CubsWin

No, I got that. I certainly didn't think you were referring to next spring. He's still got a lot of development left to reach that kind of ranking, in my estimation. Consistently better control/command would likely do it, though, or at least get him close like somewhere in the top 20. He's only shown improved control very recently and only in spurts, so he's got a ways to go to get there.

I'm having difficulty seeing the importance of when you were signed as it pertains to how good of a prospect they are today. Entering an organization as an IFA when you're 16 or 17 vs. as a prep draftee at 18 or 19 doesn't really matter does it? Its how much you've developed since then, right? Am I missing something? Top prep pitchers get excellent coaching, too, don't they? I mean if a prep pitcher at 18 gets taken high in the 1st round and does great right out of the gate but then progresses incrementally while an IFA pitcher is middling thru age 18 but then progresses and develops leaps and bounds in the next two seasons, what's the difference? None of that is to say Marquez is a better prospect than player X or Y, I just am having a hard time understanding why that would count against him in a prospect evaluation of who they are today. I'm opening to learning, though.

Yep. He got much wilder in the 3rd and 4th giving up lead off walks in both. A little better in the 5th but not much. He threw 20 of his first 25 pitches for strikes. After that, just 30 of his next 54. His FB was sitting 97 in the later innings. Even so, he was unhittable. High-A batters proved able to make more contact, fouling off a lot more pitches than his last two Low-A outings, but anything hit fair was an easy out. May have had some extra adrenaline in the 1st two innings and then the inevitable shakes once it dropped lower. I'm excited to see whether he can maintain his control once he settles in. All in all, pretty horsefeathering good. He's now up to 13 consecutive innings without allowing a hit. So you watched this? I was looking at the log and was wondering how far those fly balls were going. He gave up 5, but I love how he ended his night with a double play grounder. Hes got top 5-10 prospect potential. Yeah, I watched. None of the fly balls got deeper than half way between the infield and the wall and they were all skied except for one that was more a line drive though would've landed foul if Kevonte Mitchell hadn't made a nice running grab. Even that was more of a looping liner. He'd have to really improve his control/command to reach a top 5-10 ranking, but he's still 20 so he's got time to do it. The good news is he's already showing flashes of being able to do that for 2-3 innings at a time. If he continues pitching well at High-A the rest of the year, I'd certainly expect him to be top 100 after the season which I believe would make him the highest ranked Cubs pitcher since Dylan Cease.

Since his 1st pro appearance after a long layoff, Ryan Jensen has gone 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 13 K. With Marquez going crazy, suddenly there's some TOR potential in the system.

Yep. He got much wilder in the 3rd and 4th giving up lead off walks in both. A little better in the 5th but not much. He threw 20 of his first 25 pitches for strikes. After that, just 30 of his next 54. His FB was sitting 97 in the later innings. Even so, he was unhittable. High-A batters proved able to make more contact, fouling off a lot more pitches than his last two Low-A outings, but anything hit fair was an easy out. May have had some extra adrenaline in the 1st two innings and then the inevitable shakes once it dropped lower. I'm excited to see whether he can maintain his control once he settles in. All in all, pretty horsefeathering good. He's now up to 13 consecutive innings without allowing a hit.

Wild in the 3rd. Two walks. Velocity dips to 97-100. Adrenaline wearing off? Still, though, hitless thru 3.

FB at 100-101 and wicked slider at 94(!) in another perfect inning with 2 Ks in the 2nd inning. This guy has either unlocked something and taken a very large step forward in his development or his arm is about to fall off...

Marquez electric in his 1st High-A inning. Scoreless and hitless, he struck out 2, hitting 102 on the stadium gun multiple times.

No idea on their stuff, but both DSL starters had good days today. 5'11" lefty Andricson Salvador has been hot lately combing for 25.2 IP, 21 H, 5 BB, 35 K, 2.10 ERA, .196 BAA, 1.01 WHIP in July and August. He just turned 19 two weeks ago. This is his 1st pro season. 6'3" righty Luis Devers, who put up good numbers in his pro debut as an 18 year old last season but didn't get the call to the AZL this year, has also been impressive. Over his last 8 starts, he's pitched 38 IP allowing 30 H and 8 BB against 36 Ks for an ERA of 1.66 and a WHIP of 1.00. Obviously they're both fringe prospects at this point but worth tracking.

The Cubs signed veteran reliever Alex Wilson (formerly of the Brewers and Tigers) to a minor league contract for bullpen depth. He was assigned to AAA. He's 32 and was a 2nd round draft pick by (surprise, surprise) Boston while Theo was GM. He struggled in 11.1 innings for Milwaukee this season, but has plenty of major league experience pitching (332 IP, 3.44 ERA, .252 BAA, 1.22 WHIP.). He's not a big strikeout guy so the FIP and xFIP aren't great and has been hovering around a 50% GB rate the last couple seasons. He's basically a FB and cutter guy. FB around 91-92 with the cutter 85-86. Here's hoping the Cubs don't need to use him. In slightly related news, Brad Brach was given his requested unconditional release after not being picked up on waivers.

