Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 8-2-24

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. St. Paul, 7:08 pm
Tennessee at Mississippi, 6:35 pm
South Bend at Wisconsin, 6:40 pm
Myrtle Beach at Delmarva, 6:05 pm
DSL Cubs Blue at DSL Red Sox Blue (resumption of 8/1 game), 9:00 am
DSL Cubs Blue vs. DSL Red Sox Blue (game two), TBD
DSL Cubs Red at DSL Dodgers Bautista, 10:00 am

Probable Starters:

Iowa: RHP Caleb Kilian
Tennessee: RHP Sam Armstrong (8 IP, 6.75 ERA, 3.50 FIP, 7 K, 4 BB)
South Bend: RHP Will Sanders (64 IP, 4.78 ERA, 4.55 FIP, 73 K, 31 BB)
Myrtle Beach : RHP Tyler Schlaffer

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Bertz]

2 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

 

Averaging over 95 and more than 60% of his pitches have been in the zone.  He is SHOVING

[CaliforniaRaisin]

11 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Fernando Cruz hit his first HR

 

[Bertz]

So Connor Noland is really starting to get my attention.  In his brief AAA tenure he is not just finessing his way to success he is getting above average swing and miss *in the zone*.

Statcast gas also mistaken most of fhis fastballs as cutters.  We've seen with Steele and Hodge how those types of fastballs can play way above their velocity.  So while Noland does still right at 90 MPH there's hope it's not actually a 30 grade fastball.

[Jason Ross]

13 hours ago, Bertz said:

Averaging over 95 and more than 60% of his pitches have been in the zone.  He is SHOVING

Throwing a lot of strikes and the stuff looks good. Still an issue with swing and miss, though. Obviously in small sample size but his chase% is sitting around 20% or so compared to Triple-A average of 29% or so. In-zone whiff is sitting around 10% compared to league average just under 19%. I'd really like to see those get to at least Triple-A average as I just don't trust numbers that low and fear him getting BABIP'd to death with balls in play. If there's a positive it's that the GB% remains super high, so there's a FIP beater profile in there that could suggest an ability to control the runners more with added ground balls and double play chances.

Regardless, not shitting on him, at 27 and with the injuries and the struggles if the Cubs can get anything out of him at this point it's a win and I'd like to get a look at him out of the pen at some point in 2024 to see how it plays at the MLB level.

[craig]

13 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Jonathan Long’s stayed hot since the AA call, played 3B tn. He’s entered tn .271/.370/.454 (330 PAs) btw High A and AA, gets the ball in the air…I’d have him in the Top 20 prospects. He’s got similarities to Mathis: size, both college 1B/3B, R/R obvy.....

Yeah, I noticed the 3B too.  I just checked his record, he's 41/15/9 between 1B/LF/3B this year.  

I imagine the more a kid hits, the greater the interest in finding him positions to play.  Hope he gets a lot more 3B and LF opportunity.  Will be interesting to see how his hitting progresses.  Obviously he's had a hot stretch for Tenn, and he's overdue for a cold stretch.  One of the skills is to extend the hot and be able get out of slumps fast.   

[CaliforniaRaisin]

On 8/2/2024 at 6:30 PM, TomtheBombadil said:

Jonathan Long’s stayed hot since the AA call, played 3B tn. He’s entered tn .271/.370/.454 (330 PAs) btw High A and AA, gets the ball in the air…I’d have him in the Top 20 prospects. He’s got similarities to Mathis: size, both college 1B/3B, R/R obvy

——

3 of the org’s best DSL pitchers (Ismael Morey, Yander Maria, Emmanoel Madeira) are 17 this year, granted two turn 18 this month. They’re all listed 6’3”+, Maria 200#, Madeira already 220#. Maria turned in one of his better outings today: 4 IP, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. Morey threw 4 shutout with a 4/0 K:BB, is arguably having the better season btw the two allowing 1 HR to Maria’s 2 so far. Madeira probably comes up stateside next year but maybe neither of the other two? Morey’s got a 18/12 K:BB in 25 IP

No doubt in my mind that Jostin Florentino will be stateside next year.