitter is geared this way, and the organizations tend to let a player's natural abilities speak before they go trying to fix something that isn't broken, and they try to ease those types of suggestions in gradually rather than pervert the maturation process. I would rather have a high contact guy with strong EVs and talent for the sweet spot and tinker with his attack angle over time, than I would to take a flyball hitter who probably has some swing-and-miss and try to remedy that. But IDK, good players emerge from both scenarios, really. I don't think you should get so hung up on GBs for minor leaguers but I understand your concern. For a dude that was just drafted a couple months ago, though, it's nuts. This is the way he has hit his whole life and it's continuously working. He's doing something right at the plate. It's not like he's gonna be a bust if he's a high GB% guy, either. 

 

Just this year Acuna is 15th in GB and Yandy Diaz, Yoshida, Wm Contreras, Yelich, Soto, and Nootbar are all in the top 15, and all are having excellent offensive seasons respectively. There's more than one way to skin a baseball.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

44 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

If we get less caught up in him hitting .400+ etc and more generally at the chances in 2023 a college bat with some 1200 highly successful NCAA and college PAs can mash lower minors pitching? Feels like that’s the expectation. Look at how quickly Jacob Berry lost relevance to all non-Marlins lists after his debut 

Maybe I just think it’s cool Shanuel has more AA PAs than Shaw has MiLB PAs rn :dontknow:

If Shaw were at Myrtle Beach, sure, look at what Brian Kalmer is doing there as an 18th round senior sign as a better example.  But at High-A I don't think humiliating the level is the expectation.  You expect a first round college hitter to do well there, no one rushed to re-rank Brooks Lee as a surefire all-star after he put up a 140 wRC+ in High-A.  The excitement for Shaw stems from in this limited sample doing so much better than Lee's line that the longer it persists the more sure you are he should've been skipped to AA like Schanuel(a 'bat-only' prospect without positional value) was.