Yeah, he's definitely a prove it at every level type of prospect. At this point, I think he's a two-pitch pitcher like Rucker (FB and curve), but the curve might be more versatile than Rucker's. He's able to shape it in a couple of different ways. That seems to keep hitters off balance and guessing at his average FB. It's difficult to tell, but he might have a curve, a slurve and a slider. His ability, at least in High-A, to get swings and misses on his breaking balls was impressive. His consistency was an asset as well. We'll see...

It is, in a vacuum. But after not giving up an earned run in those 5 starts (and only 1 run in total), it was pretty clear he wasn't being challenged in High-A. If you want to find out what the guy truly is capable of and/or expose what he needs to work on (the whole point is development after all), it makes more sense. The FB is 92-93 (not bad for a lefty starter) and he controls it well. I'm no expert, but from watching his games, the curve looks really good and is clearly his strikeout pitch. I suspect he'll need to command his FB not just control it to succeed in the upper levels. That and possibly develop a better change up. I'm intrigued to see what he does in AA.

Oh yeah, and then he did this a couple innings later for the second day in a row... [tweet] [/tweet]

Pedro Martinez is listed at 5'11", 165 lbs. He hit a high chopper that Boise first baseman Michael Toglia fielded about 15 feet behind the bag. Toglia, who was the Rockies 1st round pick this year, is listed at 6'5", 225 lbs. Martinez is going full speed trying to beat Toglia to the bag, which he does fairly easily but they collide, hard. As you can imagine with the size disparity, Martinez got the worst of it. At first, it didn't look good. Pedro's writhing in pain. Hands on his head. Concussion? Toglia dropped to a knee for a bit. His sunglasses got knocked off, but he appeared fine. Martinez however was still on the ground being tended to by the trainer. He sits up and soon has his trainer laughing at something he said. Turns out, if you look at the 1st pic, Martinez got hit right in the schnikies (and also smashed his nose into Toglia's chest). He got up, "adjusted his cup" a few times and stayed in the game. He continued limping and "adjusting his cup" for the next few pitches, but then stole 2nd base. Easily. He's a completely different hitter, but watching his games there's a been a couple of times now where he's reminded me of Javy. Aggressiveness. Smarts. Toughness. Misdirection. Even playfulness. It's obviously way early yet, but there's something special about him.

4th full year, 4th season, 5th year in the org Gotcha. Thanks!

Watched Abbott's start. He faced a talented Braves line-up that included MLB's #11 and #27 prospects in Christian Pache and Drew Waters as well as the Braves #8, #11 and #19 prospects (per MLB) in William Contreras, 2018 2nd round pick Grayson Jenista and 3B CJ Alexander. Those 5 went 0-for-14 against Abbott with 7 Ks and no walks. Abbott struck out Waters all 3 times he faced him. Abbott has a mature mix of pitches. According to the Mississippi announcer, his FB sits 93 with a cutter at 88 and a really good curve at 84. Good movement and control of all his pitches last night. He was around the plate all night. Perfect through 3, he finished 7 innings on 86 pitches (61 strikes), 3 H, 1 R (earned), no walks and 9 Ks. Those zero walks have been uncharacteristic for Abbott recently, walking 18 in 28.1 July innings, but he's been difficult to hit since June (his only bad month) allowing just 15 hits in 35.1 innings in July and August thus far. His velocity isn't overpowering, but he's been throwing strikes with 125 Ks against 43 walks. As a result of not being overpowering and being consistently around the plate, he's given up 14 HRs in 117 innings. He leads the Southern League in that category. He's got a stocky build at 6'2", 220 lbs. and has been durable as a result throwing 115 innings last year as well. Likely nothing more than a BOR or MIR at the major league level, but given his consistency, effective pitch mix, durability and age (23, appropriate for AA), it seems like he has a decent chance of reaching that.

The question is are the Cubs treating his AZL appearances purely as rehab starts or does he have to re-prove himself at this level before he gets promoted? My sense is he's still finding himself after a long layoff.

I disagree that Abbott's filler (though that may come down to semantics based on what you mean) but, it seems like were on the same page. That's pretty much what I said in my post. I thought Marquez is a 5th season pro. Isn't he?

