Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 4-8-26

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. Omaha, 12:08 pm
Knoxville vs. Rocket City, 11:30 pm
South Bend at Peoria, 6:35 pm
Myrtle Beach at Columbia, 6:05 pm

Probable Starters:

Iowa: LHP Charlie Barnes
Knoxville: RHP Tyler Schlaffer (2025: 104.2 IP, 3.53 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 102 K, 46 BB)
South Bend: RHP Brooks Caple (2025: 98.1 IP, 4.48 ERA, 4.16 FIP, 74 K, 43 BB)
Myrtle Beach: LHP Hayden Frank (2025: 56 IP, 7.23 ERA, 4.82 FIP, 43 K, 25 BB)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Schlaffer struck out the side in the first. Rojas doubled.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

small sample and all but it's great to see none of that AA stint last year for Rojas has seemed to affect him

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Schlaffer gave up 3 when his defense failed him. Bunt single where the 3B fell while fielding it. Got a soft groundout with the bases loaded that should have been 2 but Ethan Hearn forgot how many outs there were and just threw to first instead of trying to get the out at home first. Then had to navigate a throwing error by Hearn.

3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. Might be done at 58 pitches.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[chibears55]

With the Infield set for the next 5 years, what will they do with Triantos, Rojas, and Ramirez 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Bertz]

Who the hell is Eric Yang??

Is this going to be an every year thing where Iowa has some nobody catcher who is an RBI machine and I check like 11 run box scores all excited only to find out he's responsible for 8 of them?  It was damn Carlos Perez last year.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[allen6510w]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Who the hell is Eric Yang??

Is this going to be an every year thing where Iowa has some nobody catcher who is an RBI machine and I check like 11 run box scores all excited only to find out he's responsible for 8 of them?  It was damn Carlos Perez last year.

Yes, I wonder if the Cubs will consider moving the fence back at Iowa.  In a hitter's league, the park effect is 117 for HRs.  By comparison Knoxville's is 69.   What a difficult transition for pitchers. 

 

 

[Bertz]

🚨 Ty Southisene XBH Alert 🚨

[Bertz]

Hartshorn is up to 8 BB's and 1 K.  Honestly if those were flipped you'd correctly be like "look, the jump to full season ball is harder than ever."  I don't even fully know how to contextualize this even with SSS caveats.

[craig]

Kepley XBH alert as well.  He's got two doubles, both hit to RF.  I think of him as a pure oppo guy, so I love to see him using RF.  Heavy singles guy in college, and Myrtle too, so love getting some XB.  

Lot of innings to go, but Cubs on pace for a sweep.  Do it!

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

myrtle is boat racing everyone, imagine if they get Conrad in a few weeks.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Man Ramirez is gonna be quite a chip. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Kepley with 2 doubles. Cepeda with 3 singles, 2 of which have scored Kepley.
 

 

[Bertz]

Just caught that Cole Mathis is finally playing 3B tonight.  That's fun.

[Bertz]

22 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

myrtle is boat racing everyone, imagine if they get Conrad in a few weeks.

I'm a little torn between enjoying the domination and being a downer and noting that there's not really a good reason for Southisene and Mathis to still be there.

But yeah the (hopefully brief) period where all these guys and Conrad are together is going to be like that Braves squad from a few years ago that just made every pitcher they faced want to cry.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

🚨 Ty Southisene XBH Alert 🚨

A triple!? Off to see the video. Wonder if all the infielders crashed into each other.

 

[Outshined_One]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Hartshorn is up to 8 BB's and 1 K.  Honestly if those were flipped you'd correctly be like "look, the jump to full season ball is harder than ever."  I don't even fully know how to contextualize this even with SSS caveats.

It's simple to contextualize.

He's our future HOF RF. No biggy.

[Bertz]

1 hour ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

A triple!? Off to see the video. Wonder if all the infielders crashed into each other.

 

He hit a liner in the 8th too that pulled a little closer to the line would have been a double.  Maybe he can get that ISO up into at least the 60s or 70s.

12 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

It's simple to contextualize.

He's our future HOF RF. No biggy.

The guy not only has more walks than strikeouts, he has more walks than swings and misses.  Like even over just a week I've never seen anything like this?

[craig]

Does Caple have any velocity?  

[craig]

Some of Kepley's hits have seemed hard-hit enough to me?  Like, he's not swinging for HR's, because he's probably not going to lift them that far.  But he doesn't look like Madrigal, he's driving the ball enough to keep the outfielders honest, unlike Madrigal.  

[Bertz]

7 hours ago, craig said:

Does Caple have any velocity?  

His fastball averaged 95.6 during the spring breakout game.  He probably loses some stretched all the way out but I'd still assume 94 and change.