CubsWin

Miguel Amaya with a 1st inning RBI single to give the Ems a 2-run lead. Here's hoping he can keep his hot August going. Coming into the game he was hitting .381/.458/.524 with 3 doubles, 2 walks against 3 Ks for the month.

Woof indeed. Not much of a prospect. Not a prospect at all I also hold serious doubts the Cubs in the middle of an extremely tight division race will want to give Maples a tryout. That said, he's been very good this year and if they are 100% confident he can get ML hitters out based on what he's shown then more power to him and them. I don't imagine there's room for uncertainty right now. Thanks for letting me know. Are you responding to a post in which I said I thought Hidalgo was a prospect worth following and Maples would be brought up soon? I'm not sure why you're making these posts...

Somehow? I think he already is. He already is a useful major leaguer? If/when they bring him up, I'm confident he'll be at least "useful". There's nothing left for him to "develop" to become one. He's ready.

Holy WTF? Man, has he come back from the dead. Number one, he's stayed healthy. Secondly, he's run together 5 good starts in a row. Over those last 5: 31 IP, 21 H, 2 HR, 3 BB, 28 K, 1.74 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 1.89 GO/AO (36 GO/19 AO). In his last 4 starts he's pitched 6, 7, 7 and 7 innings. He only pitched 4 innings 5 starts ago because it was a piggyback on a 5 inning rehab start for Kyle Hendricks. Between Underwood and Maples, this might be the year of the resurrection...

What was his velo at in college? Reportedly mid-90s.

Woof Woof indeed. Not much of a prospect.

I'll say. However, if we could somehow turn Dillon Maples into a useful major leaguer, that would be horsefeathering amazing Somehow? I think he already is.

Not a big deal, but DSL 1B Luis Hidalgo made his stateside debut tonight for Mesa going 1-for-4 with a double and 2 Ks. The 21-year-old hit .353.419/.521 with 5 HRs and 16/21 BB/K for DSL1 this season. Between 2 VSL and 2 DSL seasons he's hit .282/.361/.431.

The two brightest (young and performing) pitching prospects in the DSL each had good days. For DSL1 - 6'1", 190 lbs, 17-year-old RHP Yovanny Cruz pitched 5 innings allowing 3 hits and 1 ER while not walking anybody and striking out 7 with a 6 GO to 2 AO. While 6'0", 175 lbs., 18-year-old LHP, Didier Vargas went 6 allowing 4 hits, 1 run (unearned), 0 walks and 7 Ks with 10 GO and just 1 AO for DSL2. Vargas has been very consistent, in 11 starts he has allowed more than 1 earned run only once (3 ER in 5.2 IP). Now if we only had some scouting reports... On the year: Cruz: 46.1 IP, 45 H, 3 HR, 10 BB, 47 K, 4.08 ERA. Vargas: 50.2 IP, 28 H, 1 HR, 21 BB, 47 K, 0.89 ERA. The Cubs have already promoted 17-year-old RHP Danis Correa to Mesa. He's held his own stateside thus far. 17-year-old LHP Jonathan Bruzual, who was the only pitcher from the 2016 class that had any sort of buzz that I was aware of (and it was minimal at that), has struggled mightily in his inaugural season but has shown flashes. The Cubs have done okay in the penalty years where they couldn't spend more than $300,000 on any one player. So far this year, they got two top 50 players in SS Luis Verdugo and RHP Florencio Serrano. Not coincidentally, both players hail from Mexico. In addition to the 4 pitchers already mentioned, 2016 yielded 18-year-old OFer Carlos Pacheco (.243/.387/.435, 7 HRs, 40 BB/56 K) and 19-year-old CFer Alonso Gaitan (.308/.356/.398, 10 BB/19 K) both out of Mexico. 19-year-old (just turned) catcher Jonathan Soto out of Venezuala has acquitted himself well at the plate (.302/.377/.428, 20 BB/18K). No reports as to how he's done behind it.

