CubsWin

Heck, even Ryan Kellogg pitched well!

Amaya with his 6th HR to break the scoreless tie!

Gotta like the GOFO!

Little keeps the pattern going of allowing 4 or 5 earned runs in a start followed by not allowing any in the next. Let's hope he breaks that pattern his next time out... Final line: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K. Quite the pitcher's duel as 2017 9th rounder Zach Logue also pitched 7 scoreless allowing only 1 hit, no walks with 4 Ks. On the bright side(?), Little has not allowed a run in 17 of his last 18 innings pitched (he allowed 5 earned in that one inning, though...)

Lange with 10 Ks, no walks thru 5 scoreless. He's making up for his last two starts in which he K'd 4 in 10 innings.

He did. 6 scoreless, 2 hits, 4 Ks, no walks on just 67 pitches (46 strikes). It would follow form for the Cubs if he's pushed into the 7th as they try to build stamina for him, especially since his pitch count is so low, but they may have other pitchers scheduled they'd like to get in the game...

Another 5 scoreless innings for Little tonight (that's three starts in a row he's done that). Let's see if he can make it through 6 this time...

I'm a big Bote fan. Personally, I think we keep him and trade Happ for young pitching in the offseason, for when we get Bryce. I think Bote will be a very solid ML'er. Baltimore may very well like him. I think the bidding will get higher than that, because of what you're getting in return...... I think I'd go Bote, Zagunis, Tseng or Mills, and one of ODLC or Hatch, to secure Mesa(and possibly Rodriguez too) I'd do that. This system needs high ceilings right now, has little need for bench depth and has a lot of pitching depth to deal. Role players (or 2nd division starters, I'm looking at you, Baltimore) like Bote and Zagunis plus some arms with a chance (I don't know about Tseng or Mills having much value at the moment, but Hatch, ODLC, Maples, Clifton, Rucker, Abbott, heck even Underwood [it is the O's after all..] might) would be fine by me if it nets you some high upside prospects.

He went on to discuss other catchers in the system: I know we don't have 2018 stats for Soto and Perez and have to rely solely on eyewitness reports but I have a hard time believing Pereda is not a top 3 catching prospect in this organization when he's good defensively and this year, has 145 PA of .800 OPS at age 22 at high-A. Well, Phil hasn't had eyes on Pereda for a few years now and is watching Soto and Perez every day, so there's likely a lack of recent intel on Pereda as well as some possible recency bias there.

Speaking of. Morel hit a 3-run HR, and Perez went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored in ExST today.

AZ Phil, who keeps a sharp eye on Cubs prospects down in Mesa, lists SS and C as the Cubs deepest positions. He lists Aramis Ademan, Christopher Morel and Luis Vasquez as the top 3 in the organization at short and Miguel Amaya, Jonathan Soto and Henderson Perez as the top 3 behind the plate. Here's the post from Phil: He went on to discuss other catchers in the system:

I was hoping the improved conditioning would've improved the velo somewhat ala Strasburg (obviously not to that degree) but his velo appears to be the same (touching 93, sitting 89-91). with a feel for 4 pitches. Any uptick in velo and they might have another possible 4/5 guy. Yeah, that's my thinking as well. His 2.06 ERA might be a bit misleading as his strand rate is abnormally high thus far. The K rate is down but so are his walks. If his last 2 starts are any indication, and I have my doubts about that, the K rate should rebound as he's struck out 13 against 0 walks in 12.2 innings. He's still just 20 so there's time for him to improve his conditioning (he looks to have lost some body fat this off season) and add some velocity.

Nice day for Amaya and Assad who’s been pretty consistently good for about a year now despite non-special stuff. He’s a wait and see how he does at the upper levels guy, but so far so good. Amaya sure helped his OBP today reaching base all 5 times.

Rucker might be distinguishing himself in AA.

I haven't been able to confirm this but the rumor is Albertos is reworking his mechanics to help avoid future elbow problems and that is the reason for his recent difficulties. If that is the case, they may want to keep him in South Bend to work with that specific pitching coach. At this point, it's just a theory with one unconfirmed report behind it.

Ah, that's right. Forgot about his senior year. I think I read a report on him leading up to the draft that year that mentioned he had a save against Virginia (or somebody like that) and that stuck in my head. Thanks, Navin. Point still stands, though. He's been a disappointment as a 2nd rounder... Definitely a disappointment, especially because it was well known before that draft that they coveted Jack Flaherty and were hoping he'd fall to their second round pick. Cardinals probably hacked into the Cubs database...