Overall, I disagree with Callis about a lack of pitching depth, though it has been hurt by injury and poor performance of late by Miller. Also, much of the depth is in the lower levels so that can inform his opinion as well. Plus, he's a national prospect commentator and you can't expect him to know everybody in every system. If he's only considering guys in AAA and AA, I get it. After the top 4 of Hoerner, Amaya, Marquez and Davis, none of the pitching prospects are TOR quality (though some may become that - Jensen), but Alzolay, Miller and Abbott are all in the upper levels and have a good chance of being major league contributors. That's three. Injuries have impacted the next wave of Steele and Thompson, but they each provide depth at the AA level when healthy. They've been injured much of the year so I don't blame Callis for not considering them. 2017 4th rounder Erich Uelman had a great July and was recently promoted to AA. I'm not quite ready to include him on this list, but he can force his way on if he does well in Tennessee the rest of the year. All 3 of these are iffy due to injury/history of performance, but I'll say that's 2 more. After that, though, there are some interesting depth arms. Jack Patterson's FB may sit 92-93 (not bad for a lefty starter), but his curve ball is legit, and you can't disregard his numbers (34 consecutive innings without an earned run, .164 BAA, more Ks than IP, 2-to-1 ground out rate). Riley Thompson has put himself on the prospect map and with Little doing above average and Cam Sanders hitting high 90s and progressing (.104 BAA, 0.65 WHIP, 0.90 ERA in July), that's 4 more depth prospects. Kohl Franklin has been good in the NWL and consistently good at that, never allowing more than 1 ER in any start all season. 1st rounder Ryan Jensen has joined Franklin in Eugene and is pitching very well. And then there's Gallardo who is very far away in both performance (though he was perfect in his last 3 inning start) and proximity, but I think it's fair to include him in any Cub-centric (maybe not national) prospect assessment of Cub pitching depth. That's 12 names (not including Uelman) who I think all have a good chance and being major league contributors (Alzolay, Miller, Abbott) or developing into that kind of prospect. As pitching depth goes, I'd say that's at least on par with other teams ranked in the middle third of minor league organizations.

Back injury. They don’t use the DL much in Eugene because they have larger rosters. Yeah, a minor lower back thing. He's expected to DH tomorrow and play 2B on Sunday.

Watched Chris Clarke's start. Sat mostly 94 with the FB (some 93s) with good control, often painting the corners. Really good, sharp-breaking slider. It breaks more down than side-to-side. No velo readings given on the slider. Two good pitches right now. FB isn't dominant but if its commanded my sense is it can be a slightly above average major league pitch. Zach Mort followed Clarke. He's a control guy. 90 mph FB. Uncorked a couple of good sliders. To my amateur eye, his delivery seems easy, fluid and repeatable. That should help him to continue improving his command. Pedro Martinez has wheels.

In case you haven't seen it, the Brennen Davis HBP didn't look good. They threw 3 high, inside FBs to Davis. He had to get out of the way of all of them with the 2nd one near his head. With the bases loaded, none of it was on purpose. The 3rd one hit Brennen's right hand (top hand) while it was gripping the bat, so there was no give. In the replay, it appeared to knock his hand off the bat. He immediately dropped in a heap, laying motionless on his right side with his hands between his legs for a full 50 seconds. He had to be helped to his feet and walked quickly and directly into the clubhouse. So that's bad, but what happened next was inexplicable. The umpires called it a foul ball meaning Davis was just faking. His reaction was immediate. He was in obvious pain. The ball hit him, plain and simple. But the umps saw it differently. With the bases loaded, a run should've scored and a pinch runner would take Davis' place at first. Buddy Bailey (South Bend's manager) argued exactly that and was tossed for his trouble. Here's the kicker. The ball didn't go foul. After hitting his fingers, it bounced behind Davis and spun into fair territory coming to rest in the dirt in front of home plate. That, by definition, is fair ball. So, as I see it, one of two things needs to happen. Either Brennen Davis is given an Academy Award for best actor or the home plate up needs to have his fingers smashed with a hammer and then fired.

Watched Marquez's game. Don't know if the stadium gun is accurate, but he hit 100 again in the 1st and sat 98 until the 6th when he dropped to 96. The change up doesn't have good shape yet (there was one he threw that did), but the difference in velo is good. It was clocked at 88-89. The slider looked really good again last night. It was reported at 87-88. It's odd to say that Brailyn didn't look as dominant as his last outing when he threw 6 no-hit, no-run innings, but that's just how good his previous start was. He wasn't as dialed in last night, missing the strike zone with the FB a bit, but any contact he gave up was weak with a lot of Whitecaps hitters pounding his heavy FB into the ground for easy outs. He was squeezed a bit on the one walk he gave up. He threw 2 good FBs up in the zone that could've gone either way. It wasn't egregious, but he came that close to pitching 6 perfect innings. It was funny to watch the scout in the stands using his radar gun and charting every pitch Marquez threw and completely ignoring the Whitecaps pitcher. I mean he didn't even watch.

Brailyn Marquez in July: 5 starts, 27.1 IP, 17 H, 1 HR, 8 BB, 41 K, .175, BAA, 0.91 WHIP, 1.65 ERA. Tyson Miller in July: 5 starts, 15.2 IP, 24 H, 6 HR, 12 BB, 16 K, .348 BAA, 2.30 WHIP, 11.48 ERA. Coincidence...?

Yeah, if this is a breakout/turning point for Marquez along with the addition of Ryan Jensen, the TOR prospects for the Cubs took a step up this year. It's quite possible if not likely that they'll both start next season in Myrtle Beach. Of course, if this a true putting-it-all-together for Marquez, it's possible he gets promoted to High-A for his next start, and, if this domination continues, he starts next year in AA, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. If not, that Pelicans rotation will be stocked with Marquez, Jensen, Thompson, Little and Sanders (and Carrera) to go along with Davis (assuming still has two hands, of course...), Morel and possibly Roederer in the line-up. That could be fun.