CubsWin

4 solid innings out of Wells so far. Good first outing.

That's a mediocre outing for a 5th round pick. It's a bad outing for a 1st rounder. I've never hoped a Cubs player was weak and not a 100% more in my life.

Ryan Searle has put together a pretty decent line in relief of Rusin. 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. Not bad for a guy who's still just 21 (he turns 22 in a week) at AA. Not terrible numbers for the year either despite coming as a reliever.

I'm a lot more bullish on Struck than that. Fastball is supposedly topping out in the mid-90's (slight increase from last year numbers that I had), and have heard that his secondary stuff, change and slider, are both looking solid. Granted, that's off limited reports I have (3) so it is a SSS issue, but I think his ceiling could be a good mid-rotation arm. If Whitenack hadn't gone down, who would you be more bullish on: Whitenack, Struck or Beeler? Me personally, and I'm no scout, Whitenack.

So far I haven't heard a compelling case as to why Josh Vitters is a bust...

Definitely. Go with something like a Baker/DeWitt platoon at 3B as a placeholder next season. I think Flaherty would be a good option next season at third base. That's what I was thinking. I'm kind of in favor of going young period.

So the Vitters pattern is holding true. Struggle when first promoted, then figure it out. The first two years of this pattern, the struggles had a very small sample size, but they were there. 1. In '07, Vitters hit .118/.164/.118 in 55 PAs split between the AZL and the NWL. 2. He followed that up in '08 hitting .328/.365/.498 over 277 PAs in the NWL and just .214/.214/.429 in 14 PAs at Peoria. 3. He followed that up in '09 by going .316/.351/.535 over 288 PAs at Peoria and struggling in Daytona hitting .238/.262/.344 in 195 PAs. 4. Vitters gets his fastest promotion, way too early in a lot of people's minds, after hitting .291/.350/.445 in just 120 PAs in Daytona and then putting up a line of .223/.291/.383 in 227 PAs (206 ABs) last season in AA Tennessee. 5. And this year, he's done it again. In an almost identical number of at bats (205) and 9 fewer plate appearance, Josh has a line of .288/.326/.454 as a 21 year old in AA. He's been two years young for his level, promoted quickly and missed time due to injury. Because of this, his yearly stats have lead some to believe that Vitters is another in a long line of highly touted, high school bat busts in the Cubs organization. But if you look at his numbers after having had time to adjust to his aggressive promotions, they read like this (AVG/OBP/SLG - BB/9, K/9): As an 18 year old in Rookie +... .328/.365/.498 - 4.7%, 16.2% As a 19 year old in A-... .316/.351/.535 - 2.4%, 14.6% As a 20 year old in A+... .291/.350/.445 - 6.7%, 18.3% And as a 21 year old in a partial season at AA... .288/.326/.454 - 3.7%, 8.7% with a modest BABIP of .294. These aren't the knock-your-socks-off numbers that you'd like to see from a 3rd overall pick in the draft, but they are far from those of a bust, especially when you consider his age at each level. He's definitely got things to improve upon, but there's clearly still hope for Josh Vitters.

Well, not officially. Javier has yet to sign. But Jeffrey's in the fold and doing quite well so far. Dude's just 17.

In no particular order, these are the guys that seem to me like they will at least be decent major leaguers someday... Brett Jackson Josh Vitters Matt Szczur Trey McNutt DJ LeMaheiu Ryan Flaherty Jae-Hoon Ha Jeffrey Beliveau These guys could be major leaguers, but have more to show before truly receiving that grade... Justin Bour Austin Kirk Dallas Beeler Nick Struck Robert Whitenack Micah Gibbs Kevin Rhoderick Wellington Castillo Steve Clevenger And then there's a bunch with the potential, but are too far away... Evan Crawford Junior Lake Kyung Min-Na Arismendy Alcantara Ben Wells Reggie Golden Austin Reed Hayden Simpson ...and many more. It's a deep system right now. But it is sorely lacking sure things and studs. Who am I leaving out or over/under rating?

No. Primarily because Kirk was drafted in the 3rd round and has shown promise earlier in his professional career while McNutt was taken in the 32nd and kind of came out of nowhere. This year's McNutt was Robert Whitenack (8th rounder) until he blew out his elbow. Now it could be Dallas Beeler who was taken in the 41st round.

Surprising to hear that Perez looked patient at the plate. His numbers have never shown that, but maybe he's finally learning at the late age of 23. Beliveau needs to be called up yesterday. Grabow or Beliveau, you decide.

