CubsWin

I haven't had a chance to watch his game yet, but Brailyn did it again today. 6 no-hit, no-run innings, 1 walk, 8 Ks. In his last 2 starts: 12 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 22 K. Turning point? One would think, but it's still a lil early.

We should see the Cubs 3rd and 4th round picks for Eugene tonight. Chris Clarke gets the start with Michael McAvene expected to make his debut in relief.

You can make a good case for Chris Archer back in 2011. After that, it's luminaries like Mark Pawelek, Angel Guzman, and Donnie Veal. What's nice now, is that there's some depth behind Marquez. At the upper levels, Alzolay, Miller and Abbott all have a chance to be BOR pieces. As does Richan in High-A and Thompson in Low-A. There's some higher upside guys in the lower levels, too. I'd put Jensen, Franklin and Gallardo in that mix. It's not great yet, but it's the best the Cubs minor league pitching roster has been since Theo took over and long before that.

Yeah, for all the struggles the Cubs have had with developing pitching prospects, Marquez is a success story to date. He's stayed healthy and sure has come a long way in just 3 1/2 seasons. According to AZ Phil, he was throwing 89-92 in Mesa just 2 seasons ago and 94-96, T97 last year in Eugene. Today was 97-101 with a much improved slider and improved control/command of both. Velocity isn't everything, but it sure helps. I believe his ability to hit his spots often and throw both pitches for strikes was the key today. Control has been his main challenge this season, so we'll see if this performance indicates true development in that area. A solid change up would really go a long way to rounding out his repertoire if he's to remain a starter in the end. For me, especially for a pitcher who is young for his level like Marquez, you're looking for what they can be when they're on because they still have plenty of time to gain consistency. Who knows if he will, but he sure is the most exciting pitching prospect the Cubs have had in a while, if not the best.

Generally, based on his age/innings pitched, what’s the time table for him to advance to MB - then TN - then IA? He’s really raw and his command lags behind so I think he’ll be nearly one level/year unless he really puts it together at some point and forces the issue. Who knows, that "some point" may have started tonight. It's purely wait and see because he's so young and has never had such a dominant performance before. But this performance was so good, so dominant that it could be a breakthrough. His change up still needs a lot of work, though.

You had to say something, didn't you...

Here's the "chart" for Marquez's first 4 innings: 3 fastballs, 3 strikes at 98, 99 and 100 to the 1st batter. 4 fastballs, strike, strike, foul, strike.100, 100, ?, 101 to the 2nd batter. 4 fastballs, strike, strike, ball (just off the black on the inside corner, strike. ?, 101, ?, 101 to the 3rd batter. All fastballs. 10 strikes, 1 ball. FB strike, FB strike, FB high inside (ball), swinging strike on the 1st slider of the night for Marquez. FB fouled late, FB strike, swinging strike 3 on the slider again. FB inside (ball) 99, FB fouled late, FB strike 99, swinging strike 3 on the slider once more. Sat 97-99, no velo given on the sliders. 9 strikes, 2 balls. FB outside (ball), FB popped up, out. FB strike called, FB fouled, FB line drive to CF, great diving catch by Roederer, out. FB inside grounded to 3B, out. All FBs, no velos given. 5 strikes, 1 ball. FB fouled 98, good SL but just low (ball), FB line drive to CF, great diving catch by Roederer again, out. FB fouled, change up low (ball), another good slider called low - check swing (ball), FB lined to CF, single. Wild pickoff attempt runner advances to 3rd, FB way outside (ball), FB high (ball), FB way outside (ball), FB on the black 98, FB fouled, FB swinging K. FB strike 99, FB strike, SL bounced (ball), FB swinging K. Sat 98-99. 10 strikes, 7 balls. Marquez's body language after his errant pickoff attempt preceded him losing his FB control in the 3 pitches that immediately followed, but when the situation demanded it (man on 3rd, 1 out, 3-0 count), he came back with 3 consecutive strikes and then K'd the next guy for the final out.

Pirates' 2016 13th rounder, John Pomeroy, was signed by the Cubs as a minor league free agent this off season. He's 24 years old, 6'5", 210 (looks a bit heavier than that but not out of shape). He missed all of 2017 after TJS and was released by the Pirates after the 2018 season. He sat 95-96 and touched 98. He adds a fringy-looking slider. He'll turn 25 in October, so he's a long shot.

This year's 12th rounder out of Harvard, RHP Hunter Bigge (pronounced Big-ee), hit 98 on the stadium gun. Bigge is 6'0", 205 lbs and turned 21 back in June. From my viewing, he's primarily a fastball, curveball pitcher.

Jensen's 1st inning with reported velocities: 1st batter: 97, 98, 97, 97 - K swinging (5 pitches total) 2nd batter: 98, 97 - K swinging (7 pitches total) 3rd batter: No velocities given but FBs all looked similar speeds. Strike swinging FB, SL fouled. Strike swinging FB. Strikes out the side. 2nd inning: 1st batter: 5 pitch walk. All 5 FBs. 2nd batter: HBP on 1st pitch FB. 3rd batter: SL low, SL strike at 90, SL grounded into DP. 4th batter: FB inside 97, SL 90 swinging strike, FB just high (looked good to me), FB way low & outside (only bad pitch of the night), SL swinging strike, great SL - K looking. PBP guy reported Trackman had Jensen sitting mostly 98.

