Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 6-16-26

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. Indianapolis, 6:38 pm
Knoxville vs. Chattanooga, 6:00 pm
South Bend at Fort Wayne, 6:05 pm
Myrtle Beach at Delmarva, 6:05 pm
ACL Cubs at ACL A's, 8:00 pm
DSL Cubs Blue at DSL Arizona Black, 5:00 pm
DSL Cubs Red vs. DSL Blue Jays Blue, 10:00 am

Probable Starters:

Iowa: LHP Jordan Wicks (34 IP, 6.09 ERA, 6.66 FIP, 26 K, 17 BB)
Knoxville: RHP Connor Schultz (14.2 IP, 6.14 ERA, 3.79 FIP, 21 K, 6 BB)
South Bend: RHP Kevin Valdez (41.1 IP, 4.14 ERA, .99 FIP, 40 K, 17 BB)
Myrtle Beach: LHP Hayden Frank (40.2 IP, 3.76 ERA, 4.53 FIP, 42 K, 21 BB)

[Butch Gernant]

How long are we going to have to put up with J. Wicks?

[JunkyardWalrus]

Until he stops being the second 1st round bust in a row by Jed etm? (Or, never in other words)

[Jason Ross]

3 hours ago, Butch Gernant said:

How long are we going to have to put up with J. Wicks?

Someone has to pitch in Iowa. Why are we complaining that a former 1st round pick is pitching in Iowa? It's this or the corpse of Kenta Maeda. Even the best pitching organizations have guys like Wicks in their Triple-A affiliates. 

Sure he hasn't worked out at the MLB level through a combination of injuries and development, but we don't need to whine that the Cubs have a Jordan Wicks type in Iowa. 

[mul21]

1 hour ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Until he stops being the second 1st round bust in a row by Jed etm? (Or, never in other words)

Holding the 2020 draft against any GM is just silly.  The whole first round was a dumpster fire and like 12 of the 37 first/competitive balance round picks have even gotten to MLB, one of them being PCA.

[Bertz]

I know no one's interested in a nuanced conversation about Wicks but I'll throw these out there:

- The International League is insanely hitter friendly, with a 4.84 ERA.  And then Iowa is a hitters' park even within the context of that league.  Legitimately an average ERA at Iowa should probably be considered a little north of 5

- Wicks was really good at Iowa last year, ERA and peripherals all in the mid 3's

- Jordan Wicks missed spring training with a minor injury, and when healthy did his buildup/progression directly at Iowa

- Jordan's stuff is largely flat year over year

- Wicks' peripherals have been fine to good in MLB the last year and a half in a tiny sample.  The .447 BABIP in 20 innings is doing most of the heavy lifting on that inflated ERA