ChiefsVoice

Now that I am back from visiting family in Europe, I wanted to drop a quick note to say thank you to all the supporters, posters and readers here at NSBB for all the interaction and support over the last eight seasons. While personally it is exciting for the Chiefs to return to the Cardinals, I thoroughly enjoyed the eight years we spent with the Cubs. It was eye-opening to see all the interest in the Low-A players from Cubs fans, bloggers and reporters. I appreciate the questions, comments, suggestions, etc from all of you and enjoyed interacting with you all on Twitter and here through NSBB. It is the fandom of everyone here that builds the MiLB brand and both I and the Chiefs organization were thrilled with our support locally from 2005-12. Hopefully some of you in the area will still come out to Peoria Chiefs Stadium to see the Chiefs when we are playing the Cougars or just to enjoy Minor League Baseball and our brand of entertainment. And please, feel free to wear your Cubbie blue when you come out, we love the rivalry! Personally I'll still be checking in from time to time. I have a vested interest in seeing all the guys who have played here climb that ladder to Chicago or whenever they get sent in trades or Free Agents. I've broadcasted games for 54 MLB players now and can't wait to see that number climb and this is a great place to follow the careers of Baez, Soler, Vitters, Jackson, Watkins, Bour, etc, etc. There's too many people here that have extended my knowledge and appreciation for the game to single you all out individually and I think you all do a fantastic job covering the minor leagues. I thank Tim, NCCubFan, Chris and Raisin for giving me a platform to take Q and A or interact with you all. I thank Truffle, Toonster, Tiger and Craig for all the questions and interesting conversations. And like I said earlier there are too many to single out and I thank you all for being great Cubs and Baseball fans and thank you for listening, reading and interacting while supporting Chiefs baseball the past eight seasons. Good luck to you all personally and in the Cubs rebuild. Hope to see you at the ballpark in 2013! Sincerely, Nathan

Appreciate that Rob, I go with navy blue used by my Alma Mater Marquette. Though the carolina blue jerseys we wear now are really sweet too. Did not know there were two fellow Marquette alumni broadcasting in the Cubs' system! Awesome. Yep. Len was a few years ahead of me and was around in an advisor type role with the TV station at MU my last couple of years while he was working for the Brewers. Since he joined the Cubs org he has been extremely helpful to me and very gracious with his time while passing along advice. Great guy off the air and a model for how broadcasters should treat and work with the generation below them.

Appreciate that Rob, I go with navy blue used by my Alma Mater Marquette. Though the carolina blue jerseys we wear now are really sweet too.

Pile on all you want! I have not heard any updates on Reggie at all.

Taiwan is looking a lot better for sure. Made some adjustments, has confidence as well. I really think moving to the #2 slot helped him a lot. Its tough to tell with Marco, he still doesnt look all the comfortable or confident at the plate but is obviously getting more hits now than he was early. I think its fair to say he wasn't comfortable in cold weather and was also pressing a bit. Yes Burke is a full load starter with the other 3 now.

They just did a gameday last night for Hoilman's hit streak and it was still only an inning at a time with our official scorer calling in the plays to NYC after the inning ended. Only Wisconsin does gameday in this league. No pitch counts are valid below AA where all teams do gameday.

off the DL today to piggyback Concepcion.

Wells with a blister will not piggyback Burke tonight. Kyler is on his own as a starter with regular bullpen to follow. Likely Liria, Shafer and Cruz in that order. None have pitched since Monday. McKirahan available in save situation. Wells was a late scratch about an hour ago.