Stinnett was only a reliever his first 2.5 season in college (and he was primarily an infielder his first two seasons). He become a starter midway into his junior year and all of his senior year. He famously outdueled Carlos Rodon his senior year, the year Rodon went third overall. Ah, that's right. Forgot about his senior year. I think I read a report on him leading up to the draft that year that mentioned he had a save against Virginia (or somebody like that) and that stuck in my head. Thanks, Navin. Point still stands, though. He's been a disappointment as a 2nd rounder...

After starting the year in a terrible slump (.151.279/.192 with 27 Ks in 73 AB), it's fair to say Charcer Burks has turned it around. In 67 May at bats, he's hitting .343/.436/.507 with 10 walks and 18 Ks. The strikeouts are still a bit high but his K-rate is falling as the month continues. He K'd 8 times in his first 27 AB and 10 times in his last 40.

It's early yet, but Cory Abbott is looking like the best 2nd round pick of the Theo/Jed era thus far. Unfortunately, that's not saying much. 2012 - Duane Underwood Still just 23 years old, he has battled injuries, poor conditioning, work ethic issues and some mental weakness. He appears to have matured beyond most, if not all, of those issues. While holding his own in Iowa, he's been inconsistent allowing 4 or more earned runs in 3 of his 8 games. 2013 - Rob Zastryzny The only one of these picks to have made the bigs where he's been decidedly average in minimal exposure with a 1.45 WHIP and a 4.06 ERA in 31 IP. He's put up an ERA of 5.94 in AAA last year and currently stands at 5.19 this year. 2014 - Jake Stinnett A reliever for 2.5 years in college, Jake struggled badly as a starter in his pro career. He transitioned to reliever after sustaining an injury last year. He's walked 10 with 11 Ks in 10.1 IP so far this season in AA. 2015 - Donnie Dewees Traded for Alec Mills in the 2016 off season, Dewees continues to be underwhelming for Kansas City hitting .268/.318/.363 as a 24-year-old repeating AA. 2016 - No pick Abbott put up his best start of the year tonight going 6 scoreless, allowing 2 hits, 2 walks against 11 strikeouts. He's only had one really bad start out of 7 to begin the season. He's now thrown 36.1 innings allowing 27 hits, walking 10 and striking out 44 for a WHIP of 1.02 and an ERA of 2.72. On the downside he's given up 5 HRs, but 3 of them came in his 1 bad start. He's 22 years old and will be all season. If he keeps pitching this well, we can expect him to see Myrtle Beach this season where he'd be age appropriate especially for a college draftee.

Quite the day at ExST per AZ Phil: Luis Diaz, 3B: 2-5 (2B, 3B, 5-3, 6-3, L-6, R) Jonathan Soto, DH #1: 0-2 (6-3, 3-2 FC, R) Christopher Morel, SS: 2-4 (2B, 3B, 6-3, F-8, R, 2 RBI) Henderson Perez, C: 4-4 (1B, 1B, 2B, 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI) Kwangmin Kwon, CF: 2-3 (3-U, 2B, 2B, R, 2 RBI) Orian Nunez, 2B: 1-2 (BB, HR, F-8, F-8 SF, R, 3 RBI) Jeremiah Estrada: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 1 K, 1 GIDP, 3/0 GO/AO, 35 pitches (20 strikes) Eduarniel Nunez: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 2/2 GO/AO, 33 pitches (18 strikes) Cubs RHSP Jeremiah Estrada continues to struggle with command, laboring through two innings before being relieved. Also, his normal 94 MPH FB velocity was down a tick. But RHP Eduarniel Nunez had his FB cranked-up to 95 today and broke a couple of bats with it when he wasn't bouncing it in front of the plate or throwing it over the batter's head, but he apparently had a good feel for his curve, dropping about a half-dozen benders in for a called-strike when he really needed one. E. Nunez may be raw but he sure does have a "live" arm. Cubs shortstop Christopher Morel made two oustanding stops & throws that wowed the scouts in attendance (both times going deep into the 5.5 hole and backhanding a grounder before throwing a laser-strike to 1st base to retire the batter). But the defensive play of the day was turned-in by RF Chris Carrier (not known for his defense), who came out of nowhere to make a spectacular diving catch in short rightfield. While Miguel Amaya is clearly the Cubs #1 catching prospect (some of you will probably recall that he was MVP at Cubs Extended Spring Training last year), the #2 and #3 are Jonathan Soto and Henderson Perez, and they are both at Extended Spring Training right now. And it is possible that one of them could (like M. Amaya did last year) jump over AZL and go directly to Eugene.