Kirk's killing it thru 5. 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts.

And his 4th HR of the season will only help that. 2/3 with a HR and 2 RBI. Now batting .341. I'm not sure I buy into "plus-plus" speed (Na is faster) but I do think that he'll have at least MLB average power. Szczur was one of the fastest players coming into the NFL draft, as memory serves. Now, whether or not he can use that speed as a weapon on the basepaths and also to help his range in the OF is another matter altogether. Well, he's got 14 stolen bases in 42 games against just 4 caught stealing. That's a pretty good ratio. And some scouting reports say that he is good to great defensively in center.

And his 4th HR of the season will only help that. 2/3 with a HR and 2 RBI. Now batting .341. I'm not sure I buy into "plus-plus" speed (Na is faster) but I do think that he'll have at least MLB average power. So why couldn't Na have plus-plus-plus speed? Haven't you ever heard of "this one goes to 11"? Seriously, I agree with you. I don't think he has world class speed on the bases, but I think its safe to say he's fast, and that his speed translates well to stealing bases and good defense.

Daytona has had some nice performance so far today. Ha is 3/3 with a 2B and a walk. Bour has hit his 16th HR of the year. And don't look now, but Cuban Juan Serrano's last ten games have been pretty darn impressive.

And his 4th HR of the season will only help that. 2/3 with a HR and 2 RBI. Now batting .341.

I'd probably be the only one with Nelson Perez in my top 15-20. His strikeout to walk ratio is off the charts...in the wrong direction. As a 23 year old, does he have the time to turn that around? My answer's no.

Okay, the Cubs are deeper than I thought. I can find 30. :oops:

I agree completely with you about the strikeouts, and I don't think he's got much of a chance right now to be a major leaguer, but of the guys currently at Peoria on up, I don't know if I can find 30 guys that are clearly better than Crawford is right now. He's still just 22.

I mentioned Crawford in the Top Ten Emerging Cub Prospects thread. He's in my top 15 emerging prospects, but I agree with toonster, he strikes out way to much for the type of hitter he is. If he can cut down on the Ks and walk a bit more, he becomes interesting because of his great speed, but he has yet to show many signs of doing that. Maybe somewhere between 20-30 on an overall Cub prospect list right now.

The Gooz with a perfect 2 inning debut at Peoria. 2 Ks and 0 BBs as well.

The list from a month ago... 1. Robert Whitenack, RHP, 22 (AA) 2. Jae-Hoon Ha, OF, 20 (A+) 3. Austin Kirk, LHP, 20 (A-) 4. Micah Gibbs, C, 22 (A-) 5. Kevin Rhoderick, RHP, 22 (AA) 6. Justin Bour, 1B, 22 (A+) 7. Nick Struck, RHP, 21 (A+) 8. Dallas Beeler, RHP, 21 (A-) 9. Brett Wallach, RHP, 22 (A+) 10. Frank Batista, RHP, 22 (A+) ...has held up pretty well. Whitenack's season is over due to blowing out his elbow, and Brett Wallach has fallen off a bit, but everyone else is doing well. Order them how you like, but Struck and Beeler are now in AA and performing okay so far. Ha had a cup of coffee in Tennessee and held is own, and is now back in Daytona picking up where he left off. Kirk continues to perform in Peoria and appears next in line for a promotion. Gibbs continues to get on base. Rhoderick is pitching well in AA. Justin Bour is blowing up FSL pitching. Even Batista is doing okay, but others may have passed him on this list. That's 8. Others deserving consideration include: Dae-Eun Rhee who has struckout 20 while walking 5 in 20 IP, allowing 15 hits and compiling a killer GO/AO ratio over his last 4 starts. Casey Harman is putting up sick numbers as a reliever in Peoria. Marcus Hatley is emerging as a power relief arm. Zach Rosscup, who came over in the Garza deal, has been holding his own in High-A I don't see how you can ignore any longer what Evan Crawford is doing this season in Daytona. Matt Cerda deserves to be recognized for what he is doing in the FSL being a year and a half young for his level. Jeffry Antigua has caught fire after his promotion to Daytona. And Matt Loosen had a good debut after coming up from EXST. That's 16 names. Who do you have in your top ten of emerging Cub prospects two months into the minor league season?

I was noticing that too. The first thought I had was maybe this is a sign the Cubs are willing to wait and build slowly. Which then led me to think, maybe this means no Pujols/Fielder...

What's up with Matt Barnes?

Okay, somebody sell me on this guy.