That is correct, however it will be Wells/Burke next time. They will rotate as starter. Hey, out of curiosity, if you know, and if you think it's fine to share (that is, if it's some private conversation, no need to let us know) a) Does Kyler realize how intrigued Cub-dom is with his potential? It isn't just here - seems like other sites are intrigued b) For lack of a better way to phrase it, how confident is Kyler that he can be a starter and move fast (relatively) as a starter, since everyone knows 6 years comes up. c) Does Kyler get a feel, in the early-going, of how higher up might feel about his long-term role/potential? a) One thing Kyler has never done (even in local high school ball) is read the paper and internet sites. He obviously can tell if he's pitching well or not, but I think his knowledge of outside interest is mostly limited to what people tell him. And that's probably a good thing. b) I really don't know if his long term projection is to be a starter or not. I know it's common for minor leaguers to start in order to get innings. I think because of his situation of being converted and being a little older for his current level, getting as many innings as possible is the ultimate goal. Knowing him, he'll have confidence that he can do whatever they ask of him. c) Kyler has always seemed to be a fan- and coach-favorite everywhere he has played. I think the coaching staff and coordinators really like him and want him to do well. Obviously that's the case on a professional level. But on a personal level they like him too. You'd be surprised at how many turds there are in the minors that rub people the wrong way. I'll be honest, I try to minimize my baseball talk with him. We talk briefly about his outings, and then we talk family, travels, etc, etc. ChiefsVoice could probably give you a better idea of the perception on the club, and around the other players, etc. Kyler is very humble and will never talk much about himself, so it's hard for me to get a good read. ChiefsVoice sees it everyday. Very humble, he always does interviews with me but you can tell he doesnt want to talk about himself. He has always been a favorite of everyone, not just around here but I know in Boise too. And also in Fort Wayne. I've already gotten emails from the Fort Wayne GM they cant wait to see him this weekend when we are back and he played there 5 years ago. And obviously the people that matter like him or they wouldnt have given him this chance. On a personal note, you have to root for anyone who busts their ass to change roles like this. Its why I'm a big Rick Ankiel fan even though he wasn't necessarily the nicest guy when he came back through here as a rehab pitcher in 2002. But when he was back with Quad Cities as a hitter in 2005, very humbled and appreciative.

No that should be Jose Rosario. We have an off day May 1 so it would bump everyone. The way it looks right now, barring any moves is: Concepcion, Jensen & Francescon in Lake County Rosario, Wells/Burke and Concepcion in Fort Wayne Off Day on Tuesday May 1 Jensen (Wed), Francescon (Thu), Rosario (Fri) in Kane County Burke/Wells, Concepcion, Jensen & Francescon in Quad Cities commuters Thats our 13 game, 14 day, 2150 mile road trip. Have fun. Longest road trip of the season? Yep. Tied for longest I've had here in 10 yrs. We had a 12 gamer in 2009, 13 gamer in 2008 and a 13 gamer in 2004 that was supposed to be 14 but had the last one in Kane County rained out.

No that should be Jose Rosario. We have an off day May 1 so it would bump everyone. The way it looks right now, barring any moves is: Concepcion, Jensen & Francescon in Lake County Rosario, Wells/Burke and Concepcion in Fort Wayne Off Day on Tuesday May 1 Jensen (Wed), Francescon (Thu), Rosario (Fri) in Kane County Burke/Wells, Concepcion, Jensen & Francescon in Quad Cities commuters Thats our 13 game, 14 day, 2150 mile road trip.

He is piggybacking Wells on Monday but with a Sunday off day for Easter he couldnt go without throwing. I think Cruz, our Tuesday starter, is going to do the same tonight. Thanks Nate. As a side note, is someone piggybacking off Cruz (assuming Liria or Wang, but I guess Reed could be in the mix)? Havent been told officially but I know Wang is in that mix ahead of Liria who is more likely at the end of games with Shafer, Lorick & McKirahan.

He is piggybacking Wells on Monday but with a Sunday off day for Easter he couldnt go without throwing. I think Cruz, our Tuesday starter, is going to do the same tonight.

For now, all I can piece together is this: Tennessee will open with Nick Struck. Dae-Eun Rhee is in their rotation too, probably at the end of it since he started their exhibition game. Daytona will open with Matt Loosen. Austin Kirk is in their rotation too, since he's starting their exhibition game tonight. Peoria will open with this order: Michael Jensen, PJ Francescon, Jose Rosario and Ben Wells. Not sure about their 5th starter. Nothing on Iowa. Willengton Cruz is our 5th starter. Burke will piggyback Wells for now.

Well personally i think he is a lot better than Antigua, but in 3 years I didn't really see a lot out of JA to be positive about, definitely nothing close to the way is is pitching in Daytona. I like Del Valle a lot. He is smaller than most pitchers at 5'10. He throws strikes which at this level is huge. He seemed a lot more confident as a starter than when he was piggybacking Liria and struggled. I liked his slider and he fooled hitters here with this changeup. We'll see if he does that at the next level. I would put him up near the top of guys we had this season with Beeler, Loosen, Jokisch and Kirk.

