Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 7-23-26

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa at Gwinnett, 6:05 pm
Knoxville at Rocket City, 6:35 pm
South Bend vs. Wisconsin, 605 pm
Myrtle Beach at Hickory, 6:00 pm
ACL Cubs vs. ACL Guardians, 8:00 pm - season finale
DSL Cubs Blue at DSL Orioles Orange, 10:00 am
DSL Cubs Red vs. DSL Royals Ventura, 10:00 am

Probable Starters:

Iowa: RHP Jaxon Wiggins
Knoxville: RHP Brody McCullough
South Bend: LHP Ethan Flanagan
Myrtle Beach: RHP Danny Avitia

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Jaims Martínez 2/5 today. Enrique Oropeza 1/3 with a 3-run double.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Hartshorn double, Escobar triple in the 1st.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Wiggins working 95-96 but gets Ronald Acuña to ground out. Now he faces Ha-Seong Kim.

[Bertz]

Not loving Wiggins's velo

[Bertz]

He is all over the place so mechanics are just as likely an explanation as any I guess

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Had a scoreless 1st despite a walk.

Struggling now in the 2nd though some of it is weak contact.

[Bertz]

I thought he looked great that inning up through the "triple", but then whether due frustration/mechanics/being terrified of Acuna he completely lost the zone

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Wiggins at 97-99 was really exciting. This version is pretty bleak.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Acuña hurt himself striking out against Jayden Murray.

[Bertz]

Wiggins' fastball got as high as 97.4 and as low as 92.8.  Feels like he was pretty clearly battling his mechanics and that probably impacted both the command and the velo.

The run environment at Iowa is brutal on your best days, much less when you're trying to work your way back through rust like this.  I'd send him to Knoxville for 3-4 starts.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

1 minute ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Acuña hurt himself striking out against Jayden Murray.

Poor guy, he's trending into Kris Bryant territory 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

3 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Wiggins' fastball got as high as 97.4 and as low as 92.8.  Feels like he was pretty clearly battling his mechanics and that probably impacted both the command and the velo.

The run environment at Iowa is brutal on your best days, much less when you're trying to work your way back through rust like this.  I'd send him to Knoxville for 3-4 starts.

I guess I should give him the benefit of the doubt. It's just really alarming seeing him throw a bunch of 93-95

[Bertz]

9 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

I guess I should give him the benefit of the doubt. It's just really alarming seeing him throw a bunch of 93-95

For sure.  I mean he averaged 97.7 in his cup of coffee at Iowa last year so there's a lot of velo missing.  The question is just how much of this can be blamed on the fact that from his arm's perspective it's essentially early April vs. anything permanent.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Hartshorn HR!

 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Hartshorn homered. Let him cook 

[Bertz]

13 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Hartshorn HR!

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

So Mason McGwire was listed as the starter from Tuesday until sometime early this morning (was the starter at 8 am PT but not 11 am PT).

He didn’t pitch and it’s trade season….

[Bertz]

9 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

So Mason McGwire was listed as the starter from Tuesday until sometime early this morning (was the starter at 8 am PT but not 11 am PT).

He didn’t pitch and it’s trade season….

There was an Athletic article in the last week or so that said the Cubs are a little more willing to deal some pitching at the deadline than they have been recently given the way the draft fell and some of the breakouts.

I don't necessarily want to deal any pitching, but selling high on McGwire would not be the worst idea.

[craig]

Do you guys have any recent observations or updates on what McCullough is throwing?  3K-3BB tonight

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Juan Tómas and Fernando Cruz HRing in their last game of the season.

102.6 mph / 425’ for Tómas
113 mph / 424’ for Cruz

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

6 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Juan Tómas and Fernando Cruz HRing in their last game of the season.

102.6 mph / 425’ for Tómas
113 mph / 424’ for Cruz

the minor league hitting staff has got there work cut out for them with these dudes. I think you've mentioned it before but the K rates are absurd.

[craig]

Yeah, 113 for Cruz, easy to dream.  But the K's, that's a long project.  Would be cool to somehow see a guy like that magically develop.  

[CaliforniaRaisin]

14 hours ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

I guess I should give him the benefit of the doubt. It's just really alarming seeing him throw a bunch of 93-95

Averaged 95.3 and topped out at 97.4 last night. He used to average 97+. As Bertz mentioned, hopefully it's more rehab or a ST-like situation for him.