Make him a reliever and see if his stuff picks up. I don't really care for Hatch and I was disappointed when the Cubs selected him in the 3rd round. That 2016 draft class doesn't look great right now. I wanted Zac Gallen who went two picks later to the Cardinals. Outside of the 1st round picks from 2012-15 (and Cease), most of their draft picks have been disappointing. It’s one of the few knocks I have on this FO. I guess it comes down to how you specifically define "most" and "disappointing" in that sentence, but most of every team's draft picks outside of the 1st round are disappointing.

Just watched Swarmer's game. Your reports were pretty accurate 91-93, t94 on the FB. Didn't throw the curve much, if at all. Working on the CU. It breaks away and down from lefthanders, but it was consistently off the plate. It sounded as if its either a new pitch or his coaches are asking him to work into games more often. His slider was anything but average tonight. The first 5 outs Swarmer got were strikeouts, all via the slider. It has a sharp 1-to-7 break almost straight down. Not a ton of movement on his FB, but he's able to spot it well. In Swarmer's 3-run 3rd inning, it would've been two runs but Ademan dropped the relay throw on the 3rd run which would've ended the inning. The runner would've easily been out had he made the throw. Swarmer lost his command against the 2nd batter of the inning missing badly and walking him (his only walk of the game). After getting the next batter to fly out, Swarmer gave up 3 hits to the heart of the Buies Creek order (2 singles & a double). They weren't necessarily bad pitches, they just hit them. The good news is Swarmer was unfazed and struck out the next batter on two well placed FBs on the outside corner, one at 92, the other at 93 to end the inning. Swarmer settled back into form in the 4th setting them down 1-2-3, striking out the first and third batters on, you guessed it, sliders. In the 2-run 5th, Swarmer gave up an infield single to the leadoff hitter which should've been an out. It was weakly hit, Swarmer fielded it easily but 1B Austin Upshaw was crossed up and never fully got back to 1B. The throw beat the runner but Upshaw's foot wasn't on the bag yet. That runner would eventually score on a weakly hit bloop single that Kevonte Mitchell booted allowing runners to advance to second and third. Swarmer struck out the next batter and got the next guy to tap back to him. Swarmer immediately got the runner on third in a run down. Ademan eventually applied a swipe tag but the ump called him safe. It sure looked like Aramis got him, but now it was bases loaded, 1 out. That guy would be driven in by the next batter on a sac fly which would've been the 3rd out. So if not for some poor defense by Ademan, Upshaw and a bad call by the ump, Swarmer's line would've been (and should've been): 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K. Other notes: Connor Myers can fly, and there's something about Wladimir Galindo that I like. He just looks like a major leaguer. Good, pull power, but shot a hard single to the opposite field last night. He's still got a lot of development left, but he seems to be one of those guys who if he puts it all together as his approach at the plate matures, he could really hit at the upper levels. He's definitely got the arm for 3rd, but questions remain about his quickness and range.

No broadcast of the Myrtle Beach game today, but I will go back to Hudson's earlier starts and see if any velo reports are given.

AZ Phil provided an interesting comp for Mekkes a couple days ago. Rod Beck. Both large men, though Mekkes is considerably taller. Both have/had below average FB velocity for relievers. Both used intimidation and an aggressive, challenging approach on the mound. Both effective at getting guys out despite being unconventional. They have their differences, obviously. Beck was a starter throughout his minor league career compiling multiple seasons 170+ IP until finally transitioning in his last year in AAA. He was very effective for the Giants as a reliever though rarely dominant. He had above average control but only struckout a batter per inning in 2 of his 13 major league seasons and never did as a starter in the minors. Mekkes is all about the strikeout, averaging well over a K per inning everywhere he goes. But his walk rate is much higher than Beck's. Dakota is also 6 inches taller with an unusually long stride (which reportedly helps his FB celocity play up). And Mekkes is a pure reliever having not started a game since high school. I get the sense that AZ Phil's comments were more of a "he reminds me of..." based on similar energy, personality and approach rather than a straight up player comp, but if Mekkes can have a MLB career similar to Beck's, I'd be thrilled. And the more he performs well in AA, the more convinced I become that he can contribute meaningfully at the major league level.

Big surprise on Velasquez. Perhaps less exciting prospect-wise but equally surprising is the return of C Will Remillard after two Tommy John surgeries, missing both 2015 & 2016 and playing just 8 games last year between Mesa and Eugene. On top of that, Remillard HR'd. His one previous career HR was in 2014. What a long strange trip it's been. Welcome back, Will.