Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 8-9-26

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa at Indianapolis, 12:35 pm
Knoxville at Chattanooga, 12:00 pm
South Bend vs. Cedar Rapids 1:05 pm
Myrtle Beach at Columbia, 4:05 pm

Both DSL Cubs teams have the day off

Probable Starters:

Iowa: TBD (with Jaxon Wiggins coming out of the pen)
Knoxville: RHP Kevin Valdez
South Bend: LHP Ethan Flanagan
Myrtle Beach: Anuhar García

[Bertz]

Shelby Miller sat 95.7 and got 3 whiffs in a short 14 pitch inning

I do not think it's unreasonable to start pencilling him into the September bullpen

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Kevin Valdez gonna get added to the 40-man this offseason.

(Actually, there probably isn’t going to be a Rule 5 draft this offseason, huh?)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[craig]

Cal or others, what do you know about Kevin Valdez and his stuff?  He's more than doubled his K/BB ratio this season, and has favorable groundball profile.  You mentioned 40-man for him, does that mean he's got legit stuff?  I'm recalling 94-96 velocity and a slider, so perfectly reasonable for big-league arm?  

[JBears79]

1 hour ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

 

His HR are loud.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Bertz]

Conrad with another dong, guy is scorching now

So next time the question of how many at bats it takes to knock off a year's worth of rest the answer is about 100

[CaliforniaRaisin]

2 hours ago, craig said:

Cal or others, what do you know about Kevin Valdez and his stuff?  He's more than doubled his K/BB ratio this season, and has favorable groundball profile.  You mentioned 40-man for him, does that mean he's got legit stuff?  I'm recalling 94-96 velocity and a slider, so perfectly reasonable for big-league arm?  

Yeah, I think he has legit big league stuff. It feels like the quality of his pitches leveled up this season. 93-96 FB, change, cutter and sweeper all look good and he’s getting LHH out way more too.

 

[JBears79]

6 RBI's for Conrad today.

[Outshined_One]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

So next time the question of how many at bats it takes to knock off a year's worth of rest the answer is about 100

So we'll know Myles Bailey's deal around June next season. Neat.

[craig]

Happy to have Kepley stacking a couple of games, playing CF, and getting a couple of SB.  I infer that he must be reasonably healthy, including his legs.  

Also great to see his fast start at Knoxville.  Hope he can get hot and stay hot for a while.  Putting up good offense in AA will strengthen his trade value.  And power-wise, 39% of his hits have been for XB, with a decent dose of HR's and triples.  

I know the board hasn't been too keen on Kepley.  Natural pushback to some fans who have been perhaps excessively optimistic;, perhaps pushback against over-glamorizing grit; perhaps natural suspicion why the Cubs didn't promote him sooner.  

But at age 22, I'm thinking an .865-OPS guy with 50+ steals and good defense could be a justifiable value prospect, if he can kinda sustain his production in AA.  Hope he can over a longer sample than 3 games!  :):)

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

6 hours ago, Bertz said:

Conrad with another dong, guy is scorching now

So next time the question of how many at bats it takes to knock off a year's worth of rest the answer is about 100

Here’s the homer