Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 8-8-24

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa at Omaha, 7:05 pm
Tennessee vs. Chattanooga, 6:00 pm
South Bend vs. Ft Wayne, 6:05 pm
Myrtle Beach at Down East, 5:30 pm
DSL Cubs Blue vs. DSL Cleveland Goryl, 10:00 am
DSL Cubs Red at DSL Giants Black, 10:00 am

Probable Starters:

Iowa: RHP Brandon Birdsell (19.1 IP, 6.05 ERA, 3.43 FIP, 18 K, 7 BB)
Tennessee: RHP Sam Armstrong (11 IP, 6.55 ERA, 2.73 FIP, 11 K, 4 BB)
South Bend: RHP Will Sanders (68.2 IP, 4.98 ERA, 4.68 FIP, 77 K, 32 BB)
Myrtle Beach: RHP Kenton Egbert (73.2 IP, 3.18 ERA, 4.18 FIP, 76 K, 29 BB)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Myrtle Beach PPD again.

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Donzo]

What an odd delivery. I had no idea Birdsell pitched like that… Interesting.

He’s always been hitable for some reason, but he has plus stuff. It would be great if he can finish the year strong (and healthy!). He could put himself in position for rotation depth next year.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Donzo]

Sanders with 5 shutout innings:  5/4/0/3/4

Nice night for the starting pitching prospects... Haven't said that a lot this year.

[Bertz]

With most of the AAA slate done, Brandon Birdsell's 15 swings and misses lead AAA pitchers tonight

Statcast has him throwing 56 (!!!) sliders tonight, but based on the velo and spin spread it seems like that's a cutter and a slider that aren't getting differentiated properly.  I...do not remember him throwing a cutter before so that's interesting.  

[Bertz]

Jack Neely got a 4 out save tonight after just working on Tuesday.  Generally guys only work every 3 days until a callup is imminent.  I would not be surprised if he's pretty close to next man up status.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Considering he only has 12 IP at AAA and he doesn't seem to have a high likelihood of being an elite relief ace in the Hader/Williams mold, I'd be a little bummed if they burned Neely's first option year on getting a handful of MLB innings when they don't really have to.  

[Donzo]

As long as they keep him up for the rest of the year, I wouldn’t think of it as burning an option. He could still be optioned down the next three seasons.

So, if brought up he’d need to stay to the end. Right now he looks like an ideal candidate for the September call up. The experience of having a month in Chicago would definitely be helpful for evaluation and progression.