Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 5-10-24

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. Columbus, 7:08 pm
Tennessee at Chattanooga (game one), 4:15 pm
Tennessee at Chattanooga (game two), TBD
South Bend vs. Cedar Rapids, 6:05 pm
Myrtle Beach vs. Augusta, 6:05 pm
ACL Cubs vs. ACL Guardians, 8:00 pm

Probable Starters:

Iowa: RHP Cade Horton (4 IP, 4.50 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 6 K, 4 BB)
Tennessee: RHP Brody McCullough (at South Bend: 10.2 IP, 1.69 ERA, 3.33 FIP, 8 K, 4 BB)
South Bend: LHP Drew Gray (15.1 IP, 1.17 ERA, 3.81 FIP, 23 K, 15 BB)
Myrtle Beach: RHP Kenten Egbert (17.2 IP, 3.06 ERA, 5.66 FIP, 21 K, 13 BB)
ACL Cubs: RHP Jaxon Wiggins (pro debut) & RHP Nazier Mulé (2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.75 FIP, 5 K, 2 BB)

[PackLandVA]

Wonder if Cade had some jitters in his first promotion to pre-MLB start. Hope he has a better start #2.

[Rex Buckingham]

This could be a really good pitching day

[We Got The Whole 9]

1 hour ago, Rex Buckingham said:

This could be a really good pitching day

Yeah that's 5 of our 20ish most interesting pitching prospects going on the same day.  

[CaliforniaRaisin]

For the record, the only listed probable starter is Drew Gray. Trusting Arizona Phil on Wiggins, he’s been right on every other ACL Cubs game.

[Bertz]

If these probables hold this is pretty close to the best possible pitching day the system can produce?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Egbert, not Bello, for Myrtle Beach. Guess they’re sticking with every Saturday for him.

McCullough is starting for Tennessee.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Arizona Phil confirmed Wiggins will get the start tonight and Mulé will be piggybacking.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Brody with a great AA debut: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 H, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR. Matt Shaw with a triple.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

So Horton is a mess. Horrible command and his stuff is 92-94 again. Gave up a grand slam.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Groundout, groundout, walk, K for Wiggins in his pro debut.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

15 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Groundout, groundout, walk, K for Wiggins in his pro debut.

Second inning: pop out, strikeout, HR to end his night.

1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR

 

[Irrelevant Dude]

32 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

So Horton is a mess. Horrible command and his stuff is 92-94 again. Gave up a grand slam.

The velocity is really concerning.  I guess we can hope for a minor mechanical flaw, but what else could explain the sudden drop in velocity other than an injury?  If he is sitting 92-94, he becomes a much less intriguing prospect.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

3 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

The velocity is really concerning.  I guess we can hope for a minor mechanical flaw, but what else could explain the sudden drop in velocity other than an injury?  If he is sitting 92-94, he becomes a much less intriguing prospect.

Inaccurate measurement.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

23 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Inaccurate measurement.

Yeah, this is obviously a possibility, considering both games have been in Des Moines. You know the Cubs would shut him down right away if there was any injury worries. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Rough outing for Mulé too.

[Bertz]

Statcast had Horton averaging 94 and topping out at 95.5.  And I'm not going to break out Excel on a Friday night but looking pitch-by-pitch I'd guess he was averaging close to 95 through the first two innings before falling off in the third. 

I'm guessing that's right and whatever mechanical issues are causing the wildness are also keeping him from peak velo.

Also Sam McWilliams shortened up tonight to only 2 IP/6 BF and was absolutely dominant.  He's going to be a thing.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

You love to see it

[CaliforniaRaisin]

40 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Statcast had Horton averaging 94 and topping out at 95.5.  And I'm not going to break out Excel on a Friday night but looking pitch-by-pitch I'd guess he was averaging close to 95 through the first two innings before falling off in the third. 

I'm guessing that's right and whatever mechanical issues are causing the wildness are also keeping him from peak velo.

Also Sam McWilliams shortened up tonight to only 2 IP/6 BF and was absolutely dominant.  He's going to be a thing.

Imo, if not for the stupid starting thing, McWilliams would already be up. 

[JD94]

Kind of don’t hate to see Horton face a little adversity. He has basically seen zero bad as a pro. Every start for him has been good to great. Obviously something is off with him at the moment, and you hate to see that, but your mechanics are going to get off at times and it’s a good thing to be able to figure it out and get back on track. 
 

Any idea on what Wiggins velo looked like? Was it still upper 90’s like he was in college? 

[CubinNY]

It has to be a mechanical issue with Horton. He may give up some hits, but he’s normally a strike thrower. 
 

It’s kind of weird that it’s all of the sudden at AAA. It could be nerves. Whatever, he needs to figure it out. 

[Bertz]

9 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Imo, if not for the stupid starting thing, McWilliams would already be up. 

I don't hate the idea to make up for his time away, but yeah we're well past time to start getting him ramped up to help the big league club.

[We Got The Whole 9]

This is weird. Feels like that one dude might be right and they could be trying to implement some changes that aren't taking just yet.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://www.thecubreporter.com/comment/279239#comment-279239

Quote

JAXON WIGGINS: 

1ST INNING: 

BALL, BALL, 5-3 GO 

BALL, 6-3 GO 

BALL, BALL, BALL, K-LOOKING, BALL (WALK) 

BALL, K-SWINGING, K-LOOKING, BALL (SB), K-LOOKING (STRIKEOUT)

2ND INNING: 

FOUL, BALL, K-SWINGING, FOUL, BALL, FOUL, BALL, P-5 

BALL, K-SWINGING, K-LOOKING, K-SWINGING (STRIKEOUT)

K-SWINGING, K-LOOKING, BALL, BALL, BALL, HOME RUN (OVER LEFT-CENTER FIELD FENCE JUST TO THE LEFT OF THE BATTER'S EYE) 

33 PITCHES (17 STRIKES - FIVE SWING & MISS, THREE FOULS, FOUR BALLS IN PLAY, FIVE CALLED STRIKES) 

FB 94-96 (T - 97-98) 

SL 84-86

Struggled to throw strikes initially (threw only three strikes among first 11 pitches) before getting locked-in (pitches 12-29). Then he clearly hit a wall at pitch # 30 when after getting ahead 0-2 he threw three consecutive non-competitive balls out of the strike zone and surrendered a HR on pitch # 33. 

Quote

What appeared to be a poor outing for Naz Mule last night included two infield singles (one a "sawed-off" broken bat where the barrel struck the baserunner between 1st & 2nd), an error by catcher Michael Carico on a play at the plate, a miss by Carico on a third strike where Adan Sanchez dropped the throw to 1st, and difficulty by Carico receiving Mule's electric stuff (Carico is well below-average defensively). Mule kept his cool during the inning but was clearly frustrated after being relieved.