Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 5-1-25

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. Buffalo, 12:08 pm
Knoxville vs. Rocket City, 6:00 pm
South Bend at Cedar Rapids, 6:35 pm
Myrtle Beach at Carolina, 5:30 pm

Probable Starting Pitchers:

Iowa: LHP Jordan Wicks (15.2 IP, 3.45 ERA, 3.20 FIP, 14 K, 8 BB)
Knoxville: RHP Sam Armstrong (19 IP, 4.74 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 17 K, 4 BB)
South Bend: RHP Jaxon Wiggins (16.1 IP, 1.10 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 22 K, 10 BB)
Myrtle Beach: RHP Naz Mulé (15 IP, 2.40 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 17 K, 8 BB)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Ballesteros 16-game hitting streak is in jeopardy.

He should get one more plate appearance.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

29 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Ballesteros 16-game hitting streak is in jeopardy.

He should get one more plate appearance.

Moisés got an 8th inning single and his hit streak is up to 17 games.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Naz Mulé: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 7 whiffs at 54 pitches so far

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I’m guessing this is Naz’ final line after a tough 5th:

5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP, 87 pitches (51 strikes, 9 whiffs)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Brethowr HR, Cristian Hernández double, Jefferson Rojas HR is a fun sequence that just happened 

[Bertz]

After 3 PAs tonight Brethowr has a .494 OBP on the season

[Bertz]

14 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Brethowr HR, Cristian Hernández double, Jefferson Rojas HR is a fun sequence that just happened 

Brad comes through with the vids

 

 

 

 

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I think they went with an opener for Wiggins to wait out the rain and of course the rain waited till he was in the game.

I didn't watch but Brad said he struggled in the rain (was good in a dry first inning of work).

[JBears79]

I'm kind of done with Wicks right now. He is so far down the pitching depth chart now for me. 

[Jason Ross]

15 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

I'm kind of done with Wicks right now. He is so far down the pitching depth chart now for me. 

Yeah, by numbers, I don't think yesterday was a great start, though I do wonder if the Cubs are working on something with him and maybe we should give some slack. I say this because of his pitch mix. 

On April 26th, Jordan Wicks Jordan Wicks went 3 IP and struck out three hitters. This was his last appearance before yesterday. In that appearance, he threw 35% changeups. This matches up to about the number of changeups he threw in the MLB (roughly 29% of the time) back in 2023. He threw just one curveball.

Yesterday, Wicks thew the changeup 14% of the time. He threw the curveball 12 times - or 16% of the time. He threw a pitch he didn't use at all the game prior more than his best pitch. Now, if his changeup wasn't his best pitch, and hadn't been his best pitch, we could talk gameflow, opponent, etc...but that's a big deal. His changeup is a pitch he uses a lot against RHH yet yesterday? It was the curveball against RHH. 

So I'd cut some slack on the outcomes. There's been discussion on here from Matt that he needed to upgrade the pitch mix, and there looks like there's some work being done there. It's probably a sign that:

1. The Cubs want to maximize Wicks

2. That the Cubs are confident that if needed, Horton would be ready for MLB action, as Wicks probably wouldn't be if he's currently workshopping a new pitch

I'd probably move him down the pecking order of "who comes up next?" but at the same time, be cautious with writing him off as there seems to be some tinkering occurring if the last game suggests something bigger. 

[JBears79]

1 minute ago, Jason Ross said:

Yeah, by numbers, I don't think yesterday was a great start, though I do wonder if the Cubs are working on something with him and maybe we should give some slack. I say this because of his pitch mix. 

On April 26th, Jordan Wicks Jordan Wicks went 3 IP and struck out three hitters. This was his last appearance before yesterday. In that appearance, he threw 35% changeups. This matches up to about the number of changeups he threw in the MLB (roughly 29% of the time) back in 2023. He threw just one curveball.

Yesterday, Wicks thew the changeup 14% of the time. He threw the curveball 12 times - or 16% of the time. He threw a pitch he didn't use at all the game prior more than his best pitch. Now, if his changeup wasn't his best pitch, and hadn't been his best pitch, we could talk gameflow, opponent, etc...but that's a big deal. His changeup is a pitch he uses a lot against RHH yet yesterday? It was the curveball against RHH. 

So I'd cut some slack on the outcomes. There's been discussion on here from Matt that he needed to upgrade the pitch mix, and there looks like there's some work being done there. It's probably a sign that:

1. The Cubs want to maximize Wicks

2. That the Cubs are confident that if needed, Horton would be ready for MLB action, as Wicks probably wouldn't be if he's currently workshopping a new pitch

Yeah. Maybe. That's a fair evaluation. He can do all that in AAA which is perfectly ok.

I dont want to see him pitching in the big leagues right now until he has a long string of success down there. Cubs pitching has more than enough problems right now. His stuff just looks so hittable right now and for a guy whos supposed to have an elite changeup, it doesnt look elite to me. 

[Jason Ross]

7 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

Yeah. Maybe. That's a fair evaluation. He can do all that in AAA which is perfectly ok.

I dont want to see him pitching in the big leagues right now until he has a long string of success down there. Cubs pitching has more than enough problems right now. His stuff just looks so hittable right now and for a guy whos supposed to have an elite changeup, it doesnt look elite to me. 

"Elite" is hard to classify. I do think the injury last year hasn't helped. He's got a good changeup, as Stuff+ has graded it as a 101 and a 101 the last two years, but it's probably just good. We probably don't give him enough credit for the fastball upgrades, as last year and this year the fastball was pretty good. But as much as people love a fastball-changeup combination, I'm finding myself less excited by the two without something like a slider/sweeper, a cutter or curve mixed in. And he's been searching for a reliable pitch there. 

I wouldn't bring him up yet, but I don't think we need to get too ahead of ourselves. Entering yesterday Wicks in Triple-A this season had a 3.45 ERA, a 20 K%, 11.4 BB%, and a 3.25 FIP, it wasn't like Wicks has been brutal in Iowa, he's been relatively decent. There's some stuff we could hope for better, but it's not egregious, either. He had a bad start in which is tried to use a new pitch, so I think it's a "let's see where we're going" situation more than anything. 

[Bertz]

I'd be pretty surprised by Jordan Wicks sitting 93+ like he's doing this season not being successful long term.  

Like I am not calling for him to take Colin Rea or Ben Brown's job in the immediate term but I'm a good bit higher on him now than I was on Feb 1.

Edited May 2, 2025 by Bertz