BTW, here's Marquez's last game... In the 1st: 96-98 FB, 87-89 SL. Dominant. In the 2nd: 95-97, T99 FB, 88-90 CH, 87-88 SL. Dominant again. In the 3rd & 4th: Velocities remain consistent. A couple errors allowing runners to advance who eventually scored on outs. 2 of Marquez's 3 walks were the leadoff variety. If those walks had happened later in the inning, neither run scores. The walks weren't wild. He was missing either outside or inside with the FB. In the 5th: Velocities held up. A little less dominant than his first two innings, but still looked really good.

:beg: I had Cruz ranked 10th in the system going into the year, and then he had to go and be a pitcher. The Cubs must be pretty tight-lipped with their injuries because I asked AZ Phil more than once if he had heard what Yovanny's injury was or whether he'd seen him throwing, and he had nothing. All of a sudden, he's back throwing in games. It's great to see especially after all the setbacks to guys like Estrada, Correa, heck Alzolay, Thompson, Steele and Albertos. At least Little's back. For all the setbacks, the Cubs have had some encouraging progression amongst their pitchers this season: Despite early struggles in AAA, Tyson Miller followed his strong High-A season with an even stronger AA performance. Paul Richan has steadily progressed each month in Myrtle Beach. His BAA and WHIP have improved from .303 and 1.58 in April to .297 and 1.29 in May, and from .224 and 1.11 in June to .173 and 0.79 in July. Riley Thompson has put himself on the prospect map. Cam Sanders is having a mini-breakout in July, drastically cutting his walk rate while maintaining his mid-90s velocity. Jack Patterson has become a thing. Kohl Franklin has had the most notable breakout of any Cubs pitcher in my book. And how dare I forget the little engine that could, Jeffrey Passantino! All in all, I'd say it's been a disappointing year for Cubs minor league pitching. Of course, it's not over yet. They added Jensen, who looked impressive in his last outing. Cruz could continue his comeback. Marquez has had his ups and downs but was dominant in his last outing (not by stat line but if you watched the game, I think you'd agree). Cory Abbott had a terrible June, but he's bouncing back and was outstanding in April and May. If Alzolay returns and pitches well and Little keeps performing as he has been (2.55 ERA, 1.13 WHIP), maybe they can salvage this season...

I thought this was well-established protocol. Never use the word "no-hitter" during a no-hitter. This one's on you, pal. I'm telling Zach.

You've heard of airplanes, haven't you?!

18-year-old DSL LHP Andricson Salvador is putting up interesting numbers in his first pro season. He's 5'11, 180 lbs., so he's likely another soft-tossing lefty in a long line of such that have surprised in the DSL for the Cubs lately (Luis Rodriguez, Didier Vargas, Carlos Rodriguez, etc.), but I have no idea what he throws. After today's 5 inning, 1 hit, no run, 1 walk, 5 K performance, his season line is now: 20 IP, 15 H, 5 BB, 24 K, 2.70 ERA, 1.00 WHIP. His first pro start on June 19th was a clunker allowing 5 hits and 5 earned in just 2 innings. Since then: 6 G, 18 IP, 10 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 22 K, 0.50 ERA, 0.72 WHIP. He probably goes nowhere, but someone to keep an eye on.

Cub minor league pitcher of the month for June, Jack Patterson has a ways to go, but he's up to his old tricks again today, shutting out the Carolina Mudcats through 5.1 bringing his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 23.1. Interestingly, both the minor league and major league records are the same length, 59 innings. Orel Hershiser did it for the Dodgers in '88 and Irvin Wilhelm set the minor league mark in 1907 for the Birmingham Barons.

Expected, but still horsefeathers to see. At this point, Congress needs to hire another Special Counsel to investigate whether Brennan Davis decided to bunt on his own or the Russians made him do it. Somebody needs to be held accountable. Seriously, man, if a coach had Davis (a projected middle of the order bat) bunting to help them win a meaningless MWL game, he needs to go.

I don't know exactly what Longenhagen was describing when he said Pertuz's 2018 statline was not "an accurate representation of his tools". Less power? More power? But Pertuz's 2019 statline must not be representative either because it's pretty similar, and the OPS is nearly identical... 2018: .298/.419/.427 2019: .351/.398/.446

Baseball needs a loaner program. Send Miami some low A nobody and then tell them to pitch Underwood for 6 weeks to see what he's got and then send him back to us. Somebody get on the horn to Manfred. This is way better than the 3-batter rule.

Jeez, talk about hot and cold. On July 5th, Cuban catcher Alexander Guerra was hitting .111/.250/.333 after having gone 0-for his last-12, striking out 6 times in 13 PAs. Since then, he's gone 12-for-28 (.429) with 2 walks, 2 singles, 1 double, 2 triples and 7 HRs with 20 RBI over his last 7 games raising his season line to .273/.355/.855. Now, he's doing this as a 22-year-old in the AZL, so prospect-wise it doesn't mean much, but, damn man, make up your mind! Do you want to be good? Or bad? [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo]

Yes, I was very happy to see this. I'd love to see what Cruz, Albertos, Estrada and Correa could do if they'd just stay freakin' healthy!

Wait, the Cubs are playing the Cubs in the AZL? Has that happened before? Not in my memory...

Thanks Reg.

Riley Thompson with 5 shutout, no walk innings to lower his ERA to 2.35. Gotta be a promotion coming for him soon I would think, right? Davis goes 2-for-4, both singles. Morel stays on his hot streak going 3-for-5 with a triple. Roederer went 0-for-4 with a walk and a K. He's played 10 days in a row. Not 10 games in a row. One game each day for 10 days in a row. He's hitting .111 over that stretch. Give the guy a mental break, would ya?

Jose Albertos was removed from his last appearance on June 16th supposedly because of a blister. Three weeks is an unusually long time for a blister to heal...