Hrubes20

I rarely post anymore, but this board is my go-to Cubs message board to peruse now that PSD is a dumpster fire. Glad I was directed here. I probably lurk 3-4 times a week.

Almora left the game today with an injured thumb. Haven't seen anything noteworthy on whether it is serious or not.

Which is why I specifically said "And you are definitely high on Hatch's velocity, as are many of the pre-draft scouting reports". He maybe reached back for 96 once in his 3rd start of the year or something, but I personally watched his last 2 starts and he was 89-92. I don't understand how I'm high on his velocity based on what you're saying yet. I don't doubt he sat 88-92 in his last two starts of the year at 88-92, but that's not out of the ordinary overall. The UCL thing is interesting, but points to him for not getting the surgery and throwing plenty of innings afterwards. I certainly could be making it up, but it seems like most of these guys that see late season velo drop during college tend to carry that lower velocity in pro ball and the move to the 5 day rest period. Phil Bickford, Dillon Tate, Carson Fulmer, Carlos Rodon, Kyle Freeland, Tyler Beede are all guys that were recently drafted and had this exact thing happen. Seems safer to assume that the lower velocity is what we will see going forward.

Hatch partially tore his UCL two years ago, but opted against surgery. He sat out all of 2015 and came back this past year. And you are definitely high on Hatch's velocity, as are many of the pre-draft scouting reports. Maybe it was just because it was at the end of the season, but Hatch sat 89-92 with his fastball, touching 93 and maybe 94 a handful of times between the last 2 starts. I don't feel comfortable listing Hatch's velo as anything higher than that, given that he won't have the luxury of pitching once every 7 days in the minors. I really get a Trevor Cahill vibe from him. Hatch velocity: Which is why I specifically said "And you are definitely high on Hatch's velocity, as are many of the pre-draft scouting reports". He maybe reached back for 96 once in his 3rd start of the year or something, but I personally watched his last 2 starts and he was 89-92.

Hatch partially tore his UCL two years ago, but opted against surgery. He sat out all of 2015 and came back this past year. And you are definitely high on Hatch's velocity, as are many of the pre-draft scouting reports. Maybe it was just because it was at the end of the season, but Hatch sat 89-92 with his fastball, touching 93 and maybe 94 a handful of times between the last 2 starts. I don't feel comfortable listing Hatch's velo as anything higher than that, given that he won't have the luxury of pitching once every 7 days in the minors. I really get a Trevor Cahill vibe from him.

I've seen that framework a few places now. And I agree. Just horsefeathering terrible.

This is damn lunacy.

Dammit. AZPhil confirmed that Jose Albertos has been shut down for the rest of the year. I hate pitchers.

It would be fantastic if Jose Albertos were to start tonight for the AZL team. It will be 2 weeks tomorrow since the last time he pitched.

I posted the blurb a few posts up. Nothing of meat in terms of names. My mistake. I was reading Badler's twitter account, and he said that BA had a new J2 post for all 30 teams. I didn't realize it was the one from a day or two before. Thanks.

Outstanding! I didn't think we'd have a chance at him. Back a dump truck full of steaks to this kid's house. Love adding another exciting athlete, though.

Decided to not get the BA subscription this year. They just put out a J2 article for all 30 teams. Any of you have BA and are willing to share a blurb about what they said about the Cubs?

No Albertos again. That's an entire week without an appearance. Hopefully it's just the FO being really conservative with him, rather than an injury already.

Loving the combination of strikeouts and groundballs from Cease. And of course, most importantly, no walks.

He also continued the theme set by Cease and Hudson by inducing a bunch of grounders (6:1 GO/FO). 3 of the 5 hits he gave up were of the infield variety, and 1 other one was a grounder that made it through. No XBHs. Definitely a good start, but as a 21 year old repeating the level, this should probably be expected.

Skylar Szynski seems like a guy we may be interested in, if he's available. Fairly local prep arm from Indiana.

What are everyone's thoughts on taking either Kyle Funkhouser or Kyle Cody if they are there in the 3rd? Neither have improved much over their junior years, but both have some nice raw stuff. As seniors without elite production, they shouldn't be expected monster bonuses.

Has there been any recent news on the TJS recoveries of Wil Crowe or Cal Quantrill? Not sure either would make it to our pick, or that they would be affordable even if they did, but I certainly wouldn't hate to roll the dice on either.

McKinney has been terrible but Candelario hasn't really even been that disappointing, tbh. Power numbers are low, but it happens early in the season for some players. Other than that, it's just him getting BABIP'd. He's walking at a fantastic rate and is keeping his K's in check. McKinney, though, looks to be feeling the effects of the knee injury, or at least that is my hope. I've probably said this elsewhere, but with prospects I think you have to be careful about BABIP variation in both directions. It is less of an equal playing field than MLB, the prospects with promise should be creating a bit of their own luck, and those with horrific BABIPs are less likely to have the hitting ability to raise it significantly. In the case of Candelario we're at over 150 PA of him with a .635 OPS. Even if we can expect BABIP progression from him, the fact that he's had this stretch reflects just as poorly as the optimism does in the other direction. Because in this instance, Candelario getting neutral BABIP still isn't lighting AA on fire, and in order to be truly useful he needs to be good at that level, AAA, and then the MLB level, all escalating in difficulty(and chipping away at the expected BABIP he should have). A neutral BABIP wouldn't make his current line otherworldly, but it puts him in a great position for a good year once the power comes around. Candelario's power has routinely gotten significantly better in his minor league career as the season progressed. With that said, I completely agree with the gist of your post and I wasn't trying to say that Candelario's start has been amazing or that we should be truly happy with it. It was merely a response to TomtheBombadil's post which seemed to be overly pessimistic, IMO.

McKinney has been terrible but Candelario hasn't really even been that disappointing, tbh. Power numbers are low, but it happens early in the season for some players. Other than that, it's just him getting BABIP'd. He's walking at a fantastic rate and is keeping his K's in check. McKinney, though, looks to be feeling the effects of the knee injury, or at least that is my hope.

I was hoping Zobrist's poor defense in 2015 was more knee-related than age-related. That doesn't appear to be the case. He doesn't even try to go after balls that Javy would easily get to.

Gleyber with the golden sombrero. Ugly start for him early on.

I feel partly responsible for bringing notice to the fact he hadn't struck out in his first 8 PAs.

It was an exhibition game on Wednesday, but that makes 8 PAs without a K for Ian Happ to begin the season. No hits or BBs, either, but I'll take the no K's at this point.

Is this still the case? Last I saw from AZPhil had Baez getting plunked in the head down in EXST and that he hasn't seen the field since.