craig

Gallardo racks up 3 more HR's today. 17 on the season, 8 over his last 25 innings. I wonder when the Cubs had their last 17-HR guy?

Bailey Horn is another guy who intrigues me a little. Again, probably just too wild and inconsistent, and will always be too inconsistent, to become very good. But on the sharp nights, I admit he's able to flash some fun box scores. Tonight, pitches-strikes 21-16, 2.0 perfect innings, 5 K's and 1 groundout. Pretty crazy to throw only 5 balls over two innings, and to get 5 K's and 6 outs out of only 16 strikes total. Suggests all 5 K's were on the minimum 3-strikes, with no 2-strike foul balls or anything. Over Horn's last 10 appearances, he's only allowed one run 6 appearances ago, with 29K/16IP. Tonights control, with pitches-strikes 21-16, that is NOT the norm for Bailey. But with all the K's and hard-to-hit, it does make me wonder: *IF* they could hypothetically get him to lock into the Good-Bailey version somewhat more consistently, might the Cubs end up having a pretty useful lefty specialist?

Riley Thompson with his 3rd straight no-run start. I think he's been settling in recently. This hasn't quite been the breakout year for him I'd hoped for, but it's possible that developmentally it's still been pretty good for him. I don't imagine there's 40-man room for a guy like that. But if he doesn't get claimed, it wouldn't shock me if he'd continue to develop? Perhaps 12 months from now we'll see him as a useful guy with value to us or potential value in trade? Or, of course, perhaps he's just a chronic wildman who's just happened to have a couple of good games; but in future will just always have too many wildman games to ever be consistently useful as a major leaguer.

Anybody know where Canario went? Got a single in Iowa game 1, hitless for the next 7, then he's disappeared since Sept 1. Any info or ideas?

Gallardo with 6 hits, 1HR, and 2 walks, and 2 K's through 3 innings. He's at 14 HR's on the year. For South Bend in 6 starts and 27 innings, he's got a 6HR/11K/9BB/27IP. I'm curious what the developmental plan for him will be to try to contain the HR's moving forward, and to try to figure or optimise something that might miss more bats. There is space for lots of different pitching styles, and he'll turn 21 this Wednesday. So there is time to try to figure out some adjustments. At 111 innings, he might have a pretty tired arm by this point, too. So perhaps just coming back next spring with a fresh arm will do his K/HR rate more good than any mechanical optimizations. Perhaps with both some delivery optimizations and a fresh arm, who knows?

Thanks for observations,Tom! Helpful.

Tom, I'm not really an arm-health-risk specialist, so this is totally a sincere question. 1. What is it about Devers' arm action that you think is problematic and would be unable to sustain an extra velocity step? Just too much throwing with arm not the body? Too much arm whip with insufficient legs and core? Too much turning of the back, so that there is too much lateral twist? Or The follow through? What do you think is risky? 2. To my super ignorant amateur eye, I rarely can anticipate what mechanics do or don't lead to issues. But his seem very consistent with a very simple uncomplicated delivery. I watched some 2021 instrux video; It does seem he's further simplified this year from the already simple 2021 delivery. The load/windup is even shorter/smaller than it was then. 3. I wonder what developmental priorities he'll have over the winter. Get a little stronger and faster to beef up velocity? Focus on breaking ball? Tweak the delivery to reduce TJ-risk? 4. I wonder how much pitch-lab thinks about or understands TJ-risk? Understanding how to prevent TJ would be valuable, but probably two-sides to that. Hard enough to have big-league stuff; if risk-reduction reduces the stuff, perhaps that's counterproductive, and guys are better off to pitch with the risk? 5. I wonder what the pitch-lab analytics guys think about his fastball, or what their analytics indicate about it's effectiveness? Does his back-turned quick-pitch delivery make it effectively faster? Does he get as much swing-and-miss and weak-contact on his fastball as bigger prospects with 3-5 more mph? Or does his low velocity represent a fastball that really isn't all that effective?

Strumpf being the best defensive 2B is the only real surprise, in my head I had him as a bat-only profile a la Dan Uggla/Todd Walker. The swing and miss jump this year is still pretty disqualifying given he's still only at AA, but at least if he shows modest improvement or even reverts more to his previous profile of fewer whiffs with fewer XBH, there may be a bench role for him yet. Yeah, that's interesting and encouraging. I was also surprised at Ball, I've assumed he was more of a big DH wannabe. Nice to think that *IF* they hit enough, (unlikely), that their defense might not hold them back.

3K-1walk outing for Leigh. The AA step has not overwhelmed him, at least thus far. Walks and wild still, but the K's and hard-to-hit have remained good through his first 5.2 innings.

Next year, different question, like you say. But I'd not mess with the plan for this season. Whatever the reasoning was, stick to your logic. Today was only 49 pitches, I think? I'm speculating that there's a 60-pitch count, maybe? Has he gone much over 60 in previous outings? I've never gotten much story on him. Last year he didn't show until late in the season, and then only for a couple of innings. Had he been in developmental all year, since draft? Or had he gotten some kind of injury that set him back? Given the potential value, I'm very OK with being very cautious with him. Having seen the wildman crash for Herz on jumping A+ to AA, I admit I'm also somewhat guarded with expectations for both Little and Palencia. Hard to guess how they'll do against higher levels? Possibly really well, but not certain. Sure is fun to have guys with these kinds of possibilities though!