You might be right, I hadn't heard anything on Del Valle. ETA: Just saw the 98 mph tweet. Wowza. He is 88-92. Our scoreboard lights were out on the bottom left hand corner Friday night making the 8 in 88 look like a 9 and it got tweeted out. An honest mistake by someone who had never been to our stadium before and didn't know that the lights on the radar gun are broken. Fastest I have heard he has legitimately hit this season is 93-4. That said he was very impressive in his short time with the Chiefs. That's...embarrassing. Send a few hundred thousand dollars and we can get a brand new videoboard system and have it fixed! LOL. trust me I know how embarrassing it is. Radar gun was brand new this year...scoreboard not so much

You might be right, I hadn't heard anything on Del Valle. ETA: Just saw the 98 mph tweet. Wowza. He is 88-92. Our scoreboard lights were out on the bottom left hand corner Friday night making the 8 in 88 look like a 9 and it got tweeted out. An honest mistake by someone who had never been to our stadium before and didn't know that the lights on the radar gun are broken. Fastest I have heard he has legitimately hit this season is 93-4. That said he was very impressive in his short time with the Chiefs.

I wonder if they'll have Yao-Lin Wang bump up to Peoria to replace Hayden. Wang doesn't seem too challenged by Boise. Luis Liria would be another option. And this would allow Starling Peralta to get out of Mesa and head to Boise. Peralta jumped to Peoria. He starts Tuesday vs. Clinton.

Monday - Austin Kirk v. Clinton RH Jandy Sena Tuesday - LH Eric Jokisch v. Clinton RH George Mieses.

All of Simpson's runs last night were on Alcantara (again). He would have been out of the 2nd inning with the Chiefs up 3-0 but Alcantara made a throwing error on a double play ball that brought 2 home and since you cannot assume a DP the runs were earned. Then we got homered on a blatant error at third base that was ruled a 2 run double (coaches lobbied for a scoring change after the game for 5 minutes to no avail)...Simpson left (35 pitches in the inning, had no choice to take him out) with 2 on and 2 out and Jung promptly gave up a 450 foot bomb. So yes the numbers were bad at 6r in 1.2ip but Simpson's outing last night was not that bad for those that saw it in person. He threw strikes and changed up his pitches, just got no help from his defense, the scorer or the bullpen. That said, he has to be able to pitch around mistakes and didnt last night with a walk right after the error. Just wanted to take you guys inside the box score a bit since the line itself was not a fair representation...Ditto on the Francescon line where none of the runs in the 6th would have scored if the base umpire was smart enough to move on a line drive headed right for him. Would have ended the inning scoreless instead the next batter crushed a 3 run homer.

You should see Cam Greathouse continue his quest to get to a K/1 IP and a BB/1 IP. Nope. Greathouse is Thursday. Our Friday starter is TBA...Hicks/Jung on Wednesday and Kirk on Tuesday. Whoops, my math was off. Probably Simpson/Jokisch on Friday. Do you know if someone from Extended will be replacing Beeler in the rotation? Not sure. We should have a roster move today. Could see one of our piggy backs get split up. I was given Simpson for Saturday and Friday was left as a TBA when we talked rotation Sunday in Great Lakes prior to that game. I didn't talk to Casey or Jeff yesterday so we'll see what the plan is when they get to the park today.

You should see Cam Greathouse continue his quest to get to a K/1 IP and a BB/1 IP. Nope. Greathouse is Thursday. Our Friday starter is TBA...Hicks/Jung on Wednesday and Kirk on Tuesday.

He's day to day after a slide into second base on Tuesday....but he will be gone the next 4 days for Villanova graduation

Thanks for the good news. Do you know if Graham Hicks will be activated off the DL soon too? Of course I know...and I'm guessing you will as well within the next 36 hours.

Beeler will actually come off the DL and start for us with Lopez piggybacking. I believe Dallas will be in the 40-50 pitch range for his 1st time off the DL with the oblique strain.