Welcome, Pat! Keep posting! Just so there's no confusion from that media guide, Kelli was a part of the 2015 IFA class but signed in January of '16.

What's his out pitch? I've only watched him pitch once so far. He seemed to have two above average pitches. A fastball at 93 and a good breaking ball that looked like a sharp curve. Certainly good enough to get Low A hitters out. Don't know how it'll play against better levels. He's not overpowering, but he throws strikes.

The remarkable rise of reliever Jhon Romero continues. 2 more perfect innings for South Bend with 4 Ks. Now has 11.1 IP in full season ball allowing just 3 hits, no earned runs, no walks and 17 Ks. On the season, 27.1 IP, 11 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 37 K. Prior to this season, he had only thrown 10.1 innings in the DSL.

Ugh, I know. What's happened?

And Little follows Lange in the rotation. Here's hoping we hear that for many years to come...

Okay, what's going on?! Underwood's last 4 starts: 24 IP, 20 H, 2 HR, 3 BB, 22 K, 2.25 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 28 GO, 15 AO. At least the 2 HRs are in line with what's come before, but what am I looking at?

Popout, K looking, K swinging in the second. I'm guessing he's done for the day. Yep, replaced by Carson Sands. So there goes the no-hitter, I guess...

Aramis went 3/5 2 doubles With a name like Aramis, he has to be good. Is Ademan's new nickname "Smuckers"?

Brett Anderson is not on the Cubs 40-man roster. He was DFA'd. It's unclear if he will clear waivers still. http://i.imgur.com/OA0vaGe.gif Yeah, I misread that whooooooole thing...

Unfortunately it doesn't mean that they have 8 good pitchers, just that almost all the good hitters are gone...

No, he was on 60-day DL. Brett Anderson is not on the Cubs 40-man roster. He was DFA'd. It's unclear if he will clear waivers still.

Wow. Love it. Wilson for this year and next helps a lot. Avila is the veteran catcher they needed. There was no room for Candelario on this team, and Paredes may turn into something is 3 years, but with Baez and Happ on the squad, he very likely won't be missed. Like the Quintana trade, this is the classic your players are more valuable to our team and our players are more valuable to yours. The Cubs pad an already good bullpen by adding another team's closer (something a lot of other teams are trying to do but haven't yet) and have him under control for 2018. Wilson isn't Andrew Miller, but he's still real good. Considering what the Tribe had to give up for Miller, I'd say the Cubs did okay. They're now 5 deep with really strong options out of the pen. Wade Davis Carl Edwards, Jr. Justin Wilson Pedro Strop Hector Rondon And 3 deep in the rotation. Lester Arrieta Quintana with Hendricks possibly re-proving himself over the 2nd half. That'll work in the playoffs.

Is it a slider or a cutter? (Referencing the article that was posted earlier today.) The two pitches are pretty close, I guess. He can call it whatever he wants, but the pitches he threw last night broke more than a typical cutter like a slider would. The difference between his FB and the pitch in question was about 10-12 mph. Call it what you will, all I know is he was getting a lot of swings and misses with it. Maybe the pitch he threw that was 88 was the cutter and the rest were sliders. In that case, he only threw one of them.

ICYMI in another thread, here's a nice article on Maples. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/iowa-cubs/2017/07/28/how-phone-call-his-father-turned-around-career-chicago-cubs-prospect-dillon-maples/513351001/

Maples comes in with a 5-4 lead and pitches a perfect bottom of the 9th for the save. 96-97 on the FB. Sliders ranging between 85-88 with one at 83. Didn't see him throw one curve which is his best pitch. Hadn't previously seen him throw that many sliders. Might be working on it in AAA.

Another prospect oddity. 2017 12th rounder RHP Ben Hecht out of Wichita State has faced 17 batters while in a Eugene uniform. He's given up 2 hits and walked 2. The other 13 he's gotten out. All by strike out.