Wasn't a minor-league game, because Manny Rodriquez was already up in the majors last night. Fastball is kinda consistently 96-97, lots of motion; for one of the below-the-belt one, it had tons of sink for being 96-97. Seemed to have reasonable control of the fastball; maybe "control" more than "command." His breaking ball and change, didn't have control last night. But, the note from Az Phil that his velocities were way down in his first game in Mesa, that didn't appear true last night. (On the other hand, perhaps "only" throwing 96-97, maybe that is kinda down for him? First game back, save situation, adrenaline should be pumping max. I'd think a guy should be hitting his absolute top max on the adrenaline rush season debut, and with big loud crowd. Given that he touched 98-99-100 on occasion last year, maybe "96-97" is a little bit off? I'm pretty optimistic about him, though. Having a fastball with that much life is a good starting place, even if there will be inconsistencies with the breaking ball and change.

If the Cubs hit the World Series with Gallardo as one of their asset starters, Hearn and Howard as asset regulars, and Oquendo as an asset pitcher in whatever role, you will certainly absolutely deserve a windfall of praise and vindication! :):). No question whatsoever, in that hypothetical.

I love the binge. Not to be unfair to Moises, but he's it's probably worth noting that he's living it with a .386 BABIP, and has 16:1 K/HR. Does Carolina league restrict shifting? I'm guessing a life built on BABIP would be especially hard for a lefty slow-poke in leagues where scouting and shifting were realities?

4/125 HR/IP Danis Correa. 9/232 Padilla 35/288 Cam Sanders. (3/15 since relief conversion

No. But we'll see. It might not be unusual if a guy isn't going all-out during a rehab inning in Mesa?

Thanks, Tom. Helpful info. Obviously wildman at this point (31 wild things in 46 innings), but we've got lots of wildmen for whom hope continues, so thanks to your input I'll add him to my hopeful-wildman inventory! If he's 96-97, that seems fine. If he's got a bundle of pitches, that's where pitch lab and development is supposed to harness those to optimize a couple of them and perhaps eventually trim that pool into ones he can kind of control. So thanks for the info! His numbers are funky. 65K/46IP/27BB/5HB, that profiles as standard good-stuff wildman. But 49H/46IP and 1.7 WHIP doesn't. The .429 BABIP is fluky and really skews WHIP etc.. I wonder what the logic is in relief versus rotation usage? With all five starters having gotten promoted, if they like Oquendo its interesting that they didn't pop him into rotation.

I wonder what Jensen was for the previous two weeks?

Interesting that Wheat is injured. back when the draft was in June, pitchers would still barely get 10 innings. Being a month later, I'd not be surprised if they don't pitch at all until next year?

Was Jensen on another pitch-lab stint before tonight? He's seemed to be kind of high-maintenance? Or, maybe he's been incorporating some adjustments, and pulling him back to pitch lab quickly after he starts to drip, maybe that's great teaching approach?

Tom, what do you know about Oquendo's stuff? Is there reason to envision big-league potential?

Agree with your thoughts, Bertz. Still, of all the tools, hitting is the rarest thing. Guys who can hit get AB's. I'm again reminded of how helpful it is to have the DH, too. *IF* you had a good, switch-hitting 4th outfielder who was actually a good hitter, he might hypothetically DH twice a week, play left once a week while the LF rests or DH's; play right once a week while the RF rests or DH's; and maybe get an extra start once in a while if the primary starter if facing a bad pitching matchup, or whatever. Obviously the key is to be a serious hitter. Seems like everybody in AA is racking up big numbers, so I admit I'm a little cautious of how sustainable any of the AA hitters will be.

Thanks for Ramirez notes, Cal, really good. Key notes to me: 1. Helpful to get Phil's comments on his defense. Sounds like he's good, even if he doesn't project as a plus big-league defensive SS. 2. Phil's note that he has "plus" power left-handed. That's really encouraging to me, since when I see a 5'9" 2B in ACL, I wonder if we're talking a Madrigal wannabe. But if he's got power, that helps a ton. (Willie Mays listed at 5'10". Joe Morgan was 5'7" with 268 home runs. Freaks, obviously, but sometimes the short-stoke guys do pretty well.). 3. Juicy Jensen's suggestion that Pedro's speed is "70". I'm guessing Juicy is a little juicy and hyperbolic on that? Seems odd that a 70-speed guy would be only a 9SB/4CS guy in ACL, and 9SB/7CS in DSL last year? But Phil had his speed as "plus" also, so that's fun. 4. Phil's sense that his RH side isn't as jazzy as LH is helpful. May be a prompt to watch his splits moving forward.

Nice, didn't expect that. Pitch lab guys, have fun with all these new arms!

Wow so he signed for exactly everything they had left I think they still have five dollars left. :):). Perhaps if Blatter really wants to sign, but needs to be able to tell his friends that he got overslot and got more than $125K, the extra five bucks can do that?

Not to be paranoid, but I wonder why it's taking this long. Maybe he's already signed, but he isn't an instagram or social-media guy? I have a paranoid recall of Alex Lange taking a surprisingly long time, and then finding out that it was because he failed his physical.